Like clock-work, every November for the past three years I get an intense craving…for eggs.
And every year I have given in to this craving with feelings of guilt, shame and embarrassment because I follow a vegan diet and feel like I am letting myself and the community down.
Until now.
After reading the book Food and Healing by Annemarie Colbin, I found this amazing quote “There is no one diet that is right for everyone all the time.” Such a simple statement but it really made sense to me. Right now I am not thriving and my current diet is simply not working for me.
I am learning to listen to my body because to me that’s what is more important than any particular diet. I asked myself “what if I was my client, what would I say?” And the advice I would give is that it is far better to listen to your body, find out where the cravings are coming from and health is more important than any label we put on ourselves.
In the summer I was with friends in a large group, one friend said “what are you, vegan or vegetarian I really have no idea what you eat anymore.” I know said friend did not mean any insult by this, but it felt like a slap in the face. As if the entire essence of my being was reduced to nothing more than whether I included eggs and dairy in my diet.
I never set out to become a vegan nutritionist or someone who believes everyone should follow a vegan diet because I happen to not believe that at all and never did. I got into the field of Holistic Nutrition and Health because I believe the individual is unique and maintains balance differently.
It’s important for me to add that this is not a vegan bashing post. I happen to know many who are happy, healthy and thriving on a vegan diet. If it works for you, amazing. But if it doesn’t that’s okay too.
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What you wrote about your friend’s comment about your diet really resonated with me. It does feel like a slap in the face when someone is judgmental about our food choices, especially if we are working to be conscious consumers. I have tried many different “diets” (I don’t really think of them as diets, more like ways of eating) but am usually very secretive about them. I don’t want someone to think I am vegan and then see me eating grass fed beef and then saying something to me about it. Perhaps secrecy is not the healthiest when it comes to food choices but it’s very hard for me to feel judged around my food choices. I think it’s wonderful that you are so open-minded about letting people do what is best for them.
P.S. I’ve been eating a lot of local, free-range eggs and love them. If you have a good source for them, they are wonderful.
Dani, Great message. Noone should ever feel confined within the rules of one particular diet. Good for you for listening to your body and making the choices that are right for you, right now. <3
Danielle! I am so happy you wrote about this and good for you! Listening to your body is what you NEED to do! I felt bad falling off the vegan wagon too but at the end of the day we have to do what is best for US. I just dealt with this on the weekend and wrote a post about it. Someone left me a comment saying I was no longer a vegetarian because I tried fish a couple of weeks ago! I just hadn’t had the time to edit my blog but I felt really guilty that I was misleading people! Keep doing what you need to do to best fuel your body. I’ve been listening to mine for a while now and I haven’t felt better!
I hear what you are saying Daniel, and I respect your choices but I’d like to address the main issue here for me. Veganism is not a diet. It is an ethical choice, affecting not only what we eat but how we move through the world, how we consume everything above and beyond what we put into our bodies. And that perhaps is where many of us who are vegan take umbrage with others who discuss food options and diet and include them in the same world of being vegan. For myself, as a vegan personal trainer as well, I understand the need to thrive and feel strong, vibrant and healthy. I do well on a plant based diet; I also know if I didn’t, going back to eating animals would still not be an option. Personally, I can’t ingest, use or exploit animals in any way, no matter what the source or how I rationalize it. But that’s my choice. I also think why some vegans also get extremely incensed by people identifying vegan while eating outside of a plant based diet and using animal products in other forms comes down to the fact that it completely muddies the waters for the rest of society who have a hard enough time as it is understanding and being empathetic to veganism; many claim to be vegan or vegan~ish but in reality, they eat a primarily plant based diet while consuming honey, eggs, dairy, or wear leather, wool, silk, what ever the examples may be. And I’ll say it again, that is where the issue lies: veganism is a way of life, a moral baseline, not a food choice. So eat what you want, wear what you want, but please, don’t call it vegan. It’s a plant based diet. It’s not an angry, judgmental comment, it’s a necessary and rather crucial point of clarification not only for other vegans but for the rest of the world that is already confounded and judgmental about veganism as an idea and lifestyle.
Good for you for listening to your body! I, too have had struggles coming to terms with the fact that I need some animal proteins in my life… but now that I have I feel better than ever. It’s what works for the individual, for sure! I think you made the best choice for you
xoxo
I agree with this this. Although I’d like to eat a little more of what I deem as perfect I’m not particularly rigid. I do consider myself a raw vegan because that’s what my diet primarily consists of but I do eat a little dairy, eggs and even meat once in a while and sometimes it feels like just what my body needed.
correction…I consider myself a high raw vegan, I definitely don’t eat all raw.
We had a very interesting discussion on the weekend about food choices and how they must not only reflect our lifestyle but what our bodies need at that particular time. It is fortunate for all of us, as your family, that you have delivered sound, practical advice to help us along our journey. I am happy to say that with your support and gentle pushing, you convinced me 7 months ago yesterday to quit smoking, change my diet and start working out daily at the gym again. I am feeling healthier than I have in a long time and look forward to seeing my grand daughter Jolie grow up.
You have given a lot of people hope and guidance so giving in to something that you need at this moment in time for the good of your health is nothing to beat yourself up about or for anyone else to judge you.
I’ve always asked you to do what is right and remember when dealing with people, be kind, you never know which ones are the angels. Personally, and I am somewhat biased, I think you are doing very well, so have an egg or two!
Aw, cool dad!
This blog post was a very refreshing read for me. I also struggle with the “title” of vegan. I try not to eat animal products most of the time but also listen to my body and have incorporated eggs into my diet when I have certain cravings. I do not want to be part of any mistreatment of animals which is why I only purchase eggs from a farm that I know rescued a 6 chickens from slaughter a few years back. A few months ago I listened to a talk from Gene Baur – the man behind the Farm Sanctuary. It was extremely enlightening, but one thing kind of stuck in my head. Somebody asked about what they do with all the eggs they collect from the rescued chickens. He replied that they save them and feed them to the other animals because allowing them to hatch would create a whole other problem. It just seemed so strange to me, that it was okay to feed eggs to the other animals but not to humans. Like some kind of double standard in a way. I can’t even explain my thoughts about this properly…
What does all this mean? When I eat these eggs I don’t picture a tortured chicken in a factory farm, I picture a rescued chicken in a happy place because that is where I get them from. A place that probably wouldn’t be so happy with another 100 chickens running around if they let all the eggs hatch. So does this make it ok? Am I forgiven?
If somebody asked me if I was a vegan I would have to say no. A vegan in training? Maybe… a vegan wannabe… probably more so, but I am not a vegan. I can relate to vegans, I sell food to vegans and I respect vegans with all my heart, however I eat an egg every few months so I do not fit into this class. I would be very upset if somebody got angry at me for my choice to eat an egg every now and again and banished me from being part of a vegan community that I get so much pleasure from.
I think what Stephanie was saying is that the term “vegan” is rigid and there is no room for sway from the moral baseline. This can be a tough journey for many people – a high standard to live up to. I do understand the need to have this strict adherence to the values as without it the term wouldn’t mean anything. Maybe as I continue on my journey I will get to this point, or maybe not!
Gosh, I don’t know where I am going with this! I just wanted to share some thoughts… look what you stirred up in me Dani! lol
Peace to all xo
Lee, thank you for sharing your thoughts, I so appreciate it and I completely relate! I love your story about Gene Baur, I’ve read his book and love him and his cause.
I absolutely understand that veganism is based both on a compassionate diet and lifestyle, abstaining from animal/cruelty-free products, services etc and I have done so to the best of my abilities in the past 3 years. To be honest, when I started my vegan journey (this includes diet AND lifestyle) I never knew where it would take me. I never set out to be a role model for veganism, I set out to be a role model for health. It was never part of my plan as a Holistic Nutritionist to promote one diet over another, that is actually quite the opposite idea of what holistic nutrition stands for.
This website is my brand and my business and on it I hope to inspire wellness, looking and feeling your best, giving your body the best nutrition for optimal health you can and a large part of that is plant-based but at the end of it all, we have to do what is right for us, as individuals.
Holy rant
you are an inspiration!
yessss — doing what is right for YOU is so important.
Choosing a plant based diet and thriving makes so much more sense than being vegan and not thriving. I’m really proud of you and support you in whatever you choose to eat in order to be the best possible you.
love you lots xo
Regardless of where we are each at individually I think the fact that you illicit conversation and discussion about who we are, and how we choose to live is a good thing, ultimately. And people can choose their own paths. Lee wrote my interpretation- and many people’s- of veganism is pretty “rigid”; but I prefer definitive over rigid. Veganism is veganism. We’ve become terribly complacent in society concerning ideologies, beliefs and ethics. If it feels good for you, if it’s what you feel you need, if it makes you feel better now, listen to your body, follow your cravings and just do it, that’s all that matters; damn the others. This can be applied to cravings for McDonalds as easily as it can be towards an occasional animal product like an egg or the myth of human meat. For me, the choice is not rigid, it’s definitive. It has a very simple, clear ideaology: Veganism is a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose. It’s not difficult or hard or restrictive, it’s just shifting the paradigm. It’s the choice I make, knowing the options, repercussions and consequences. A body doesn’t crave eggs- one’s body doesn’t crave a particular food over any other- it may be lacking in an essential mineral or compound and there are always a myriad of choices available which can satisfy that depletion. How we choose to listen to our bodies, our needs, our desires, is the point- for me, at least. I can do whatever I want to do- I choose to live within a moral compass where my palate does not define my ethics. Which in the beginning meant doing a lot of work and research or asking myself really difficult, complicated questions that don’t always have easy or favourable answers. It’s not about me, it’s about the animals, the environment, our entire society as a whole. Just because something may be ok for me, I still question what the effects are on the greater good, and who/what else ins involved in that decision. So yes, the animals in the farm get the eggs because they’re not ours to eat. WE do not have dominion over them, they are not here for us to use; to say well, if the animals can eat them, why can’t I is the equivalent of the argument, well, if the omelette’s already been cooked, then why not? because it’s a choice we have, to choose how we relate to all sentient beings. I guess the easiest way I describe it to people is, once you know, how can you NOT know? Once I made the connection, how could I not be vegan?
You’ve definitely go to do what is right for you! As I say, “Labels are for tin cans!!”
Great post!
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