Becoming Vegan

A few months ago I signed up for Netflix, my hubby was very excited to start watching documentaries which he loves.  He started a movie he thought I really should watch, after some pleading I finally agreed to watch it with him.  To say I was shocked is an understatement, it literally changed the way I look at any animal based product.  In the movie it explains how cancer feeds on any animal product, from meat (including turkey and chicken) to cheese and even eggs.  Since my mother is going through her fifth round of chemotherapy due to her breast cancer that has spread I wanted her to  become vegan that day!  My hubby and I told my mom if she would become vegan we would do it with her to support her and it would be a journey for us all to share.

It has been so long without any type of meat I do not crave it at all.  That isn’t to say I didn’t cheat some at first!  My main issue was no cheese, and I don’t even like cheese that much!  It was more for the things I love to make like lasagna, pizza, enchiladas, etc.  Lasagna is my favorite meal to make at home so I was really sad I couldn’t make it anymore.  That was until I saw the vegan section at my local Trader Joe’s, there was cheese, fake meat (sounds gross but I swear it isn’t) and much more.  I’ve cooked with vegan cheese in the past and I hated that no matter how long you cooked it, the cheese didn’t melt, isn’t that what cheese is for?

My first attempt to cook with the vegan cheese was on pizza, and we tried two different types.  Trader Joe’s and Dayia cheese (found at Whole Foods) the vegan cheese from Trader’s melted but didn’t have a lot of taste.  The Dayia cheese didn’t melt entirely but had a better taste, I was just happy to have some type of cheese to cook with!

My next attempt with the cheese was to make my favorite lasagna.  Last night was the first time making it, it wasn’t my regular lasagna but for vegan lasagna it was pretty darn good!   Stay tuned for my vegan lasagna recipe!

If you would like to watch the movie it is called Forks over Knives, and basically tells you how to live a plant based diet.  It truly isn’t that hard once you figure out what you can and can’t eat.  Sounds funny to say figure out but just because something is non-dairy doesn’t mean it isn’t vegan.  A lot of non-diary cheese is not considered vegan because it has casein in it.  As it is derived from milk, casein is not vegan but it is vegetarian.  Unless the package has the V on it for vegan generally I won’t buy it.

My favorite quote from the movie is “Some people think the ‘plant-based whole foods diet’ is extreme.  Half a million people a year will have their chests opened up and a vein taken from their leg and sewn onto their coronary artery.  Some people would call THAT EXTREME!”  ~Dr. Essestyn

If you or anyone you know has cancer please watch this movie, it may save your life.