Yesterday I came across a very interesting article that has made me think.
Say Goodbye to vegan junk food
The reality of my life is this:
- I’m busy. (Two 12 hour work days this week is not the norm, but it happens relatively frequently.)
- I hurt. (That’s the “RA” part of the title of the blog! Sorry. Couldn’t resist!)
- I have many responsibilities.
- And I’m still learning how to cook for us all. (Vegan is one thing, but add in all of T’s recently discovered food allergies…)
Very quickly; Much too quickly in fact, I have fallen into relying on quick fix vegan junk food. Just because it doesn’t contain animal products doesn’t immediately make it healthy. (The mini oreos I had for lunch yesterday would be a PRIME example…)
In reading through some comments on vegan junk the thing that struck me was one person saying “I’m vegan and yet I eat very few fruits and vegetables…” I don’t see myself being like some people who’s comments I have read recently who say “If I don’t make it, I won’t eat it.” That’s just not practical for me. But I do need to find ways to eat less junk and more healthy real food. Because I did this for my health; If I’m just replacing with junky vegan stuff, it’s not worth it.
Posted by natalamc on February 10, 2011 at 6:22 PM
Hi
I totally understand… about not having a lot of time. There are some healthy faster things you can do, especially if you don’t have time to cook meals, or prepare.
First, Jeff Novick has a great video called “Fast Food” that shows a bunch of meals you can make in under 10 minutes using a can opener and scissors (seriously), you might like it.
Second, you can get some prepackaged things to make life easier right now – frozen brown rice, frozen vegetables, pre-cut veggies/fruits, boxes of POMI tomato puree.
Third: Add kale or greens whenever you can, just cook them quickly and add on top of almost anything.
Another thing I like doing is prepping a lot of food at once – like in 2 hours on a Sunday. I make large batches of beans (pressure cooker) big things of soup, I make brown rice and quinoa and freeze it.
It definitely gets easier as you go. Let me know if you need anything
Posted by the RA Vegan on February 10, 2011 at 6:54 PM
Thanks so much for the vote of confidence! I will look up the video; that sounds great. I used to do a lot of prep on the weekends but lately have fallen out of it. I really should try that again…And I have to confess, I am afraid of my pressure cooker. Should I try to get over that fear and use it??
Posted by Taking Care of Me, or Why I was Cooking Oatmeal at 9:30 pm « The RA Vegan on July 27, 2011 at 10:21 PM
[...] easy to fall into being a junk food vegan. In fact I’ve written about it twice (here and here) and I have only been blogging about 7 months. And it’s easy for me to be rather [...]