Final Thoughts

The project ends today.

Wait, don't leave yet. I have decided to remain vegan.

These are my final thoughts because I felt I needed to summarize my thoughts so far, but I am going to continue updating this blog. Mostly because I enjoy trying out vegan recipes, but also to continue tracking my progress.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this project. It had transformed me.

Back to the beginning:
On October 6th, 2010 I read an excerpt from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Upon reading it I could not longer eat animals and decided to try a vegan lifestyle. At the time I was eating animals typically twice a day or more.

Over the past 2 months I have struggled to balance the new diet and have been forced to continuously affirm why I care enough to continue. I slipped up and ate animal products for 3 days in November, but other than that I have successfully changed my life.

I feel healthier, happier, and all around have more energy. My heartburn is still gone (it came back when I slipped up and ate meat) and, as I said before, that alone is a reason to continue. I will remain a vegan and hopefully the stories and recipes I have shared so far have helped some of you reduce your consumption a little at a time.

To wrap this up I would like to take this opportunity to see if anyone has any questions about my experience.

Thanks so much.

-Jeffrey

I cheated.

I decided to start this post with a picture I saw on Lamebook.com to lighten the mood. 

But really, I ate meat. It started to wear on me over time. I was tired of having to prepare every meal and not feeling full. 

So, I ate a hot dog. I know what you're thinking. Why a hot dog? Well, it gets worse. 

After that I ate meat for 3 days straight. Yeah I felt bad, but I had detached myself from the fact that it was an animal.

This brings me to my reflection.

Why was I able to eat meat? Why after all of the emotional pain I felt for the animals I read about was I able to overcome that belief and give in for days? I believe it is because of what Carol Adams calls an absent referent in "The Sexual Politics of Meat."

"the absent referent is a process by which one refers to the experience of a subject/person without ever referencing that subject/person directly. Thus, the original reference becomes absent through the abstraction of butchering (making a living subject into a dead object), terminology (meat), and metaphor (treated like an animal). (p51-53)" (This particular wording was taken from a quiz given to me by Professor Adam Weitzenfeld.)

The idea is that by no longer calling the butchered cow "cow" and instead calling it "steak" or "hot dog." We separate the item from the animal. I was not eating the cow or pig that suffered. I was eating a hot dog or a burger. When I say "burger" out load the immediate image that pops into my head is a hamburger patty on a bun. There is no image of an animal. I was able to distance myself from my feeling towards the suffering of animals by removing the animal from the equation. 

I have since returned to a fully vegan lifestyle, but it has become more difficult. I plan to continue posting on this even after this project is over. The next post will be a final statement. 

A Vegan Thanksgiving

So, I will be blatantly honest. I am broke.

At the moment I am between jobs and struggling for money.

Luckily my parents are wonderful and extremely supportive of me.

So... my mother gave me some money for Thanksgiving. I couldn't find a celebration roast anywhere close (we spent the weekend near Galveston) but amazingly the grocery store in small town Texas City, Texas has a HUGE organic/vegan/health food section.

I decided not to cook anything difficult and went straight to the processed instant foods that looked "vegan enough." By this I mean none of the products contained any meat, eggs, dairy, honey, gelatin, or anything I knew used animal products, but some of the products had ingredients that may have been questionable. I didn't look up every single ingredient I simply decided that I would do my best.

Here is what I ended up with:

I looked up the Pork Stove Top stuffing and it lists it as vegetarian. I double checked the box and it looked like it was. If I'm wrong correct me.
The faux chicken rocked! It honestly tasted like chicken nuggets.

Now for the finished product:

The "chicken" looks a little burned but oh my was it juicy and delicious. The meat eater (who had steak) even tried it and loved it. He said he would eat it anytime.

As I reflected on my Thanksgiving I was extremely proud of myself. I had a huge delicious meal with plenty of leftovers and I honestly didn't feel like anything was missing.

When I read my friends and family's facebook status updates I started to think about the hundreds of thousands of Turkeys that are killed each year and I felt ashamed that I accepted that as the reality of the holiday. It began to upset me that everyone else still does accept it. I am still dealing with the emotions I am having toward the people I love who continue to eat meat, but that is something to be discussed in another post.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Love,
Jeffrey

I'm soooooooo sorry.

It has been TWO WEEKS since my last post.
I will make it up to you.

I have a ton of updates to post, but I simply haven't gotten around to it, so the next post will be about my Thanksgiving since it is the post I am most excited about. Then we will go backwards a little bit and I will post the rest.

Life is good.
I'm still vegan.
I've missed you.
I'm glad you're all still here and I'll never leave you again.

-Jeffrey :)

Hungry Hungry Hippo

I have this problem where I rush out of the house and don't eat breakfast.

Since I can't typically eat anything from a convenience store and don't want to spend 1.50 for one apple I don't eat until I get home.

Once I get home I take out leftovers and scarf them and ride my bike straight back to school.

When I do eat breakfast , which is typically oatmeal, I feel like I am am even hungrier by the time lunch rolls around. 

No matter what I do I am hungry ALL THE TIME!

I feel like because it takes almost no time to digest my food it doesn't keep me full for very long. I'm not gaining weight. In fact, I'm staying at a pretty healthy weight, but I think about food all the time and I eat way more than I used to.

I feel very healthy, but it is frustrating to always be hungry and thinking about food. Even my partner "the meat eater" has found this to be true and has expressed his frustration.

I want to eat something that will keep me full and satisfied for a while.

Most awesomely graphic and terrifying hungry hungry hippo illustration:

I feel like the pink one.

-Jeffrey

PS.
Upon rereading this update, maybe I need to stop complaining. :)

Baba Ganoush Recipe - Thanks to Gigi

My Environmental Philosophy class is doing an "Ethical Potluck" next class and one of the students had to do hers today because she won't be there.

It was delicious so I asked her for the recipe. I've had baba ganoush plenty of times but I've never made it myself. I am going to make this recipe ASAP!

Baba Ganoush Recipe
Eggplants - 3 Medium Size
Tahini Sauce
Lemon
Garlic - About 5 cloves
Olive Oil

Dip:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Drizzle eggplants with olive oil, bake in oven until soft (I usually guesstimate after 10 minutes.)
Take out insides and discard skin
Mix a few table spoons of tahini sauce (however much you want... just to taste)
Squeeze in about a half of a lemon
Soften 3 to 4 cloves of garlic in the microwave for about 10 seconds, press through a garlic press and add to mixture
Drizzle Olive oil on top

Chips:
Cut tortilla into chip sizes
Place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil
Add alt and pepper to taste
Bake until golden brown

This recipe is courtesy of Gigi Kraynick

Oh, and here was her reasoning on the food being ethical:
She used the eggplants from her parents garden and bought the homemade tortillas from a stand. Sounds pretty good to me.

-Jeffrey

Feeling Better

I am feeling much better.

My stomach doesn't constantly hurt anymore and my headaches have gone away.

The biggest change I have seen is that my heartburn has gone away.
I have had terrible acid reflux since as long as I can remember. It caused ulcers and was very painful. I've taken vitamins, Aciphex, Prilosec, Tums, and chugged more than my share of Pepto. Nothing ever worked.
I have not noticed any acid reflux it a week or two.
This alone is a large enough benefit to me to remain vegan.

A list of the benefits I have found thus far:
After I eat meals I no longer want to immediately sleep
My acid reflux is GONE
I feel better knowing I am making at least one step toward reducing suffering
I feel healthier
I'm getting better at cooking vegan
I help my friends eat healthier when they eat with me
I save money because I can not eat out

I do think that I will remain vegan. I just do not see how I can return to my old style of meat with every meal. The period of discomfort while my body adjusted made me think that whatever it was my body was getting rid of was not good.
If I returned to eating meat I would have to consciously ignore what I now know about the conditions of the animals I am eating.

We'll see. I still have over a month to go. :)

-Jeffrey