But What Do You Miss Eating?

Photo by Brin Hanson Photography

“But what do you miss eating?” is a question I get all the time. And here’s the answer: Nothing! And no it’s not because I’m perfect. It’s because if I missed something…I would eat it! And therefore, there’s nothing to miss.

With that personal philosophy my dietary choices still end up being around 95% plant-based. I always cook plant-based meals. I never eat meat and never eat cheese or drink milk. However, when I started a plant-based diet I told myself, “Well I will still eat some dairy because I know I will miss it.” But the amazing thing is that within weeks of not eating those foods I stopped wanting them all together.

Cheese is a great example. I definitely used to like the taste of cheese before I followed a plant-based diet. But after not eating cheese for a few weeks my taste for it started to go away. Plus, on top of my taste for cheese naturally diminishing, as I became more educated on the dairy industry and how cheese is made, cheese became gross to me and my interest in eating it continued to dwindle even more.

With the remaining 5% of my diet, sometimes I want to eat, or only have access to, foods that are not plant-based. For example, I used to like shellfish. It was never a big part of my diet because I lived in the Midwest for most of my life, but once in a while I ate it. I don’t like the environmental impact of fishing. And I don’t like that it was once a living creature. But still a few times since changing my diet I have had shellfish simply because I wanted it. I view dessert the same way. If I’m out to eat and there is a big piece of cake in front of me and I want some, I’m probably going to have a bite without asking what’s in it.

And that really helps me because I never feel like I have to force myself to eat a certain way. Once you lean more and more toward eating plants, you will crave plant foods more and more until all of a sudden it’s such a teeny tiny portion of your diet that isn’t plant-based.

Some of my friends have adopted a more plant-based lifestyle but they still enjoy eating fish. The beauty is that they now eat so many more plant foods than ever before and that is what’s important! They’re happy with their choices and even if they aren’t totally plant-based they are positively impacting their health, the environment and our animal friends. And those are all great things!!

This is all why I love the term plant-strong. To me it is about your diet being strongly made up of plants! But you don’t have to be perfect. Feel good about what you can do at this point in time. Feel good about all the great plant foods that are in your diet now that weren’t there before.

If you’re interested in trying to live a healthier lifestyle…be kind to yourself! Life is all about the journey, not the destination.