Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Bittman Goes Semi-Vegan

You've probably heard of Meatless Mondays, with the idea that going meatless once a week is good for you and the planet. Now Mark Bittman from the New York Times is advocating semi-vegan, where you go vegan for a few meals each week. Sounds good to me; sounds like what we do already, actually. DH and I aren't vegan and don't aspire to it, but we do enjoy vegan meals. I was toying with the idea of going vegan but I realized I had my... issues, shall we say, with soy so that went right out the door. Not that you can't be a vegan while avoiding soy, but soy products make the vegan diet so much more enjoyable. Products like tofu, soy bacon, (which makes the BEST BLTs) and Earth Balance, to name a few of the soy products we were starting to really enjoy. Going out was not a problem- tofu and soy-sauce-seasoned meals abound at ethnic restaurants all over the place. This darn soy sensitivity makes things so complicated!

But that's not what I intended to blog about; got carried away with a rant for a second there! What I want to blog about is the many, many delicious vegan recipes that you can find on the web, and that yeah, going vegan for a few meals every week really is a good, tasty, healthy way to eat. Try some of the links I have listed on the right; many of them are to vegan blogs. Robin Robertson at Vegan Planet is a good place to start; I always have several recipes out of each of her cookbooks I've purchased that I really enjoy.

For me personally, I don't advocate going vegan 100%. I don't think it's healthy for a lot of people. Some can do quite well and even thrive on a vegan diet, but there are many others who can't. You have to know yourself and see what makes you feel the best. I can tell you I feel pretty darn good on a vegetarian diet- I'm happy DH and I made the switch.

Here's a link for you since my link embedder thingy seems to be malfunctioning tonight: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/01/magazine/eat-vegan-recipes.html?ref=magazine

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks! Finally A website showing how to be semi-vegan! I want to go full vegitarian- except for the occasional sushi- and a part of me wants to go vegan, but it seems too hard. Hopefully this could help me, I'll look at the posts, thanks again!

Kim said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! :) I hope you found the Bittman article helpful. Lately I've taken to the idea of using the percentage description the raw foodists tend to use- when you talk to them they'll tell you "I was so-and-so percent raw for a couple of years, then I've been this-or-that percent since then". So I can say I'm about 95% vegetarian since I'll still eat fish occasionally when I go out to eat. You don't have to be a purist- it's your body, eat what makes you feel healthy and good and don't live by anyone else's definitions!!