‘What Do You Eat If You Can’t Have Anything Naughty?’ – What Vegans Eat

imageMy husband does bike repairs and refurbishes second-hand bikes* which he sells on if in good condition or gives them away if they are past their sell-by date in terms of age and design.

This means that there is a lot of foot traffic through our back garden as people bring their injured steeds for some TLC or to ask about a bike we might have for sale. Some like to chat and put the world to rights, especially those who are retired.

Yesterday was one such day. A regular customer came to collect his bike. The sun was making a rare appearance and I was -unusually for me – sitting outside under the umbrella. We had met some time ago, when I answered the door to him, but had never really had a conversation. He is retired and likes to amble around on his bike enjoying the fresh air and countryside. He does t’ai chi and chi qong, but had injured his knee recently and inevitably the conversation turned to health, nutirition, exercise and ailments.

Having worked selling potatoes for many years, he is quite knowledgeable about how food is produced and marketed, eats little meat except for organic chicken and pork occasionally, some oily fish, and takes flax seed oil supplements for his joints. He knew that my husband is vegetarian but raised an eyebrow when I mentioned I am vegan.

He had just been regaling us with advice about washing fruit and veg because it is sprayed to within an inch of its life and how he had witnessed such cruelty in modern farming methods, yet he was puzzled by my dietary choices.

It seemed to come down to puddings!

His face twisted and he asked ‘So, what do you eat if you can’t have anything naughty?!’

I grinned and said, ‘We’ve just had a 13 year old boy visiting for a week and we’ve had puddings every day!’ ‘Really?’ he replied, surprised and sceptical. ‘What do you do then?’

I explained that we still made ice-cream, for instance (see below for recipe links); he asked how and was impressed, he didn’t realise you didn’t need cow’s milk and refined sugar, chemicals, artificial flavourings and preservatives. I added that if we want something sweet we use fresh or dried fruit or occasionally maple syrup in the recipes (he had assumed we used honey).

I added, all you need is a blender and a food processor. ‘Well,’he responded, ‘We’ve got those.’

Now, he knows I have a long-term back injury and as I started to expand on my dietary habits, he interrupted, looked me up and down, sitting there in my shorts and t-shirt and pronounced that I looked well despite being vegan – ‘You must have been a child bride!’ (cringe) – I was slim so there was no need for me to ‘diet.’

My husband spluttered and I smiled indulgently and shook my head. Here we go, I thought.

Before I could reply, he proceded to describe how he was reasonably fit and healthy, wasn’t fat and did alright without medications before adding that he had some pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories for a previous condition that he was now taking for his knee: ‘But they don’t do any good!’

Eventually, I corrected him.

‘I look well, slim and healthy because I am vegan and because I juice, not despite my food regimen. I don’t take any medications and before I changed my lifestyle I suffered with unbearably painful sinusitis, twice-yearly chest infections that would last 6-8 weeks and often resulted in a cracked rib or strained muscles from coughing, I had painful IBS and asthma.

Since I began juicing and more recently became vegan, I no longer suffer the symptoms of these conditions.

He was sceptical. My husband laughed and backed me up. ‘It’s true, and you won’t win the argument, she’s heard it all before!’

He persisted: ‘No pain medications?’

No. They make me ill, bring me out in a rash and don’t work. They damaged my stomach lining and gave me gastritis. (I juice ginger and turmeric daily for inflammation and use Devil’s Claw herbal drops when it flares up in times of stress).

But to get back to our cycling friend. Once he was reassured there could still be puddings and I didn’t need medication, he was smiling again and kept saying how well I looked.

But he was very disappointed that he couldn’t bring me some trout or salmon from his fishing expeditions!

Later, our neighbour shouted over the hedge for my husband to come and help himself to some plums from his tree. We made a plum crumble last night for our visitors today, with no animal products or refined sugar. (Recipe link below).

image

See also Raw Treats, Raw Chocolate Recipes, Tiger Nut Recipes

Nana Rhys Cream with Mango, Cacao & Peanut Butter

Açaí, Blackberry & Coconut Gelato

Vegan, Gluten-Free Plum Crumble – Nice, But Not Too Naughty!

*http://briansbikes.co.uk

Copyright: Chris McGowan

19 thoughts on “‘What Do You Eat If You Can’t Have Anything Naughty?’ – What Vegans Eat”

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    1. Hi Jessica, thanks for your interest 😊 It’s a long story, but I have been vegetarian for many many years and had tried being vegan a couple of times. I knew from experience and research that cheese, milk chocolate, cow’s milk and orange juice produce mucus in susceptible people. I gave up milk but I was a cheese addict! Then I began my first juice program and almost immediately I noticed I could breathe better, my ears cleared, my asthma abated. I wanted to maintain my new sense of well-being and I had also been wrestling withh the ethics of dairy-farming etc so it was a natural progression for me to become vegan. I haven’t had a cold, cough or sinusitis in the 3 years since I began juicing and gave up cheese. You can read my story in About in the menu and ‘How To Begin Juicing or Do As I Say, Not What I Did!’ Thank you for reading my post.

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      1. You’re very welcome. I’m SO glad I stumbled across your site. Thank you for telling me your story. I can’t wait to read your other posts you suggested.

        I am vegetarian, gluten free, mostly dairy free (sounds like what you said- what is it with cheese! Ha) But have had sinus/ ear infections for 3 months. Antibiotics aren’t working…

        When you said “my ears cleared” it’s like a lightbulb moment. 🙂 I’ve been completely dairy free before, but cheese was too tempting. Guess I’ll try giving it up again. 🙂

        Thank you for your time and for sharing your experience. I don’t know anything about juicing, so I truly appreciate your knowledge. 🙂

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      2. Glad I could help. If you want to try juicing, I have lots of posts with tips and recommendations. I would recommend it for any nagging chronic condition. Adding ginger and/or turmeric to juices, pineapple too if you like it, is anti-inflammatory and really is effective when taken regularly – helps with hay fever symptoms too. See my Page Juicy Winter Warmers. Dairy products cause inflammation as they’re acidic. The onlybtine I miss cheese now is when my husband makes home-made pizza! But it’s really the smell that I like. I am used to not having it now and have found alternatives. You can by nutritional yeast flakes which have a cheesey flavour when added to a sauce or soup, or make cashew ‘cheese’. Many people swear by Vegusto vegan cheese which you can use as any ordinary cheese.

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      3. Dairy products are acidic? Well things are starting to make sense. I have Candida I can’t kick which I’m told thrives in acidic environment, but I thought there’s no way I can have acid environment, my diet is pretty clean… 🙂

        Looks like I have some learning to do. Thank you for the cheese substitute ideas. I haven’t heard of either. 🙂

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      4. Hi Jess
        To learn more about how food works in your body and how the food industry works, I would really recommend you read any of Jason Vale’s books, especially the 5lbs in 5 Days (don’t be put off by the weight loss tag, it’s a publishing tease, they are about so much more than that) or the SuperJuiceMe! book. Also, watch his moving and amusing documentary SuperJuiceMe! free on YouTube. He took 8 people with 22 chronic and sometimes life-threatening conditions and put them on juice for 28 days to see if there was any improvement. You will learn so much and be inspired to make some changes that will benefit your health. Ps I’m not suggesting you go on nothing but juice, just that so many things become clearer when you read the books and watch the film.

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      6. PPS! Sugar may be another culprit in your fight against Candida. This includes alcohol and processed foods. Good quality probiotics may help by restoring good bacteria and maintaining a healthy digestive system. Ironically, antibiotics are believed to promote growth of candida, I don’t know why they are prescribed for this condition. Ginger and Garlic are antifungal. If you don’t juice you can make tea with fresh ginger or use it in cooking (stir-fries, curries). Vitamin C and Selenium (3 Brazil Nuts per day will provide enough selenium) to help boost the immjne system and reduce inflammation.

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      7. Yes, I’m seeing a pattern with the sugar. I don’t eat much, but when I do- yikes. I’ve been fighting Candida for 18 months. It’s a yo yo. Feel great, feel lousy.

        Lately it’s been 3 antibiotics in 3 months… Looks like ginger and Brazil nuts are on my shopping list.

        I hadn’t intended on keeping you, I just appreciate this info SO much. I’ve researched myself silly but never really get anywhere. 🙂

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      8. That’s what I’m here for 😊 A blog is not really the right place for extensive advice, but I hope some of what you find here might help. Candida is one of those conditions that needs top to tail treatment, if you try to improve your overall health and sense of wellbeing, cut out the things that feed it and feed your body with the nutrients that fight it, hopefully it will beat a speedy retreat! Omega 3s and B Vitamins are also items to add to your nutritional armoury😊

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