Boundaries

Claiming to be ‘Vegan’ in itself is pretty broad: Do you only apply your veganism to diet? Purchases? Drinking? Every second of every day? Or do you give yourself ‘cheat’ days?

For myself it’s truly been a day by day experience. People like to ask me a lot of hypothetical questions, such as ‘But what are you going to do if someone holds you hostage and says the only way they would free you is if you ate chicken??? Would you eat it then???’

Sigh.

Everyone’s boundaries are totally different and personal. I know people who are strict with their food consumption and others who are a little more lax. For me, I understand that going out to eat or eating at someone else’s home will provide certain challenges and I’m ready to accept those challenges with a little creativity and reasonable compromise. Sometimes I may just decide to throw in the towel, though.

Today we went out to eat for lunch, which is a HUUUUGGE event for us. My husband suggested a place we love and I knew would have extremely limited vegan options. In the end, I decided on a crab cake. The horrors, right? And guess what – it was delicious. Not in that, ‘What have I been missing?’ way but ‘What a nice treat!’ sort of way.

That is another misconception – just because I choose not to eat dairy or meat doesn’t mean I suddenly think it all tastes disgusting. Shrimp tastes good. Chicago style pizza tastes good. But they make me feel so bad. And obviously there’s a reason for that.

I didn’t physically feel horrible after my meal but I didn’t feel great, either. Honestly, I like having a time or two like this, few and far between, and think is good for keeping me on track and reminding me why I love eating the way I do. I also know that I’m doing more good than bad in the overall scheme of things, which is the most important thing.