The end of our experiment with vegan diet: Our observations and thoughts about our diet choices…

Charleston, SC

In one of our previous posts, we had discussed weight gain after early retirement, which forced us to change our diet.  That diet change resulted in my wife and myself trying veganism, that is, abstaining from eating all animal products, like meats, cheese/dairy, and seafood.

We went vegan in early June (2021) after watching a documentary called “What the Health?”  This, along with our research into the best diet choice, resulted in our change to go vegan.  We had reported our immediate weight loss (about 4 pounds) after about 4 weeks of going vegan. 

We went “cold turkey” in terms of eating meats/dairy/cheese, but we did finish the seafood we had already bought, for about the next week or so.  Vegan diet seemed to work for us, as we didn’t miss meat/dairy/cheese as much as we initially thought.

I noticed one other positive after going vegan, that is, I wasn’t out of breath when lifting our luggage/belongings into our monthly rentals.  Whereas last April (2021), I was out of breath lifting our luggage to our second floor rental, after going vegan, I was doing much better.  In Indiana (PA), which was also a second story walk up, I was fine despite the summer heat and the same amount of luggage.  

We were happily humming along, content with our diet choice, until around mid-February (2022).  During our 3 months stay in Murrells Inlet (South Carolina), where there are plenty of good seafood restaurants, we finally decided to wean ourselves off of vegan diet.

These were the reasons why we went off the vegan diet:

• Out of cooking options, when eating from home

We ate our fill of beans, tofus, vegetables, fruits, then more beans, tofus, vegetables, and fruits since June of 2021.  We got tired of eating the same thing, over and over again.   Some vegans may say we didn’t try hard enough, or we were lazy.  Both of these things are partially true.

Had we tried researching more ways to cook our own vegan meals, we may have lasted longer than 8 months of going vegan.  But in the end, we needed more variety of food.  

In our own way we did try.  We made vegetable soups, vegetable fajitas, stir fried veggies, stir fried tofus, lentil soups, Thai spaghetti with peanut sauce, and several others.  We used variety of seasonings including soy sauce, peanut sauce, Mexican seasoning, hot pepper paste, mustard, to name a few.  My wife also made vegan desserts like apple pies, granola bars, peanut butter balls, etc.

We also bought Buffalo chicken garden burger patties, plant based chicken nuggets, vegetable dumplings/egg rolls, and plant based butter.  In the end, even these things weren’t enough for us day in, day out.  

• Out of options at restaurants, when doing takeout

We got sick of eating the same type of takeout food, like Chinese food and Mexican food.  Usually, our choices would be severely limited even at these type of restaurants.  It would typically be vegetable Lo Mein, mixed vegetables, spring rolls, bean curd/tofu with mixed vegetables, salsa w/chips, guacamole, or vegetable fajitas.

One of our hosts at our month long stay in Ellicottville (NY) mentioned he was a vegan, but came off of it due to lack of dining options when traveling.  He said he would eat way too much French fries, as that was what the restaurants typically served that was the only vegan option.

We didn’t understand him at that time when we started our vegan journey, but we understand it now…We had a hard time finding vegan options especially with our busy travel schedule past 8 months out of the year.  

We also truly missed other food options, specifically, seafood.  Even when we ate meat/cheese/dairy before turning vegan, we preferred seafood over meat.  We grew up with seafood in our childhood, and we were craving for it after about 8 months…

• Processed plant based food isn’t always healthy when compared to wholesome foods

My wife initially made burger patties made from beans and vegetables, and in the first few months of our vegan journey, it was good, and we ate often.  However, after 8 months, we were sick of that too.  

We then went out and bought processed plant based foods like Buffalo ‘chicken’ patties, garden burger patties, ‘chicken’ nuggets, etc., but we realized the ingredient list was way too long.  We had gone vegan to eat better, healthful meals, and not highly processed foods.  

These processed foods weren’t really that good for us.  It is convenient and some are really tasty (like real meat) for sure, but they’re not all that healthy…

• Cost too high when eating out at restaurants 

Grocery shopping for vegan lifestyle to cook at home is cheaper compared to what we paid when we weren’t vegans.  When dining out, however, there is really no difference from ordering vegan meals vs regular meals.

Here’s an example:  At a Mexican restaurant, a veggie fajita lunch special is around $13.  A shrimp fajita at the same restaurant is around the same.  A mixed vegetable with white rice at a Chinese restaurant would cost around $7.  A mixed vegetable/white rice with shrimp is also around $7.

After awhile, my financially savvy mind couldn’t justify paying the same amount of money to order vegan meal vs a non vegan meal.

This is what we plan on doing going forth (until something changes again):

• Eat mostly vegan meals at home, but add some seafood as well as others

We still see the benefits of eating mostly vegan meals.  We will still not eat much meat/cheese/dairy, and we’ll continue to eat mostly fruits/vegetables/beans, like we’ve been doing for the past 8 months.

The big difference will be that we’ll occasionally add seafood (shrimp, scallop, fish) as well as some turkey/chicken/dairy, to our home cooked meals to break up the monotony.  We’re thinking we’ll eat around 80% vegan and 20% seafood/chicken/dairy.  We’ll see how that works out next several months…

• When dining out, or doing takeout, order seafood to add some variety

When we ate shrimp Lo Mein and Kung Pao shrimp with mixed vegetables, we thought we were in hog heaven!  We really missed how shrimp tastes.  We were savoring every juicy bite and wanting more…

The following week, when we visited Shem Creek (South Carolina), which is known for seafood restaurants, we looked forward to eating fresh off the boat shrimp and seafood.  We ordered calamari, fried shrimp platter, and a mahi mahi sandwich.  We were in ecstasy!  I had forgotten how tasty mahi mahi was.  It was grilled to perfection and juicy.  Fried shrimp was so tender and juicy as well.  We were soooo happy…

We missed one of the greatest joys of living, which is eating tasty foods.  By reintroducing seafood (and some chicken/dairy) we now have a good (and tasty!) reason to live.  Like I said before, I live to eat, not eat to live.  Food, like for most people, is an indulgence that I could not do without.  Eating seafood that day just made us realize how much we had missed it…

In conclusion:

One of my favorite mottos in life is “Improvise, adapt, and overcome.”  Although it is the unofficial U.S. Marines mantra, I use it to live my life.  This way of living is dynamic, without looking back and being regretful, and always looking for ways to adapt/overcome.

It’s what has allowed us to adapt when our families immigrated to the United States, it’s what has allowed us to change careers (multiple times), and it’s what has allowed us to retire early after achieving financial independence.

Changing our diet to veganism, was a way to improve our lives.  In doing so, we realized there were some challenges to going cold turkey.  We needed to improvise, then adapt.  

We’re not sure if this recent change to go about 80% vegan and 20% seafood/other foods will last.  We will however, give it our best shot to adapt to it.  If something changes, we’ll just change with it.

Like Bruce Lee said, “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless…Be like water…”

Thank you all for reading!

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

If you missed the post ‘What’s it like to hand in your resignation...’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘How to retire early...’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘We sold our home during the pandemic...’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘What is the FIRE (financial independence retire early) movement...’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Magic of compounding interest...’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Our minimalist update…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Dangers of entitlement on your path to happiness…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Get rid of debt to reach your goal of financial independence…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Thinking of moving to Pennsylvania…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Learn to say enough to be happy on your path to financial independence and to retire early…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Why is downsizing/minimalism so difficult…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Is America still a land of opportunity…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Learn a skill that pays you well to retire early…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Invest and not save for retirement…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Learn to enjoy the moment for life and for FIRE…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘The correlation between consumerism and early retirement…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Retire on $200,000 (200k)…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Adapting to change for life and for FIRE…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Thinking of moving to Hawaii…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Tough childhood leads to success in later life…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Thinking of moving to New York City…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Importance of finding purpose in early retirement…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘What is the rule of 72…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Retire on $100,000 (100k)…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘The importance of a significant other’s role in your path to FIRE…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Save for retirement or pay off debt…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘How much do I need to retire…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Early Retirement Manifesto…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Pros and cons of early retirement…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘How to save money when traveling…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘What is the average 401k balance…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Doing a garage sale during the pandemic…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘First few months after early retirement…’, please click here.

If you missed the post ‘Not caring too much equals happiness…’, please click here.