Time for some thoughts

This vegan challenge has got me thinking about my choices, but I've come across a big dilemma: when are animal products the healthier choice?

Let me expand on this with an example.  Normally, when I go to my safe place Starbucks, I get espresso, either hot or over ice.  Sometimes I'll add a pump of peppermint syrup, but that's about as crazy as I get day to day; HOWEVER, occasionally when I earn enough reward stars to get a free drink, I splurge and get something fancy, with modifiers....lots of modifiers (extra shots! 2 pumps of this! extra foam! free pour!).  Yesterday was one of these days.  I walked in, ready to splurge on a grande soy gingerbread latte. But then as I was about to order, I thought about calories.  A soy gingerbread latte has about 50 more calories and 5 more grams of fat than one made with nonfat milk.  Now 50 calories doesn't seem like a lot, but this is for a DRINK. And not even an alcoholic one.  Fifty calories and 5 grams of fat IS a big difference in terms of a coffee, especially when you are trying to lose weight.  So then I contemplated. I ended up going with soy because of this challenge, but had I not been doing this, I would have gotten nonfat milk based on the calorie and fat difference. 

Another example. At the grocery store the other day, I was trying to find a vegan bre
ad.  The whole wheat bread I have been buying contains milk, so I put that one back, and picked up a different 100% whole wheat variety.  Did a scan of the ingredients; no milk! wooo hoo- wait. high fructose corn syrup. So which bread do i go for? I ended up getting the one containing milk since my daughter will be eating most of it, and I vowed not to eat any (I bought tortillas instead).

miniature cow, who I don't think produces milk anyway, but you get the point.

Now in a perfect world, I would never get holiday coffee drinks and I would bake all of my own bread. But that's not happening, and with girlfriend always with me, I can't always make a separate stop to get different bread.  So what do you do? I suppose it depends on your reasons for going vegan (ethics, environment, diet), as well as where you stand healthwise.  Just something to ponder. 

Stay Healthy and go get a gingerbread latte for goodness sake! 

Kelly