I was challenged by my professor and peers to pick one sustainability challenge to carry for 15 days.
My challenge: Go Vegan
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I have chosen to go vegan for 15 days and convinced my husband to tag along with me on this challenge.
Why? I chose to do it because I already do a lot of things on the list and I figured this would probably be the challenge with the most measurable impact on my lifestyle. I might not see the impact of my change of diet on the world, but I will definitely be able to build habits to try and incorporate it in my lifestyle without much disruption (or so I hope).
My plan:
-Believe: I believe switching to a plant-based diet will drastically reduce my carbon footprint. I have been struggling to give up on dairy because I love cheese. I also eat a lot of eggs as they're a good source of proteins and I can't really digest red meat. My husband eats a lot of dairy as well and habitually eats meat.
-Believe: I believe switching to a plant-based diet will drastically reduce my carbon footprint. I have been struggling to give up on dairy because I love cheese. I also eat a lot of eggs as they're a good source of proteins and I can't really digest red meat. My husband eats a lot of dairy as well and habitually eats meat.
-Frame: I want to convince myself eating vegan is easy to do and delicious. I have been stressing over the implication my own behavior has on the environment. I have tried to change a lot in my life. However, as a chronically ill person, sometimes the easy meal is a familiar recipe you can make in 5mn when you don't have the spoons for anything else (or the money for takeout). While I don't eat a lot of meat, I am very fond of eggs and dairy and willfully choose to turn a blind eye on how animals are treated to obtain these products. I want this to change.
-Know: All meals need to be vegan, starting this weekend. If I order takeout or eat out, it must be vegan or made vegan. Snacks and drinks must be vegan as well.
-Prompt: I will put dairy in the freezer so I can resume using it in 2 weeks without food waste. I will buy only vegan products when I go grocery shopping on Friday and will get enough groceries for 2 weeks worth of meals.
-Act: Look up simple vegan recipes and meal prep. Change staple ingredients: Use margarine or olive oil instead of butter. All plant-base dairy (almond milk, cashew yoghurt, etc.). Take a look at our pantry and start using all the ingredients that can be used in a vegan diet. If we need to go grocery shopping, only purchase vegan products. Try to be creative and cook from scratch, experiment. Have some vegan friends over for a potluck and tips on how to become vegan.
-Reinforce: Buying and cooking vegan isn't more complicated or expensive than an omnivorous diet. It is good for the environment, the animals, and my own health.
Tracking: I will track my progress by saving groceries receipts and writing down/taking pictures of the meals I make/order/eat, and if there were any barriers to this meal being vegan. And if it tasted good (very important!).
I hope I can realize it is easy and not time consuming to be vegan. I will learn about delicious alternatives to cheese. I want to compare my omnivorous diet budget with the vegan diet. I also want to track how much single use packaging waste I generate compared to our average, given that we buy as much fresh whole foods as we can to avoid plastic waste and I feel like a lot of easy vegan alternatives are usually generating a lot of packaging waste - I hope to be proven wrong on that last assumption.
