Reflections on three months of being vegan (well, actually, non-dairy vegetarian)
by Pace on February 2nd, 2009 @ 3:03 pm in
Health
Tags: food, vegan, vegetarian
I’ve been vegan (well, technically, non-dairy vegetarian) since November. Here are some of my observations from the last three months. In general I’ve felt much better since I stopped eating cheese; here are some specifics.
The cheese pizza experiment
In early January, I was still craving cheese. I decided to eat a cheese pizza to see what happened. I was irritable for three days and congested for a week. It wasn’t worth it.
Cutting out dairy was a double-or-nothing for me. When I stopped eating dairy, I felt better, more clear-headed, more compassionate, and I had more energy. But then when I ate that cheese pizza, I felt far worse than had been my previous baseline when I was just plain old vegetarian. It was as if my body had adjusted to the non-dairy state, and trying to go back was horrific.
Soy cheese may contain dairy products
We bought some soy cheese. The second ingredient was milk products, but we found that out a little too late; I’ve been congested ever since I ate it. It was apparently for lactose intolerant people, but whatever it is in dairy that messes me up, I guess it’s not lactose, because the soy cheese definitely messed me up.
I don’t want potato salad anymore
I used to love potato salad. It has eggs in it, but since I’m not strictly vegan, just non-dairy vegetarian, it was technically okay. But the lonely container of potato salad just sat there in the fridge until it went bad. It just felt heavy and icky and it didn’t sound appetizing anymore. This is weird to me, and pretty awesome. I don’t have to constantly exert my willpower to stop eating things that are bad for me, because they just stop being appetizing. It’s neat. (:
I eat entire bowls full of nothing but vegetables
For anyone who has known me for a long time, this will probably freak you right the hell out. I used to be The Vegetarian Who Doesn’t Eat Vegetables™. Now I eat vegetables with a little sauce and spices. I eat vegetables with rice. Yesterday I ate a red pepper like an apple. It’s yummy! Once I stopped bombarding my taste buds with synthetic crap, I started being able to actually enjoy the flavors of all this natural food.
Kyeli and I have decided to try eating only raw food for the entire month of February. We’ll let you know how it goes! (:
- Related posts:
- Are you a Most-enator or an All-ifier?
- Don’t go to the cheese factory
- How to Live the Life of an Outsider and Enjoy It!
- Happy Birthday, Kyeli!
8 Comments!
#2 Posted by 
James | Dancing Geek on February 2nd, 2009 3:56 pm | link
“I used to be The Vegetarian Who Doesn’t Eat Vegetables™” – hehe, immediately made me think of The Little Train that Could!
Thanks for writing about your transition. After reading various experiments of Steve Pavlina’s I’ve been intrigued as to how to survive on a diet with less gunk (which seems odd, because, well, it is, but gunk is what we learn). I’ve started eating peppers raw and loving them, which seems totally odd to me, along with getting more fruit and veg. It’s not a major lifestyle change (that wouldn’t work, yet) but knowing that it’s odd for a self-proclaimed vegetarian to be able to do that, that it takes time for these things to kick, it makes me feel less of a fraud. So thanks. :)
#3 Posted by 
Joely Black on February 3rd, 2009 6:00 am | link
I found the same lightness when I quit eating heavy carbohydrates. I’m curious to see what happens as you try out only eating raw.
#4 Posted by 
Megan M. on February 3rd, 2009 7:02 am | link
Once I stopped bombarding my taste buds with synthetic crap, I started being able to actually enjoy the flavors of all this natural food.
WORD.
@Joely — same here. The idea of eating bread/wheat/grains is really ugh, unappetizing to me now (in addition to sometimes causing me actual horrible arthritis pain, HA!) so even if it weren’t for other effects, I’m not sure I can really imagine eating it. This goes for a lot of “normal” foods for me now.
#5 Posted by 
Ellen Naylor on February 3rd, 2009 10:10 am | link
Your post hit a note with me, as I need to do a body cleanse. Dairy is not my friend either, especially milk which I gave up years ago. Cheese is much harder, but it’s going to go away again. I find that the brown/wild rice blends are very satisfying with a bowl of veggies. If you get good quality veggies they don’t need a lot of spice. Last night I did a veggie stir fry and forgot the salt and pepper, but did include lots of garlic. It was way OK. BTW we love Pamela’s pancake mix, which is rice flour based. Instead of water use, soy/rice or almond milk. We add bananas, blueberries and nuts…yummy. Let us know how you do with raw foods. I find I need the heat during the winter.
#6 Posted by 
Julia on February 7th, 2009 12:09 pm | link
There’s a protein found in milk that some people have problems with, casein. Watch out for that word on labels now!
#7 Posted by 
scwizard on February 25th, 2009 9:48 pm | link
Once I stopped bombarding my taste buds with synthetic crap, I started being able to actually enjoy the flavors of all this natural food.
I bombard my tastebuds with synthetic crap all the time (I don’t have as much choice in the matter as I’d like), and I LOVE the taste of natural fruits and vegetables.
However different people are different, I know a lot of people who prefer synthetic crap for some reason. I can’t help thinking though that the only reason they do is because they haven’t had a good apple, just bad apples. But then I’m like “want to try one of these apples, I got it from the farmer’s market, it’s fucking delicious” and they’re like “no thanks” and I’m like “???”
#8 Posted by 
Ratha on February 28th, 2009 3:11 am | link
The dairy in soy cheese is casein, the primary milk protein. It’s pretty special stuff, used for opaque white in watercolor paint, I believe it can be made into glue, and it is responsible for the way cheese melts. Vegan soy or rice cheese just doesn’t melt like dairy cheese does, and casein is why. A possible negative with casein is that it has been found to metabolize into a molecule that strongly resembles an opiate. There is disagreement over whether this substance actually affects humans like an opiate (e.g.: does it get out of the intestine into the bloodstream? does it cross the blood brain barrier?) but it has been hypothesized that milk protein acting like opiates could have a natural function by facilitating mother-infant bonding. Anyway, I went on a gluten-free, casein-free diet a few years ago and I really thought I felt higher energy and clearer headed as a result, but it was difficult enough to maintain the diet that I gave up. Well, I don’t know if this information has anything to do with milk products causing congestion for you, but if you are interested, try wikipedia for ‘casein’ and ‘casomorphin’ or this article is interesting reading: http://membres.lycos.fr/xbeluga/originsofagriculture.html
#1 Posted by
Justin on February 2nd, 2009 3:14 pm | link
I’m getting on a pescatarian thing right now, experimenting with diet to see what actually makes me feel, you know, right. It’s interesting to read your adventure and I definitely am interested in the raw food journey!
Playing with your food is fun.