The vegan experiment: Day 3

Day 3

Breakfast - Woke up...sore. Very sore. Apparently I forgot to stretch before my little run yesterday. Hobbled into work armed with a soy yogurt to try for breakfast. My enthusiasm for experimentation had been dampened a little by yesterday's rice yogurt disappointment, but I was determined to try. I opened it, and was disheartened to find that it was a dingy beige color (it was strawberry flavored). The consistency was encouraging, though - it actually had the thickness of regular yogurt. I braced myself and took a bite. Not...half...bad! If you don't actually look at it while you're eating, it's pretty decent! I tried to tell myself that years of artificial coloring had twisted my perception of what color food actually is - it doesn't have to be pink to taste like strawberry. After I crossed that mental hurdle, I actually enjoyed it. I had some raspberries, too (hm...noticing a trend here...)


Snack 1 - Had an apricot and a mango. Then an apple with some honey. I am kind of burnt out on almonds at this point. I'm lucky because there's a fruit stand downstairs at my work, so I can change things up when I get bored (but I'm pretty loyal to the raspberries).

Lunch - Had the same salad as Monday, but today added some beans and avacado. After chatting with a vegetarian co-worker, she suggested I add more protein to my salad. There must be something to that, because I didn't get hungry until I was home! No real "snack 2" today!

Dinner - Had hummus and 1/2 a pita, then some potato and leek soup. Oh yeah, Frank and I bought a watermelon at the store, and we both ate a bunch of it when we got home. I also picked up an Amy's frozen meal in case I have trouble tomorrow...

...which brings me to my first real challenge - tomorrow night's dinner. I'm hoping they have some kind of vegetable that hasn't been cooked in butter, but I'm not going to count on it. I wonder if I can fit some raspberries in my evening bag...

A funny side note - tonight Frank came home from work and had one of those gross rice yogurts. And he actually liked it! Gah! Lucky for me, he wasn't a huge fan of the soy yogurt, so I guess I'll take that off his hands (we can swap). Also, a co-worker of mine lent me her copy of "Skinny Bitch", which has been a really funny, quick read. I thought it was just going to be about healthy eating and exercise, but it actually promotes a vegan lifestyle! I just finished the chapter on dairy, and to quote them directly, "You will pee in your pants when you see how much weight you lose from giving up dairy." (Yeah, they're not exactly shrinking violets, so be warned before you pick up the book - they really like the F word, and they will make repeated references to your "fat/sorry ass" and "shitty/horrendous diet". Not for the feint of heart.)

The vegan experiment: Day 2

Day 2

Breakfast - I woke up early and hit the gym. I was feeling pretty good so I ran for 2 miles on the treadmill. Then I rode my bike into work (another 2 miles), so I was ravenous by the time I got in. I brought some rice yogurt to try for breakfast, and eagerly opened it up. Gaaa! Gross! On every possible level - gross! Looks - like mucus! Smells - reeeally, reeeeally yogurt-y. Very pungent. Tastes - just like it looks and smells. Totally nasty. I had to toss it. I ended up having a Gnu Fiber bar and some raspberries for breakfast...

Snack 1 - ...which kept me feeling full for all of about 45 minutes. So I had some blueberries I brought in before breaking into my lunch (soy cheese sandwich) early.

(Actual) lunch - Had some spicy thai soup, which was okay. Had to eat some almonds to stave off hunger, though.

Snack 2 - OMG I LOVE SOY PUDDING! This stuff is GREAT! As in - I could probably swap it with regular pudding and no one would be able to tell (except for the fact that it has "Zen Soy" printed all over the package). Also had a little vegan snickerdoodle cookie, which was totally decent. After work, I grabbed some pita and hummus and fixed some edamame, which I shared with Frank when he got home. Frank (who is also going vegan this week) wasn't feeling that great today. He said he had a headache and was feeling tired. I thought it was stress. He thought it was lack of meat. Meat withdrawl, if you will. Hm. For the record, I feel swell.

Dinner - Headed across the street to my local falafel joint and got a falafel salad. Frank had some fake vegan chicken (he let me try it - it was pretty good! creepily enough, they actually emulated the texture of cooked chicken very closely!), which seemed to help with his meat withdrawl. Frank hit the soy ice cream, but I'm pretty full.

When I tell people about my attempt to go vegan, I often get the response - "Wow. That's going to be really hard." So far, I've been kind of surprised at how easy it's been. It's only been a couple of days, though, and some real challenges lie ahead (a fancy dinner out on Thursday - it's a sit-down corporate affair, so we'll be lucky if there's even a vegetarian option). However, I'm determined, and as anyone who's ever seen me dig my heels in knows, this means I WILL do this.

On a final note - last night, I saw something on television that said, "If God didn't want us to eat animals, He wouldn't have made them out of meat." Huh? What are humans made out of?