Vegan options

Yesterday was my last day of clinical.  I started my day with instant oatmeal spiked with craisins and chia seeds.  Before running out the door at noon I made a quick salad composed of mixed greens, sprouted lentils, garbanzo beans, and avocado smothered in honey dijon dressing.  Again, I realize honey is not vegan but I value the antibiotic properties honey offers.  Also, it tastes great.  I've noticed that having all the ingredients for a great salad neatly packaged in Tupperware in the fridge makes it so easy and fast to eat healthy. 

After enjoying my last hours of clinical a few of my classmates and I decided to go for a drink and some bar food. Great, three days in and I'm already off the wagon I thought.  Nope! We went to a place called the Honeyhole on capital Hill known for their slutty meat sandwiches.  To my surprise and delight they had a veggie BLT with the option of veganaise to make the sandwich vegan.  That's right people vegan mayonnaise exists and its freaken awesome.  I was not happy about the fact that my vegan BLT was mildly more expensive than the real bacon option but that extra 50 cents now will save me lots of money not spent on diabetes medications in the future.  The best part is that the sandwich was delicious.  I only ate half of my sandwich because when your food is not full of saturated animal fats you don't feel the urge to keep cramming food into your mouth when you know you are full just to reward the pleasure centers in your brain. 

Eating vegan is quite a different experience.  There have been so many times when I was eating meat and knew I was full but would finish my meal thinking "well I don't want to waste it," which was an excuse for "this is so good I have to keep eating it until its gone."  That almost never happens to me when I am eating vegan.  There is communication between my brain and my stomach.  My stomach says "we're all good here, stop putting food in my mouth" and my brain cooperates.  Rather than my brain on meat/drugs pulling a power trip, " F U stomach this is happening, deal with it!"  Which we all know feels good at the time but about 20 minutes later we all wished we had just stopped when we knew we were full.  Moderation people! Its a lot easier when you eat food that doesn't cause your eyes to glaze over and put you in a trance-like state until you come to with an empty plate in front of you thinking "how did this happen?!"

Anyway, I love Seattle because most restaurants offer a veganish option.  Tonight I'm going to a friend's birthday at Naked City Brewery where they serve a beet burger so good it'll make you cry. Damn being veganish tastes good!