NW Veg 22 Day Veg Challenge: Week 3

(See also posts about the first and second weeks.) 

This week was crazy busy and exhausting, so I did even fewer of the actual tasks! But I stuck reasonably well to the actual eating vegan part. Got Chipotle for lunch one day again sans cheese, as well as a similar bowl through catering at work from Qdoba. I thought the shredded cheese really added something to burrito bowls, but I'm not really missing it that much. 

Sunday 1/24
Try a new grain, such as amaranth or spelt. 

Quinoa has become a staple in our house, it's great for stir fries instead of rice. 

Monday 1/25
Find a recipe for a vegan dessert to try out.

Well, on Wednesday I tried a new dessert - a fabulous vegan chocolate cake! When one of my coworkers (who is not vegetarian, but definitely conscious of the issues and so very aware in terms of making accommodations for someone who is when the need arises) found out it was my birthday, she decided to organize a little celebration with our team (as often happens - a lunch or Starbucks outing, perhaps), and ordered vegan cake from New Seasons! I think some of our colleagues were a bit apprehensive about trying it, but everyone thought it was really great!

Tuesday 1/26
Check out a new vegan soup recipe.

Later on the weekend Abe made a recipe from a cookbook he got for Christmas, a butternut pear soup. It's not my kind of soup (pureed - it has to taste really good to overcome that kind of texture!) but wasn't too bad. 

One note about soups - I very rarely eat soups in restaurants, because even veggie or minestrone soups are frequently made with a non-vegetarian broth. Be sure to ask, no matter what the description on the menu says!

Wednesday 1/27
Check out resources through NW Veg, such as their YouTube channel. 
Think about how animals are friends, not food, by learning about Esther the Wonder Pig.

I went ahead and liked Esther's facebook page. I knew she existed due to an acquaintance on facebook who frequently likes things on the page. I don't know her super well, but she's vegan, and the food she shares on facebook really is a nice quiet reminder to see how great this lifestyle can be.

Thursday 1/28
Despite the stereotype that we eat nothing but salad, it is a part of a healthy vegan diet and can be quite filling - eat a big salad!

I've actually been eating a lot of salad as part of my monthly goals - January was to eat either a salad or smoothie every day. I ended up meeting this 28 out of 31 days - not bad!

Friday 1/29
Check out one of the many vegan podcasts for support and resources on living a vegan life.

Already on my to-listen list (but not currently prioritized until I've caught up on Gilmore Guys) is the No Meat Athlete podcast. 

This night we had dinner with my in-laws. They typically have cheese and crackers while we chat before dinner, so we brought some of the camembert we bought at  Vtopia along. Best compliment it could get was I think the reaction - "it tastes like cheese!" I was sad to see so much of it eaten up by someone other than me, but I'm thrilled they all enjoyed it! 

Saturday 1/30
To continue on the vegan journey, officially join NW Veg as a member.

I was previously a NW Veg member, and plan to rejoin. While I haven't been super involved all the time, I have definitely taken advantage of its resources. At one point I did a six week cooking class, I like going to Veg Fest, and this challenge was definitely a great experience! 

NW Veg 22 Day Veg Challenge: Week 2

(See post about the first week here.)

I wasn't quite on the ball in doing specific tasks on assigned days, but at least thinking about things, and caught up on some over the weekend. 

Sunday 1/17
Go to your library and check out some vegan cookbooks.

Well, we really don't need to check out any new cookbooks, we have plenty! 

Although I didn't set a goal to make new recipes from them this year (as I did for 2015), after busy season is over I'll spend some time picking out some new things to try.

Monday 1/18
Try out a new legume.

I had lunch with one of the firm partners (who, though I don't have one specific boss, is the partner I work with the most, so essentially my boss). As we were making small talk, he asked how my weekend was, and I mentioned that I went to a farm animal sanctuary. He seemed rather perplexed by the idea as I tried to explain it - but once we ordered, he got tofu on his dish instead of meat, so maybe it got him thinking...

Tuesday 1/19
Watch Cowspiracy.

I watched it this weekend - I liked it so much more than Forks Over Knives. Although ostensibly about the environmental impact, it eventually goes into so much more. I'd say it doesn't provide quite as much guidance about how to go vegan, but it does make it clear that's is a healthy and compassionate choice, and really hits hard to convince you of that.

This day I had lunch with a coworker, at a breakfast cafe restaurant. When I go here, I usually get the breakfast combo which is an omelet (with your choice of add-ins), toast, potatoes, and fruit. It's all so delicious! (How does even toast taste so much better at a restaurant than at home?) But... obviously not vegan. Instead, I compromised with a veggie burger, including the default cheese that it came with. Less animal product altogether than an omelet would have, but some nonetheless. 

Wednesday 1/20
Explore trusted resources to support your values.

NW Veg, of course  is a good resource in Portland (the organization leading the challenge). They put on VegFest each fall, cooking and classes to learn how to lead a vegan life, and much more. 

They suggested a couple other websites in the challenge materials, but while they each had some lists of other resources, mostly they were just animal-based clickbait, and kind of dumb. Personally, I think it's useful to follow vegans on Instagram or other social media - seeing pretty pictures of vegan food can be motivating to find such treats for oneself!

Thursday 1/21
Plan out your meals for the next few days to make vegan eating easy.
Share a photo of one your vegan meals to social media to show how easy and delicious it can be.

After Abe and I did our January volunteering gig this day, we had a late dinner at Veggie Grill. It's a fast-food type chain that is all plant-based! (Loving Hut (which I haven't yet been to) and Native Foods are also similar chains that we have in Portland.) I had a great burger and fries!

Friday 1/22
Read Mad Cowboy or No More Bull by Howard Lyman.

I wasn't able to make the speaking engagement by Howard Lyman (not the semi-retired law partner in The Good Wife), but I did request one of this books from the library and have started reading it. So far, I really love his style - very colloquial and entertaining. 

Saturday 1/23
Deepen your knowledge of all things animal. 
Consider volunteering or donating money to a nonprofit that helps animals.

Out of some suggested books, I decided to check out Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows. Haven't started it yet (you know when every hold list you're on at the library comes in at once...) but am looking forward to reading it. (Reading it soon - there's still a hold list, so I can't renew it!)

I ended up "cheating" a few times throughout the week - the lunch out on Tuesday, the firm-provided lunch for working on Saturday was pizza which I had mostly cause I missed having had it for a while, the snacks that the firm brought in for busy season which includes string cheese. Cutting out dairy is so much harder to cutting out meat was (that was easy to do cold turkey). I know at least I've had sooo much less than I would have otherwise had during the past two weeks. 

NW Veg 22 Day Veg Challenge: Week 1

First week of the challenge is done (actually, more like halfway through the three weeks by the time I'm finishing writing this)! Here are the daily assigned tasks we were supposed to do, and how it was all going. 

Saturday 1/9
Watch Forks Over Knives.

I'm planning to do a longer post with some thoughts about, probably combined with some other documentaries I'm planning to watch. Ultimately, this one is almost exclusively focused on the health aspects of a plant-based diet. There's literally maybe 3 minutes total (within the last 20 minutes) that briefly touches on the environmental impact and treatment of animals. 

The main point seems to be that going vegan is the obvious choice. They present a lot of compelling evidence (mostly - though general opinion about the impact of dietary cholesterol has since changed), and I certainly agree that there are health benefits to a plant-based diet. However, they take it further than that, and are essentially asserting that (1) most people will see dramatic health changes by adopting a plant-based diet, (2) you can either be really healthy or really unhealthy - nothing in between, and (3) you have a moral obligation to live as healthy as possible.

I have problems with all three of those assertions. There is still value in the underlying facts and discussion surrounding those thing, but they are not the clear conclusions that the documentary makes them out to be. Plus, in basically the same breath as assigning this to watch, the organization shared an article in the 22-day challenge facebook group that points out that understanding the ethical reasons for going vegan are much more important in convincing people to stick with being vegan compared to the health reasons. Sure it all has a place, but if the ethics are more important, why make the very first task learning about the health benefits? 

You can see what I ate this day here. I definitely felt a bit deprived. I have a bit of a sweet tooth anyway, but just knowing that there were certain things I "couldn't" have, I really wanted to eat whatever junk food that was in the house that was allowed. That feeling went away a bit over the course of the week, and it was more about just logistics of figuring out what my options were, rather than feeling emotional about it.

Sunday 1/10
Discover your "why", write it down, and put it somewhere to remind you every day.

I wrote this on that day, thought it didn't fully hit home until the end of the week when we went to the farm sanctuary. Hearing from someone who's seen the industry up close, and seeing animals who would otherwise be used and abused for our sake made an otherwise just theoretical belief more tangible.

Monday 1/11
Clean up your kitchen to remove animal products. 
Use the "Is It Vegan" app to help make decisions in buying.

We have a huge block of cheese and a container of ice cream in the freezer, that had been purchased and opened shortly before the challenge began. We're planning on using those up after the three week challenge, even though in terms of buying new stuff we expect to lean more on the vegan side of things. We gave away a partly full carton of eggs to my SIL to use up. 

I checked out the "Is it vegan?" app and it's pretty slick. One really important feature is that it lets you indicate whether you want processed sugar to be viewed as vegan or not - in theory, it might not be, due to including bone char as part of the processing. But one thing I found recently said that that's probably only about 25% of the sugar, so it's not like it's all or even most of the sugar that's being used. While I'd be nice to know for sure that I wasn't eating stuff associated with that, it seems like it's a relatively low risk, and I should be aiming to avoid processed sugar in general anyway, so not a huge portion of my diet as a whole.

Thank goodness my diet coke is ok for a vegan lifestyle!

Wildwood Farm Sanctuary

I think this might have flipped the switch for me. A quesadilla sounds a hell of a lot less appealing to me now than it used to. 

Saturday's daily challenge for the 22-Day Veg Challenge was to learn about farm animal sanctuaries. The bonus was an organized trip to visit Wildwood Farm Sanctuary, a small farm animal sanctuary just outside of Newberg (about 45 minutes SW of Portland). There were about 10 of us from the 22 day challenge that made the trip out there to see the animals and learn more about the sanctuary and its mission.

We met Shauna, the founder of the sanctuary. Her grandfather used to raise cattle on the land; the family now raises some crops, as well as making space for the rescued animals. She's also a vet tech, which is part of what led her to become vegetarian, then vegan, and to want to provide a safe haven for animals subjected to the meat industry. There are goats, sheep, cows, chickens, turkeys, alpacas. They are sometimes rescued from abusive backyard-type farms situations, or allowed to be taken just after being born if they're of no use to a farmer (e.g., male cows). 

One of the things she told us that particularly made an impact on me is what "organic" really means to farm animals. It doesn't just mean they don't get unnecessary antibiotics - it means they can't get antibiotics when they're actually sick. So little baby cows that get sick can't be helped in any real way, simply because they're being raised to be organic. It's the obvious consequence, but that had never occurred to me before. 

Wildwood is a newer sanctuary, and become a 501(c)(3) in 2014. In addition to Shauna and her family, there are volunteers that keep it running - I might wait until the weather is better (it was rainy and windy while we were out there - but worth it), but I definitely want to attend one of their work events to help out. The animals are all so sweet; some friendly and desiring petting more than others (The goats in particular loved attention! One of the roosters liked to follow people around, but was a bit more variable on touching.), but you can see all of them are loving creatures, with emotions just like our pets. 

NW Veg 22 Day Veg Challenge & WIAW as a Vegan

I've been a vegetarian for over half my life, since my freshman year of high school. I've written before about my reasons (ultimately, it's because it's the best and healthiest choice for everyone involved), and how I'd like to go vegan but find that difficult. Food is part of our culture, and while vegetarian isn't that far out there, vegan is; it sets you apart, it makes it hard to participate in mainstream communities.

In that last post, I mentioned how I tried to plan it out in advance, and even that didn't work. Looking at that today - that's not at all how I make big decisions! The movement towards a vegetarian diet probably was somewhat gradual, but deciding that that was officially what I was doing was a quick decision, and then it was done. Jobs, moving, relationships, races - I'll consider all the options and possibilities, but I tend to make the actual decision spur of the moment, and never look back.

So it really shouldn't have surprised me when I got an email last week of a 22-day vegan challenge (run by NW Veg) just a couple days before the challenge started (last Saturday) - and decided to do it! It somehow seemed like the right time. 

I honestly don't expect this to be the catalyst to being vegan forever (though, who knows). But I really do want to be vegan - it's what's ethical, it's what's healthy, it's important - but I don't want to put the work into it or give up the things I enjoy. This is making it easier, setting up daily tasks to build the required habits, and it's only temporary - in three weeks I can have ice cream and a quesadilla again! There's built-in support through the challenge, and I've also been gradually building some other vegan support and community into my life, particularly through the No Meat Athlete running group. Abe already leaned more vegan, overall, than me (though he also has meat occasionally), so he's doing the challenge with me and obviously that's a huge help in keeping our house and joint meals free of animal products.

Two of my reasons for wanting to be vegan.

Any tips for sticking with a vegan diet? Especially in regards to (1) comfort foods and (2) socializing?

I also thought it'd be fun to share what I ate for the first day of the vegan challenge. It's a bit treat-heavy - I was trying to make it up to myself, a bit, for not being allowed to have the quesadilla that's become a diet staple in the past couple of weeks! And it doesn't look like I had many veggies, although there are greens in that ugly smoothie. But produce is something that could be improved upon, for sure.

Pre-run breakfast: Toast (Dave's Killer Bread) with gingerbread peanut butter (a stocking gift), an orange, and diet coke

Post-run: Some kind of really healthy-sounding Girl Scout cookies (Abe just bought a bunch at a a grocery store that sells, essentially expired or near-expired foods - he's always one for a bargain, and I'll acquiesce so long as it's things I don't think will kill me; this was the only kind of the 3 or 4 boxes he got that is vegan), almonds

Post-weights lunch: Smoothie with spinach, flax seeds, chia seeds, protein powder (Garden of Life raw), blueberries, water

Afternoon snack: Graham crackers (eh... not technically vegan because of honey - but an open package in the cupboard that I didn't want to go to waste) with frosting (homemade with Earth Balance, pudding mix (leftover from Nanaimo bars at Christmas time), powdered sugar, and water)

Dinner: Pad see ew, homemade by Abe, sans the usual eggs, La Croix (Abe just go a bunch because, again, on sale. I could get used to having these around!)

Evening snack: Pomegranate