Accidentally Vegan
Let me tell you about my first time
Googling for song lyrics has become a tiny bit easier, as Google has partnered with lyric licensing service LyricFind to display lyrics of popular songs, but things haven’t always been this easy.
When I was in High School we had some hard plastic rectangles, sometimes referred to as jewel cases that would hold the coveted sounds of our favorite bands on compact discs.
The great thing about it was it came with an opportunity.
The musicians provided artwork and if you were lucky, song lyrics, so that you could memorize your favorite words.
Instead of suffering from this: 23 Song Lyrics You’ve Probably Been Singing Wrong For Years.
This word of words, aka lyrics, opened up a way to share ideas in songs that would have been missed if you were just grooving along to the beat.
I was introduced to a band from Canada called Propagandhi. Amongst other things, they were Vegans and let you know about it in their songs and online.
I was willing to give it a try.
I worked at a Walmart grocery store at the time and had stocked several of the soy-based products and was familiar with where to get them.
Otherwise, I am not sure I would have even had a chance.
The problem is that unless you cook your own meals, the prepared vegan options suck.
Eventually I gave up.
I never was into health or fitness back in High School.
I didn’t play sports in school.
I had dropped out of Little League baseball at age 13.
I was now in college, recently broke up with a girlfriend, and needed something to motivate me.
Naturally, I decided to run a half-marathon.
Because that makes sense.
Quickly realizing that I would need to workout, in addition to just jogging, I hit the gym.
Working out stimulates appetite.
Hello protein shakes!
This was when I first got into the realm of food nutrition and realized that I couldn’t believe that I was alive after all the fast-food, soft drinks, and candy I regularly consumed.
My insides must have looked terrible.
I never quite got my diet right on my own, but I did ok.
It wasn’t until I met my wife until my eating really took a significant turn for the better.
She is an excellent cook and is able to make anything.
We didn’t eat great, but it was better than I had been.
However, she was starting to have some digestive issues that prompted us to experiment with what foods caused problems and needed to be cut out and what could stay.
Long story short, she has a thyroid issue that requires her to avoid sugar.
Through the pain we’ve learned to eat even more healthy than we’ve ever imagined.
At the start of 2016 we decided to try the 28 Day Challenge from The Engine 2 Diet.
We had been shopping at Whole Foods for awhile now due to the dietary dilemmas that we had gone through.
And the marketing department at Whole Foods is persuasive.
It wasn’t a hard decision because we were looking for a way to cut back our food budget and meat is expensive.
Also meat is hard to digest.
And dairy makes me gassy.
We had long ago switched to alternatives to milk.
The Engine 2 Diet “is about ridding your diet of the unhealthy foods (meat, dairy, refined and processed foods) and fully embracing tasty, nutritious, whole plant-based foods.”
We didn’t follow the diet strictly because we are human.
I had enjoyed the plant-based diet and the simplicity of meals that were easy to make.
There was no concern of under- or over- cooking meat.
Vegetables could be eaten warm or cold.
Which allowed for quick meals, which was great because we were both finishing up our MBAs.
At nearly the end of the 28 days, I said to my wife, “this is forever, isn’t it?”
I realized that our diets didn't just change for the challenge, they had changed for good.
Hence, “Accidentally Vegan”.
In full disclosure, we are not vegans, strictly speaking.
We eat eggs and occasionally meat.
However the large percentage of our diet is plant-based, but vegan is more attention getting and easier to describe for writing purposes.
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Also feel free to send donations to: PayPal.Me/michaelpaine because vegetables having feelings too.
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Great story, I've been vegan forever. Bravo Michael!
Sweet :) Not me, only a little over a year, but I'll never regret it!
Thanks @micheletrainer!
Whoop whoop! :-)
Thanks @robyneggs!
thank you for voting for my article! following and upvoted!
Thanks @knircky!
This was very well written (11 months ago) but whatever :) thanks for sharing your journey to almost vegan :)
Thanks for sharing. I began a challenge the end of February and find myself now eating a whole foods plant based diet, 99.5% vegan. Engine 2, though I haven't tried it, has some great recipes. I really like Rip Esselstyne's work. Great to meet a fellow whole foods plant based convert.
I like the work too.
For me thought I am interested in RIP vs his dad on this concerning the use of SOME olive oil.
What did you do concerning oil?
I don't use it in my cooking. Some oil is found in some of the food items I purchase (store bought hummas, the occasional bag of bean or corn chips or salad dressing). I make most of my own foods from whole plant foods and my recipes are oil free.
I leave out oil also, keeping it low fat is ideal for staying healthy on a plant based diet :)