Ready To Dump Dairy? A Primer on Plant-Based Milk

There are a lot of reasons to stop drinking cow's milk. Think about it for a minute. Humans are the only species that drink the milk of another species, and we are also the only ones who drink milk past infancy. Growing up, many of us think we need milk to be healthy. I'm sure you've seen the "Got Milk?" commercials that say, "Milk is essential for healthy bones and teeth." New research has shown that cow's milk actually leaches calcium from bones, and causes the blood to become acidic (Check out http://www.livestrong.com/article/248912-foods-that-leach-calcium/ if you want to learn more). We also do not need as much calcium as previously thought. The average adult can get along just fine with about 750 mg of dietary calcium a day (yes, even children).

Whatever your reason for giving up milk, be it ethical, health, whatever-- there's a plant-based milk to suit your needs and taste buds. The goods news is that it's getting easier to find them at your local store. Plant based milks are often fortified with vitamins and minerals; some are way more nutritious than dairy milk! Below, I have compiled a list of plant milks, what they taste like, how much they cost, and where you can find them.

Soy milk

What does it taste like? I won't lie, soy milk is definitely an acquired, love-it-or-hate-it kind of taste. The texture is NOT like cow's milk, it is rather thick. The taste is very strong and nutty. Soy milk can be used in cooking and baking (stick to unsweetened, unflavoured for this).

Recommended brand/flavour: Soy newbies should check out Silk Very Vanilla. The sweet overtones of the vanilla mix with the nuttiness of the soy for a winning taste combination. I do not recommend trying plain soy milk if you are new to it. You WILL hate it.

Where can I find it? Just about every grocery store carries it these days. Check the dairy section.

Almond Milk

What does it taste like? It has a a very sweet, nutty flavour, like soy milk, but some people prefer it due to its richness, smooth texture, and versatility. Use it in a smoothie, on your cereal, or in rice pudding for a delicious change. Almond milk is also very rich in the antioxidant vitamin E.

Recommended brand/flavour: Blue Diamond, any variety. Try the chocolate, the creamy, rich flavour puts chocolate milk to shame.

Where can I find it? Wal-Mart, Albertson's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods

Coconut Milk

What does it taste like? Coconut milk tastes just like... wait for it... Coconuts! If you hate coconuts, don't even bother. The texture is rich and somewhat oily. Many people like to use it in cooking Thai-based dishes (for this, use canned, NOT the refrigerated kind in a carton). Coconut milk is compartively healthier than cow's milk because it has zero cholesterol, less calories, and is high in iron.

Recommended Brand/Flavour: Try Silk Pure Coconut. It is available in original or vanilla.

Where can I find it? Check the dairy section at your favourite grocer.

Hemp Milk

What does it taste like? I do not want to sound biased, but hemp milk isn't for everyone. It has a strong, nutty, slightly bitter flavour that bites! It is very rich in Omega 3 and Omega 6, nutrients which may keep your heart healthy.

Recommended Brand/Flavour: Ready to take the hemp plunge, man? Don't worry, it's completely legal and it won't make you high. Try Living Harvest Vanilla hemp milk. It is excellent in chai tea.

Where can I find it? Hemp milk is not widely available in the United States just yet; try your local health food store. Whole Foods has a selection of hemp milk available. See http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/ for stores.

Flax Milk

What does it taste like? It has a nutty, pleasant, yet undistinct flavour, making it very easy to use in your favourite recipes and for drinking. Flax has been shown to be very high in Omega-3.

Recommended flavour/brand: As far as I know, only one company makes it: Flax USA. It is available in original or vanilla.

Where can I find it? Select Wal-Mart stores carry it so far. It may be more widely available in the future.

Rice Milk

What does it taste like? Rice milk is sweet and creamy; but some are turned off by the "watered down" taste. I find it best to use in cereal. Also, it does not contain the protein that some plant-based milks do.

Recommended flavour/brand: Rice Dream has the best rice milk I've tried.

Where can I find it? Check the dairy section at your local grocer.

What are your reasons for going dairy-free? Have you tried a plant based milk, and if so, what did you think? Comment below, and good luck on your dairy-free journey!

M.

What Did I Do Wrong? On Lost Love

I know a boy who once was a very good friend. Let's call him Andy.
Andy had been lonely for almost two years. He'd been on a couple of dates, but he still hadn't found a girlfriend. He worked at a gas station, which was frequented by local high school girls. There was a girl who'd come in frequently and buy burritos. She called him "The Hot Burrito Guy". He thought she was super cute, but he worried about the age difference, as Andy was already 19 going on 20. He found out that the pretty girl's name was Michelle. One day, Michelle came to buy a burrito. She was wearing her cheerleader's uniform, looking fresh-faced and pretty. She boldly asked him out on a date. Andy was in awe; he accepted.
After being alone for so long, he couldn't help but fall for her. She was funny, smart, spontaneous, witty. He cherished their movie nights. He loved her biting wit and acerbic sense of humour. The past two years had been a very dark period in Andy's life, but Michelle brought light and happiness. She even seemed to like watching professional wrestling with him (something most other girls seemed to hate). He was pretty sure he'd finally found the girl he was looking for.
However, shortly after their one year anniversary, Michelle dropped a bomb: She'd lied to him about her age. When they first started dating, she had told him she was 17. She had actually been 16 (which meant that he could face a statutory rape charge if her parents found out). She also revealed that she had lied to him about several other things. Andy was shocked and heartbroken. He broke up with her that same night.
Michelle, however, would not allow herself to be left. She flooded his phone with voicemails and texts, asking him to give her another chance. Andy's friends thought he'd be better off without her but he felt that maybe he had been too harsh. After all, everyone makes mistakes. So he took her back. He made her promise never to lie like that again. She promised, and all was well. Andy was confident that a fresh start would fix everything.
A few months later, they moved in together. They shared an apartment with his cousin, Owen. Andy soon found Michelle incredibly difficult to live with. She was unable to keep a job for more than a few months at a time and when she did have money, she would spend it on things she didn't need, while contributing almost nothing to the upkeep of the household. They got into constant fights. During one of those fights, Michelle kicked him in his testicles. They were swollen for three days afterward. Andy became very depressed and started drinking heavily.
Another thing Andy found out about Michelle was that she had a flair for the dramatic. She was a narcissist and thought that everyone flirted with her. She also made up lies about people, and would start drama with her friends. She stole money from Andy's aunt a few times, blaming someone else every time she got caught. Andy's friends and family began to worry about the toxic nature of their relationship. One night, whilst having a row, Michelle revealed that the only reason that she started dating Andy was because of his resemblance to a certain rock star. She wanted to take pictures with him, post them on Myspace, and make everyone believe he was this person.
Through it all, Andy stuck with her. He believed that love meant staying with someone no matter what obstacles they faced. No matter how difficult or impossible a person might be, he thought that if you truly love a person, then that means more than any shortcomings a person may have. As years passed, Andy lost friends, and his family became more distant. Michelle's family hated him (they were just as crazy as she was) and did not allow him to come to family events. They blamed him for all her weird behaviour, claiming she was never like that till she met him. Around the time of Michael Jackson's death, Michelle suggested they get married, have an MJ themed wedding and get everyone to pay for it. Andy was a huge Michael Jackson fan, so naturally he liked the idea. He bought Michelle a ring and told everyone the good news.
Michelle had taken a job at a bookstore chain at the local mall. She liked the job and even more so, one of her coworkers, Justin. She and Justin started spending a lot of time together. He would text her at all hours of the night. Andy started feeling very hurt and left out, especially because Michelle never asked him to hang out with her and Justin. He confronted her about it, but she claimed that they were "just friends" and there was nothing for him to worry about. As time went on, it was evident that there was plenty to worry about. Andy, feeling scared and insecure, hacked Michelle's phone while she was sleeping. He found all kinds of racy text messages from Justin. He confronted her the next morning. Michelle confessed what was really going on, then promptly dumped him. 4 1/2 years ended just like that.
Though this happened some time ago, Andy is, to this day still very hurt and confused. He was pretty blindsided by the breakup. He wonders what he did wrong. "I was an excellent boyfriend," he says, "I never cheated, I never lied, I always remembered her birthday and our anniversary. I gave her everything she wanted. How could she do this to me?"
I don't feel that Andy meant to do anything wrong. He did everything he could to ensure that they had a good relationship. He made, however, two very fatal errors. One, he ignored red flags throughout the relationship, and two, he allowed himself to get comfortable with a person who was clearly wrong for him.
Humans are very adaptable human beings. We can get used to just about anything after awhile. Allow me to present an example. Say you have a chair. It is uncomfortable, with giant spikes of varying sizes poking out. When you first sit on the chair, you scream "OUCH!" and jump up. But allow yourself to get used to the spikes, and soon you know each individual spike. You become comfortable. You learn to avoid the one that pokes you in the side and always go for the ones that don't hurt as much. In this way you can spend hours, even days on this uncomfortable spiky chair. You might even start to like it. After awhile sitting on another chair just feels "wrong". You miss the spiky chair because it is comfortable, and you're used to it. Never mind that you have puncture wounds that never seem to quite heal, and everyone wonders why you're sitting in that damn spiky chair in the first place.
In this way, we become used to people who are bad for us. We will ignore all the bad signs (such as Michelle's lying and stealing) and focus only on the good (like sense of humor, skills in bed). We believe that love means sacrifice, even if it means sacrificing our own happiness for someone else's. However, when a relationship becomes more painful that pleasurable, one needs to make the decision to let go and move on with life, and find a more comfortable chair, so to speak. If you don't, you will end up with only more pain in the end, like Andy did, and wounds that may scar but never quite heal.
Andy is still alone and hurt, while Michelle is happy with Justin. People keep telling Andy that it's only a matter of time before she dumps Justin for a newer model as well, but this is a small comfort. He cannot seem to let go of the dreams and hopes he had. We don't speak anymore, but I hope one day he is able to let go. Life is all about moving on, and sometimes love can find you when you least expect it.


M.

The Fine Line Between Crushing and Obsessing

Are you crushing or obsessing? Check out the list below and decide which one you are.

Crush: Hoping against hope you see your crush stops by your work, so you can flirt.

Obsession: Finding out your crush's work schedule so you can stop by and flirt.

Crush: Drooling over your crush's FB profile pic.

Obsession: Making a fake profile so you can spy on him/her.

Crush: Leaving a Secret Admirer note in your crush's locker.

Obsession: Driving by your crush's house at night.

Crush: Being sad that your crush has a bf/gf.

Obsession: Doing whatever you can to break them up.

Crush: Hearing a song on the radio and it reminds you of them.

Obsession: EVERYTHING reminds you of them.

Crush: Imagining going on a date with your crush.

Obsession: Having the names of your future children picked out.

Crush: Buying your crush a flower.

Obsession: Leaving a dozen roses on their doorstep.

Crush: Writing your crush a poem or a song.

Obsession: Singing it outside their window at 3 AM.

The 10 Most Annoying Questions You Can Ask a Vegan (Part One)

I have only been a vegan for a few months at this point. While I love my lifestyle because of the health and animal benefits, I will admit it can be a hardship at times. I see the world in a different light now. People seem to be distressingly ignorant about veganism, and it's hard to tell if questions are genuine curiosity or someone looking for a fight. I've decided to make an FAQ (Frequently Annoying Questions).

10.) "What exactly do vegans eat?"

People think vegans eat three things: tofu, grass and salad. I can assure you this is not true. I eat a lot of the same things my omnivore friends go: burgers, breakfast burritos, lasagna, pizza... You name it! Just about any recipe can be modified to suit a vegan diet. Not to mention a lot of favorite snack foods are already vegan. (I'm eating Buddy Fruits, which are a delicious fruit snack, while I write this.) I do eat a lot of things I would have never eaten before, like Tofurky (much better than real turkey), tempeh, quinoa (makes an excellent breakfast cereal), and so on. Vegans tend to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables too, as well as whole grains.

9.) "Why are vegans so self-righteous and preachy?"

We've all met them: The vegans who can't seem to shut up about the murder that is in a glass of milk, and squawk about the evils of buffalo chicken wings. I know, I'm one of them. Have you heard the saying, "There is no one as fanatical as a convert?" Most of us grew up believing that meat was good for us, we needed milk for strong bones and teeth, and eggs were a good source of protein and b12. Then, one day, we opened our eyes, Maybe we watched a factory farming documentary or visited PETA's website. And suddenly we were angry. We'd been fed lies about food our whole lives by people we love and trust. Many of us become activists, hoping we can stop other people from being sucked in by the meat and dairy industry propaganda. There are some vegans who didn't grow up that way and act like they did, self-righteously turning up their noses and acting like they're better than everyone. Some of us need to realise that not everyone is enlightened yet.

8). "Animals eat other animals to survive. So what's wrong with humans eating meat?"

How fortunate a lot of us are to live in wealthy countries where worrying about food is not an issue. Times have changed a lot, and we no longer need to eat to "survive"-- a plethora of food can be found at your local supermarket. In the wild, without the conveniences of technology and civilisation, doubtless we would need to eat whatever we could to survive, including meat. Alas, we do not live in the wild like our animal friends. We live in houses where we are protected from danger. We have vast amounts of food at our disposal. At this stage in our evolution, we eat meat for pleasure only, not for survival.

7.) "Do you ever miss meat?"

I'm sure this is something vegans get asked a lot, and the answer is different for everyone. For me, the answer is yes. It's hard not to miss something that was a part of your life for 25 years. I liken it to a smoker who quits. He knows smoking is bad for him, but he misses it because it was a stress reliever and a habit. I used to eat bacon and eggs on the weekend, it was one of the few times I'd see my mum during the week and she would cook this for me. At the same time, I know my health is better and I'm not killing any animals just so I can eat.

6.) "What if you were stranded on a desert island, and you had to eat meat or you would die. What would you do?"

I absolutely cannot stand these kind of questions. They're idiotic and distract from real issues. There are quite a few variations on this theme, but most of them involve eating meat or dying. Someone asked a vegan on a FB page one time, "If someone asked you to kill 10 animals, or 10 morally upstanding people, which would you choose?" Questions like this don't have any one answer because they have too many variables (e.g., how do you know the people were morally upstanding, what constitutes morals, blah blah). People only ask questions like this to start arguments. In response to the desert island question, I'd find some animals, figure out what they eat, and eat that. Also, I'd be making damn sure I get rescued.

I hope you found this post enlightening. If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments below.

M.