Two days ago, I was in the car asking my friend “Do you think we will ever have a vegan president?”
“Ha! No.”
I was quiet. That made me sad.
Yesterday, I was at work, and a different friend of mine said, “Hey! Did you know Bill Clinton is vegan?”
I smiled. That made me happy. Then I read this article. I watched the video included, and felt nostalgic for Bill Clinton being the butt of so many jokes. So many good jokes.
Anyway… Thanks, Bill, for being the most influential vegan in the world.
This is a new segment inspired by Sam, Lunchbox and Dylan (and Hansol, too!)
I was at work and just happily working away when I heard someone call my name.
“Hey, Meggan! Is this vegan?”
I turned around to see who was asking me and assumed it to be the beginning of a joke, like perhaps they were holding up a picture of a dog licking another dogs butt. But there sat a group of my favorites, looking bright eyed and oh-s0-innocent holding up a can of Kern’s nectar or Goldfish pretzels or lollipops or some other random food item.
“Let me see the ingredients,” I replied.
After examining the slightly disturbing list, I paused, deliberating over how exactly to deliver my answer.
“Well…. it is technically vegan, but I still wouldn’t eat it.”
“What? Why? Is it because it’s not organic?”
“Yes… But also mostly because of these 2 words: natural flavors.”
Dude, natural flavors are far from natural. Those 2 words can contain 28 or more different chemicals, compounds and fragrances.
“A natural flavor,” says Terry Acree, a professor of food science at Cornell University, “is a flavor that’s been derived with an out-of-date technology.” Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods. Amyl acetate, for example, provides the dominant note of banana flavor. When it is distilled from bananas with a solvent, amyl acetate is a natural flavor. When it is produced by mixing vinegar with amyl alcohol and adding sulfuric acid as a catalyst, amyl acetate is an artificial flavor. Either way it smells and tastes the same….
A natural flavor is not necessarily more healthful or purer than an artificial one. When almond flavor — benzaldehyde — is derived from natural sources, such as peach and apricot pits, it contains traces of hydrogen cyanide, a deadly poison…. Natural and artificial flavors are now manufactured at the same chemical plants, places that few people would associate with Mother Nature.
-Eric Schlosser, in his book Fast Food Nation.
Either way… Eating something that has added flavoring, “natural” or otherwise, indicates you are eating a highly processed food…. Which as a level 10 vegan, I just can’t do.
I used to love cheesy noodles, all warm and melty… Lately I’ve been craving something comforting like Mac n’ cheese, but I can’t hang with that boxed stuff, even if it is technically vegan. So I whipped up some delicious gluten free pasta with a cheesy sauce I created. If you are expecting this to taste exactly like salty cow fat, get over it. It doesn’t. It tastes like warm, nutritious deliciousness and I can totally hang with that.
Boil water for pasta. Cook pasta. When pasta is just cooked add chopped broccoli and zucchini, then drain immediately.
While pasta is cooking
Combine in blender:
2 tbsp hemp seeds or cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 small red bell pepper
Dashes of pink salt, onion and garlic powders, or whatever spices you like
Turmeric for color
Enough water to get to your desired consistency, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Mix everything until smooth. Pour over noodles and vegetables. Stay a child forever.
Just when I thought I couldn’t get any crazier about what I eat and how I eat it, I started reading about this:
Fruits can generally be grouped into 4 categories. Sweet, sub-acid, acid, and melons. Sweet fruits should only be mixed with sweet or sub-acid fruits, sub-acid fruits should only be mixed with sub-acid or acid fruits, or acid with acid (this is starting to sound pretty trippy, I know 
). Melons are in their own category and should be eaten alone. Usually, this is not an issue. I usually don’t mix fruits at all. I usually will eat, for example, an apple in the morning, followed 30 minutes later by some strawberries. Usually. However, I have been wont to enjoy the occasional smoothie, maybe for breakfast or a snack or a late night dessert. Unbeknownst to me, though, I have been committing gastrointestinal sins!! What I learned sure explains a lot of things. This smoothie I really enjoy from a favorite cafe of mine, is a melon-berry-mint concoction. It is oh-so-sweet and yummy but I always felt a little funny after eating it. Now I know why. The specific combinations of fruits are very important to prevent the “melon belly” I was feeling after these delicious beverages. So I made a little guide to stick on the fridge to help make smoothies delicious and digestable…. There are some variances in this list based on which website you check. This is what I have been able to figure out based on my research. This website was very helpful, along with a few others.
Bananas, dried fruits (figs, prunes, raisins, dates, apricots, etc), litchi, persimmon, durian, longan, sugar apple, grapes
Mango, apricot, nectarine, peach, pear, guava, cherry, fresh figs, blueberries, raspberry, huckleberry, mulberry (most berries) avocado, pomegranate, plum, grapes, papaya, strawberry, blackberry
Orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, tangelo (all citrus fruits), kiwi, cranberry, grapefruit, pineapple, tomato, passion fruit
Honeydew, watermelon, cantaloupe, galia etc.
Here are some smoothie combinations that I really enjoy. You can really put whatever you want. Sometimes, I will add some chlorophyll, or e3 live, or a tbsp flax oil or coconut oil.
1. Strawberries + Lemon juice + ice + agave
2. Blackberries + Blueberries + spirulina + agave +ice
3. Bananas + Hemp protein + ice
4. Bananas + Coconut water + coconut meat and flakes + ice + agave
5. This one used to be my favorite but apparently it is a major no-no: Bananas + orange juice + ice. Soooooo gooood……
Delicious, nutritious and yummy for your tummy. They are not super sweet, and they have lots of protein and fiber. I eat these for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. And in box. And with a fox. I would eat them on a train. I would eat them on plane. I love these cookies Sam I Am.
3 cups rolled oats (gluten free oats do exist!! Check your health food store, or order online.)
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup coconut palm sugar
1/4 cup dried currants
1/4 cup golden hunza raisins
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons hemp seeds
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. ginger
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 cup plus 2 T. melted coconut oil
2 T. cornstarch
3/4 cup water
Preheat oven to 400. Line 2 or 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix dry ingredients except cornstarch in large bowl. Add oil, mix thouroughly. Combine water and cornstarch in a separate bowl, whisk together and add to the rest of the ingredients. Mix again, and let the mixture set for about 5 to 10 minutes. Drop generous spoonfuls onto baking sheets, flatten into desired cookie shapes and sizes (the cookies do not really spread, so you don’t have to worry about them running together). Bake for about 15 minutes, or until edges are just browned. If you have racks, let them cool on racks after 5 minutes or so. Bake love, eat love, be love!!
Just over the last week or so I have been asked twice about the cost of being vegan. Over the last few years, I have been asked innumerable times “Isn’t it expensive to be vegan?” Being the fucking smartass that my dad raised me to be, I usually answer back something like “Isn’t a triple bypass expensive?”
But what it really comes down to is, no. Being vegan is not expensive. There are things associated with being vegan that can be expensive, like eating out, buying prepacked vegan meals and buying organic produce at farmers markets. Yes, those things can be expensive. But you know what is not expensive? Rice. Beans. Most of the world subsists on these completely. What else is not expensive? Carrots. Lettuce. Tofu is significantly cheaper per pound than meat.
Learning how to cook is one of the best things you can do for yourself, for your wallet, for the earth. You can make a healthful meal at home to take with you to work or school that costs significantly less than it would cost to eat out. Not only that, but bringing meals from home in reusable tupperware rather than disposable to-go or delivery meals lowers your carbon footprint. It’s like giving mother earth a hug.
You do begin to see a rising cost when you start shopping for organic produce and vegan “meats,” but there are ways to shop smart and to stretch your budget (I will talk about this in a later blog). I think the real cost for many people is not the actually financial cost that comes with being vegan, but the social cost. Once able to enjoy the late night chili cheese nacho runs with your friends, now afraid to sit out, alone, with a stick of celery, assuring everyone you much rather prefer this over the pile of nachos. There is fear of being ostracized for being different, and feeling left out of certain events, places, whatever. That I understand, and to those people I say, confidence is everything, but if you are not ready to face the world armed with carrot sticks and hummus, then consider your other options, like being vegetarian. You can still enjoy pizza and nachos and In-N-Out grilled cheese with the rest of the gang, and make a positive impact in your world.
Another thing to consider is where you are spending your money, and put a real value on it. How much do you spend on your television bill every month? New clothes and shoes? Movies? Is it worth it? Can you put a value on your health and the health of the planet?
