I've been vegan previously so this is nothing new but it's different this time because the good lady has joined me.
She noticed the first thing: how clean the kitchen became and how quickly this happened. No grease anywhere so no filters on the oven to clean (they don't gunge up). Also, the house smells much cleaner and nicer when coming in from a longish spell outside. I'm not saying it stank before or anything but there's no smell of food in the air inside our house now. All our visitors mention this. Usually this is shortly before telling us they could never give up meat, or cheese or fish.
The next benefit was to achieve the thing I started it for - a sustained reduction in blood pressure. The alternative was to go down the drugs route and I have a life-long aversion to medication and to the scab-lifters who dole them out. This has meant the offer of statins could be refused.
The next benefit was the end of my six-weekly visit of Johnny Giles or his cousin, Emma Freud. They simply don't turn up any more! This is one obvious benefit I can bring to mind when I'm in a restaurant with other people and temptation knocks. Mmm, that chicken or steak looks and smells great but I'm happy with the vegan option because it keeps Emma away.
The next obvious benefit was the reduction in the obscene size of the ball I was smuggling into wherever I went under my jumper. I'm back in 32-in waist trousers now and my shirts don't gape open in the stomachular region for want of the correct medical term!
The big downside is the lack of choice available when out or staying in hotels. We're off to Gran Canaria on Tuesday for some winter sun and when we go there (twice a year) or Majorca, the availability of good quality, non-boring vegan food is poor and not as good as the decreasing availability in restaurants and shops in this country. Even M&S are offering fewer options all the time. This means we have to be really inventive with the ingredients we buy for eating at home and the meals we produce.
The other one I'm undecided about. Does this fall into the positive or the negative, I'm not sure. It has become easier and cheaper to get drunk! Two pints of normal strength beer now has me noticing the seductive but destructive feeling of tipsyness starting to affect me.
So that's a quick, non-scientific summary of my latest journey into the land of veganism.
She noticed the first thing: how clean the kitchen became and how quickly this happened. No grease anywhere so no filters on the oven to clean (they don't gunge up). Also, the house smells much cleaner and nicer when coming in from a longish spell outside. I'm not saying it stank before or anything but there's no smell of food in the air inside our house now. All our visitors mention this. Usually this is shortly before telling us they could never give up meat, or cheese or fish.
The next benefit was to achieve the thing I started it for - a sustained reduction in blood pressure. The alternative was to go down the drugs route and I have a life-long aversion to medication and to the scab-lifters who dole them out. This has meant the offer of statins could be refused.
The next benefit was the end of my six-weekly visit of Johnny Giles or his cousin, Emma Freud. They simply don't turn up any more! This is one obvious benefit I can bring to mind when I'm in a restaurant with other people and temptation knocks. Mmm, that chicken or steak looks and smells great but I'm happy with the vegan option because it keeps Emma away.
The next obvious benefit was the reduction in the obscene size of the ball I was smuggling into wherever I went under my jumper. I'm back in 32-in waist trousers now and my shirts don't gape open in the stomachular region for want of the correct medical term!
The big downside is the lack of choice available when out or staying in hotels. We're off to Gran Canaria on Tuesday for some winter sun and when we go there (twice a year) or Majorca, the availability of good quality, non-boring vegan food is poor and not as good as the decreasing availability in restaurants and shops in this country. Even M&S are offering fewer options all the time. This means we have to be really inventive with the ingredients we buy for eating at home and the meals we produce.
The other one I'm undecided about. Does this fall into the positive or the negative, I'm not sure. It has become easier and cheaper to get drunk! Two pints of normal strength beer now has me noticing the seductive but destructive feeling of tipsyness starting to affect me.
So that's a quick, non-scientific summary of my latest journey into the land of veganism.
