How to Recover From Eating Out-Help!!

[ConvenientVegan]

How to Recover From Eating Out (Badly!) With Friends!! Help!

A DEAR friend treated me to dinner last evening, and I let him pick our appetizers. Cheese, deep-fried everything, some meat--ugh! I even took home the leftovers!! Ate them, as I HATE to waste food.

So, today, planning on some popcorn, on stove with canola oil, and eaten plan. Then as much SALAD as I can get in me, to FLUSH my system! Gained weight (already!), and feel blah!

How about you guys?! What do you do when (if?) you have to eat some stuff to be NICE?! Ugh!!

Thanks!! : )

 

[ConvenientVegan]

A DEAR friend treated me to dinner last evening, and I let him pick our appetizers. Cheese, deep-fried everything, some meat--ugh! I even took home the leftovers!! Ate them, as I HATE to waste food.

So, today, planning on some popcorn, on stove with canola oil, and eaten plan. Then as much SALAD as I can get in me, to FLUSH my system! Gained weight (already!), and feel blah!

How about you guys?! What do you do when (if?) you have to eat some stuff to be NICE?! Ugh!!

Thanks!! : )

A P. S. to the above, that you might enjoy:

A Buddhist monk was asked if he would eat beef at a party. He replied, "Of course".
"The cow is dead, but the hostess is not."

In my defense--my friend was very much alive!! : )

 

[Lou]

A DEAR friend treated me to dinner last evening, and I let him pick our appetizers. Cheese, deep-fried everything, some meat--ugh! I even took home the leftovers!! Ate them, as I HATE to waste food.

So, today, planning on some popcorn, on stove with canola oil, and eaten plan. Then as much SALAD as I can get in me, to FLUSH my system! Gained weight (already!), and feel blah!

How about you guys?! What do you do when (if?) you have to eat some stuff to be NICE?! Ugh!!

Thanks!! : )

it doesn't happen to me anymore. And even going back it was a Very Irregular thing. One time my mom for a special occasion made me veal scaloppini. Thinking it was my Favorite Meal. She was getting forgetful. It Is my brother's favorite meal. What was I do to? I had some.
And on various occasions, at work they would throw me a birthday party. And there would be cake. Not many of them knew I was vegan. And I always felt obligated to have some.

Nowadays everyone I'm close with knows I'm vegan and makes at least some effort to make sure there is something vegan on the menu or something vegan prepared.

The other thing is potlucks, and I try to bring something myself that I can fill up on and mostly go for the veggie tray. However a few weeks ago I went to a group potluck with people I hardly knew and it was unplanned. Almost all there were was desserts. but I had brought guacamole. Which is what I filled up on. Note to self: Guacamole and chips is not a good entree. I did break down and have a cookie.

Another reason I have less trouble with this nowadays is that if you get 10 or more people together it's unlikely I'm the only vegan.

that does remind me of this one time I went to a reception at an art gallery and there were party like appetizers. All. with meat. but there was a veggie tray - there almost always is. I was grazing off of that when I overheard a couple debating if the dips might be vegan. we bonded and I had a very nice conversation on the plus and minuses of grocery store plant based dips.

As far as advice for you goes.
#1 don't let a carnist order for you.

or even pick the restaurant.
I do this with my friends and family all the time. no one seems to mind.

Oh, reminds me of another good story. I get together with my sisters and go to a restaurant a few times a year. For some reason we were meeting up in a city I don't know well and they picked the restaurant but had checked ahead and found there was ONE vegan meal on the menu. So we get there and it turns out that the one vegan meal was on the dinner menu. but we were there for lunch. It was a little heart warming for me to see how upset the sister who picked the restaurant was and even made the suggestion we go find somewhere else. But I thought before we leave, I could ask the waiter if there was something to be done. And he told us that there was no problem. The chef could easily make something on the dinner menu. He even said this had happened before.

Moral of the story. Talk to people. you might be surprised how receptive people are to vegans. (caveat - I live in California - your results might vary. )

 

[Emma JC]

I appreciate how kindly you treated your friend however I don't think I could do it myself.

Avoiding such situations is my go to.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Andy_T]

Very simple - we don’t.

It’s not rocket science to tell somebody who is ordering the appetizers that I eat vegan.

It’s not impolite to not eat non-vegan stuff.
I guess they also would not expect a Jewish or Muslim person to join them for pork knuckles and a beer.

Just try to politely explain that the next time.

Buddhist monks are bad examples in that respect.
Yes, they are expected to be humble, which means that if they ask for alms, and somebody offers them non-vegan food, it would be considered rude to turn that down, so they should not make a fuss about it.

BUT … if a Buddhist monk asks you « Dear sir, would you kindly have some food for me, if possible, vegan, as I try to not partake in the slaughter of animals », then the other person would have to be a special kind of a***ole to offer meat instead.
Also, that is typically not what happens at parties (begging for alms).

If that specific monk says he would eat beef, then it is because he likes the taste and his « vow of poverty » gives him a very convenient excuse. Like … the current Dalai Lama, if I am not mistaken :-(

 

[silva]

The only time I remember eating something to be nice was years back when I worked at a place with a cafeteria. I'd been asking for her to make the soups that should be vegan lose the meat broths that she felt they needed. She finally switched to using veg broth in the lentil and the veg soups, and she was so happy to tell me. Right after that we had a company thing that involved lunch and she made a point to let me know she had Morningstar bean burgers, and to request them. I knew they had egg, but there was no way I was going to make a deal about it when she was going out of her way to think of veg'ns needs. I had a burger (I don't even like bean burgers, much less with egg! )
Anyway, I thanked her, and waited a few days to discuss why I don't eat egg.

I can't understand eating meat though. I've had instances where things were mislabeled and bit into meat, not knowing what it was, just a horrid putrid nasty textured thing I had to spit out. Bile comes up my throat . I like the taste of the seasonings that go on meat.

 

[PTree15]

I'm with Andy on this one. I just don't. When I went vegan, I made it a point to let everyone I know -- family, friends and co-workers alike -- what I had decided, why and what that meant food-wise. That way, there would be no surprises or situations where I'd find myself having to eat something I didn't want to eat. I did make an exception when early on my well-meaning mom made me a veggie dish she thought was vegan, so I ate it. It had honey in it, and she wasn't aware that honey wasn't vegan. I casually mentioned it to her weeks later because I didn't want to hurt her feelings after she went to the trouble of making me something.

I have no qualms about declining non-vegan food in social situations. I have some friends who happily accommodate my veganism, but others just stopped inviting me to dinner either at their homes or out at a restaurant. And I'm OK with that.

 

[ConvenientVegan]

I appreciate how kindly you treated your friend however I don't think I could do it myself.

Avoiding such situations is my go to.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

Emma, You got the gist of this story--the lesson is compassion on the part of the Buddhist monk for the hostess of the party. The beef is dead, you can't bring it back to life, but, you can honor the hostess and her hard work, by partaking. My friend treated me to dinner--I let him choose, as he was paying. I ate, tried to enjoy, and honored his kindness. Now I'm recovering. Salad was GREAT! I feel better. Vegan life does get interrupted sometimes! But, my taste buds will come back... And I'll feel normal again. Jumble cooking a baked casserole today--black beans, corn, green pepper. Lots of herbs and spices, roasted hemp seeds, raisins, crumbled whole wheat matzos, lion's mane mushroom powder, green tea matcha powder, nutritional yeast, cocoa powder. You get the idea. As much good stuff as I can jumble in there! Marinate under cover for 1 hour, bake at 350 for 1/2 hour. Spoon in! Happy Winter Solstice, all! The days get longer after this... : )

 

[KLS52]

It only happened to me once during my first year going vegan...that was 19 years ago.
I had been fostering this beautiful Persian kitty until this elderly woman was able to adopt her. On the day of the adoption, my friend and I drove the kitty to the woman's house. She had invited us in and offered us tea and cake. It was a lemon cake and I knew it had dairy/eggs and that was back in the day before I learned how to assert myself lol. So I had a small piece because I didn't want her to think I was rude and I didn't think she would know what vegan was if I tried to explain.I'm pretty sure I would never eat meat under any circumstance. But never say never I suppose. I just can't imagine it.

In hindsight, I could've used the allergy excuse.

 

[PTree15]

Emma, You got the gist of this story--the lesson is compassion on the part of the Buddhist monk for the hostess of the party. The beef is dead, you can't bring it back to life, but, you can honor the hostess and her hard work, by partaking. My friend treated me to dinner--I let him choose, as he was paying. I ate, tried to enjoy, and honored his kindness. Now I'm recovering. Salad was GREAT! I feel better. Vegan life does get interrupted sometimes! But, my taste buds will come back... And I'll feel normal again. Jumble cooking a baked casserole today--black beans, corn, green pepper. Lots of herbs and spices, roasted hemp seeds, raisins, crumbled whole wheat matzos, lion's mane mushroom powder, green tea matcha powder, nutritional yeast, cocoa powder. You get the idea. As much good stuff as I can jumble in there! Marinate under cover for 1 hour, bake at 350 for 1/2 hour. Spoon in! Happy Winter Solstice, all! The days get longer after this... : )

I have to disagree with the reasoning that it’s OK to honor the host’s hard work by eating the beef because the beef is dead. By that logic, it would be OK to eat beef all the time, say, from the supermarket or from a farmer who raises “happy cows” by honoring the cows whose lives were cut short. Where is the compassion for the cows?

 

[Lou]

I think everyone is right.

Veganism is about compassion. and when someone makes you a birthday cake or veal scallopini, the better choice could be to not hurt anyone's feelings. Like in the monk's example.
However we shouldn't forget about being compassionate to ourselves. I think it's possible not to hurt anyone's feeling and just ask them to respect your values. Dinner is nice but I get to order for us.