When a ‘vampire’ goes vegan

Vegan? Me? No chance. I love food, and I am not willing to give it up.

After all we need it right? Plus going vegan wouldn’t just be giving up delicious food but it would also force me to give up vital proteins, nutrients, vitamins, and any energy I happen to have left??

Okay yeah the animals suffer.. but we need meat so it's justified, especially if I just close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears and ignore that part… right?

Oh and eating meat is linked to global warming? Well… polar bears are great and all but.. burgers?

Vegan doughnut from Greggs

Okay I am running out of excuses, or at least I was before I decided to switch to a plant based diet.

My friends had always called me a ‘vampire’ I ate my any red meat as rare as possible and pretty much every meal had chicken, beef, or ham in it.

I thought I’d be the last person to actually try a new diet but after some research I knew I had to at least give it a go.

I recommend watching The Game Changers documentary it has loads of interesting facts that I had no idea about and that I certainly can’t fit into this short word count.

Vegan 'meatball' subway

Like did you know we can see colour and dogs can’t because we were designed to find bright colour fruits and veg while they need to find meat?

Or that we have a long digestive system for plants and they have a short one for meat?

Or that you get protein from plants and animals are just the middleman because they eat so much?

And did you know that the strongest man in the world is actually vegan because it gives him more energy?

I didn’t.

Vegan bean stew

Also if more and more people taking the plunge into a plant based diet supermarket chains and restaurants are noticing.

Almost everything has an alternative with food giants like Greggs, Subway, KFC, and more all jumping on board.

Mushroom pasta

I enjoyed a meatless pepperoni pizza hut dish, a Greggs sausage roll, a ‘meatball’ marinara subway, and a Papa John's pizza all in one weekend to taste all the new options that came out in January.

They were all great! Okay the texture was different (but not bad) and compared to the health benefits that come with going vegan the alternatives were so worth it.

Vegan pizza hut

And when I stepped on the scales on the Monday I had actually LOST three pounds.

Who said you have to live off salads to be plant based? Gone are the days when we being vegan means losing out on taste.

I’m not suggesting you live out of take aways forever - just reminding you that there is more choice than ever!

Vegan chicken nuggets

Now I am on a health kick being vegan is still great.

I'm lucky because my partner Daniel is a very good cook and enjoys messing around with new recipes and experiment with food, which I am only too happy to eat! 

because of this I discovered mushroom bolognese (which I would never have tried) and tofu scrambled rice (another great dish) and much more.

Vegan pizza with caramelised onions and sweetcorn

I also have more energy than ever so more motivated to exercise and my mood has lifted significantly.

The vegan society tell us that “If the world went vegan, it could save 8 million human lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds and lead to health care-related savings and avoided climate damages of over a trillion pounds."

It would also save billions of animals, reduce our risk of dementia and heart disease, and let us live longer.

Tofu scrambled rice

For me, that's enough to stick with the alternatives, or at least cut way back. There is no down side.

It's not just my diet either, I've aslo ditched leather, wool, and don't use animal testing products. 

I'm not super strict yet as I am still learning but so far the process has been easier than I would have thought!

If you had told me four months ago I would be trying out this new life style I would have laughed at you.

But now this vampire wouldn’t BAT an eye (sorry bad pun) at giving up meat. I feel fang-tastic (sorry again).