I’m a Vegan and I Hate Salad.
I have dreaded writing this post for a long time, but I fear I must confess this. I am a vegan, and I hate salad.
It’s just so boring. There are essentially NO calories in it, and it requires a heck of a lot of chewing. I mean really, what a waste! Seventy-five bites for like 6 calories? C’mon, gimme a break.
I honestly have better things to do with my time.
Don’t get me wrong, there are times in my life where I crave a good salad. If I’ve gone awhile without one, or if I am at a salad place that has tons of awesome, fresh ingredients on hand, things I could never keep at home for just me, then I will gleefully chow down on a big old salad.
Even the process of having salad supplies on hand at all times is difficult! You need to have bags of lettuce on hand, which we all know go bad almost immediately. Then you have to have all your favorite toppings, which for me usually means like 7 different vegetables, some seeds, maybe some avocado (also tough to have on hand at all times).
Then we get to the dressings, which are almost all loaded with fatty oils and often sugar, not to mention preservatives.
Sure you can make your own (I often just use straight balsamic vinegar or lemon juice!), but that’s a process as well.
Salad and I have a complex relationship.
Look don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to trash salad completely or throw it under the bus. Salad is quite possibly the single healthiest meal you can consume. If you want to lose weight fast, eat lots of salads, especially before the rest of your meal. If you want to get in literally endless nutrients and consume essentially zero calories, salad is the way to go.
But this is my point:
Salad is not required.
Liking salad is not a requirement of health. I eat salad probably a few times a month, almost never at home, and I still lost 30 pounds on a vegan plant-based diet and am in the best health of my life!
It is such a stereotype that all healthy eaters eat nothing but leaves. And especially us vegans!
I can’t tell you how many times I have received this comment when I’ve told people I am vegan. “Oh I could never do that, I just don’t like salad that much.”
THAT’S WHAT PEOPLE THINK WE EAT. NOTHING BUT SALAD.
Well I am here to shout from the mountaintops, I hate salad (except a couple times a month when I absolutely love salad. Like I said it’s complicated).
I need more calories than that.
Give me potatoes and sweet potatoes, give me black beans and chickpeas, give me tortillas, give me endless fruit, give me whole grains like brown rice or quinoa, give me starchy foods that have a little substance to them. I need to feel full, and salad just don’t cut it, not for me, a 6-foot, 170-pound male who works out regularly.
If you want to lose weight, by all means, eat salad.
I don’t want to send the wrong message — it is a very very very healthy food. But don’t for a second think that you can’t be healthy because you don’t enjoy eating salads. Neither do I! Not all vegans like salad. Some of us just need a little more food than that 🙂