Current Attitude: Optimistic
Current weight: 71.15 kg Current record attempt: 7 days. Well, that’s seven days down the vegan rabbit hole. It’s a start. That’s for sure. However I am already starting to crave simple pleasures such as cheese. Did I mention how addictive this stuff is? It really is no wonder they use cheese on mouse traps to lure mice to their deaths. If someone set up a trap with a huge block of cheese in it I would probably be a victim to a cheese laden trap as well. The science of cheese addiction is as follows. One of the compounds to be found in cheese is an opioid. Yep, you heard me correctly. While it is not identical to the opioids that one can find in the opium poppy, yes the same one used to make heroin, casomorphin is mildly addictive and lives up to its morphine derived name. How’s that for a piece of strange yet true knowledge? It really is no wonder why cheese sandwiches and pizza sounds so good right about now! I need to get my fix man! I hope I don’t suddenly relapse during the night, I could see myself at four in the morning holding up a hot dog stand demanding that the cook give me all their cheese other wise I’m gonna flip out man! Perhaps I’m being a little over the top. And than again, from what science has to say maybe not. Na, I definitely being over the top. So, why does casomorphin exist in cheese I hear you skeptically asking? Well Cheese has casomorphin in it because milk has casomorphin in it. And milk has it in it because cows evolved in such a fashion as to release it into their milk. The evolutionary benefits of casomorphin was to keep baby calves on the tit. It’s addictive as it is beneficial to young calves. As one bloke so adequately put it. “Cows milk is baby-calf growth fluid”. Just to put it out there for the world to hear it’s apparently the reason why you grow man titties of you drink to much of it. And here I was becoming so proud of the fact that I had finally grown a handful. Awkward… And that’s it for day seven of my vegan experiment. Quick note. Three nights ago was the first time since my last vegan attempt begun that I experienced “the night munchies”. Night munchies! What’s that? I hear you ask? Well, that’s basically what happens when a new vegans body is craving anything to replace the lack of animal products. It’s also a vegans way of saying that I plowed through half a packet of plain potato chips without any remorse what so ever. Cherrio! Mmmmm Cheerios….
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Current weight 71.3 kg
Current attitude: Optimistic Current attempt record : 1 days. The first time I attempted a plant based diet was a shock to the system. My body simply didn’t know what the hell was going on. I had grown up my whole life eating meat, drinking milk and loving cheese. In fact my love for cheese bordered on an addiction. As it was to turn out this analogy wasn’t far from the actual truth. This cheese addiction I will perhaps discuss in another episode. One of the biggest issues I found going Plant Based was the constant struggle to find what foods I could eat and which foods I couldn’t. Going to the shopping centre had quickly become a deep dive into ingredients lists. This process of picking over foods had quickly become slow and tiresome. You will find yourself saying “It was supposed to be easy. Simply don’t eat meat or animal based products”. But, when you attempt to be more plant based you will quickly discover that a lot of processed foods have animal based products in them, even the ones you would least suspect! In fact, the more effort you put into trying to avoid animal products the more time shopping will initially take. There is good news though, like all things, the more you practise something the quicker it becomes to do something. So over time you come to know which items you can eat and which ones you can’t. Oreos for example are vegan. Who would have thought? So, without understating it in any way, starting out as a vegan will be initially difficult. Well, it was for me anyway. Now on my fourth attempt at being plant based I find it a lot easier. The obvious truth is, I have been here before. After all, this is not my first animal free rodeo. During the previous attempts I was fortunate enough to have developed some habits that have never changed. For example, for the majority of my life I drank my coffee with a dash of cows milk. This is simply no longer the case. Those days are over. Now whenever I get a coffee it is a flat white on soy if I am out. And a shot of coffee with a dash of oat milk if I am at home. This practise continued whether I am trying to be plant based or not, it’s what I have come to call a plant based hangover. It’s something that has remained with me from previous attempts. Now if I could just get all the other eating behaviours to fall in line with my coffee drinking habits I would be set. 
Current weight. 71.75 kg Current attitude. Pessimistic Current attempt record. O Days. Here we go again! I have once again decided to try going vegan. This will officially be my fourth attempt. You would think that after three previous attempts at being vegan I would just give up. But no. I’m stubborn and I don’t give up so easily. So why do I keep trying? Well because I don’t want the world as we know it to end. It’s that simple. If the science is to be believed and I believe it should be, if we continue on our current consumerist trajectory than humanity doesn’t stand a chance. Science proves this. And to be honest it doesn’t take a genius to work this out. The real question should be, why do I keep failing at being vegan? Now that’s a little more complicated than one would first think. Transitioning to vegan is not straight forward. It’s a battle but it’s a battle that I believe is worth fighting. Man made climate change ain’t gonna fix itself and if I need to make an example of my self to help contribute to a solution than so be it. Now, you too know that I’m trying. I would appreciate it if you helped keep me on track. Before wrapping this little conversation up I would like to say the following. Trying to be vegan is initially hard because of our past behaviours. So that’s what needs to change. Changing ingrained behaviours is never easy. The problem I have is that I have grown up eating meat and cheese and the fat of the land. Separating myself from the memories I have made while eating animal products is the problem. Sunday night roast is a good memory, Sunday morning bacon and eggs is a good memory but if I don’t help to change the world, the way we currently live will be exactly that, a good memory. This isn’t political, the only outcome I hope for is that I finally stay vegan. I would also like to share something that was, to me at least, a little disturbing. I have had a recent thought that I can’t shake. It played out as follows. I imagined a future where I am much older than what I am now. My own grand children are around and they keep asking me one question. The question is as follows. “If you knew climate change was happening than why didn’t you try to stop it?”. This is my declaration stating that I am trying. I acknowledge climate change is real and I endeavour to do my best to stop it in its tracks. Perhaps this train of thought is a little over zealous but what else can I do? This blog is a start, being vegan is the next logical step. |
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