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Desserts without dairy? Get Me The Vegan Dessert Connoisseur

August 30, 2010 | 3 comments

Desserts without dairy? No problem. Guest blogger and Vegan Dessert Connoisseur Tasha Edwards, aka The Sweetest Vegan explains how her sweet tooth wasn’t going to stop her going vegan. – George

sweetestveganI first decided to try out veganism as a way to lose weight just over a year ago. I really thought I was fat, and my BMI strongly supported this. I decided to try it out for 30 days and see what happened from there. I really wanted to lose weight, so I stuck to the diet and exercised. 30 days later, I felt healthier than ever and was 10 pounds lighter.

But then trouble started. Knowing my 30-day challenge was over, I started to slip in desserts here and there, started making exceptions for seafood, and finally I just gave up. Over the course of a year, I went back and forth between vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore.

But all the while, I could not look at meat the same way as before. I discovered that it was not the meat that tasted good, but the seasoning. Knowing I could season vegetables just as well, I knew I could put down meat. But I couldn’t stop myself from indulging in mountain high desserts and decadent treats. When I went out to dinner, I would order an appetizer, skip the entre, and drink water, just so I could have dessert.

My obsession with dessert is why I was gaining weight, so I knew the vegetarian lifestyle was not going to solve my problem.

Around May this year I looked myself in the mirror and decided to try veganism again. On June 14 I challenged myself to a 365-day vegan challenge. Hey, it worked for 30 days, why not 365?

I am just over 3 months into my 365-day challenge. It’s the longest I’ve ever been able to last. I have an entirely new mindset about veganism this time around. It’s been about a month since I had even reminded myself I was taking a challenge. Being a vegan has become so much apart of me it just feels natural.

Some people may say, “Three months, that’s nothing. I‘ve been vegan a year (10 years, 20 years, etc.)” But we all have to start somewhere, and it starts with 1 day. If that is all you can do, just start with 1 day and work your way up. And in my personal opinion, the only way to be successful is to not stop eating the things you love. I will explain.

One day I just got fed up with not being able to eat desserts when I ate out, so I went and bought a vegan cookbook, searched around grocery stores, and googled vegan bakeries. With a little trial and error, I found vegan-friendly desserts. I tasted some of the most decadent desserts ever made, which is what The Sweetest Vegan is all about. I loved desserts before I went vegan and I still do. With portion control, I can still enjoy desserts and sweet treats. It is a testament that your taste buds do not have to suffer to be healthy. True foodies can be vegan too!

Another thing helping to motivate me is the way I think about veganism. When I first tried it, I would tell people “I am on a vegan diet”. Now I say “I am vegan”. Hear the difference? No? Re-read it. Also, I had only read one book about veganism before that first 30-day challenge. Now I’ve read multiple books, blogs, and watched my share of YouTube videos. It’s good to join the vegan community and get a broad perspective. Learning the pros and cons, hearing about others’ struggles and even the views of those opposed to it can help to motivate you and keep you focused on why you’re vegan.

I believe I’ll be vegan the rest of my life. With what I know now, I have no reason to eat meat ever again. My mission is to let everyone know that vegans come in many shapes, shades, and sizes. Some are old and some are new, and some become vegan for different reasons than others. Just remember – to be a successful vegan you have to start somewhere. Interact with the veg*n community, and with a little effort you can still eat the things you love.

For more information see The Sweetest Vegan.

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Why You Need A Vegetarian Diet Plan

November 20, 2009 | 3 comments

Am I the only one who thought the Atkins diet was totally perverse? What the hell? You’re going to lose weight by eating nothing but the most calorific protein-rich foods, ie meat, that you can get? Jeez. Does it work? I don’t know. Lots of people testified to its power. But I still think it’s perverse. And it sure as hell can’t be healthy in any sense other than the perceived weight-loss factor. Not to mention the expense of buying truckloads of meat.

Here’s an idea. Instead of following some bizarre meat-only diet that you can only do for a limited time period due to health hazards associated with it, and the fact that it burns a hole in your pocket, why not take on an easy, manageable, low fat, nutritionally-sound, healthy vegetarian diet that will save you money and help you lose weight at the same time.

But don’t just think cutting out meat will immediately lead to weight loss. You need to have an idea of what kinds of vegetarian foods to eat. In other words, you need a diet plan.

Long before I gave up meat I had a friend who was vegetarian. He was around average height and average build. At least that’s what I thought until we were taking in some sun. Without a t-shirt I could see that actually he was pretty hefty, especially around the middle. I couldn’t understand this at the time – I mean, he was a vegetarian. But then I got a look at his take on a vegetarian diet. He seemed to eat nothing but pre-packed freezer food. This stuff’s nice from time to time but it’s basically laden with fat, sugar and salt so if you eat it regularly, you’re going to put on weight. You might as well stick to sausages.

But you don’t need to take on the whole joyless detox diet with it’s dubious benefits, you can eat really well and your body will detoxify the natural way. The fact is that our bodies are not really built to cope with the quantities of meat that we consume. When we lived in caves, meat would have been the exception rather than the rule, compared with modern day consumption which is frankly off the radar – and hence all the health issues that are cropping up increasingly in the news. It’s no wonder you feel sluggish on your way to work.

The first step towards a vegetarian diet plan is, obviously, to cut out red meat. Red meat is so incredibly bad for you that this should be a no-brainer. And the agricultural over-production of beef is totally unsustainable and contributing heavily to climate change.

Next there’s reconstituted meat. Do you really want to know what’s in that? No I didn’t think so. Get rid of it and you won’t miss it.

Beyond that, make your own choices. A lot of vegetarians would say that eating fish isn’t really vegetarian at all and of course vegans won’t eat any animal or dairy produce. It doesn’t matter. Cutting out meat and following an organised vegetarian diet plan will be the single most healthy thing you could do for your body.

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