To mark National Cheese Lover’s Day the Joyful Vegan- Colleen Patrick-Goudreau tackles a common issue for vegetarians transitioning to veganism or even meat eaters considering moving towards a plant-based diet.
Vegan on Female First
Many people feel they could potentially give up everything- meat, milk, eggs, yoghurts, cream but there’s one exception to this consideration and that’s cheese.
It’s not surprising either as cheese often contains something called codeine, which is a form of morphine. Cows naturally produce this in their livers, which makes its way into the milk and has the same effects as a drug- you want more of it after one sitting. Cheese is addictive.
As a consequence, some people feel if they can’t give up this one thing- they could NEVER be vegan. Perhaps vegan is not something you are willing to consider now- but if you could be a vegetarian that only eats one animal product- cheese- then why not try that instead?
Colleen talks about the importance of doing everything you can to live a kinder life. She reminds us that if this is the one thing you can't give up- do everything else you possibly can to live a more compassionate life and maybe one day you will be able to say 'no' to cheese.
‘Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything’
Giving up meat, eggs and other dairy products while still eating cheese is a positive step towards being kinder to animals than still eating meat because you’ve resigned yourself to the certainty that you can’t give up cheese.
Colleen also reassures the cheese lovers out there that one day (believe it or not) you may not feel so drawn to cheese. If you give your palate and your body time to adjust to new flavours and textures you might find a non-dairy based cheese that will do the trick.
What many people are looking to satisfy is a certain taste and texture, which can be achieved by eating vegan cheese and also fattier plant based foods like avocados or peanut butter if you are willing to give them a go.
A useful piece of advice from Colleen might be to watch videos and read up on the lives of dairy cows and the health implications of eating dairy-based cheese so you know exactly what you are eating and where it’s come from.
Tagged in Vegetarian Vegan Colleen Patrick-Goudreau