The Journey Begins

Do you know what I just realized? I hate oatmeal. I hate the look of it, the texture and the taste. I still eat it though, even though I would much prefer bacon and eggs with a side of toast. Why do I put myself through this torture you might wonder? Well, I made a decision to go vegan on the first of January. That's right. No meat, fish, chicken, pork, dairy or anything that has to do with an animal product and my stomach. I decided to go cold turkey and skip the whole, "slide into it slowly by becoming a vegetarian first" deal. I decided I needed to either go "all in" or leave the table.

Why would I put myself through this, you may ask? Well, I am doing it for health reasons, not because I want to save a baby cow or something. Thanks to being a proud member of the "McDonald's Generation", I have a whole host of ailments ravaging my body. I would have probably kept happily on eating that crap also, if not for a documentary I stumbled upon while watching Netflix one day. It was called, "The Beautiful Truth" and the things they were talking about in there just seemed to make sense. They weren't just talking about slowing down things like cancer and heart disease through a vegan diet, they were talking about reversing it.

So fast forward to 11:30 or so on New Years Eve. I am parked in the Checker's Drive Thru ordering a Baconzilla burger with fries. I figured I would give meat the send off that it deserved, and anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge bacon fan. I wonder, as I eat the burger, what I was going to eat the next day. I had been doing a little research prior to making the decision, and making my family eat the research. I had dabbled with Seitan recipes, and some tofu stuff. I didn't however, know what I was going to have for breakfast....

So here I am, eating oatmeal on January 4th... Four days into my being vegan. Just so you know, I have plenty of options, but since at the time I didn't research "breakfast foods", oatmeal was on the top of the list. It's in the pantry, so I have to eat it or it's just wasted money. I would kill for a bagel right now with some tofu cream cheese, but I ate them all already. Well, truthfully, the family helped a little. You see, when I made the decision, they decided to make the decision with me, and they are all trying to follow with me. My wife is failing miserably, but she is making the attempt, which I love her for. My daughter is holding in there. She got funny looks in school cafeteria when she said she went vegan and asked what they had for her... Their reply was, "You're 14, why would you need to go vegan?". My son, who is 5, just knows he likes seitan because it's really tender meat, and he likes broccoli and carrots. He is the unknowing follower.

So if you have ever been curious about being vegan and what it takes, or just looking for something different for dinner, keep reading the future posts, because everything will be there in its raw, vegan form.