My Food Evolution and the Going Vegan Blog Experiment
I LOVE FOOD. Planning food, shopping for food, preparing food, experimenting with food, sharing food, learning about food and of course, eating food. Food is one of my greatest passions, along with yoga and writing. So WRITING about the FOOD my YOGA path has lead me to choose? This is bliss!
It hasn’t always been this way... I admit (with a slight cringe but also an acceptance that everything unfolds as it’s meant to) that as a young adult, any attempt I made to cook was likely to end in frustration with a burnt grilled cheese sandwich and then a run to a fast food joint! But somewhere in my early-20s (and probably around the time of the surging popularity of food television shows) I began to feel seriously interested in food. I became addicted to FoodTV and watched it any chance I got... I slowly learned basic cooking techniques and knife skills and then I started trying them on my own... I read every cookbook I could get my hands on and dreamed about what I would make next... I cooked. I failed. I cooked. I learned. I cooked. I succeeded!!! I became braver all the time. I began to trust my own tastes and intuition, realizing that once there is a foundation of experience, it becomes possible to create delicious meals without a recipe. Cooking became fun! I started entertaining and developed a passion for sharing good food with others. I planned parties around food themes: a mexican fiesta here, an all-american summer barbeque there, a lobsterfest inspired by an east coast road trip, an elaborate gourmet Thanksgiving dinner.
I even began to dream about opening my own restaurant one day!
Meanwhile, my 10-year journey on (and off) the path of yoga had evolved into a daily practice. As my awareness of body and mind grew, I began to sense that some of the foods I was consuming were not serving my body or soul. My morning yoga practice would tell me when the meal I ate the night before was not good for me, and for the first time in my life I started to really feel and personally connect with how powerful proper diet and nutrition could be.
Then I adopted 2 puppies. Becoming a “mom” filled my heart with such incredible love! I played with my girls, rubbing their sweet little puppy bellies and looking into their beautiful eyes, and I realized a truth I had always known deep down but pushed far away from my consciousness: animals have feelings, they are living beings, they do not want to suffer. I could not kill and eat them anymore. How could I love my dogs but pretend a cow would not look at me with that same light of life in its eyes, or that any being would choose to be confined and tortured and killed if it could help itself? How would I feel if that happened to my girls? By adopting my dogs I became aware of my responsibility to PROTECT LIFE... and that responsibility extended to ALL LIFE, not just the lives of those most closely connected to me.
So I became a vegetarian, and my entire food world changed.
I stopped eating meat and poultry... and I felt GREAT! The shift in my energy, easier digestion and elevated mood were all the proof I needed to know I was doing the right thing. I never went back! After a month I felt so good that I didn’t need my fish “crutch” anymore so I quit eating that too. Next went eggs; to me they seem clearly more animal than vegetable. I gradually stopped eating those too.
Dairy? Well, not so fast...
As I shifted to a vegetarian diet, I found myself learning about food all over again. I was happy with my decision, but it was challenging at times because I had to learn to cook in an entirely different way. In the beginning, this consisted of trying to duplicate my favorite meat-based meals in vegetarian form. Lots of packaged foods, imitation meat products, and disappointments. Not healthy OR delicious! I also ate a lot of pasta, pizza and vegetarian junk food. But over time, I stopped craving the familiar foods of the past and trying to recreate them. I started learning how to use whole foods like fresh vegetables, beans, and grains to create delicious, healthy, and satisfying meals. I came to realize the value and importance of eating local, seasonal food and choosing organic whenever possible. I ate out less and less. I joined a CSA and started shopping at the local farmers' markets. I made soups and salads and sautees and stirfrys...
And I still ate A LOT of pizza!
While my food path continued evolving, my yoga path did too. I continued to practice passionately and felt myself changing inside and out. Gradually the parts of my lifestyle that were no longer serving me began to fall away. Just as there was no longer a place for animal consumption in my life, hanging out with negative friends or working at an unfulfilling job just didn’t feel right either. I got healthier. I got happier. I fully believed in the power of yoga to bring about positive change in the world and began to teach. I found Ashtanga Yoga, a traditional and powerful system of yoga which I now practice daily and teach. Ashtanga led me to India, where I’ve spent much of the last 2 years immersed in my yoga journey: practicing, traveling, writing and eating delicious vegetarian indian food!
But still, something else needed to change.
The dairy. Oh, the dairy! Milk, cheese, and yogurt were HUGE in my diet, especially in India. I loved my cheese and curd and chai. My body got along with it. But my conscience was a different story. Just as I always knew deep down I shouldn’t be eating meat, I’ve also felt that dairy was not quite right either. But I loved the taste of these animal products I was consuming and the ease of maintaining a lacto-vegetarian diet, so I kept avoiding the day I would finally give up dairy by telling myself “One day I will go vegan... someday, but not yet... vegetarian is easy but vegan will be so hard... but one day I'll do it... blah, blah, blah...”
About five months ago that day arrived.
In the few weeks leading up to my becoming vegan, the universe brought me the motivation I needed to finally shift: an experience drinking fresh, warm cow milk that brought the reality of the fact that the milk was made for baby cows and not me right in front of my face, and a new partner who is vegan. Add those things to the years of subtle dairy guilt I had experienced since becoming vegetarian, and it was enough; I’d had enough. It was time to move into a new stage and continue my food evolution!
I IMMEDIATELY felt a huge weight lifted from my conscience and incredible happiness and excitement about the change.
In the months since I made the change to a vegan diet I’ve also left India, attended my first Burning Man festival, traveled the west coast of the US, visited my friends and family in Detroit after a year on the other side of the world, and moved to the little island of Kauai with a new partner where I am living and teaching Ashtanga yoga... Wow! That’s a lot of change all at once, and those last months of traveling without a routine or a kitchen left me feeling slightly less than fully strong and vital. I started a food journal to bring more awareness to my overall diet and see if I was missing anything I might need. After a couple weeks of heightened food awareness, the food diary felt like such a good idea that this blog was born.
So here I’ll share my journey and see how it goes and grows: 1 year of daily posts recording every meal I eat! I’m planning to learn a lot more about food and nutrition as my diet evolves this year, and intend to experience optimum health, happiness and vitality by consuming a conscious and compassionate plant-based diet. I also hope to slowly shift my food choices to be mainly local, organic, and minimally processed. It’s a work in progress, and sure to be interesting!
I still dream of opening a restaurant one day... fresh, healthy, local, organic, vegan and attached to a yoga shala of course! It will be a place where I can share my passion for food and yoga with others and lovingly feed their bodies and souls... and my own at the same time.
My food evolution has been a long path, but hey, sometimes it seems that slow and steady is the best way to make a lasting change... and I’ve enjoyed every step of the way! This new journey into veganism is the most fun yet and I’m excited to watch it unfold. Please join me by following, sharing the blog with your friends or on facebook and posting your questions, comments, advice and support... and maybe you’ll be inspired to add the occasional vegan meal to your diet or to GO VEGAN too!
