One of the things I have to keep reminding myself is that while something may be vegan, that does not mean that it is healthy. Last night we had everyone over and made pasta and played monopoly! It was a wonderful evening, but at the end Michael opened up some of our dark chocolate bars (which were vegan.. and the few pieces I had were delicious.) But today, I want sugar. I spent the morning playing with the dogs, and forgot breakfast. So on my way to sit through 8 more trial team auditions I grabbed rice cakes (which did not fill me up). Gable Gotwals had a wonderful slew of snacks available, all of which had refined sugar, except for the baked lays, whose label said sugar, but not refined sugar. I moved past the sugar craving (for now), but I was starving, so I grabbed a bag and opened it them up. I had about 10 chips before I slowed down and actually tasted the chips. They. Were. Awful. They were so salty my tongue hurt.. I looked up the ingredients in the chips to see how healthy “baked” chips actually were.
This is what I found:
“Now let’s look at the ingredients label for the baked chips.  The potatoes used are dried so they aren’t even fresh potatoes!  No information on how the potatoes were dried is provided.  If the potatoes were dried using a very high heat, which is likely, then acrylamide would be formed just like with the fried chips as the lower temperature baking occurs after the drying process!
Tricky, tricky, eh?
Baked Potato Chips
In addition, corn starch, corn oil, and soy lecithin are used and since they are not organic, there is a high likelihood that these ingredients are from genetically modified (GMO) sources.
Given that GMO corn is linked to liver and kidney damage in rats, these are not the innocuous ingredients food manufacturers would have you believe.
In addition, sugar and corn sugar (aka, high fructose corn syrup) are stealthily included which means that while you are getting less of the unhealthy vegetable oils in the baked chips, you are getting in return ingredients that are perhaps just as bad!”
. . .
I might as well have had Oreos, at least those are delicious. My other “healthy” option was fruit chews, which are notoriously unhealthy. Once I left, I headed to school to work at the library. I was still starving, so naturally I started considering my options. I had about 5 minutes to find food, which limited me to fast food. Since I made a 30 day pledge on GoVeg.com, I did not want to break it based on convenience. Early today, my best friend Stacie told me a story about her cousin (who is vegetarian-ish?) who still eats fast food french fries from certain restaurants. I thought about that as an option but french fries are the devil, and I get addicted to them quickly.
In fact, I am pretty sure french fries are scientifically addicting, at least McDonald’s French Fries are! In fact, after further research McDonald’s fries cannot even be called vegetarian, so I am glad I did not go down that road! Instead, I had Michael bring me a bowl of pasta up to the library so that I could eat clean food and study in peace. He brought pasta, vegetable sauce, spicy tofu, blueberries, raspberries, and a la croix, which was way better for me than anything I was going to find at a fast food place.
Skinny Bitch Book of Vegan Swaps does provide a few places that have vegan options on the go at popular chains! Including:
Subway – Veggie Delight Salad, Vegan Breads: Italian White, Roasted Garlic, Ciabatta, and Hearty Italian
Baskin Robbins – Sorbet Flavors
Chipotle Mexican Grill – Custom Burrito Bowl, Taco, or Salad, but no pinto beans (made with lard/bacon)
Johnny Rockets – Soy Boca Burger “Streamliner”
Taco Bell – Many Items sans Cheese; Veggie Fajita Wrap
