What’s your excuse?

What’s your excuse.

Two and a half weeks ago, I made the switch.

I have always wondered what it’s like to be a vegetarian or a vegan and if it would be extremely difficult to make the change. First up, a little definition of terms: a vegan is someone who excludes all meat and animal products (meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy and eggs) while a vegetarian excludes meat, poultry, ?sh and seafood but still eats dairy and eggs. My wife Karen and I first tried out the 80/20 method where we ate 80 percent plant-based meals and 20 percent meat. We felt quite good during the period and aside from having to include and find vegetarian restaurants, there were no difficulties involved. We did fall off the program due to my birthday celebration and the long Holy Week break, but it was also at that time when we realized how our energy levels went down after eating more meats and fish.

By coincidence, I had watched several documentaries on Netflix about health, diets, trainings and environmental concerns and two of them directed me towards making a serious decision. The first one was “Game Changers” and the latest one was “What the Health.” Both documentaries started out with someone in search for answers on improving health, healing or recovering from an injury or disease and both ended up, not by design, discovering people who underwent radical healing, recovery and actually becoming top performers in sports as well as daily life. While I am familiar with plant-based testimony, the “What the Health” documentary addressed certain issues I was interested in: first was the dependency of many seniors on six to a dozen medicines for hypertension, cholesterol, angina, diabetes, gout, osteoarthritis, etc. etc., Then there was the matter of inflammations present or related to some of the aforementioned diseases. What I found attractive was that the documentaries were not leading or selling you a product service or the like. They documented what they discovered and how it changed the subjects of the documentary.

All I had to do was change what we ate. First up, if you really want to try it, do the 80/20 approach because it is closer to normal, as they say. Do it for three to four weeks. Then slowly shift to vegan or vegetarian but do it smart. We started the first week by ordering from vegetarian food delivery services for lunch and dinner. Breakfast was bread, jam or whatever you place on it. I decided to drop the one egg a day routine, but still used butter and coconut jam with Barako coffee. For week two we started playing around with kangkong, Pichay, mushrooms, tofu/tokwa, lentils, etc.  for lunch and dinner. To be honest, this took some creativity and the secret was, never give up your favorite seasonings such as toyo, patis, salt and sili. Let’s be clear that this dietary shift will cause some slight reactions or changes in your stomach so do your research or ask your doctor. You will be hungry more often, you will be tempted to eat more than normal or to psychologically compensate, but don’t make a big deal of it. Take a glass of water to calm things down. Two immediate benefits I can report is that I quickly easily lost eight pounds in 2 1/2 weeks and I stay up longer and get by with less sleep.

By the end of week two, Karen and I were beginning to be concerned about menus and recipes as well as the constant pile of washing I had to do in the kitchen. A couple who had previously tried going vegan suggested a few restaurants and a famous grocery somewhere in San Juan where we allegedly could even try vegan lechon kawali and vegan adobo. Tempting, but the thought of having to drive to the next city just to buy vegan cooking materials was not exciting in any way. But God is kind and last Monday, I casually mentioned in a meeting with SMC president Ramon Ang that I had decided to go vegan, his eyes grew large in surprise but quickly smiled and reminded me that San Miguel Corporation has been developing a long line up of vegan ready to eat meals for the modern day generation of Filipinos. The brand is called “VEEGA” and I remember Jane Llanes sending us samples just before the COVID pandemic. But back then I simply tried them out to see how close they were to the real thing and yes, they were good, tasty and easy to prepare. But now that Karen and I have gone vegan, we really appreciate SMC’s Veega products because it takes away the work you have to put in to prepare lunch or dinner. On top of that, the selection almost feels like we are cheating because you get to eat food the way they are supposed to taste, except they’re vegan products.

For instance, just before writing this column, I tried the Meat Free Bulgogi with brown rice. With a dash of kimchi on the side it would be so authentic. In the next few weeks, our menu will be featuring tapa, adobo flakes, tocino, burger patties, spicy soy garlic meatballs, sausage, nuggets and giniling that’s all meat-free and all of these are readily available in most groceries. The point I’m making here is going vegan is no longer as complicated and mysterious as it was years ago. Certified lifestyle medical doctors have been shouting to the world that if you want to avoid the many common diseases out there then you have to do something about your nutrition and that involves eating how human beings were designed by God in the Garden of Eden. Now that Veega for vegans is available, what’s your excuse?

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