Month: February 2019

Gentle Eating: Mid-Month Update

The Ashley Rhapsody1 Comment

My Vegan month has been eventful thus far. 

I must confess, I’ve slipped up a few times. 

I went to A&W for a Beyond Meat burger and was very conscientious about stating boldly “NO CHEESE” at the drive-thru window. Then, about half way through eating the burger, I realized it was riddled with mayo. Oops. 

Last week, in a famished blur, I saw one of my students with a giant bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos. Before I could even think about Vegan anything I found myself making intense eye contact with said student and muttering, “What’s good?” as I reached out my cupped hands for Cheetos.  

In the same way I discovered mindfulness during my January of “Gentle Waste,” I’ve been realizing how much more mindful I need to be to find success living a Vegan lifestyle. No hazy brained adventures to the drive-thru in the morning, every restaurant visit requires very diligent reading of menus beforehand, and cooking at home requires a great deal more creativity and thought. 49864750_340699400105138_4016678476353372160_n

But with that said, when I put thought into my meals, I don’t feel that I am making huge sacrifices with my eating. One of the first things people said to me when they found out I was going to eat Vegan for the month was, “Sooo, you’re going to eat lettuce?” At that time I would ignorantly respond, “Yeah, I guess so,” however now I know that’s not always the case. Vegans are a creative lot and whether it be “burgers” or “cream” sauces, or “cheese,” I have been able to find delicious replacements for most things. I would choke a salmon with my bare hands for some sushi right now though. I do not have the patience or the time to be rolling my own sushi rolls. That’s another kind of extra that I’m just not. 

Stay tuned to my Instagram account as later this month I will have special Instagram live interviews with some talented Vegans.

For those interested, here are some great recipes and references I have discovered so far.

I found this TED Talk from Erin Ireland fascinating. Vegan or dedicated carnivore will find this a useful watch.

Plant Based News has been an interesting resource:

https://www.plantbasednews.org/?fbclid=IwAR0aP4eRC2fRx1cfDqh3dVqbiRir2GUt93ODlhju49zXFPQAXvDGZ8FEe8k

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https://olivesfordinner.com/2015/03/carrot-lox.html

Our “Before” baking our Cinnamon Buns
Erin Irelands “After” Cinnamon Buns (ours turned out delicious, but not this pretty

http://itstodiefor.ca/the-best-soft-and-gooey-cinnamon-buns-by-indian-rock-vegans/

Erin Ireland’s version of the Virtuous Pie “Stranger Wings” Pizza (This is one of my absolute favourites): http://itstodiefor.ca/buffalo-cauliflower-wing-pizza/

One of my favourite websites for Vegan recipes is: https://ohsheglows.com

Here’s a link to my “VEGAN” board on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/theashleyrhapsody/vegan/

 

 

February: Gentle Eating Rules for the Month

The Ashley Rhapsody2 Comments

Ecological Footprint: 1.9 earths (down from 2.3 in January), 19.3 hectares (down from 20.3 in January) 

I eat animals. 

I LOVE sushi, a good charcuterie board, and a breakfast platter adorned in animal products. 

I have also proclaimed several times in my life that if I were to ever discover I was lactose intolerant, there would be no need for me to go on. If I can’t partake in a hearty cheese board, what is life really about anyway? 

Here’s the kicker: I really love animals. I can not even watch a movie where trouble or harm befalls an animal. I can watch a movie where the entire human cast dies, and not miss a beat, but a dog gets injured and I’m a mess for days. Case in point: the new Dumbo movie is coming out… I sobbed… at the TRAILER! One glance at Dumbo dressed like a clown and being mocked by the circus crowd… Ugh, I can’t even talk about it anymore. 

I have been finding myself presented with this idea a lot lately: how in the world can I say I am an animal lover and also consume them? To take it a step further, I would never eat a dog EVER, why do I think a pig is any different? Or a cow? Or even a chicken or a fish (gasp)? 

Family Values

Much of the way I eat is reflective of how I grew up. Meat, cheese, butter, and milk were staples; I’m Italian for crying out loud, isn’t that a birth right? My husband makes the same retort; he is Ugandan, therefore it is his right to eat chicken and pork. But just because this is the way our parent’s eat, and our communities eat, does that mean it’s right? 

The New Canadian Food Guide

Canada recently rolled out the new Canadian food guide and there are significant changes from what I remember as a child. The biggest changes being the removal of emphasis on meat and dairy, and the focus on eating a plant based diet.

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Apart from the animal cruelty involved in the meat and dairy industry (which is indeed a big deal), there is also the matter of the damage these industries have on our environment. Here are just a few statistics from http://www.onegreenplanet.org:

  • Raising animals for food (including land used for grazing and land used to grow feed crops) now uses a staggering 30% of the Earth’s land mass. (Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, a 2006 report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization)
  • The massive amounts of excrement produced by livestock farms emit toxic gases such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia into the air. Roughly 80% of ammonia emissions in the U.S. come from animal waste (The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).
  • Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of the total release of greenhouse gases world-wide (this is more than all the cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined)  (Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, a 2006 report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization)

For the past few months I had been trying to transition my diet to “plant-based.” I was doing pretty well until December… and then I fell off the wagon… hard. Like, sausage and egg McMuffin hard. Now for the month of February I am going the cold-turkey route (so to speak that is) and am going to live that sweet Vegan life. My hope is that it sticks for good. 

My rules for February are few but mighty! 

  1. Eat zero animal products (I am not including yeast, or “bee” products)

Education: 

  1. Learn from a real life Vegan
  2. Watch: Food Inc., What the Health… Any other suggestions?