Vegan Is Easy, Healthy Is Hard

When Cathy and I started this program, we made two immense changes: going vegan and eating healthy.  In my mind, I had initially lumped them together, but they are distinct choices, one of which is immensely harder than the other.

If some all-powerful being told me that I'd stay in wonderful shape if I chose one of two options: be vegan but eat anything I wanted that fell into that category or be an omnivore but have to eat only  healthy options, I would have made the decision in a heartbeat. Pasta sandwiches dripping with oil, here I come! And why not wash that down with a pan of apple crisp (with vegan butter of course)? Simply put, it's easy to cut things out of your diet when plenty of bad things are left in.  

As the program has progressed, I've found that I rarely have urges for things that aren't vegan, but I often wish for less healthy versions of what is in front of me.  As I eat my daily salad, I don't wish there was a pile of steak tips on top, but instead that I had a nice, fatty dressing instead of the fat-free low-cal balsamic. While this can sometimes be a struggle, the important lesson I've learned is that you can live without the things that aren't in front of you, but as soon as something is, there's a desire to make less healthy choices.

This is particularly important for me to realize with a business trip on the horizon where food and beer will flow freely.  Staring at the buffet lunches of meats and carbs and fats and sugars, the temptation to go with the lesser evil will be a horrific challenge.  And when it comes to free beer, well... next topic.

So I have two weeks to steel myself to the temptations of bounteous badness.  My secret weapon: remembering what the scale said after living vegan and healthy for several weeks.  I hope that's enough.