When your cravings confront you
This is another post in the series about Becoming Vegan. If you are thinking about becoming vegan or are a new vegan this series is for you.
We’ve all been there: the instant salivation, the remembered tastes and textures, the longing to jump up and run to the refrigerator or to order in before the craving leaves. It’s hard to say no to yourself when you want something so badly. These culinary desires are especially hard to deny when you or someone else has said that you may never eat those foods again. Then as soon as you do give in, you feel instantaneous pleasure and guilt in the same bite.
After being vegan for a few years, I’ve found that the cravings lessen and/or change into other types of hungry wants instead that fall under the vegan umbrella. But I admit that there are days that I still long for scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese or a good quesadilla. Usually if I wait long enough, though, the cravings do go away. If you cannot wait, here are a few things you can do to help quiet those foods gnawing at your taste buds.
Figure out exactly what you are craving. It could be that when you want to bite into a piece of cheese or meat, what you’re really craving is the texture. Or maybe it’s one aspect of the flavor of the non-vegan food you desire. If it’s texture, think of something vegan that has a similar feel to it when you bite down and move the food around in your mouth. Could mushrooms, tofu or wheat gluten do the trick? If it’s a specific type of flavor – salty, sweet, savory, sour, etc. – then eat something that is predominantly one of those things.
Here are a few recipes that may help:
- Hearty and Savory: Scalloped Potatoes
- Sweet, Decadent and Rich: Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake
- Crispy and Creamy Snack: Crackers with Dip
Drink a glass of water. Cravings typically come when you’re hungry, so if it’s not quite time to eat, drink water. It can help to temporarily make you feel fuller so that you aren’t as likely to want to cheat on your vegan diet. Here are some other drinks if you don’t want to just have water.
Avoid having non-vegan foods at home. If you’re the only vegan in your house of two or more people, this can be problematic, but if you can help it try to not bring temptation into your home. If you’re anything like me, you’re just going to be too lazy to indulge a craving if you have to leave the house to go get it. I can say that 99.9% of the time I do not eat anything non-vegan in my own home, so you make it easiest on yourself if you keep temptation outside of the home.
The last resort – give in. By no means am I advocating this, especially when giving in can make it much harder to stay vegan long term. But it’s my opinion that it’s not the end of the world and you’ll be fine if you do it. A warning, though, if you’ve been vegan for a while: you may discover that your body isn’t so excited about being re-introduced to the wonders of animal products and you may wind up feeling sick to your stomach. When I’ve thrown caution to the wind and have had too much dairy or eggs, my digestive and/or lymph system gets angry with me and wonders why I was such a moron to satisfy my cravings. Sometimes absolutely nothing happens, but nearly every time I have done it, I am reminded that I feel so much better physically when I stay vegan. If you give in, you should probably ask yourself first, “Is it worth it for me to have this animal product?” If the answer is no, then have a glass of water or snack on something else. You’ll be glad you did.
Action Step
Get a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Name the first column, “Foods I Crave”, then name the second column, “Foods to Eat Instead”. List out the non-vegan foods that you crave in the first column, then in the next column come up with a list of things you can eat instead and try to have those things in the house or at your desk when you’re craving them. Make sure the items that appear in the second column are foods that you also enjoy, because it’s going to be more frustrating and feel like a punishment when you eat a disliked alternative to the food you miss.
Question
If you have already been vegan for a while, do you still crave non-vegan foods? Do you give in? How do you feel about giving in?
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Samantha on 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t give in!
Every time I have given in, it’s because I haven’t had anything to eat that day. It wasn’t that I craved the thing, it just happened to be there when I was hungry and couldn’t get to my vegan alternatives at home. Of course it’s always the quick, easy stuff: cookies, doughnuts, the stuff your hand can grab before the brain screams “no”. I do feel my body saying “what did you do” after eating and this helps me to stay away. As far as real cravings, I seem to only crave potato chips which are usually vegan anyway. Well, best wishes to all and keep truckin’.
I’ve given in. I just have to say that most times I did, I realized “Wow, this isn’t nearly as good as I remember it being” or “This is pretty tasty, but so is the vegan version.”
For me, it’s kinda nice knowing that I don’t really like cheese much anymore, rather than eternally longing for it and believing I am deprived of some wondrous glory that only dairy cheese possessed.
I agree Stacy – it’s easy to give in, but then you realize that you didn’t really need to. I definitely don’t long for cheese like I used to, but I do miss it from time to time. Still my cravings usually are for vegan things, which is really nice – then I just have to worry about calories. :)