3 Keys to Managing Career Burnout
If you've been feeling overworked, under-challenged, or completely drained lately, it's possible that you're dealing with career burnout. Although it can be tough to differentiate between this condition and regular stress-induced fatigue, the good news is that it's not too late to reverse the trend!
In this blog post we'll share 3 keys for managing career burnout so that you can start feeling refreshed and optimistic about work again.
Introducing Vegan Cheese
I'm going vegan! Wait - what does this mean? I heard a lot of people say that vegans don't eat cheese!? Why is stopping eating cheese a big deal? It's delicious.
-Vegan cheese is really incredible. I like it so much better than the dairy variety because I'm able to enjoy it without ruining my body or feeling like I need to adhere to a lifestyle where I'm constantly eating things out of a container that are not vegan.
-I can now say that after going vegan (and sticking with those guidelines) I feel like my life has improved in all areas - including my work performance and wellbeing.
-It's also gotten easier to navigate social situations where people might be trying to enforce stereotypes about any specific stringency of diet - which is what used to drive me nuts.
My Personal Experience Going Vegan
I first became interested in going vegan when I saw An Inconvenient Truth . It completely changed my perspective on global warming and the concept of sustainability. I began thinking about veganism as a way to battle hunger and ecological destruction. That's when I started researching what ingredients are used in vegan cheese; and it turned out to be pretty intense - meat analogs like dairy and egg! Sounds delicious!
Most of what is in vegan cheese has been produced with GMO-laden soy, which is why I became even more interested when I learned about the potential for GMO contamination. However, a lot of companies are now trying to change this by making foods from plants...
The science is complicated, but there are certain isolated compounds called "GMOs" that have been shown to contaminate non-GMO food products. Because of their improved yields and resistance to plant diseases, a lot of farmers use GMO seeds - and those seeds sometimes wind up on the final products!
This is what scares me about the food supply - especially since I've been so passionate about a vegan diet! When I discovered that there are alternative vegan cheese products on the market that do not contain any GMOs, I was thrilled and immediately ordered some...
Trader Joe's Vegan Cheese
The first brand of vegan cheese I ordered was Trader Joe's. It's kind of cheesy-yellow lumpy stuff, but it actually tastes pretty good by itself. Or melted over pasta with marinara sauce. It also makes a pretty good grilled cheese sandwich.
I'm not a huge fan of shredded vegan cheese - but once I tried this new product from Daiya , I was impressed! I love the fact that it just melts in your mouth - and it's really tasty when you do this.
Eventually, I got really curious and did some digging to find the ingredient list for different vegan cheeses. It turned out that what's in this vegan cheese isn't plant-based at all! It actually contains collagen from cow stomachs? Gross!
I was shocked because there is absolutely no way that this could be considered healthy or sustainable - unless they want to start producing wine out of cow stomachs. Fortunately, there is a brand of vegan cheese that doesn't contain any animal-derived proteins; it's called Follow Your Heart.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find it on Trader Joe's shelves - so I ended up buying Daiya again. The flavor is pretty good, but I don't think it's as good as Follow Your Heart.
Other Vegan Cheese Options
Beyond the brands that I've mentioned so far, there are lots of other options out there! Some are made by the same company (like Daiya), while others are produced by different companies for different diet needs and lifestyles.
Some of the most popular brands that I've seen include: Follow Your Heart, Go Veggie, and Teese. There are a lot of vegan cheese recipes online too - some just involve mixing stuff with nutritional yeast!
Vegan Cheese Purchase Tips
So you've heard about these companies that make vegan cheese. Where do you get them? Here's where it gets complicated...
There are a lot of processed foods out there! Some of them are extremely unhealthy (like canned vegetables with excessive salt). So when you're buying food products, especially ones made by smaller companies, it's best to check the ingredients.
Try to avoid processed foods if you can! This means that you should try to avoid any foods that contain anything made with GMO ingredients! Some of the more popular brands of processed foods include Frito-Lay, Nutritional Yeast and Hungry Jack.
Also check out websites like The World's Healthiest Foods and Nutritiondata.gov . They provide a good idea of nutritional value in your food products.
For snacks and treats, hemp seeds are a great source for protein and fat. Hemp seeds are packed with nutrients like calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron as well as omega 3 fatty acids that help improve your mood and decrease stress levels.
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Self improvement