Crowding, not cutting

When I first considered changing to a vegan diet, I mostly thought about everything I'd be cutting out - although for me, meats weren't a big issue in terms of taste. I was vegetarian for about 3 years in the UK in the late 90's, and I did ok, mainly reverting because of laziness. Eggs and dairy are another matter - they're in so many things, and some of my favourite omni foods are egg or dairy based,.. creme brulee for instance. So I took the easy way out and told myself that I wouldn't rule out having dairy or egg foods once in a while for special occasions. Time will tell - health-wise, I'm sure there is little difference between 100% and 99% vegan. However, since then I've read and thought much more about the ethical side of vegan eating, and I wonder whether I really want a "special occasion" to involve foods that involve animal cruelty. Perhaps over time I'll find rich, indulgent vegan foods for special occasions - have your cake and cruel-free too.

In the meantime, for the princely sum of $0.99, I bought "The Ultimate Vegan Guide" for Kindle a few weeks ago. It's a fairly short and easy to read sort of "how-to" guide, with some useful every-day tips and tricks. The author, Erik Marcus, is frank about his own transition to eating vegan and the obstacles along the way. The part that really struck a chord with me was in the third chapter, "Crowding, not cutting":

Here is the most common mistake that new vegans make: they switch to this diet believing that it's all about discipline and cutting things out. They grit their teeth and give up hamburgers, cheese pizzas, yogurt,.. And in place of all that, they eat celery sticks. Well, that's obviously a recipe for disaster. So let me suggest an alternative: don't cut out non-veggie foods, crowd them out.

I think it's great advice and I've taken it to heart. For me, the big positive culinary change has been re-discovering the joys of eating fruit - lots of fruit. I love fruit - almost everything, but before I would rarely eat more than one or two serves a day. The main reason is that when there are Tim Tams and cheese in the house, fruit just doesn't win the laziness or sugar/fat craving stakes. Now, I often have about 5-6 items of fresh fruit a day and really enjoying it. One of the great finds for me has been grapefruit - we've been buying the red-fleshed ones. I guess I had tried them occasionally in the past, but they're so good, I wonder why didn't I eat more before!