Oooohhhh, You're A Veeegan? Dealing With Stereotypes

Happy Friday! We?ve made it through another week. Hopefully it went smoothly.

I am so excited that it?s Friday! Dan and I are going out to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Our actual anniversary isn?t until Tuesday but since I?ll be out of town next weekend we decided to celebrate tonight. We?ve got a special date planned, so check back tomorrow for the details!

I wish we had more of this? our cake topper. It was A-MA-ZING even after being frozen for an entire year. I?m a bit sad we didn?t save some for this year. Dark chocolate cake, with coconut icing and dark chocolate ganache. Oh yea baby!?

I will say this though, I think it?s safe to say I will not be eating vegan tonight! A girl has to let her hair down from time to time, right?

But tonight hasn?t happened yet, but I did have something interested happen already today.

Oh You?re A Crazy Vegan?

Zoe is the biggest fruit eating, brussel sprout loving, almond obsessed dog I know!
Source

I went grocery shopping like I do every Friday. Because I had some videos and such to do after boot camp, I got a late start and decided to go to a different grocery store closer to my house.

While I was checking out the lady ringing my up made the observation that I didn?t have much meat in my cart. Uhh, okay. I?ve never had someone actually critique my groceries before.

I casually said it was because I was vegan. The eggs and lunch meat were for my husband.

From there I thought we had moved on? I just wanted to get home, it was lunch time!

But she had other plans, she then noticed my large supply of canned pumpkin and cartons of oatmeal and asked what I planned on doing. I replied I was going to experiment with a few pumpkin cookie recipes.

From there it went something like this:

Lady: Oh that sounds like fun, you know I just got the recipe for Cheesecake Factory?s pumpkin cheesecake. It looks amazing, would you like it??

Me: I am sure it is delicious, but no thanks, I don?t eat cheesecake.?

Lady: What? Why??

Me: Because, I am vegan??

Lady: That?s silly, you don?t eat cheese? You probably don?t get the nutrients you need either. I love my meat, you know we?re suppose to meat meat. I don?t eat red meat though, only chicken and because of that I take iron supplements? you have to take iron pills too.

Me: Actually, I am a nutrition consultant, I pay careful attention to my diet to make sure I am getting everything I need from a balanced diet. And no, I stay away from cheese and other animal products.

Lady: At least you ?think? you stay away from them, I bet you get served vegan and you just don?t think to ask.?

Me: (getting annoyed at this point), yummm? yea. Maybe.?

I just wanted to give up at the point and decided to let her win. I could tell the line building up was getting as equally annoyed as I was. I guess I should have just accepted her cheesecake recipe?

Cracks me up! Source

Why Argue? And Why Do I Have To Be ?A? Anything??

When people find out I am a vegan they are always surprised. They try to challenge me about my eating habits and choice of life. For crying out loud, even my own family has had a few things to say to me.

You know people that cut out gluten aren?t called ?anti-glutens?, people that eat a high protein diet aren?t referred to as ?carnivores?, so why is it that we have to be classified and stereotyped? It?s just as much my fault though. Perhaps I should just tell people I eat a plant based diet?

Maybe they won?t think I am a crazy, incense smoking, granola eating hippie??

Isn?t that the stereotype after all?

I guess we all stereotyped in some way??

The Choice For Veganism

I don?t think I ever told you why I decided to stay vegan. I know I explained back in March that I was going to do a 90 day challenge (inspired by Forks Over Knives) to see how eating a plant based diet would affect me. But I don?t remember if I ever explained the decision to continue it as a part of my ongoing lifestyle.

The 90 days based by pretty quickly and to be hones it was easy. Literally, I watched the movie with Dan and the next day we made the change. No transition period, I was committed within 24 hours.

At first, the food wasn?t good but with practice I learned how to transform our favorite meaty meals to yummy planty meals. I started to feel great about food. For the past decade I have been fighting my relationship with food. I had good times and bad times.

Eating vegan I realized, I had no bad times. I felt wonderful about food. When I was hungry, I ate. When I was full, I stopped. This was something I hadn?t had in years, and I loved it. To be honest this was my major contributor to staying this way.

I eat more now than ever, but I feel great about it. I have energy, my running times have never been better, I have leaned out a little, and I really do love the food.

The BEST chocolate chip cookies EVER!

So that?s it? I do it for myself. Not out of guilt because of the meat packaging processes, or because Hollywood starts says it?s the way to go? I do it because I like the way I feel. I am being selfish!

So that?s that. But like I mentioned tonight, I am going to let my hair down and enjoy some seafood with my amazing husband (who has been so supportive this whole time, and continues to be awesome).

Have a great night, this girl is off to enjoy some new granola before getting ready for the evening!

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