One Year Meat-Free

Its official, I have been meat-free for one year.

Vegan Muffins from The Minimalist Baker

On July 19, 2016 I made the decision to go meat-free and eventually vegan once again. With my level of determination it was extremely easy to switch to a meat-free diet. I was mainly eating chicken when I pulled the plug on meat so it wasn’t a very hard transition to make.

I was very excited to celebrate this milestone. It was a really great sense of acccomplishment. Not only have I done something really great for my body but I have also done my part in helping out the planet.

It has definitely not always been an easy journey. My biggest road block is making the switch to a completely vegan lifestyle.

Vegan Pizza from Little Jo’s

A few months after I was on the vegetarian path I decided to make the switch to a vegan diet and I was doing pretty well until… Christmas. The holidays proved to be too much of a temptation for me and I ate things that were not vegan friendly. Usually in secret but sometimes blatantly. It can be pretty depressing and isolating when everyone around you is enjoying a homemade treat and you are not.

My biggest obstacle with making the change to completely vegan diet is convenience. As a busy mom to two little ones sometimes I’m just too tired to cook a healthy vegan meal and with very little vegan take out options available or out of my price range I generally cave and buy my number one weakness, my kryptonite…

PIZZA

I just can’t help it. I could eat pizza all day every day if it was socially acceptable and CAS wouldn’t be called over concerns that I’m feeding my children an all pizza diet.

Summer Corn Soup from The Minimalist Baker

Attempting to be vegan has been a great lesson in will power, something that I definitely need to work on. Temptations are everywhere and they’re delicious. But I am trying to make the conscious decision to not eat or purchase animal products for varying reasons. Those reasons mainly being animal rights, individual health benefits, and the affects factory farming as on our environment and resources.

Moving forward I need to recommit to my desires to want to live a vegan lifestyle. To overcome temptation and use my will power to make better vegan choices.