Plant-Based Diet – SOS

I am a carnivore. I love meat. But a few years ago, my partner announced that he had decided to become vegan. At the time, we were in a long-distance relationship and when I heard those words come across the phone, I froze in disbelief. I thought he was joking, but he was serious. His love for animals and our planet (did you know that livestock flatulence and excrement are large contributors to global warming?) led him to this decision. My initial shock turned into panic and tears started rolling down my cheeks. How would we ever eat out at a restaurant together again? When we move in together, what could we possible cook that would taste good without meat? Would all his muscles wither away without meat protein?

During this time, I had a relatively meat-intensive diet and consumed close to my body-weight in protein as I did regular weight-training to build muscle. I was loosely following a Paleo diet and was cooking succulent meat dishes after a friend who was diagnosed with celiac disease, recommended some great cookbooks. For many years, meat was a big part of my life.

After the initial panic subsided, I decided to research plant-based recipes and stumbled upon Cookie and Kate. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan and have never heard of Kate and her trusty pet, Cookie, you’ve been missing out. While still living on my own, I began to experiment with meatless cooking using her recipes. Each of her dishes were easy to make, fresh, flavourful and wholesome and I loved every dish. I started to serve her dishes at potlucks or when entertaining friends or family and each time I received several compliments and requests for her recipes.

Since moving home to Vancouver and in with my partner, I have started to eat less meat. During the weekdays I eat vegetarian and eat meat on the weekends when we dine out. I have a roster of about 12-15 of her dishes that I rotate, and my partner loves her recipes so much that the other day he declared that Kate should be knighted!

We supplement our diets with vegan pea protein and find the pea protein from Canadian Protein has no funny taste, blends well in smoothies and is relatively good value when you buy in bulk. We also discovered some great tasting plant-based, simulated meat sausages made by Field Roast Company. The sausages have similar amounts of protein as meat sausages, the texture is nice, and they taste delicious. I introduced these sausages to my business partner during one visit, and she said, “these actually taste better than meat.”

We even live by a popular vegan restaurant called Meet. They have a few locations in Vancouver, and they are always jam packed which shows how the popularity of plant-based diets is growing. Their food is wholesome, hearty and satiating and one never leaves hungry.

Despite my initial panic, eating more of a plant-based diet has been a great experience and I believe it has enhanced my overall well-being. The added bonus is our grocery bills have gone down and when I do eat meat, it tastes even more delicious. Neither of us have withered away and we have lots of energy and muscle power to live active and healthy lives.

With the plant-based diet movement growing, there are now lots of great recipes, meat alternatives and restaurants available. In addition, almost of the restaurants at our select wellness partner hotels are more than happy tailor menus for clients on wellness retreats who have special dietary requirements. If you are interested in planning your next wellness or yoga retreat at one of our select wellness hotels, please contact me at [email protected].

Melanie Yip
Co-Founder, Movement Travel