Confessions of a Cheese Addict

Well Noble Reader, we're nearly two weeks into the new year and halfway through Veganuary. If you have elected to take the challenge to go vegan with me, how are you making out? Have you made any new discoveries about yourself? Have you been tempted? Or maybe it's been easy for you and if that is the case, I'd love to hear how you've sailed through it all.

There's a reason that I personally hadn't ever taken the full plunge into an entirely plant-based diet up until now and I can sum that up for you in one word -- CHEESE. I confess, I'm one of THOSE people. The people who learn that someone is a vegan and say to them - but what about cheese? How can you possibly live without cheese? I used to put it on everything - from pizza and pasta to salad, nachos and sandwiches.

Lemme take you back a bit to how I originally became a vegetarian as a teenager. All it took for me was meeting a cow. Seeing her face to face, looking into those sweet brown eyes, I knew I could never eat her. And those adorable pink little piglets? Fluffy white lambs? Forget about it. Eating animals was out of the question. But I'd never made the connection about the harm dairy causes cows and what having a fried egg means for the chickens who produce them or who are unlucky enough to be born a boy.

Cut to years later in my thirties... I'm busting my ass working out with Tracy Anderson's Metamorphosis workout and I just couldn't seem to shed my muffin top and someone said these magic words - "you must eat more lean protein." So I added fish to my diet. It was then, I believe, that I began to lose my way. My vanity vetoed my compassion for fish and I was oblivious to what we were doing to this planet's oceans. Did I lose the muffin top by adding fish to my diet? Initially maybe yes, but I was following Tracy's prescribed diet at the time which amounted to about 800-1000 calories a day - so yeah. I lost it. But once I started eating normally again, my middle grew again. Turns out sugar was the real culprit. For more on that you can check out My Solution for cutting out sugar.

But even though I managed to kick the sweet stuff, I never gave up the fish. So I thought going vegan was going to be doubly hard, being that I had to let go of eggs, dairy and fish. What the hell was going to eat? Maybe you've asked yourself the same question. Or maybe I'm alone in this giant crazy universe. Either way - I haven't starved. In fact, the opposite has happened.

Making the choice to be plant-based in my diet has opened me up to so many more options than I'd ever thought possible. And one of those options is cheese. Yep, you read that right. Cheese. I stumbled across this fantastic Toronto-based company called Culcherd who specialize in butterless butter and Tree-nut cheeses and it is the best thing ever! I'm telling you, if I didn't know the difference, I'd swear I was having cream cheese.

This is the flavor that my love affair started with. It's fantastic on Mary's Gone Crackers vegan gluten free crackers.

The best part is that because I got brave enough to try something new {fussiest eater on the planet over here} I've been venturing further afield and have been experimenting more in the kitchen. In fact just this morning I made glorious Banana Muffin Tops from Oh She Glows. And yep - they're sugar free, gluten free, vegan and most importantly DELICIOUS! Thanks Angela!

I even spoke with my Mother In Law this morning and it's been five weeks since she's eaten meat! She's turned into a little vegetarian. Incredibly, she cooked a roast dinner for the family this afternoon but she didn't eat the meat. I'm proud to puddles - she makes me weep this woman, honestly. If she can be a vegetarian then for crying out loud I can be vegan. And in fact am happy to be.

Today is another day that no one had to die to feed me. That's pretty darn cool people. Would love to hear how you're doing with it all. Leave me a comment below.

xoxo
Shan