How hard it was to give up meat, fish, and dairy ...

I am more on the "carnivore" side and I have grown up with the idea that a hyper
protein diet was the way to go to lose fat ... and weight. Of course i was taught wrong...

I LOVE meat... A juicy steak well seasoned, grilled to perfection on a BBQ ...
The smell of roasting chickens, and the display of freshly caught fishes by local fishermen at the market...
Those handmade cheeses made by the farmer next door ( the one your great-grandmother used to buy fresh cheeses and butter from )
All those home made pates... the display of cured meats cuts from Corsica to Sicilia, ...
This is what I have grown up with...
This is NATURAL to me
This is HEALTHY....
This is GOOD !

Well, the only true thing here is that yes, IT IS GOOD !

And as I told you before, i love food, i love to cook, and i love to eat.
I also enjoy very much seeing people cook ( especially chefs ) and I like to see people enjoying good food.

For me the fact that i had to give up on all those great tastes was hard to swallow...
No more milk, no more butter, cream, cheese, chicken, shrimp, meat, pork, fish, seafood etc...
That is going to be a real challenge !

I started by making easy changes at my first grocery shopping at Whole Foods Market :

I replaced regular cow milk by rice milk, and soy milk ( haven't tried hemp, coconut or almond milk yet but will do )
I bought soy butter instead of regular butter ( it is salty but tastes as good as regular salted butter )
I bought soy cheese instead of regular cheese ( I HATED IT , IT TASTED LIKE SHIT SO I JUST GAVE UP ON CHEESE... ITS EASIER ! )
I bought sun-dried tomatoes, portobella mushroom, and eggplant burgers instead of regular meat.
I bought a lot of nuts and seeds
I got plenty of whole grains foods like : whole wheat pastas, brown rice pastas, quinoa, lentils, bulgur, buckwheat, brown rice, whole wheat Israeli couscous etc ...
I got some organic-vegan soups, sauces , and beans ( all kind of beans )
Plenty of vegetables ( organic for what i could afford, because YES they are more expensive than regular veggies)
That wasn't very hard to do....

I just kept in mind that if I am invited somewhere and there is no vegan option, no big deal, I could break my new diet...

Same thing for cheeses, ... here in America, cheeses suck !!
I do not really appreciate cheese here, so it wasn't a big deal for me to give that up... I used cheese to put on pasta mostly and giving that up is not very hard!
But if I get a chance to taste incredible cheese, fine stuff i mean... well, my diet will have to be on hold for that moment ... but yet again, if I can avoid it, I will.

No more eggs... that was harder cause it had been my breakfast for the past 3 years : ( but when i realized how poisoned they were, I felt good when I stopped eating them.
No one died from not eating omelets or scrambled eggs... right ?

And about desserts... well I wasn't really crazy about sweets anyway.... Most of them are made with milk, eggs, butter ... so it is very hard to find good tasty vegan desserts! I found a delicious /vegan/ out of this world chocolate ice cream ... "purely decadent" made from coconut milk ... a pure delight... so when after lunch or diner I feel like eating something sweet or chocolaty, I grab a spoon and satisfy my craving with a spoon or two of that ice cream ! ( Some non vegan friends of mine tried it and loved it !! ) I also love the chocolate coconut macaroons that they make at Gables Green Cafe ( intersection of Alhambra and Salzedo, in Coral Gables, FL 33134 )

I am not a huge fan of fake products...
Like fake shrimp.... or fake chicken wings ...
I mean How can you possibly fake a shrimp... or a chicken wing ?
There are so many tasty options better than those fake whatever !
If you were not born vegan, then you know how cheese, fish, shrimp, crab, meat, chicken and bacon is supposed to taste like, and you probably wont like anything but the real thing...

I guess its all about the person's taste...

I'd rather go for other options if possible, like exclusively real veggies, eventually veggie burgers ... and save my taste buds for that day when I will have to face a delightful cheese platter ...
: )
Same for some very particular types of meat that i love like Merguez ( Moroccan lamb sausage ) , porterhouse on a BBQ, and freshly caught lobster, fish and shrimp....
I will save myself for that one day I will have to eat them... and they better taste delicious !!

I do see veganism as a way to live and a cruelty free way of living... Even though I follow (or try to follow) it more for the health benefits that it will bring me in the short and long run.
But I have been a carnivore all my life and Its really hard to resist those things.... And so far I have done pretty well ....

I have been doing that diet for over a month now, and my only faults were :

- a fillet Mignon with caramelized veggies that the chef at Anacapri cooked for me on my last day at work ( I couldn't possibly not eat it !! )
- a marinated fillet of black cod ( with quinoa and organic sauteed veggies though ) that a private chef in a mansion I was invited at, cooked ( I couldn't possibly not eat it neither !! ).
- Few pieces of imported cheeses with whole wheat crackers at a Miami Heat Basketball game ( in Bacardi suite... and NO there was nothing else healthier !! )

VOILA ...

And since I have started the vegan diet, I feel a lot more energy, i sleep better, wake up better, go a lot more to the bathroom ( sorry for the details) , I do not feel sleepy or tired after eating, I eat less, its like my entire body is thanking me : ) And I have lost over 8lb so far... and no working out is involved ( I have been kinda lazy about that and was very busy with other things )
I also gave up coffee, sodas, Splenda and other 0 calories sweeteners ... among other things.

Eating out is not that easy... especially in Miami where the only vegan option in a Latin restaurant is rice and beans... : ( And God know that Latin restaurants are EVERYWHERE in Miami...

I have found 2 restaurants close to where i live that serve organic and vegan food but they are only open week days and for lunch :


LifeFood Gourmet
1248 SW 22nd street
Miami, FL 33145
(305) 856 6767
www.lifefoodgourmet.com

Green Gables Cafe
237 Alhambra Circle
Coral Gables, FL 33134
(305) 445 7015
www.greengablescafe.com


On my following posts, I would like to give you some recipes, vegan of course, that i made up and are delicious, some come from France, some are from the web.... All the recipes i will put out there will have been tasted and approved first ( not only by me, but also by the people surrounding me : friends, neighbors, coworkers etc... )

I will try my best to behave and follow my diet while in Turks and Caicos for a week - April 24th, May 1st 2010 ) ( capital of conch.... its gonna be hard not to try them... and all the freshly caught seafood.... ) and in south of France for 4 months.
I am a little scared of what i will find ( or not find ) in my town, La Ciotat, ( i do not come from Paris ) and I hope I will be able to find what i need to follow my diet properly.... and cook my vegan way to my family, not so thrilled about my sudden eating habits changes ...

Wish you all a beautiful Wednesday !!

BON APPETIT !!!