Month: February 2015

No More Sausage

Published on by ashley@vegvibesLeave a comment

It is the week before the start of my Veg Voyage – starting with public vegetarianism – and I have one package of Trader Joe’s sausages in the freezer. This particular sausage isn’t worst on the market, by far. However, I’m not so sure about the quality of the chickens they used to make them and how they were treated (!!!!) so, based on my last post, I won’t be buying them again. For now.

I can’t help but wonder about the social impact my new lifestyle will have on my life outside of my house. For example, this past weekend I went to a wedding and ate pork, bacon and steak. (Oh, my!)

In perpetration for March, I thought it would be helpful to breakdown the options offered and what I will still be able to eat once I give up meat in the public sector.

For appetizers, I sampled a mini caprese salad on a toothpick (word to the wise, don’t plop the whole thing in your mouth at once… not cute.), seared tuna on crackers, a small potato pancake with a dollop of cream cheese, and tiny pulled pork sliders.

Then dinner came which consisted of a nice green salad followed by filet, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.

Dessert was made-to-order crepes with Nutella and whip cream.

Next up were homemade empanadas – that I am assuming had meat – with a side of chips and guac.

So? say this wedding was next month. What would I have been able to eat? Being vegetarian the following items would be have still been okay to eat:

  • mini caprese salad
  • small potato pancake with a dollop of cream cheese
  • green salad and whatever the veg option was (I believe it was pasta)
  • crepes with Nutella and whip cream
  • chips and guac

Still plenty of delicious options that I think would/will be totally doable but we’ll see how March goes…

Stay tuned and eat your greens.

** Note this blog went through a rebrand and is now veg vibes; which aligns better with the direction I organically gravitated towards. It’s all about your vibe **

The Veg Voyage: What and Why?

Published on by ashley@vegvibes2 Comments

I could barely get through the documentary Vegucated without pausing and Googling all things veg related like; nice farms to animals + Bay Area,  where can I visit an organic farm near San Francisco?, can you own a chicken in a condo?, how much are chickens?… the list went on.

Ok what you should know about me right off the bat is I have a tendency of getting REALLY INTO THINGS for a few days? ..weeks? ..months? and then, eventually, it fades.

This isn’t my first love affair with a documentary about vegetables… (Or my first Google binge.) I’ve seen Forks Over Knifes and Food, Inc. and other films that leave me furious, sad, and weary as the credits roll. I’ve read Food Rules, Skinny Bitch and The Kind Life. I’ve been informed about the meat industry and studies linking animal bi-products to disease. I’ve thought about changing my lifestyle and becoming a VEGAN but, honestly, my enthusiasm for kale, quinoa, spirulina and acai haven’t been backed with the energy to only.eat.plants.

So? I’ve decided to go on a voyage to try and discover if I really need meat and/or dairy in my life.

Right now I eat meat and dairy relatively regularly but consider myself to be health conscious. I only buy organic half and half for my morning coffee and substitute almond milk for baking, hot cocoa, and cereals. I am obsessed with vegetables. I eat at home 80% of the time, plan my meals, and try to shop at farmer’s markets as much as possible. In 2014 (and again in 2015), my S.O. and I made a new years resolution to only buy fresh cut meat from Whole Foods. I took it a step farther and only buy organic. However, sometimes I can’t resist the convenience, deliciousness and price of the $4 Trader Joe’s chicken sausages.

It’s a give and a take. right?

Although, despite my overall good intentions and efforts to eat healthfully, mindfully, and balanced, I have this nagging feeling that I could be doing better. While my diet is mostly balanced, pretty healthy, and takes a lot of brainpower to shop, plan, prep and eat accordingly, I feel I am missing a huge piece of the puzzle; compassion.

I am a big believer in the old saying, you are what you eat. Because, well, you literally are! According to WebMD, our skin regenerates itself appropriately every 27 days. I believe your skin is regenerated from the cells in your body that are formed by the food that you eat. Therefore, for me, it makes sense to want to eat high nutrient, high quality foods because I believe they literally become me. Based on this, I eat a salad almost every day and consume as many whole, real foods as possible. This lifestyle puts me in good health but what about the rest? What about the health of our planet and the animals I do eat. Where’s the brainpower dedicated to these issues? Where’s the compassion in my diet, my fuel, literally my life, for other living things?

I’ve decided my first step (starting March, 1st 2015) is to stop eating meat anywhere but my house. This makes sense to me because I can control this meat consumption and can make sure it is top quality. As mentioned, buying organic meat is already pretty much the norm on my grocery runs, however, I don’t have any standards when it comes to meat outside of my house and I want to change that.

Step one on The Veg Voyage? Public vegetarian.

I don’t anticipate this being overly difficult as I’m not much of a meat eater anyway. Just a few tweaks to some eating-out favorites and I’m golden. Also, a key point here is that I live in California, where the vegetarian and vegan fare is plentifully!

Stay tuned and eat your greens.

** Note this blog went through a rebrand and is now veg vibes, which I believe aligns better with the direction I organically gravitated towards; more about a vibe than a specific diet **