W R O N G!!!!! W R O N G!!!!! W R O N G!!!!! W R O N G!!!!!
If any “American Vegan” tells you that its easy to be vegan and live in America, I'm here to show you a vegan that is either, (a) on illegal substances, (b) in denial, (c) on illegal substances AND in denial or (d) all of the above! (If you’re wondering why I stress ‘American Vegan’, its because I’ve travelled quite a bit and in Asia and the Middle Eastern territories, they don’t eat a lot of dairy products, let alone cheese, so its so much easier for them.) LOL But seriously, being a vegan has its emotional ups and downs. There are moments when the going is so good I dare not look back. I mean my skin is beautiful-I have that "pregnant woman" glow. My energy is through the roof. I do more in one day than most people do all week! Then there are those moments when I'm literally dreaming of cheesy goodness so hard that I wake up with the taste in my mouth. One of my dreams I was skipping through a green field with smoked gouda in my hands singing, "The Hills are Alive with the sound of...CHEESE!"...Cheese is the legal crack, I tell ya! No really it is...
Casein (from Latin caseus "cheese") fills our bodies with mucus, making it more readily realistic that its almost impossible for us to inhale cheese (as most of us with the standard American diet does) and still think our bodies are absorbing real nutrients from the foods we are saturating it with. The more I learned about the dangers of this great tasting food, the more I realized I needed to give this ‘cheese thing’ up. The more I gave it up, the more I realized how strong of a hold it had on me. I would wake up in cold sweats. I even had a twitch or two from the lack of having CHEESE! And then it would pass and life would be great! (you know on that day!) Then…then…*wait for it* then I'd try a little of the cheese...and wake up sick and would only have to detox myself from it all over again! (crackhead tendencies-smh) – If you get a free moment google “casein cheese” and see what you find.
My wretched love affair with cheese had me in that “drug user” syndrome. I would eat a little of it. Then stop for long periods of times, only to find myself “tasting a little” at, you know, “social gatherings”, or I’m out to dinner with friends and we’re at a restaurant where the choice is meat with a side of meat…or cheesy (*insert vegetable here*) dish…until finally, I’m hiding down the cheese isle in the grocery store like someone is going to report me to the cheese anonymous authorities for buying a block of smoked gouda because I need my fix! SMH…yes this was me!
I don't drink or smoke and my diet is impeccable. In fact, I pride myself on having a "clean diet." I had to question, how could a food have this strong of a hold? I mean after all, this same food is in our lovely American pyramid, stipulating we should have a certain amount of this per day! REALLY???? WAIT…WAIT…WAIT… This would mean that our lovely government...Oh no...no...not even going to go there...I mean I pay taxes, I vote, I’m very well educated, and quite cultured from my travels, not to mention I'm a law abiding American Citizen and surely my wonderful American country would not...dare not...I mean we are in the land of the brave and the free!...yeah, I’m so not even going to go there, cause that's not it...it can’t be *smacks my hand for fathoming the thought*…so moving right along...
Karyn Calabrese's research shows us that "in 1981, a group of scientists found that casein, the main protein in dairy products, actually contain opiates. When casein is digested it has one-tenth the opiate strength of morphine!"[1] So this would mean its true! I was addicted to cheese! Shut The Front Door! It’s so nice to be right! But, umm, how do I rid myself of this? Hhhmm...It seems I need to take my veganism a step further...and call in the big guns. *rawhide playing in the background*
I started paying closer attention to my friends who were Raw Vegans. I would even click “like” on every vegan and raw vegan page on Facebook until my surroundings (virtually) were so inundated with raw vegans. I’d have to eventually adapt to my surroundings. I mean I really started watching them closely. How they ate and exercised absolutely astounded me. So I started to slowly implement the raw vegan diet into my lifestyle. At first, like everyone else, I thought this is just crazy, there's no way I'm eating 8 cashews and an apple for lunch and going to be full. Or, I could do a salad every once in a while, but not everyday...all day everyday, Chile please! *that was my Ochocinco voice* I mean the harsh reality was if I didn’t eat a lot of salad before… nine times out of ten, I wouldn’t start now.
I quickly learned how silly I was to think raw vegans never ate cake, ice-cream, milkshakes, nachos, pizza, crackers or even…CHEESE! *angels from heaven came down to sing for me* Little did I know, Raw Vegans eat like everyone else...its just prepared differently. Now was not the time for me to judge anyone but myself. I had to reevaluate the way society dictated the way I ate. I also had to reevaluate the way I thought about and prepared my food. This took a lot of “growing up” on my part to do. (self realization)
The more I learned, the more I let go of my cheese addition and had now become addicted to cooking and un-cooking vegan and raw vegan foods. I am now a Vegan with a 70% Raw Vegan diet. I've come a long way and still have a long way to go, but I'm enjoying the journey! I love making the soul foods I grew up on, except in a raw vegan way! I've made lasagna's, fettucini alfredo, mac and cheese, greens, sweet potato pies, cheesecakes, ice-creams, milks, cookies, milkshakes, caramel, nacho’s, chocolate-and all raw vegan! So every delectable bite is good for you. It’s eating with a purpose. I've discovered food with a purpose! My life now has some meaning. My food has purpose! I feel like I just discovered how to make peace here on earth...and so there ya have it...I'm making peace by sharing my recipes for free! You get to walk with me as I journey through the rest of my life and discover new recipes and you get to make them too!
P.S. I remember telling one of my raw vegan girlfriends once that I couldn't be raw vegan because I just couldn't imagine not ever eating cheese. Now I look back on that and get a chuckle. *smiling*
[1] Calabrese, Karyn. Soak Your Nuts. Summertown, TN: Book Publishing Company, 2011.
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