After being a vegetarian for almost 20 years I have been every kind of vegetarian you can think of.
From the occasional vegetarian - I guess that is how most of us started out - some teenage rebellion combined with a disdain for everything ordinary - I went through a couple of try-outs, that would go really well for a few weeks and than fall flat.
Than later came the ovo-lacto phase, which morphed into years of being a happy vegan, which morphed into years of being a happy raw food vegan to - right now.
Where am I right now? Well, to be quite honest - I am back to square one - being an ordinary ovo-lacto vegetarian. How did I end up back here? Not that there is anything wrong with being just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill kind of vegetarian, mind you!
The economy has a lot to do with it for me.
Going back to organic eggs and organic milk seems to be cheaper when in a severe crunch, and so a dedicated vegan is sent back three squares and becomes a regular vegetarian once again. At least for now.
Especially in winter - when produce is available to me almost exclusively in the supermarket or health food store - at a high price and so-so quality, I cannot imagine trying to be a raw fooder on a limited budget.
Now, I know that some of you manage it somehow - I would love to hear how you stick to your vegan, raw fooder or other guns in times of economic distress.
Comments anyone?
4 comments:
I too have run the vegi-gamut of everything from meat eater to vegan. I was recently asked if I eat chicken for a dinner party. I answered "For the most part I eat a vegetarian diet, but every now and then I will eat organic/"happy" chicken." I believe in eating a diet that is humane but also believe in eating local and my eggs, meat, and dairy is mostly local and organic.
How do I afford organic meat, dairy, eggs etc? I have my own chickens for eggs, I don't purchase any meat, I buy Hawthorn Valley yogurt, and I only use a very small amount of (local raw) milk. I believe in using butter so I buy Organic Valley when it is on sale and freeze it. I rarely purchase organic cheese products.
Most of my diet consists of veggies that I grow (I still have veggies from the summer in my freezer) and bulk dry goods.
I spend a lot of money on food considering that my partner and I am underemployed right now. But eating local, sustainable, humane, and delicious food is important to me. So I try to not wince when the bill at Health and Nutrition is over $100 and just remind myself that I would rather eat the way I do then eat tv dinners all the time.
Hi Amie!
Couldn't agree more.
Especially since, when you count in the "hidden" costs of deteriorating health later on in life, from all these TV dinners - they don't seem so affordable all of sudden.
I shop for deals on produce. I can get 1 pound of turnip, collard, mustard or kale greens for $1.99, which are great for green juices and/or smoothies. "Ripe" bananas are always marked down to 15 cents a pound, and are wonderful in smoothies.
Any way I look at it, I'm still spending waaaaaaay less than I did when I ate SAD. I don't take any medications. I haven't been sick once this winter. I think of eating raw, living foods as my health insurance premium.
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