Ok, strap in because today’s post is a long one.
I’ve mentioned/teased a couple of times now that Andrew and I have totally changed up our diet. Some of you may know that we were vegetarians but over the summer we transitioned to a whole food plant-based diet. Now anytime you hear someone say whole food plant-based diet know that this is a code word for a vegan diet.
Somewhere along the lines saying you are a vegan became a bad annoying thing to do, so now I feel like people are coming up with all these different codes for it. Saying you’re “plant-based” is now the thing. But I’m getting off on a tangent.
A little backstory. Andrew and I were both vegetarians when we met almost seven years ago now. He had been vegetarian for five years or so at that point. I had been a vegetarian for a couple of years prior but still occasionally ate fish. Over the last year or so (2018-2019), we noticed that we were accidental vegans at home. We didn’t consider ourselves vegans but we just never normally purchased dairy products.
Over the summer, we were in a “how can we optimize our health and lives phase” (it’s still going on so maybe it’s not a phase?) and watched Forks Over Knives and What the Health (both available on Netflix). It really got us talking about the phrase “you are what you eat” and how both of our families have some serious diet-related illnesses. All the evidence that we had seen kept pointing us towards going more plant-based in an effort to not continue the trends of diet-related diseases.
Aside from the health and wellness side of a plant-based diet, there are also environmental reasons that go into why we made the change. Andrew works in the food industry and so knows quite a bit about the environmental toll of factory farming. The amount of resources and space required to keep livestock is astronomical. The amount of freshwater required to produce some of the things that we eat really sticks in my craw. Then there’s the waste produced by factory farming. I won’t get into it but all this factored into our decision to go totally plant-based.
These are my two main reasons as to why I think making this dietary switch was the right choice for me and our family. I can’t speak for Andrew entirely but I know that he too is happy with this decision.
So while we were in Texas of all places, we finally called it and decided to drop all the dairy from our diets completely.
How is it going?
So far, not bad. Andrew does better with it than I do, that’s for certain. Personally, I miss cheese and knowing that I can’t have it makes me want it more. Since we eat at home 95% of the time (I did some really scientific math to get to that number), it’s not a big deal. I cook the same things basically on rotation until I get sick of them, then swap in something new. I think this is pretty common no matter what kind of diet you follow. Regardless, I’m no Martha Stweart so it’s not fine dining but we don’t starve.
Social situations are hard though, I’m not going to lie. Christmas was really stressful for me because if I don’t prep and bring food to a party, we don’t eat. I don’t think that it’s right to show up at someone’s home and expect them to know and have prepared food for our special diet. So for that reason, I always try to bring at least one dish to share and a snack for us. But things like sit down dinners (ie, Christmas dinner) can be hard to manage especially where there are a bunch back to back (ie during the holidays).
As far as seeing changes with our new diet, I have noticed some. Mainly my skin is clearer now than ever before without medical intervention. Now I am pretty confident that if I’m breaking out, it’s hormonal, not due to anything else. My skin isn’t perfect by any means but I haven’t had any bad bouts of cystic acne for a while.
Andrew also has had a couple of health improvements. He used to get occasional drops in his blood sugar that would level him (hypoglycemia). He told me that since we went full vegan, he hasn’t had any of those episodes.
So what do you eat?
There are two questions you get when someone learns that you’re a vegan 1) what do you eat? and 2) what about protein?
To address the first one, lots of things.
Smoothies, stir fry, burrito bowls, pasta, salad, sushi, the list goes on. Basically anything can be made vegan with the help of the internet. Even things that really shouldn’t be. Vegan mac and cheese just isn’t the same. Vegan “meatloaf” really should exist. But for real, Google your favorite food plus vegan and see what comes up.
I’m not a particularly creative cook so we tend to have the same types of things on rotation.
- broccoli, tofu, rice, some sort of sauce
- burrito bowls
- puttanesca
- black bean burgers
- quinoa salad
- tofu scramble and breakfast potatoes
- veggie sushi
- cheeseless pizza
- chili and cornbread
- shuffle and repeat
What about eating out?
We just don’t eat out that much. One part is our diet, another part is our budget (we choose to not spend a lot of money at restaurants), and one part we have a baby. So those three things combined just means that we don’t go out that often. But we didn’t eat out much before we were vegan either.
In Seattle, there are a handful of vegan-specific restaurants. Here are the ones that I’ve been to and my short and sweet thoughts if you’re in the area.
- Plum Bistro – I love their brunch menu but their food can be a bit on the heavy side though. They have a satellite bistro in the Seattle Center where I used to get lunch sometimes (I worked across the street).
- Wayward Cafe – I went for breakfast once and wasn’t a fan. More “old school” vegan options with lots of fake cheese sauces. They do have a new menu that launched this year so maybe I should give them another try.
- No Bones Beach Club – Fun atmosphere. We went for dinner for our anniversary and had a good time. Fun drinks, beach-inspired foods.
- Cafe Flora – We went for Valentine’s Day several years ago and I remember it being good. It’s very Instagramable. Now they have a satellite bistro at SeaTac airport and a bakery that specializes in vegan and gluten-free pastries opening in 2020.
- Araya’s Place – All vegan Thai food. It’s really good and the prices are comparable to non-vegan Thai restaurants. They have several locations around Seattle.
- Veggie Grill – It’s a chain so you know it’s reliable. I’m kinda “meh” about it but I’ve probably eaten at Veggie Grill more than all the others combined. There are two in Seattle (Downtown and University Village)
- Next Level Burger – It’s inside a Whole Foods but really shouldn’t be missed if you want plant-based burgers and milkshakes. So many options and all of them look delish! Andrew and I went once after an afternoon of kayaking and we devoured everything. Not a healthy option though.
- The Cookie Counter – All deserts all the time. I went once with my girlfriends and had a treat. I can’t remember much else other than the cute decor…
- Upper Crust – Ok this isn’t a restaurant but it’s the catering company that would provide the vegan and vegetarian options at my old office. Always super tasty! I looked forward to days when we had free lunch because it was always a really nice treat.
Also, I have to point out that we do live in Seattle, which is a very left-wing city and almost anywhere you go will have something for vegans and vegetarians. Almost any restaurant will have at least one thing on the menu that is either vegan or can be altered to become vegan. So it’s not that hard around here.
When we’re traveling we will look for vegan-specific restaurants in the area. If there aren’t any, most Mexican restaurants will have vegetarian/vegan-friendly foods. Pizza joints will make you a pie with no cheese. And now most restaurants have some form of ‘Impossible’ Burger on the menu (even Burger King). Most big cities have plenty of options and even the mid-sized cities that we’ve visited have at least a handful of options. We went to an all-vegan restaurant when we were in Venice in 2018, that was a standout experience. Even in Houston, TX, the BBQ capital of the world, we found good options for all vegan food.
Fast food options are tricky plus I’m no aficionado. NW Taco Time is our go-to around Seattle (classic veggie burrito, extra pico, no cheese, no ranch). Chipotle always works out. Burger King has the Impossible Whopper (you have to ask for no mayo to make it vegan). Starbucks has oatmeal if you need breakfast on the go but nothing else food-wise. Lots of higher-end grocery stores have hot food bars that have plenty of vegan options. Whole Foods saved me during some travel last year.
To be honest, the hardest part is social situations like I already mentioned. Eating at someone else’s home can be tricky because I never expect someone else to cater to my specific diet. But overall, restaurants aren’t that hard.
My Favorite Vegan “Plant-Based” Resources.
If you’re interested in learning more about a 100% plant-based diet, below are some of my favorite resources.
Resources: Movies
- Forks Over Knives – This is a great movie focusing on the health benefits of a whole food plant-based diet. I’d recommend starting here if you’re interested in learning more about it. They also have a website, app, cookbooks, etc
- Game Changers movie – A pro-vegan movie for the manly men in your life. Basically a bunch of vegan big shots in Hollywood got together to make a movie about vegan athletes, Jackie Chan and Arnold Swartzneger included. I really liked it. It’s all centered on how a plant-based diet can help your body recover after workouts and injuries. No sad animals in this one. They also include all their citations on the screen so you can look up the different studies they cite as you’re watching.
- What the Health – Honestly, it’s quite cheesy (pun intended) and I wasn’t a fan but it’s considered one of the top movies on the subject so I didn’t want to leave it out but watch it with a grain of salt (or a full shaker).
Resources: Blogs
Most of my vegan culinary experiments come from blogs rather than cookbooks. These are some of my favorite sites that I go back to over and over again, plus some of my favorite recipes.
- Thug Kitchen – This blog used to be much more active. Their recipes are delish and now they’ve expanded into a series of cookbooks which are fantastic! Just beware there is strong language used in all their products.
- It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken blog – I have followed this blog for years and use lots of her recipes. Some favorites: Vegan Cornbread, Tofu Bolognese, Tofu Crumbles
- Minimalist Baker – One of the big food blog that has tons of vegan and gluten-free options. Some favorites: Grillable Black Bean Burger, How to Make Tofu Taste Good, 1 Bowl Vegan Cakes
- Budget Bytes – Another great food blog that isn’t solely vegan. She focuses on low budget meals that are easy, quick, and packed with flavor.
- No Meat Athlete – I used to follow his blog pretty closely about 8ish years ago when I first quit ballet and started getting into running. Now it’s a very different kind of website with merch and cookbooks
Resources: Cookbooks
I don’t use many cookbooks because the internet is so much easier for most things. However, I have a couple that I do really like:
- Thug Kitchen 101 – This is their quick recipe cookbook. All under 1-hour and most are 30 minutes or less. I really liked that they had symbols to show which freeze well, are good for parties, are longer/quicker, etc
- Thug Kitchen – The first Thug Kitchen cookbook. I use the 101 version more but this one is still really good
- Forks Over Knives Family Cookbook – A great resource on top of easy family-friendly recipes if you are transitioning to meatless with kiddos or want to make sure they are getting proper nutrition on a plant-based diet. They also cover sticky situations like when people question your parenting, plant-based at kid parties, dealing with school lunches, etc.
Whoa, that was a lot. If you’re still with me, thanks a bunch for your interest! Let me know if you have any other questions about our change to an all plant-based 😉 diet. I’d be happy to answer them.
