As a mostly vegan, total vegetarian, who is in recovery from anorexia (remember, you are never healed – it’s a lifelong process), nothing gets me angrier than someone saying, “veganisim and vegetarianism are masks for eating disorders.”
Sure, it makes me mad that my fellow vegan and vegetarian foodies who have no history of eating disorders are attacked in such an idiotic manner. But it also infuriates me because since becoming an all-time veggie eater, my relationship with food has gotten even better.
I became a vegetarian when I was a teen, and then started to ditch dairy, etc., in my late 20s. While being a vegetarian made me more apt to cook (I really don’t like a lot of those pre-packaged vegetarian meals), once I got rid of dairy, cooking became a necessity.
I really didn’t like a lot of the “store bought” breads out there, and found it was even more difficult to find soups and sauces that didn’t contain dairy (or a myriad of other nasty additives).
So, I got in the kitchen. I started using more nuts, flax seed, and hemp milk. Nutritional yeast and liquid aminos are my best friends. I learned how to sub in apple sauce or moistened flax seed for eggs, and found out that most non-dairy milks (especially the non-refrigerated kinds, and, of course, the kinds you can make at home) don’t contain xanthan gum, or carrageen.
Basically, cooking and baking got fun – jubilant. And I began to enjoy sampling all the new stuff I was making. If anything, I’m eating more than ever now, and I feel great. I’ve found a healthy, whole food diet that works for me and has helped me quiet all those nasty voices in my brain.
So, vegan and vegetarian haters: chill with your insults. I bet you would really dislike it if I said you had some type of addiction or disorder because you eat eggs, or meat. Let’s just all let each other eat in peace and try to get along.
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