Watching the film "Forks Over Knives" reminded me again of a nagging issue I've been struggling with: Why is it so easy for me to be vegan, but so hard to avoid vegan junk food and eat less?
"Forks Over Knives" is a documentary that examines how a low-fat, whole foods vegan diet can prevent and reverse heart disease, diabetes and other ailments. Watching it reminds me of those health seminars at the Vegetarian Summerfest that always make me want to eat healthier, but after I leave Johnstown, it gets tough.
I'll admit it - I love vegan junk food. Boca burgers? Yum! Pizza with Daiya cheese? Oh, yeah. Purely Decadent Peanut Butter Zig Zag? Right here.
For me, the problem is not just the type of food, but also the quantity. A relatively healthy dish of rice, veggies and tofu is not so good for you when you go back for seconds. Or thirds.
I can tell you from talking with other vegans, I'm not the only one. It's easy to be vegan when you think about the suffering cows, pigs and chickens. A vegan diet is so different from the standard American diet. For many of us, it's a huge change. Even if you make a pitstop in Lacto-Ovo-Ville along the way, it's quite a journey from where we started.
So if I and so many other vegans are able to make this drastic change in what we eat, why is it so difficult to just eat less? Why is it so difficult to work in more salads and fewer Tofutti Cuties into our diets?
Even though I'm not suffering from any of the very serious ailments discussed in "Forks Over Knives," I am overweight. Even before I saw the film, I was convinced that I should eat less, eat lower fat, and eat more whole foods and raw foods, and eat less processed foods.
So why is it so easy to change my diet for the animals, but not for my own health?
Image © Doris Lin 2011, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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Look at the bright side — imagine how sick you would be if you were a carnivore overeating.
Have you tried yoga? Tai Chi? Followed the principles of Ayyurveda and the 3 Doshas? Learning about this will take time away from snack-thoughts too, and will help to gently exercise your mind and body. I have explored all three of the above– although I do Tai Chi and a little yoga each day and try to stick to Ayurvedic principles, I am not wedded to any of the above , which makes it more pleasant for me to just chill and not worry if I make a little ooops now and then.
One rule I follow is never to eat after 7 pm. Going to bed a little hungry and waking up refreshed is a side-benefit of doing so. As Adelle Davis once said “Eat breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and Supper like a Pauper”.
Cheers!
Ace
Hi Doris, I have the same issue. I was obese when I went vegan and gradually lost weight while still eating vegan versions of my favorite junk and not-so-healthy foods. But I’ve ALWAYS been a person who could eat a whole bag of chips or a pint of ice cream in one sitting. It took me awhile to realize the effect sugar and greasy, fried foods has on me: I want more until it hurts. Comparing it to a drug addiction might sound extreme, but in a way it is. Food can be addicting.
I’m still very much a work-in-progress, but I’ve found that eliminating added sugar and oil to the meals I cook at home to be helpful. I’ll still have the occasional treat (I like Rice Dream Pies) but it’s single serving sized instead of a whole pint of ice cream. Taking the temptation out of your immediate surroundings and replacing them with healthy alternatives is essential. I also found Neal Barnard’s book “Breaking the Food Seduction” useful.
Doris,
The companion book to the film is now available. Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health offers an accessible guide to the information provided in the film and also includes 125 recipes so readers can bring Forks Over Knives home to their table.
This might be the tool you need to help you maintain a (healthy) plant-based diet. Good luck!
https://shop.forksoverknives.com/Forks_Over_Knives_The_Plant_Based_Way_to_Health_p/3009.htm
To be cynical, it may be easier to change “for the animals” because those are the foods that are actually most likely to disgust people of any diet. It’s not just vegans that have been grossed out by a soggy steak, for example. Repulsion to animal matter is as much a matter of taste as it is a matter of politics, I would argue.
I do not believe that dietary discipline comes down to ideology, or to be more precise in this instance, down solely to concerns about cruelty. Vegan preference is just that… preference.
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Groet
Mrs Lin, I am very gratefull for this article of yours! I love all you articles, but this one specifically spoke to me. I am a newbie in the world of vegans, but I have struggled with a lot of different issues during my short journey. The hardest one for me is about gaining weight.
When I first started to become a vegetarian (about 3 years ago) and carefully prepared every single meal that I ate, I lost quite some weight and fell so much better. But since I have become vegan (on and off for more than 6 months now) I gained back a lot of this weight. I always been a little…. how could I say… tubby, but I barely recognize myself right now! A lot of my friends doesn’t really understand how I could only eat a plant-based diet and still be a little overweighted. For me, the problem is not about eating too much, but it’s exactly the opposite. Beeing the only vegan in the family and in my surroundings is quite hard for me and I often bypass on the rules to good eating. I just want to remember to all that a lot of reasons can lead to take weight: a stressing lifestyle is one of them.
I totally agree with you, eating better for the benefits of the animals is much more easier than doing it four ourselves. It’s the common problem of people that often forget themselves in the way. Right now, I am saying to myself that eating well, feeling better in my head and in my body, will help me help animals, by giving me confidence and energy to work for them. Until I am able to do it for myself!
Well, I hope that my testimony will help someone by making him/her feel less lonely in this situation, like your article did for me! Thanks again and sorry for the bad english (I am a french speaker).
Doris, you said: “So why is it so easy to change my diet for the animals, but not for my own health?”
Like you, I made the switch to vegan easily because it was a crystal-clear moral choice to me.
Eating animal products is not an option, and I never “struggle” with it or “need support”, etc., like someone trying not to drink, for example.
No “discipline” is required for me to be vegan. However, I seem to lack that moral/ethical clarity towards myself!
Is it because I put myself in a category different from the animals?
The animals are helpless and horribly exploited and hurt, whereas I have a choice.
Since I have a choice, is it a different moral decision?
Am I truly in a different category from the animals?
I easily swore off harming animals, but can’t do it for myself.
I love my comfort foods, vegan mac & cheese, Fritos, greasy vegan home-fries, vegan ice creams, and so much more….
It’s a puzzle, and I truly wish I had the same moral/ethical clarity towards protecting myself, that I have towards animals.
Courtney
Vegan…bah. Our ancestors THRIVED for millions of years eating meat, veggies, eggs, dairy, and anything they could get their grubby little paws on.
I (obviously) eat meat. But I am FIRMLY convinced that WHAT you eat is completely irrelevant. How MUCH you eat, and how much you NEED are what is important.
If you burn 5000 calories a day, walking, exercising, had a job of extreme physical labor, and ate 8000 calories you would STILL gain weight.
When I quit watching my WEIGHT, but concentrated on how many calories I used and how many I consumed, lots of things changed. I changed very little about WHAT I ate, and even when. But I made huge changes in how much I needed. In otherwords, I ate the same stuff, just a little less, and started getting a LOT more exercise, and within weeks noticed my clothes fit better.
After 3 months, the weight was falling off like leaves in autumn.
A year later, I’ve lost almost 100 lbs. My Doc is happy. My wife is happy. I’M happy.
And I still eat steak, and cake, and cookies and milk.
So eat whatever you want. Whatever your moral/ethical guidelines tell you is good, enjoy it. Don’t want to exercise? Eat less food. Want to eat more food? Hit the treadmill more. Take a walk. Chase the neighbors cat. Whatever.
Like the show people say:
Just Do It.
The same receptors in the brain that gratify an addict are the same receptors that beg for fried, salty, and sugary foods. It’s hard to turn them off. It may be genetic and related to how humans developed eating habits at their brains grew in size and cells developed to process and create certain functions. What you may be experiencing is something over which you have little control except on a conscious level. Obviously keeping away from starchy and fructose laden foods will help.
I have yet to embark on a vegan diet because until next week I have no kitchen available to me. And no, I’m not in prison. I’m soon turning 68 and while I’ve had no cardiac issues I am overweight, hypertensive, and suffer from depression. I’m on as many medications at 67 as my father was at 86. There is no doubt in my mind about the link between our diet, fast food, excess meat consumption, diabetes and other ailments that can be laid at the doorstep of our dietary lifestyle. I’m ready to make the change. I may even save $100/mo in the cost of prescriptions. Perhaps even more.
Yesterday I had a serious allergic reaction to a medication I started taking 3 months ago. This was my body’s way of telling me I was swallowing poison. If I can make the switch, lose weight, and get off most of my meds it will be a blessing. My current diet is terrible and it’s my fault. What a blessing it may be to spend the next 15 or 20 years in better health without the need for pills.