So I'm starting this new type of blog post series on this site. I'm going to try new things and write about them and my experiences. For the month of January I tried something called veganuary. Basically you go vegan for the month.
As many of you already know I've been vegetarian since May 2017 (the day after I graduated college). I chose to become a vegetarian for environmental and sustainability reasons- I love animals and I care about the cruelty but that is not my main focus. So for the last year I have omitted any meat, and fish from my diet. The only thing I have allowed myself were dairy products- yes I ate eggs. I know eggs are a debatable topic for vegetarians, but I only ate it in certain situations where I couldn't avoid it. I'm also lactose intolerant so I should have been avoiding dairy too.
I decided to try Veganuary because I'm already halfway there, why not go fully vegan? Let me start off by saying, I failed. I did consume dairy (cheese) on a few occasions. I started off the month by making some tofu tikka masala as part of my meal prep. According to the label on the sauce it contained milk- oops- but I wasn't about to waste a perfectly good jar of sauce. The was my first mistake. I believe a few other cookies and crackers I ate throughout the month had egg or milk as an ingredient, but again- I was trying to use up food in my pantry. Then there was the night I went out with my friends for dinner. We chose this restaurant because it had something for all of us (2 vegetarians, 2 omnivores, and me being vegan). I ordered a vegan burger- but I still ate the one cheese stick my friend ordered as an appetizer. OH BOY did that cheese hurt my stomach later that night. Then I tried a box from HelloFresh- so much dairy- but I'll discuss that in my next post. So those were the times I failed this month. Not too bad eh?
So let's talk about what I ate during the month. I'll talk about different meals and how I kept it interesting so I wouldn't get bored.
I never really eat breakfast- I know it's a bad habit and I should. Breakfast was usually green tea, or oatmeal. I would boil water in my tea kettle and use the water for the tea and oatmeal. I was using quick oats with flax seed, hemp seed, chia seed, coconut sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, and fruit. I mixed up my fruit and sometimes I added cashew butter or a hazelnut almond butter (vegan of course). I also had some leftover bagels that I ate with a tofu "cream cheese" spread- sprinkled with the Everything bagel seasoning from Trader Joe's and some paprika. I also made some protein shakes or fruit smoothies for "breakfast."
 |
| Everything Bagel with tofu "cream cheese". Everything Bagel Seasoning from Trader Joe's and paprika |
 |
| Oatmeal with blueberries! |
Lunch time. Yes, I suck at this meal thing too. Some days I skipped lunch and did a workout instead- ate a banana and granola bar to sustain me. But I started off strong with salads I got from Whole Foods (I made them myself). Loaded up on the veggies. Now for lunch I'm sticking to my mini workout and apple, cashew butter, and granola bar for lunch.
 |
| One of my lunches I got from Whole Foods. |
 |
| This was another salad I made form Whole Foods. The Grilled tofu was my favorite part. I also had so vegan chikn salad on the side! |
Dinner varies all the time. I'm constantly cooking new food and trying new recipes so this changed. I did HelloFresh for a week and that's discussed in the next post- one of the ways I failed. I also made a stuffed pepper dinner for my friends- totally vegan friendly. Had some pesto pasta, vegan pizzas, salads, and sweet potato black bean soup/chili. I went on Pintrest and looked for recipes. I also looked at a lot of the food I was buying when I went out to see if I could make it at home. I watched many YouTube recipe videos for inspiration. I made cooking fun, so it was easy to make this stuff plus the meals lasted for a long time.
 |
| Vegan Stuffed Peppers with mashed avocado and lime |
 |
| Sweet Potato back Bean Quinoa Soup/Chili |
 |
| Homemade! Vegetarian Everything Pizza (Left) and Vegan Green Pizza (Right) |
Dessert? Yeah still had that. I made banana nice cream a lot. Basically it's just frozen bananas in a food processor. I added cashew butter, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, agave, coconut sugar, and vegan chocolate chips. This was the perfect dessert. Healthy and tasty!
Also beverage-wise, I drank mostly tea and water. I cut out soda about 8 years ago and only have it on occasion. I tried to increase my water consumption because I was also increasing the intensity of my workouts.
I found that because of my current restrictions on my diet, dairy was my main cut this month. I definitely had a hard time with this, but I wanted to see how would I feel about my body at the end. Its January 31st, and here's how I feel now.
A few days ago I would have told you I felt amazing and this vegan thing was amazing. BUT I ate dairy like 2 days ago because of that pasta in my HelloFresh box and my stomach is very messed up. Before that meal, I was feeling so much better about my body. I felt like I was losing weight because I was finally avoiding dairy (which is something I needed to do) and I had more energy. I'm not saying that everyone should go vegan- everyone has a different body and it may not work as well for others.
For me, it was perfect. I had a little slip up with the cheese and how did my body react? The most recent time I ate cheese was the worst, but the others just caused some cramping and pain in my abdomen. This time I had the full effects of being lactose intolerant. I'm definitely very bloated and my body is not happy with me. I plan to continue trying to fully transition to being vegan, but I don't think I'll ever be fully vegan with my diet. I'm hoping I can get my body back to what it was a few days ago since I threw it off with the dairy.
Yes, I know there are other aspects of veganism, but I'm trying to focus on one thing at a time. My diet is the most important thing right now, so I'm trying to figure out what works. As for material items, if I own something that is made from an animal or is tested on animals its usually because it was a gift or I have it and should use it instead of throwing it in the trash. Gotta focus on those low waste values too!
I would definitely recommend veganuary to anyone who is interested in a vegan lifestyle/diet. It's a fun challenge and much easier than you think. Many people don't realize how dependent our diets are on animals and animal products until they do this. There is a website where you can sign up and it send you daily emails with inspiration and facts about being vegan. Go ahead and check it out! https://veganuary.com/
January might be over, but you can participate in the challenge at any time. If you try it, let me know what your experience is and what yummy meals you made!
