Can I Consult and Be Vegan?

[NOTE: This BLOG was started almost a year ago and then sat waiting for me to put finishing touches on it - I decided not to edit so the times mentioned are off (take off points if you have to!).]

Will I be successful and become vegan? Will I have the "big one" and die before I make it? Will I become vegan but get run over by a car? Will I find recipes or make up new recipes that wow me and my readers? Will I find ways to eat out and stay vegan? Stay tuned!

Not sure if I mentioned it in an earlier post so sorry if I'm repeating myself - that's not a sign that my brain is starving from lack of animal flesh - I was forgetful and repetitive before I gave up animal contributed products!  But two weeks before I decided to become vegan I found out that my job had been eliminated from the company I had worked for for 18 years.  It was stressful to be "let go" during a period when the economy sucks and unemployment is running at an all time high but I had always wanted to consult when I hit fifty-nine and a half (I still chuckle that we "turn" twenty-one or thirty but we "hit" fifty and "make-it" to sixty but I digress).  So the company just made my dream come true at an earlier age than I wanted it...

After a short panic period I started to work my network and started to get some pretty fun opportunities to consult with some established consultants and companies.  About a month ago I went to Florida for my first consultant trip, first business trip as a vegetarian/vegan so my first test of veganism and was it ever a test!

I arrived in Florida and was taken to the hotel where the only food available was microwave stuff and snack foods - basically nothing I could eat so I had a vegan food bar (Kind Bar) that I had brought along for this exact situation.  That evening I went to dinner with the lead consultant and we went to a seafood restaurant that is famous in the area.  The waiter brought a chef's complimentary cocktail which had cream in it so I explained that I don't do dairy. For the salad course I asked for no cheese but the waiter brought it "on the side" so I could add as much or as little as I wanted!  I explained again that I don't do dairy but that I appreciated the gesture!

For a main course I decided that fish would be the best I could do so I asked if I could get fish grilled with no butter or sauces and was told, "the sauce is really good and it's served on the side."  I am a nice guy but at this point I started to be curt - well I wasn't as curt out loud as in my head but more curt than I usually am.  When the meal arrived it looked great but the asparagus looked a little shiny so I asked, "These asparagus?  Aren't they cooked with no embellishment?"  The waiter said that they are indeed grilled over hickory chips with no sauces but they are "lightly brushed with clarified butter just before plating."  You get the picture - I did send it back but being a person who avoids conflict it was pretty tiring for me.

In the weeks since I have gotten much more clear, assertive, and up front but it is still work.  Here are some of the actual exchanges I have had...

Chinese restaurant in Mississippi
ME:  All your dishes seem to have meat in them.
WAITPERSON: We can make any dish without the meat.
ME:  So I can get any of these with tofu?
WP:  We ain't got tofu but we can prepare any of the dishes without meat.
ME:  Okay I'll take the Sesame Chicken...without the chicken.

Different Chinese restaurant in Texas
ME:  Are the listings under vegetarian vegan or could they be made vegan?
WP: Sure.
ME: Sure they are vegan or sure they could be made vegan?
WP: Sure they all vegetarian. No meat.
ME: Fine.  I'll take the Buddha's Delight.
(later)
ME: Excuse me, is the eggroll vegetarian?
WP: Sure. Vegetables with pork.
ME: :-/
ME: Just for your info that's not vegetarian - and this chicken wing here - not vegetarian either. Doesn't even have veggies inside like the egg roll does...
WP: Buddha's Delight vegetarian, all vegetables, no meat.  Egg roll and wing come with all lunch orders.
ME: Okay, thanks!

Sustainable Food Restaurant Texas
ME:  I'm vegan so I want to make sure there's no dairy on the veggie burger.
WP: Nope just veggies and a little mayo.
ME:  See mayo has eggs in it so could you hold the mayo?
WP: No problem.
ME: There's no cheese in the vegetable patty is there?
WP: Actually there's no patty, it's a portabello mushroom grilled with some squash and onions.
ME: Excellent!
(later)
ME: Excuse me but is that cheese melted over the mushroom and veggies?
WP: Yep, Jack Cheese - comes on all burgers.
ME: I don't eat dairy. Could I get one without the cheese?
WP: Sure, no problem.
(later)
WP: That was the last mushroom today so chef wants to know if you want cheese so they'll be protein on the sandwich.
ME: No. I don't want cheese.
(later)
ME: Yum, this mayo is really spicy!  I'm too hungry to send back again...

In Virginia at home of a fellow workshop participant
HER:  I knew you wouldn't eat the potatoes au gratin so I baked you a potato.
ME: That is so sweet!
HER: Do you want butter or sour cream on it?
ME: Actually I don't do any dairy so neither.
HER: Well you can't eat it dry!
ME: I'll put some guacamole on it and a little salsa - it'll be great!
HER: Well put some butter on it before the guacamole.
ME: Thanks but I'll pass.

In Virginia at workshop
LEADER: We got this sausage for you - it's chicken instead of pork.
ME: Actually I'm vegan which starts with vegetarian and then eliminates dairy so I don't eat chicken.
LEADER: So you're just going to eat French Toast?
ME: See French Toast has milk and egg in it and I don't do dairy.
LEADER: What? That's crazy.  I thought you weren't eating red meat but no dairy?  That's not possible.

[That was all written a year ago - what follows was written March 2011]

The stories did not get better and as I started to travel more I gradually gave up my dream of being vegan and decided that vegetarian with occasional fish was what I would do.  Every time I feel a little guilty about giving up on veganism I think, "I went from meat being part of every meal to no red meat in a year - pretty major!"

So the answer to the question posed in the title of this entry is "no, I can't."  But let's talk results...

I got blood work a couple of weeks ago as part of my annual physical and here's what has happened...
Total Cholesterol = 149 (it was 350 when I had my cardiac episode 14 years ago!0
Triglycerides = 107 (first time in the acceptable range in 10 years)
HDL = 40 (First time in the acceptable range - just barely but still acceptable for first time ever)
LDL =  88 (Standard is below 100 so I'll take it!)
Risk Ratio = 2.19  (Anything less than 3.55 is acceptable)

For the first time since I moved to Austin in 1983 I have a CPL Blood Results report with EVERY number under the Lipid Panel in the "Within Range" column!  The change in eating habits freakin' worked!  Of course all these results are tempered a bit by the fact that I'm on one or two medications for every one of the lipid categories so my next goal is to start dropping medications (only if doctor approves!).
Just to be fair and balanced there were some negative outcomes in the blood results.  I am low on Vitamin D cause I don't drink milk anymore so I'm doubling my Vitamin D supplement for six months to see if that will address it.  My testosterone level was a shade over acceptable which the doctor wants to take a wait-and-see approach.  How is that connected to vegetarianism?  He isn't sure - thinks it may be connected to all the hormones that beef cattle and milk cattle get injected with - perhaps when you stop ingesting those hormones your body which has gotten used to producing testosterone to compensate takes a while to settle back to normal?  No scientific studies just speculation on his part.  I am resisting inserting a joke about vegetarians/pescatarians being more sexy but you can do your own!

I hope that it's not another year before I post again!