When I was in the final stretch of pregnancy last December, Dave decided to go vegan. He had been doing tons of research on health, wellness and how both relate to food for several months, and while I knew the day was coming, to say I wasn’t prepared for the actual transition is a huge understatement. My initial reaction was ANGER!
I was angry because not only was food one of the many ways we bonded and nurtured our relationship, through dinners and launch dates. But I was majorly pregnant, hormonal and always HUNGRY. So what was I going to eat, while he cut out meat, eggs and dairy?! And how was I going to manage cooking now 3 meals, since Narayan already rarely ate what Dave and I would eat, so now I would be making an extra alternative for my husband, too?! And how in the world was our relationship going to survive this big of a change?!
The first couple of months were hard. Even after I had the baby and my daily cravings for my favorite restaurants had settled down to a reasonable couple of times per week vs twice per day like when I was pregnant, I couldn’t fully wrap my head around the fact that my husband – a man who ate anything and everything, was no longer eating meat and dairy. He lost weight pretty rapidly, first 20, then 35, and now 45 almost 10 months in.
While the initial change was hard to swallow, Dave’s lifestyle change actually helped our entire family adopt better eating habits, especially me. He started helping more in the kitchen, and he turned out to be an amazing cook, finding creative ways to not only incorporate vegetables into most of our regular meals, but he also found vegan alternatives for some of our favorite meals, like tacos, replacing ground chicken for tofu (sofritas). And when I wanted to eat out, he would find options he could still enjoy from our favorite places.
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