Confession time. I tried vegan pizza this weekend and it was D E L I C I O U S !!! Why are we constantly artificially inseminating cows, taking away their babies and keeping them hooked up to milking machines when vegan pizza is so good?!

We had a mask making party with some animal activist friends of mine and we had planned to order pizza. I felt it was the right time with the right folks to give vegan pizza a try. I felt confident enough in my new lifestyle that this wouldn’t send me into the throes of addiction again. I’m happy to report, it was delicious and when I woke up the next day, I was not craving more pizza and I didn’t have a belly ache like dairy usually gave me.

I have debated for a while whether I could handle introducing vegan pizza in my life. Part of me thought that doing so was similar to an alcoholic consuming non-alcoholic beer. I wondered if this was a slippery slope. From the start, I wanted to go cold tofurkey and completely ditch my pizza addiction. I didn’t want to replace my real dairy addiction with vegan alternatives. I’m so glad I did this as I realized how udderly (pun intended) unnecessary dairy is. We don’t need to drink liquid from a cow that is meant to to help a baby calf grow to 300 lbs and fast. One of my favourite vegan doctors, Dr. Klaper, refers to dairy as ‘baby calf growth fluid.’ Yuck!

I used to smother most of my food in cheese- pizza, garlic toast, pasta, tacos, burgers, sandwiches, everything. Something about eating hyperpalatable foods like cheese which is LOADED with salt and fat dulled my tastebuds. Now that I have my tastebuds back, I can taste the foods I am eating instead of masking my food with the secretions of a cow meant for her baby calf. Cows do not make milk for humans. I’m not sure why we ever let the dairy industry convince us they do.

Please dear reader know these tidbits are not judgments against anyone who consumes dairy. When I speak up for the animals and share their stories along with industry standard practices, I am using my voice to raise awareness for the animals and I am not judging you.

I have consumed more than my fair share of dairy in the past so I get it! I have been non-vegan more of my life than vegan. I understand that change is hard, addiction is real and everyone is doing the best they can in this one precious life. I am truly SO PROUD of anyone for reading this blog and for being curious about my experience. Even if you have no intentions of changing – I see you, I appreciate you and respect the personal journey you are on. Thank YOU for generously giving your time to read my story. My only ask of you is to stick with reading future posts even when it might be uncomfortable.

Anyways, to re-iterate how big a deal this was for me, I haven’t had pizza since April 2020 when I had my epic breakdown. I did try one teeny tiny bite of cousin Clint’s vegan pizza last summer to see if it would ‘send me over the edge’ of addiction and it didn’t. I had one single bite and moved on.

I was also worried eating vegan pizza meant my old habit of ordering takeout would return, but I haven’t felt the urge to go back to my old ways after one vegan pizza outing. Plus, it is nice to know I have another option in my repertoire if I am visiting friends, travelling or in a pinch!

Part of my journey to create new habits and break old habits involved deleting food delivery apps from my phone. In doing so, I made it more difficult to order take out. If you want to break a bad habit, make it the DIFFICULT choice and the new habit the easy choice. My deal with myself is if I want takeout, I have to go pick it up. Lucky for me I hate driving and it literally feels like less work to just eat what I have at home.

WEEKLY CHECK IN: down -1.6 lbs | 30.6 lbs to goal

Peace, love & plants,

Michelle 😊

p.s. Whenever I bring up that I am vegan, most people say ‘I could never give up cheese!’ I am here to tell you if this pizza addict can, you can too! If you feel addicted to cheese like me, check out The Cheese Trap by Dr. Barnard. I listened to it on audible and it was pivotal in helping me ditch cheese for good.