My life has been a bit hellish, though I’m not going to bore you with that.  Instead I am going to tell you how I have remained vegan despite 8 days of illness, crazy work hours, and being out at all hours, and having a dysfunctional kitchen.

I must say I have become the expert at ordering out vegan food pretty much anywhere I go.  Somehow I also managed to coordinate a lunch with my parents and in-laws at a restaurant where everyone was happy.  I’ve had cheeseless pizza loaded with veggies, burritos, countless orders of french fries, loads of chana masala and other indian delicacies.  Along with dishes I don’t know the names of from the Yabba Pot, and lots of Thai.

When I’m on the run, which is often, I’ve been getting lots of Amy’s and other varieties of vegan instant food.  My new favorite is Amy’s line of burritos and hot pockets which are filling but come in little tiny boxes.  When I do have a moment to throw something together I’ve been making 10 minute salad with my food processor.  There are times when I just need an easy snack and those are the days when I go for the blue corn chips and salsa.

I’ve been in a survival mode, and those tend to be times when I have trouble eating at all.  A few weeks ago I was in very poor health, but I have quickly turned that around.  If I can manage to be a new vegan in these stressful times, then I think it is really possible for anyone.

Today I consumed at least three servings of fruit, in about three minutes, without chewing a single bite.  After work I want a tasty snack, and all that was available to me was the 7-11.  Tropicana, which I’m not terribly fond of ended up providing me with a fruit smoothie and pure orange juice (most likely from concentrate).  Though something to keep an eye out on with the smoothies, see carmine is all natural, unlike red 40.  AND carmine comes from beetles, unlike red 40.  This is one of those instances where the all natural route becomes a cruel route.

Not to mention I don’t like to eat things with high fructose corn syrup or dye anyways, I find it disturbing.  Such ingredients also wreck my skin and make me feel gross.  Being vegan is not an excuse to eat processed crap just because it’s vegan, no matter what PETA says.  I use veganism as a means to know what is going into my body, and eating purer foods.

I still eat potato chips, but only the kind where the ingredients read potatoes, *insert veggie oil here*, and salt.  Because I am sick of this confusing, so processed it makes my head hurt to find out where it comes from, crap.  Same with juices and candies, though candy usually disappoints me with mysterious sugar-like ingredients.

However, since going vegan and increasing the amount of fruit I eat has decreased my desire to eat sweets.  I can’t remember the last time I ate something that contains high fructose corn syrup.  I’ve had chocolate a handful of times.  I am eating better, and it’s an indirect consequence of me eating more ethically.  I know it’s not good for the environment, and possibly not even vegan to eat highly processed crap like high fructose corn syrup, so I don’t consume it.  Veganism to me is not just about animals, it’s about the environment and people as well.  Not to mention that people are indeed animals.

Being vegan (to me) means making a conscientious effort to recycle, it means making the effort to buy from companies that don’t use sweat shop labor, it means promoting unions, buying eco-friendly products, it is all a part of one big package.  Because what kind of world will we have if we have liberated animals but everything else is falling a part?

As far as I could tell the doctor I saw yesterday agreed that I had some form of avid reflux. I was told to take some prilosec and wait a few days. I was also told to avoid fatty foods and dairy, I smiled and said that wouldn’t be a problem. I gave him the clearly marked vegan vitamins and he told me they were strange and a normal mult-vitamin would do. This doctor couldn’t put two and two together and honestly I was in too much pain to feel like helping him.

Chipotle is finally accustomed to making vegan burritos they only questioned the lack of meat once, and didn’t bat an eye when I said no cheese. Come to think of it many of my burritos have been vegan for awhile, I am not a cheese fan. I’m also not a fan of ordering out food, but we are in desperate need of grocery shopping, and I am quite ill, ill enough that cooking doesn’t help me.

I took my stomach pills, only to wake up with a cold, on top of continuing stomach issues. It’s obvious that stress is getting the better of me, no matter how healthy my diet and lifestyle are overall.

I went to the bookstore to pick up a copy of Vegan With a Vengeance after hearing great things about the book, and trying some wonderful recipes on Post Punk Kitchen. Anyways I was looking for books on stress management, to help me through my current crisis. Since reading, writing, web surfing, meditation, cooking, exercises, talking seem to be doing jack. Instead we met an Eastern meditation guru who told me I was doing it all wrong, even though his primary employment is still at Border’s books. Life is throwing me curve balls aplenty.