Soooooo Monday was the first work-day that I got through trying to be more animal-product conscious.
It went, OK.
First thing that I realized giving up cheese will be my biggest challenge. Like I hope I get there but I can honestly say I don't know if I will.
I have a coworker who is vegan, and while, contrary to what writing all about this on the interwebs might make it seem, I'm actively trying not to tell people about what I'm doing. I'm using this blog as a way to try to keep myself honest and push through, but those that know me know I have a tendency to start something and throw myself into it 100% and then drop it without another thought the next week. So I'm really trying not to make this into a 'thing' until I've got a better grasp of what the 'thing' is. Cryptic. I know.
Anyway, so this coworker who is a vegan is awesome. She operates with her dietary choices in such an inspiring way, she never complains about what's on the menu, or what could she eat, and never forces her point of view on others, but she's always quietly prepared for whatever food situations the day might throw at her, and happy to talk about her choices if someone is really interested. Clearly I am.
It's pretty common knowledge around my corner of the office that I spend my weekends watching documentaries, and there are a few others here who do too, so it's an easy water-cooler topic for Monday morning. When my coworker asked what I'd watched this weekend, I literally couldn't shove the words back into my mouth before telling her about Vegucated (she said it was a big part of her decision to go vegan), and that I found myself in this crisis area. She was so supportive, but again not pushy. It was nice to run some thoughts by/through her. Then she sent me a list of more vegan-centric documentaries for future consumption :)
Back to the cheese issue. I love cheese, have I mentioned that?
Encouraged by my co-worker to 'do what I can now' and 'adapt over time' I'm letting cheese slide for now. If I spend all of my time getting down on myself for eating or wanting to eat or thinking about eating cheese I'll go mad, and probably quit.
So for now, cheese it is.
Yesterday felt far more normal food-choice-wise than I expected it to:
- English Muffin for breakfast per usu (according to http://veganrestaurantshub.com/ Dunks is a-OK!)
- cut out the milk in my coffee (no big deal as it was really just for effect anyway)
- lunch was ordered in, I amended my Friday afternoon order request from the appetizer sampler of ribs and chicken and chicken and crab rangoon (mmm crab rangoon) to vegetable lo mein. Probably cooked in a vat of butter and chicken broth, but menu dissection is a ways off for me.
- dinner was exciting. I made a salad and I was excited for/about it! I happily plowed through a comically giant tupperware bowl full of spinach, tomatoes, carrots, snap peas, parsnips, bean sprouts, broccoli and (sigh) feta. a little bit of salt and red wine vinegar & oil. so good.
- snacked on some dark chocolate squares that didn't seem to have milk products listed on the ingredients and a few chunks of fresh (oooo so good) pineapple.
Then the farts. Oh man were there farts. I bet it was the lo mein, but who knows. It was pretty gross, and clearly worth recording.
So on that note. To Tuesday!
