Days 1 and 2 (and a half)

Yesterday was when it started. I hung out with my best friend Bekah and her new hubbie, Sherwin at his old house and they said they saw my facebook status and were talking about it all day.

Because Sherwin's response went like this: "Janelle, is there any food we can offer you? We have milk, lots of cheese, and eggs! Would you please accept our hospitality?"

What a jerk.

So, we ate pasta (gluten-free, egg-free) with home made sauce. Part of the sauce was leftover from meat sauce my parents gave me the other night when they had me over for dinner. We had that, sauteed some garlic, onions and eggplant to throw in there along with some fresh basil. MMMM. And there was our vegan/hospitalitarian dinner. If you don't understand how it goes, maybe you will begin to after you read the last blog and follow the other ones.

If you do understand, and are a single, attractive, Christ-seeking man, please marry me.

I kid, I kid.

But, really.

They offered me a cherry coke zero. Which I was excited by until Sherwin drank mine. But I realized it may have refined sugar and other stuff in it which isn't vegan. But Sherwin pointed out since it was coke zero, that it wouldn't. Bekah agreed, but noted it would have other stuff. I have decided to be safe, to stay away from soda.

I have discovered from this visit, that I need to set some ground rules. So here goes:

1) It's not what you do first, it's what you do next.

I find that I am truly oblivious to what's vegan and not vegan even though I have considered myself somewhat of a foodie in the past. I am becoming aware of my ignorance all over again.

So what do I do if in my oblivion, I eat something (that I buy) that isn't vegan? I don't cry on the floor kicking. I research it, learn from it and move on.

Yesterday I had an egg roll at lunch. I know what you are thinking- an EGG roll--how obvious. Well truthfully, I wasn't thinking about it's name, but was INSIDE it. Later when I realized my falter, I made my co-worker Ashley laugh harder than ever before

2) Do not be legalistic, especially when people offer me food. Especially dessert.

Friday is National Cheesecake Day. It really is. I knew this yesterday when I decided to do this diet, and still persisted on. Why didn't I wait until this day was over?

Ashley keeps asking me, "What if I made cheesecake? All that time and effort I poured into it? Would you refuse it?"

I love cheesecake. Is this something I should always deny even when offered out of hospitality? Even vegans take their falls sometimes. And you know what, there's nothing wrong with that. As long as you don't break out into hives.

I can choose to eat it, in slow, deliberate moderation. It's not something I will seek after, but if someone makes something that's beautiful and delicious, who am I to reject its intrinsic beauty?

My theory that I am lactose-intolerant could very well be a gross overreaction, to a stomach cramp thing that's going around. Although I do want to cleanse system of dairy foods, for health reasons. But I am not going to die from dairy.

My choice to abstain from dairy is a choice. Not a doctor's mandate. Even so, many doctors also over-react and over-diagnose. We need to be wise sometimes and make our own decisions based on how we know our bodies and with a little bit of careful research.

And here's what I have ate so far yesterday (since my swearing off) and today. If I fell, due to ignorance, please let me know.

Monday
fried rice with black beans and chick peas
zucchini
egg roll
blackberries and granola
a chocolate peppermint Luna bar
a rice cake
bread and tomato sauce
gluten free, egg free pasta and tomato sauce

Tuesday
coffee with coconut milk as creamer
a rice cake
bread and tomato sauce
green beans (sprayed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar)
black bean salad (black beans, corn, red peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, other veggies)
potatoes


And of course, water has been my beverage of choice (I have also given up on bottled water, but left my re-usable water bottle at Sherwin's house. I don't know how I will work out tonight without it! :( )

More ground rules as I go. This is a work in progress.

I have been craving Ashley's M&Ms alll day.

Here's to holding strong (I think!).

on being a vegan hospitalitarian: a values vs. health dilemma?

Is this a complete contradiction?

I almost feel like it is.

Brief history: Around 4 years ago, in Portland, Oregon, I became a vegetarian. This is because I learned more about the meat industry in America and was sickened by its lack of ethics. However, I did not stop eating dairy or eggs and other animal-based products. I would try my best to buy these products organic or free-range, but at the time, I did not deem it reasonable to go vegan.

3 years ago, I was preparing to go to Kenya for a 7 week long missions trip. Prior to the trip, I was involved in a program called Students Training in Missions, which trains you to enter cross-cultural situations. One weekend, we had a meat-based meal, and I was going to opt to eating PB&J, but one of my leaders sat me aside and explained to me that it's offensive to go into other cultures and refuse their food.

That struck a chord in me, and one thing that remained fresh that year was when I went to peoples' houses (at home) and would explain I am vegetarian. If they were not prepared, they were either sorry or kinda ticked off. I realized that food preferences draw up boundaries-- so knowing that I want to live a missional life, I chose people over animal ethics in those situations. I want to love people and care for creation-- becoming a hospitalitarian seemed like the best way.

Hospitalitarianism. I made up that word, and it is a conversation piece whereever I go. It simply means I do not buy my own meat-- but I eat it at peoples' houses, church events and other things of the like. So on my own time, I am still a vegetarian.

But recently, I have had health concerns. And really, it's been going on for awhile. When I was in Kenya, tea was served at all times a day. It was Kenyan chai- a milk based tea, made with boiled whole milk, water and loose tea leaves. It was very good, but I started getting sick everytime I drank it. I had to start to turn it down, or drink it very slowly, and not move afterwards.

I have been getting sick lately, and whenever I do get sick, too much dairy has seemed to be a part of it. But even yesterday, when I just had a little bit of half & half in my Americano I started feeling bad.

Am I lactose-intolerant? I don't know. I need to see a doctor to find out. But I think I could at least have a mild intolerance to dairy.

So right now, I am starting an experiment. Go mostly vegan and see if that has an impact. Mostly vegan, because I am still hospitalitarian. So it would work, in theory, like eating vegetarian when I am on my own.

But I have health issues to work out. If I go over to someone's house and they cook baked ziti, topped off with cheesecake for dessert, I know I will miserable afterwards. So what do I do in these scenarios? Explain to people that although I can still eat meat when I am with them, I can't eat as much dairy?

Telling people I am a vegan hospitalitarian will throw them all off-- because this implies that I don't eat any animal products. And while I won't eat animal products on my own time and money, what do I do when I visit people?

Like if someone offers me a pepsi? That one's easier. "I'll just drink water." But in some cultures, if someone offers you a pepsi, you need to drink the pepsi.

I am toying around with not calling myself vegan at all, but maybe being a dairy-free hospitalitarian. This will be slightly less confusing, however does not provide for more polite manners around the dinner table.

Personal health is a very important thing to consider, but so are the relationships built around the dinner table. People tell me that in this culture, it's ok to be vegetarian or vegan as long as you tell your hosts ahead of time, but still that requires the host to have to make extra preparations for you and spend more money possibly to offer two versions of the same meal. It works for some people, and I certainly understand those who do have more serious health problems.

I just hope I never become gluten-intolerant. :/