Welcome home

Thanks and I’ll put something up soon about some of the new things I’d like to do.

We're Moving!

Over the next week or so I’ll be moving LCV to a new hosting provider. I don’t feel it’s appropriate to do business with a company whose CEO feels it necessary to kill animals and then brag about it. The fact it’s a species under threat just earns him extra sleaze points.

So I’m going to be transitioning this site to a new host. Fortunately I used to do this for a living so I’ve got a pretty good idea of the steps involved but I’ve never done it with servers I don’t control. There will probably be some down time but don’t worry, we will be back! And the new provider should allow me to do some things I’ve been wanting to do, like social media.

Keep your fingers crossed and think happy thoughts!

OK, I’m tired of talking about myself in the third person, always seemed a little creepy to me. I’m a 40ish computer geek living out here in fly-over country. I’m single with no kids so my cooking probably isn’t all that kid-friendly. On the other hand, I have to eat all of whatever I make. Pretty good encouragement to do a good job!

I’ve been a vegetarian for several years now, tending toward veganism but I really didn’t become fully committed to a vegan lifestyle until a year and a half ago when I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic. That was quite a wakeup call I can tell you. Diabetes must be a real growth industry, I’m constantly bombarded by material that promises to fix all my problems. Well, most of it’s crap as you can imagine and even the folks who do know what they’re talking about disagree as often as not.

One ‘advantage’ of being diabetic is the immediate feedback you get on how you’re doing. I check my blood sugar several times a day so it’s fairly straight-forward to see if what you’re doing is working. And I’m finding a vegan, low-carb diet is working for me. I’m not interesting in some extreme lose-a-bunch-of-weight-fast diet, I want something I can follow the rest of my life.

And I hope I am able to share with folks that vegan food can be tasty, easy and good for both the animals and you. Let’s enjoy the trip!

What LCV is

I’m a vegan, that’s a very important part of who I am and I don’t see it changing. My diet changes around a little as I try new things and learn new information but vegan is a constant. And I define vegan pretty strictly. I don’t worry too much about what anyone else considers vegan but for me, no animal products means none. So I’m not going to slip in my grandmother’s Chicken Soup recipe. If you want to sweeten something with honey, go ahead but I won’t. It’s not low carb anyway.

I’m going to put up information about cooking techniques. I’m occasionally surprised by the number of people who have just never been exposed to cooking. Or have a very limited view of what cooking is. Putting the frozen package in the microwave is not cooking folks! Now I don’t claim to be a great chief or Cordon Bleu trained. I’m just a guy who spends a little too much time in the kitchen and has to eat his mistakes.

As we look at how to cook, what to use will come up as well. I’m a pretty much a traditionalist here. I’m not a fan of having to have every last gadget known to man. Simpler is better. I’m reminded of visiting Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home, when I was a kid. They took us out to the kitchens which consisted in large part of basically big fireplaces with grates and hooks to put the pots and pans on. No setting the knob to low/medium there! And the guide pointed out that state diners were prepared there, with all the different kinds of food that implies. And if those people could make great food in those circumstances, we surely don’t need all of the stuff in Bed, Bath and Beyond.

And we certainly can’t forget the food we’re actually cooking! There are a lot of ingredients out there and not every one is an expert in where they come from, what to do with them, what’s in them and what not to do with them. I know I feel like I’m giving the cashier a pop produce quiz when I go to checkout. There’s spices and special vegan ingredients as well. We’ve all seen and probably eaten tofu but how many folks know how it’s made? A friend of mine says her store in Japan carries something like forty different kinds of tofu. We don’t have that many kinds out here but there are still several.

And certainly not to be ignored; food, health and nutrition are in a constant state of flux. I’m not a medical professional in any sense but I try to stay somewhat up to date. Navigating the minefields of studies proving this or that which will change next week is a struggle. Hopefully we can discern some general principles to guide us through the morass.

What LCV isn’t

I assume that my readership is at least interested in a vegan lifestyle. I’m not going to be posting graphic slaughterhouse images or railing against the evils of animal agriculture. There are plenty of places where you can find that if you want, it won’t be here.

As I mentioned above, I’m not a medical professional. So there isn’t going to be any medical advice. I’m not qualified to give it and hopefully you’all are smarter than to take it from me. I’m also not going to give any specific nutritional advice. That area is constantly changing and there are trade offs to be made that only you can make.

In that regard as well, I’m not going to do diet planning. No sample menu, specific nutrient targets or anything like that. We all have different bodies, different problems we’re working on and different life styles.

And in that theme, I don’t specifically do extreme low carb. I know some diets recommend total daily intakes of 20 or 30 grams of carbs. If that works for you, wonderful, I know it works for a lot of folks. It didn’t work for me. I’m purposefully not specifying what I consider low carb. I plan to present a number of dishes all along the spectrum and you will be able to decide what works for you.

So I’ve rambled on for quite a while here but hopefully I’ve given you a better idea of where I plan to take things. As always, comments, questions and concerns are welcome.

VeganMoFo

And just what might be VeganMoFo? Well, past what you’re thinking, it’s Vegan Month of Food. That pretty much means every weekday during the month of October, I’ll be posting something relating to vegan food. Some of them may be very vaguely related to vegan food but I figure this is a good way to launch LowCarbVegan.com and hold my feet to the fire to get some good content up here.

I’ll look forward to hearing what you, the readers, think and hopefully we can have some fun. Food, cooking and nutrition can be so bleak and depressing; I’d like to think that we can bring some fun to the topic. Hey, gin is vegan and low carb! This has got to be fun, right?