Yo, veg heads! We’ve survived our Mondays! I know I’m celebrating with 3 liquid pounds of swamp water:
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Vegans are weird, man.
I thought I’d finish what I started and shoot some more vegan-love arrows your way. As always, share your own fab findings in the comments (like Renee’s favorite kind tacos!) and on my as of yet barren Facebook page. Who needs fans when you have tchotchkes?! (See my one-eared kitchen owl, above.) Like me or not, we’ll follow this list with:
5. Know your reasons for going vegan. I touched on that in Part I and wrote a whole post on the Rosie Glow diet rationale , but being aware of your own motivation for endeavoring to eat vegan is super important in many regards, not least of which being… people will expect you to defend your new lifestyle! Grandmothers will be concerned. Coworkers will look on in envy (disgust?) when you whip out your tupperware salads and homemade kale chips … how’s that limp egg-salad sandwich treating you, cubicle mate? Friends will want to know your why: are you in it for the animals? Did you pick up some hippie pamphlet at Kramer’s that ranted and raved about cow butt-induced methane gasses and now you’re on a mission to protect our ozone? (Such a pamphlet heavily influenced my switch to veganism back in college, I sh*t you not.) Are you afraid of hormone-plumped chicken breasts and pink slime? You should be. (Monsanto is the enemy, all… and I’m not one to collect enemies.) Do you just want to cut out cholesterol, increase nutrient density, have shiny hair and creamy skin and be a mega-babe until you die at the vine-ripened old age of one hundred and twenty four only to be reincarnated as a bendy yoga Barbie? Ok, I’m not saying that won’t happen… but my point was this: have an explanation prepared for why you’re doing what you’re doing, because inquiring minds will want to know: and on some occasions they’ll want to judge/take personal offense (which I never quite understand) or convince you that you’re nuts. Speaking of nuts – offer haters a loving spoonful of cinnamon toasted pecan butter, speak your truth (make sure you believe it, too!) and continue to get down with your bad self.
6. Another reason to nail down your purpose in going vegan? Said purpose will help you navigate your food choices. If you’re advocating animal rights and don’t give two toots about your health, you can live on Oreos and french fries forever and ever… but I really hope you give at least one toot about your health because you’re too fly to be sick and sluggish, friend! How can you conjure up the muscle power to douse fur coats in red paint if don’t eat your plant protein?! If you’re giving veganism a try because you’re serious about getting healthy – snaps, girlfran! Remember what I said before, though? It’s about what you do eat – more than what you don’t. Sure, a surplus of meat, dairy and eggs clogs up your system and you’ll feel lighter when you lessen that load. But you’ll get all those bendy yoga Barbie-inducing benefits by replacing all the calories you once reserved for animal products with nutrient dense fruits and veggies. I go through 4-6 pounds of greens a week. Really. But because health is still one of my primary reasons for maintaining my vegan diet, I don’t eat pasta for dinner… I eat a bunch of delicious stuff on top of dem greens!
7. Know your ratios. Huh? Here’s the “stuff” I was referring to, above: you need a mix of macronutrients at every meal: that’s fat, carbs, and protein… that’s the “stuff.” As with any omni diet, you have to experiment to discover which macronutrient ratio works for you. I’m not a huge believer in food diaries/WIAW type posts, but as an example, here’s how I divvy up my macronutrients (your body is different than mine! This is only a starting point):
Carbs: I tend to get most of my carbs from fruit, green vegetables, root vegetables and legumes (beans, lentils, tofu and tempeh are part carb, part protein… that’s what makes them such magical – musical – fruits.) I’m not anti-grain, and have been known to fall into an occasional morning oat bran rut or use takeout brown rice to sop up all of my curry sauce, but in general, I’m more interested in the fillings than the sandwich bread; the toppings than the pancakes (unless they’re my pb pancakes). I use traditional grains as a vehicle for the good stuff…
Fats: I love fats. I’ve been lovin’ on fats since before it was cool to love fats. The beauty of natural vegan fats is that they’re good for you. They don’t clog your arteries, they send signals of satiety to your brain so you know when to stop, and they help to give your hair and skin that vegan glow. Plus they do all sorts of marvelous things for your heart, nerve endings and synapses but I’m no doctor. Avoid processed trans fats – let it be known that when I’m preaching vegan health, I’m not talking about frankenfood – read labels! But eat avocados, nut and seed butters, unrefined coconut oil, olive oil etc. to your healthy heart’s content. If I had to pick a macronutriet… let’s just say I have an I <3 Fats T-shirt. FASHUN.
Protein: Vegans are asked all. the. damn. time. – “Where do you get your protein?” New vegan, don’t be annoyed! You and I know that there are a million and one sources of vegan protein: it’s in veggies to begin with (kale and avocado are especially high in protein), it’s in all of those carby-protein-y legumes I talked about (27 grams of protein in a serving of tempeh?! Baller.), it’s in quinoa, which is a pseudoseed, and grains like farro and kamut. Then there are nuts and seeds, which are both healthy fat sources and hefty protein sources (hemp seeds are crazy high in protein.) Try to explain this to whomever is suddenly worried about your protein intake. For some reason, the U.S. touts protein – most specifically, protein from MEAT – as the key to flat abs and fantastic health. You know who I think is behind it? Monsanto. I’m not saying that you don’t need to consider your protein intake – you do, and you should include a protein source at each meal – but it’s not at all difficult, and said protein does not need to come from an animal.
You’ll notice that most vegan staples, like legumes, nuts and seeds, do double whammy as proteins and carbs and proteins and fats. This is why vegans report better skin, hair, energy and overall zing: they’re ingesting a crap ton of nutrients, whereas before, along with their macronutrients, they were just ingesting crap.
You’ll need to experiment to discover your golden macronutrient ratio – the one that allows you to maintain your weight and keep your digestive system running. We vegans tend to be way too open about our digestive systems – but mine usually runs like clock work, and I have veganism and my macronutrient ratio to thank for a grateful belly and relatively flat abs. Expect your ratio to be somewhat dynamic based on your environment, stress levels, etc.
8. What should you not expect? Instant transformation. I know I jested about becoming a bendy yoga Barbie – and you can totally do/be her if you want to – but going vegan doesn’t equal weight loss unless you actively try to lose weight. A lot of staple nutrient dense vegan foods are actually very calorie dense (mostly those fats), which we need: but that’s why you have to play around with your ratios, to find your own happy weight. Going vegan doesn’t automatically equal perfect skin, hair and sleep, either – my hair’s been pretty much the same (poofy and unmanageable) forever and ever. I definitely think my skin’s taken on a glowier quality and even a different color because of all the nutrients I eat, but I still have bad skin days. And as you all know, I’m not a great sleeper. Overall, I do physically feel better as a vegan -but so much of it is mental. I know I’m doing my heart a favor. I know my carbon footprint is pretty small and that makes me happy, which in turn makes me healthier.
I think I’ll keep on keepin’ on with these posts whenever these BRILLIANT tips come to me. As always, ask me anything, you all! I promise I don’t bite (that wouldn’t be vegan) and I really, really love hearing from readers.
Thanks for sticking around with me! XOXO,
Rose
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
