Cutting To the Chase

What was the determining factor that made you decide to go vegan?

The determining factor that made me go vegan was the fact that I literally didn’t have the time or money to eat animal products anymore. I know that sounds weird. I’ll explain. My decision to go vegan was not driven by ethical reasons in the beginning. Instead, it was based on finances and time management. Five years ago, when I decided to go vegan, I had just moved to Boston. I lost track of how many jobs I was working just to be able to afford to breathe fresh air. Working multiple jobs meant long 14-16-hour days with zero patience to cook anything that was more complex than two steps OR took more than 10 minutes to prep. At the time when I’d do my grocery shopping, I noticed that everything I purchased was usually around eight bucks. This included grains, veggies, fruits, legumes and pastas. Then I would go buy my “organic, grass fed, humanely raised” chicken breasts and that cost me about $12.00 per pound. I’d get home from the grocery store and immediately freeze my chicken breasts because I didn’t want them to stay in the fridge for a long time and go bad before I cooked them. That said, there were many 14-16-hour workdays when I’d get home at 8:00 P.M. and get frustrated because I could never remember to thaw the chicken in the morning before I left for the day. This was literally the reason I went vegan. I would get so frustrated that I spent $15.00 per week on chicken, and it would either go bad in the fridge because I didn’t feel like putting the time and effort into actually cooking the chicken after such a long work day, or the chicken would stay in the freezer and get freezer burned, which grossed me out, or it just took too much time to thaw the chicken when I would get home. Literally we are talking about only six to eight minutes of transitional time allocated to animal protein prep, but those minutes add up about 48 hours per year! That’s an entire week of one of my jobs! Finally, after looking at my frozen rock-hard chicken breast I said to myself: “This is ridiculous. I can’t ever remember to thaw the damn chicken so I’m not buying it anymore and I’m going vegan. That way I don’t EVER have to deal with chicken ever again.” I decided to go vegan because I needed to streamline my dinner routine at night and reduce unnecessary steps. There’s not enough nutritional value in chicken for me to spend my dollars on it just to spend extra time cooking it only to have it contribute to high cholesterol and also force me to use a separate cutting board and then have to wash a second cutting board. That entire process made no sense to me. I just couldn’t justify it anymore! Getting my fruits and veggies from ONE drawer in the fridge (I know you’re supposed to separate your fruits and veggies in the fridge, but I never do. And again, saving transitional time) and not having to use separate cutting boards and worry about cooking temps that cut out a huge chunk of my food prep time. I no longer spent about $75.00 per month on animal proteins. I streamlined my grocery shopping by not even going to the meat counter, and instead I allocated most of those dollars to grains and legumes to replace the calories and protein. Now, a typical dinner is cooked legumes with steamed veggies - dice the veggies small enough that they can cook in the same amount of time as the lentil pasta and even in the same pot - about 8-10 minutes and you’re done! All macros covered. Does your plant-based diet impact others around you socially or professionally?

Not if you don’t let it. I try to not “market” myself as a vegan because I don’t want people to see me as any different from what I hope will be the vast majority in the future. People can sometimes make a big deal if I’m in a group at a restaurant and try to overaccommodate me as a vegan. The truth is you can get vegan options at any restaurant. I use that opportunity to be gracious and thankful that they want me to be comfortable and show them that it’s very easy to navigate a restaurant menu quickly and know to supplement the meal with one or two starches or veggie side dishes which end up being great to share with the table, which actually leads to more inclusion with your group. Steak houses actually have great salad bars. It’s the Italian restaurants that I find are the most difficult to navigate as every single dish seems to have dairy, seafood or meat associated with it. I find that Mexican, Asian or American restaurants have plenty for vegans from which to choose. A few friends in my inner circle have actually cut out dairy completely because they know I don’t incorporate butter in my cooking. They’ve become accustomed to both oil free meals, or using coconut oil instead of butter. They’ve thanked me for their eczema and digestion issues vastly improving or clearing up entirely.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have of being vegan?

The biggest misconception that people have about being vegan is that we don’t “get enough protein.” I had blood work done, and my doctor confirmed that my protein levels were in the higher range of normal. All essential amino acids can get acquired from plants, and you don’t have to eat massive quantities of it either. Another big misconception is that we all drink green juices. I rarely juice. Again, go back to #1 where I talk about food prep. I’m really not into creating more steps in order to eat. When I have greens, I just eat them instead of liquifying them. I feel that it’s too much work and sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

What’s your go-to vegan dish?

My go-to vegan dish would be taco lettuce wraps! They can be done hundreds of ways with any kind of hearty green as the base, then any seasoned vegan meat crumble, topped with veggies, black beans and guac for days. It’s out of this world. You can even get fancy with a homemade vegan cheese sauce which literally tastes like how I remembered queso cheese. But again, that involves time and prep, which I’m just never too motivated to do, but I will make a bomb vegan cheese sauce on occasion, and it takes the taco lettuce wraps to another level that still amazes me every time I enjoy it.

What benefits have you experienced from a plant-based lifestyle?

With the exception of saving my six to eight minutes of time every day that had been allocated to animal protein prep and saving money at the grocery store, I was not expecting to see any changes in my body or think that I would perceive food differently, but after a few weeks I started to notice I dropped some weight, I stopped having those “3:00 P.M. crashes.” My skin improved and that’s when I truly started to embrace the importance of having empathy for sentient beings. During the first couple months of being vegan, on occasion I would have a bite of a sandwich or pastry that had dairy in it, and I noticed that I really didn’t like the taste, and it made me think about the process behind the food - the slaughter, the horrific conditions of the animals and the exploitation of the female reproductive system. I felt grateful that I was no longer contributing to any of those processes. I feel totally satisfied and energetic living off plants. As a vegan athlete, I’ve proved to myself that I can train for a half ironman, push 450 pounds on a sled and ride my bike for 60+ miles just fine.