Being vegan: An update

A week ago today I started my vegan diet. I had been to the shops and spent £20 on free from food, from snacks such as crisps and sesame seed bites, to more essential items such as tofu and falafel to replace meat and soya cheese. Having watched Cowspiracy on Netflix, I was ready to try and be a better person by cutting out all animal products from my life. It would obviously be a challenge, but challenges don't phase me. I was happy enough to try.

Three days in, I was already struggling. I already knew I wouldn't be able to go 'full' vegan straight away, as I still live at home and have family dinners. With everyone else being meat eaters, I had decided to make their life easy; I would have a vegan breakfast and lunch and then I would eat whatever was made for the family for dinner. It seemed like a good enough compromise to me.

But half way through the week I was beginning to miss things. Hard boiled eggs, for instance, that I had been having on almost a daily basis. Prawns, my favourite food ever. And ordinary cows milk, so much thicker and tastier than oat milk. I tried not to be so selfish. I reminded myself what animals have to go through in order for me to enjoy those luxuries. But I just couldn't help it; I craved them.

I knew then that I had made a mistake. There was absolutely no way I could jump right into a completely different diet- in fact, lifestyle- when for the last twenty years I had been living the exact same way. Sure, some people might be able to do it, and kudos to them, but I was struggling. I still am.

By the end of this week, meat was slipping back into the diet. I ran out of tofu pieces so went back to what was in the fridge; chicken. And whilst tofu is genuinely really tasty, chicken was just so much nicer. This was going to be a big problem.

Now, I'm not a quitter, so I'm determined not to give up on this lifestyle, and changing the world to make it a better place. But I am going to make some adjustments as to how I do it. I'm going to go back to my ordinary diet- but less of it. I will continue to eat, but with as little animal products as I can. I will still buy vegan crisps and snacks in an attempt to eat as many free from products as I can. But I know now that I have to wean myself into this diet and lifestyle if I want it to work properly for me.

I feel selfish and I feel like I've let people and animals down- the people who supported my decision and the animals who will suffer because of this new decision to continue consuming animal products. I feel terrible but I am hoping that eventually, I will be able to live off a completely vegan diet. I just need to work towards getting there first.

Some of you might laugh. You might think it's so easy to just change your eating habits, but for me, it's not. Everyone's different, and that's just how it is for me. For now, I just want to be eating as healthily as I can without any added difficulties along the way. And right now, eating a totally vegan diet is just not working for me. I hope you can all respect that.

Love from,
Florence Grace