Rock Bottom

I can't say that going vegan has been 100% easy. I've had my moments and my cravings. I've been lucky in that I haven't had very many cravings. Last night, however, was hard.

We went to a restaurant called Rock Bottom for a friend's birthday. I took a chance to look up their menu ahead of time. The nice thing is that they have a .pdf you can download that will tell you if there's any milk, egg, meat, fish, nuts, wheat, etc. in each of their dishes. I'll be honest. It didn't look promising! There was milk and eggs in their veggie burger. I knew I would be limited to a salad.

I was wrong, however! Once we got there I discovered a roasted red pepper hummus on their appetizer menu. Score! I ordered that and the Santa Fe Ranch Salad, sans animal products with a balsamic vinaigrette. Both were delicious!

I won't lie to you. It was hard sitting there and watching my friends eat chicken wings, steak, fried chicken, and spinach dip. What was worse was the conversation about White Castle hamburgers! I was silently dying inside until my food came out. I wasn't about to tell any of them to stop talking about food I can't eat. That wouldn't be fair to them, but it was really hard to sit there and listen to the glory that is the slider.

Eating out with friends and food conversations are just something I'm going to have to get used to if I stick with being a vegan. I've been seriously considering sticking with it. I like how my body feels and I can't argue against that. People are telling me to supplement in the occasional animal product but I don't think I can do it. If I don't eat animal products for a long time won't my body disagree with it? Plus I've found that I don't really have a desire to eat meat, eggs or dairy. It's just not there. Instead I crave fruits and vegetables. I suppose your body is going to crave what it wants. It might as well be craving foods that are good for you!

Speaking of foods that are good for you, as a vegan one of the most common questions we get asked is "where do you get your protein from?" It makes sense since most protein comes from meat. There are several ways for vegans to get protein. There's protein in nuts mostly. That's probably your best source. Still, you have to eat a LOT of nuts to get the required protein.

A friend suggested hemp protein. It comes in a powder like whey protein (which contains dairy). The only difference is that there's actually less protein in hemp or soy protein then there is in whey protein. I think I found a solution.

At Whole Foods there's a protein supplement that's 100% pure plant-based protein. It's protein derived from hemp, soy, and a bunch of other plants that I've never even heard of. Best of all, it's low in fat (about 3 grams per serving) and has the same amount of protein as whey!

I bought the container and I've been mixing it in with my smoothies. The container suggests you use two scoops but I've been finding that two scoops is making my smoothie very chalk-like. You can't taste the actual powder but you can feel the texture. It seems to fail at dissolving fully. Still, if you're low on protein, a plant-based protein may be the way to go.