VS
So I recently completed my 30 days of going Vegan. Some said it couldn’t be done, but I managed to cheat only twice and boy did I pay the price for that!
In the beginning it was hard. Over the years I have learned to listen to my body; paying attention to when and what I wanted to eat. With this diet it was different then my normal ritual, I would find myself starving for hours at a time! You see, everything that I ate would take over an hour to cook, so when I would get hungry, I would have to wait for it to be ready. I started getting in the habit of cooking large batches of brown rice, quinoa, black and kidney beans so I could just scoop, add vegetables and microwave!
The first two weeks I felt really….ummm…How do I put it nicely? I felt VERY “cleaned out” on the inside. I think within the first week I lost about 3 pounds. Then I started to get lazy and found myself not eating as many greens, more rice and beans and I packed on 6 pounds. I can still remember my second day of work and fell asleep about 7 times throughout the day, the waves of tiredness attacking me while staring at the computer. My mother and I determined it was the lack of iron in my diet, mostly because of the continuous menstrual cycle and no longer eating big hunks of meat. I had to adjust and started eating tons of spinach in my breakfast and taking a multiple vitamin which caused the weight to drop and my brain to perk up. I did only cheat twice, once was with fish tacos (so worth it) and other was a big hunk of carrot cake. I will tell you I learned my lesson that night! Between the fat, oil, egg, and cream cheese frosting, I barely made it home before it all came back up. Who would have thought that my body would become so adjusted to an organic vegan lifestyle.
I really enjoyed the diet because my body was feeling good, but I hated going out to dinner. I couldn’t eat out! Do you know what it is like to order a salad then tell them to take the fun stuff off (goat cheese, chicken, bacon, etc) and try and get them to add additional items like beans, other vegetables or nuts? Sometimes my salad would end up costing me $15! Not to mention that I felt bad for the server and kitchen for having to put up with a “picky” customer!
In the end, it didn’t change anything…I still have the same problem that I started with. But luckily the new health insurance kicks in next week so I can be on the road to finding a new doctor who might be able to get to the root of the problem. I am still glad that I did it, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I will ever go back, but I now think even more about what I am consuming and how much of it. My body now craves leafy greens and fresh vegetables; that I will probably stick to being dairy free (except my favorite cheeses, goat and feta), gluten will rarely cross my path, and I view meat more like a rotting rock, sitting in my body. Don’t get me wrong, the first day out of the diet, I ate bacon, beef and chicken (tapas) but I don’t think you’ll be seeing me jumping in on a 30oz steak anytime soon. I am glad that I did it but I SO happy to being able to go into a restaurant and sit down to a “normal” meal… the foodie is back! Now, the question is, what new restaurant should I take myself to? Any places that you are looking for a review on?