Exploits of a Vegan Wannabe

Almost every single time I am talking with someone and my being vegan comes up they will say to me,” I would be vegetarian/vegan if it weren’t for …..fill in the blank”.  This fill in the blank is something they have decided they can not live without and therefore it is the barrier to choosing to eat veg or vegan.

Because I work at a food demo station in a grocery store, this very conversation comes up more often than you would imagine.  I can relate to this line of thinking because that is exactly what I said for the entire fifteen years I was vegetarian, prior to going vegan.  My line was,”Yes, I am vegetarian.  I would be vegan if it weren’t for ice cream.”  The funny thing is while being vegetarian, I continued to eat fat free cottage cheese, scrambled eggs and any other non-ice cream related, dairy containing thing you can think of.

That way of thinking is very limiting. It is like suggesting that the one thing holding someone back from improving the lives of hundreds of animals is their love of grilled cheese sandwiches.  Because they can not give up grilled cheese sandwiches they continue to chow down pork chops and chicken fingers.  It doesn’t make any sense. It is too limiting. Just because I can not afford to rent a private island for a vacation does not mean  I will refuse to go to Florida and stay in a hotel.  Let’s open up our options a bit.

I would like to challenge these long held beliefs.  If you want to be a grilled cheese eating vegan than be one.

If you think you might enjoy a vegetarian lifestyle but MUST have corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day, then be a vegetarian that eats corned beef on St. Patricks Day.  Every single time you decide to have a meatless or dairy free meal you are positively impacting your life and the lives of all  living things that you share this space with. We are all connected.

Your choices matter and I assure you, being a part-time vegan or vegetarian makes a heck of a lot of difference. Don’t minimize your impact or sell yourself short.  Be your own vegan. This is your story. Only you can decide how it is written.

Have a delicious day.

Tags: being vegan-ish, compassionate eating, going veg, part-time vegan, trying vegan, trying vegetarian, vegan wannabe, vegan-ish