Up until July 2010 I pretty much ate anything, so long as it tasted good. Milk and other dairy products were a big part of my diet. I loved anything creamy: pasta Alfredo, tuna with mayonnaise, mashed potato and gravy, anything with gravy- anything at all, really. In moderation, of course. I did not eat much red meat because I didn’t like it very much, but after watching Food, Inc. in early 2010 I slowly cut back on a lot of other meat products too.
Then, one night I was enjoying a post-workout shower when all of a sudden a thought occurred to me. Why not try a plant-based diet for a while, just to see how it feels? So, I went to my computer, wrote my very first blog entry and then went to sleep.
Before I began this new lifestyle I did a lot of research and ‘a while’ quickly became ‘forever’. At first I thought that not eating animal products meant that I would miss out on a lot of my old favorite foods, and this is true. But now I have a whole new set of favorite foods- far more than I ever had before! I’m discovering new things about foods I’ve eaten all my life, like the versatility of foods like garlic, oatmeal and olive oil. My new favorite dish? Whole wheat toast stacked with avocado, cucumber, tomato and whole grain Dijon mustard. Mmmmm!
By default, this lifestyle has forced me to eat fewer processed foods. I’ve found that trying to create plant-based versions of animal-based meals is not for me, and I don’t try to replace the foods I no longer eat. No soy meat for me, thank you! I’ve been leaning more towards the ‘real food’ approach, and I am a big fan of a number of real food blogs, even though nearly every one of the bloggers I follow eat meat and other animal products.
