As of June, Andrew and I have been vegan for an entire year. I shared about our reasons for making the switch back in January. Well, we’ve kept it up for an entire year. Now what?
To cut to the chase, we’re going to ease up on being vegan. We’ll continue to eat a whole food plant-based diet at home but we’ll relax it when we’re out at restaurants or in social situations.
I’m not going to lie, it was hard at times. Social situations were always a bit more stressful than they really needed to be. I wrote about it in this post but the holiday season caused me to have a mini-meltdown because if I didn’t make and bring food for us to a holiday party, we just wouldn’t eat. It was just an added layer of planning required during an already busy and stressful time and I never expect someone else to cater to my dietary restrictions in their home.
Going out with friends was also more difficult. I became “that person” who had to check the menu ahead of time or ask the waitstaff to alter a dish to make it vegan. It really does limit your options when you’re out at a non-vegan specific restaurant (but if you want to go to some of those, I wrote a post about my top six vegan restaurants in Seattle).
So that’s where we are. I don’t see us adding a lot of dairy back into our diets. Andrew brought home gelato on our anniversary and we both had some but since then it has just been sitting in the freezer. After a year, I guess my tastebuds have changed. It was just too much for me.
But overall, a whole food plant-based diet has worked out for both of us. We both lost some weight, have lower blood pressure, and are generally living healthy lifestyles. I see us continuing along that and at the same time, I don’t think that the occasional little bit of cheese on a salad will derail that.
So that’s where we are right now. Let me know if you have any questions about a plant-based diet. I’d be more than happy to answer any of your questions
xo – Ana Luiza
