"We had a meeting on you!"

My husband and I are friends with another couple and we have been having each other over for dinner for years.   Well, when one becomes a vegan, this impacts everyone.  How can I expect my friend to know what vegan is, when I didn't even know a year ago?

They had us over for dinner just before Christmas.  They made sure to include a veggie dish and salad since they knew I had changed my diet. They also made a lovely parmesan chicken that brought glee to my husband's face as he has not seen much meat at our home in quite a while.  I didn’t eat the chicken which made me feel a little guilty as they went to a lot of work preparing the meal.  Spinach salad, no problem but the veggie dish was tossed with cheese.  As I tried to rescue each broccoli morsel from its cheesy cover, I realized this diet is not going to be easy.  This is one of those 4% moments of my strategy where a portion of my meal will be meat/dairy as I do not want to be rude in cases such as this.

We made New Year’s Eve dinner plans with the same couple selecting a nice restaurant in town.   Hoping to get something I would enjoy for the $90 tab, (entrees only included meat dishes) I called to inquire if the chef could make a vegan meal.  He happily replied that he would take care of me.  Great, all set!   Not quite… the restaurant closed 3 days before New Year’s.  We scrambled and found another restaurant but again no vegan entrees.  After my call they said, “No problem, they could make a vegan entrée”

New Year’s Eve:  The pre-dinner appetizers included glorious platters of cheeses, meats, shellfish, and fried calamari…not a good start.  Fortunately, they had a veggie platter but with a dairy-based dip.   As my husband and friends indulged in the decadence, I chewed on my dry carrot stick.  Thank goodness wine is plant-based!!  I was tempted to sneak a lightly battered and crispy calamari, but resisted.  4% non-vegan only gets you so far in one week and the holidays make it extra tough.  

As we ordered our meals, I informed the waiter that I would like a vegan version of the veggie risotto entree, if possible.   This is when I felt like a weirdo.… He got excited and responded  "Oh, are you Rhonda, The Vegan?"  I nodded in embarrassment ... He then said, "We had a meeting on you!"......WHAT?   Was I the only one that called to inquire vegan options? I live near hip San Francisco, for goodness sake!  Restaurants need to have meetings on 'The Vegan'?  At that moment, our friends broke out in laughter. They admitted earlier when buying tickets at the previous restaurant (the one that closed), they had mentioned to the hostess that one of their party was a vegan.  The hostess responded, "Oh, Do you mean Rhonda?" They must have had a meeting on me too.   It seems providing vegan choices are still a challenge in this little town of 60,000!!   Go Figure!  However, I do give them an ‘A’ for effort!

As far as my dinner, the ‘risotto’ ended up being  a mixture of sautéed mushrooms with asparagus...no grains at all.  It turns out a lot of people, including chefs, need an education on what a vegan diet is and how creative, exciting, and tasteful it can be.    

Godt nyttår ♥

January 5, 2012 marks 4 months since I've been on a whole grain, plant based diet.  (Yes, you can call me a Vegan...I'm okay with the 'V' word now).   But, there were times I had to 'cheat' a bit.   Especially when going out to dinner at a friends house (don't want to be rude) or at restaurants (minimal options).  Also, holidays, it just didn't seem right not to have a little slice of turkey on Thanksgiving.    

NEW RULES - 96% VEGAN: So now that the new year is here I have decided to declare myself a 96% VEGAN!   Yes, I can do that, because I just did. HA!  Mostly for practical reasons, as mentioned above, as I do not like to feel like I'm 'cheating' when other options are not available to me.   I also think it will not hinder the health benefits gained from a vegan diet.  

Although I understand the tremendous benefit to the environment and I am sensitive to the humane treatment of animals, this was not what triggered  me to drastically change to a vegan diet.  It was purely for selfish reasons - MY HEALTH!  

September 5th, 2011, was the day I removed meat and dairy from my diet.  It was the day after I watched the documentary 'Forks over Knives'.  Six weeks later I dropped my cholesterol by 27 points!  It dropped under 200 for the first time in years.  And as of today,  I have dropped my weight 8 lbs....and I wasn't even trying since I eat a lot and never feel hungry.  This  has been a good diet for me and I have now made it my lifestyle choice.  Yes, sometimes I miss making those old favorite recipes....but, I plan to make new favorites and hopefully stay healthy into my golden years.

Thanks to 'Forks Over Knives' for motivating me to make the switch.....Thanks to my oldest son and his girlfriend (a vegan chef) for all the great cooking tips. .......  Thanks to my husband for supporting me and incorporating at least a 85% vegan diet for himself.  :-)

Good health to all in 2012!