Vegan Challenge

It all started with Netflix. That happy place that holds just about anything you could ever want to watch. It is also a very dangerous place, for lurking in the cracks of Netflix-land are what are called Documentaries. Now, some documentaries are on things like the Vatican, where they tell you what goes on in the Vatican with a behind-the-scenes look. Some documentaries are on famous people, highlighting the good and/or bad things famous people have done. Some documentaries are on famous and mysterious places like the Bermuda Triangle or Stonehenge. All very interesting and mostly very educational and informative. But there are other documentaries too. Dangerous documentaries that inspire you to try new things. We happened to watch one of these other documentaries. It was called Vegucated. In this documentary, they asked a few people to give up their current lifestyle and become Vegan for six weeks. These "test subjects," if you will, were also invited to seminars and conventions about veganism and other related lifestyles and habits. They were also invited to farms that are sanctuaries to sick or ailing farm animals. They also talked a bit about the health benefits to a vegan diet. Very interesting, very informative, and it got us thinking. So, in light of this documentary, we decided to do our own Vegan Challenge: 6 weeks of eating vegan.

Now, what is Vegan? A true vegan (from my understanding) does not partake of or use in any way products that came from an animal. For food, that would mean no eating meat (fish, poultry, pork, beef, etc.), also nothing that comes from an animal (eggs, dairy milk, yogurt, cheese, or anything that contains such products). But then there's another level. They would not wear anything that is animal based. So no leather, for example.

We decided to try eating vegan. For six weeks. (Did I mention it was for six weeks?) At first it was easy, because it was new and exciting. We were on this adventure together and we were going to do it and it was going to be fun and we were going to be so healthy and live forever! We told our families the plan. His family was very supportive (they bought Boca burgers when they had a cookout, how cute is that?). Several people in his family had actually done a vegan challenge as well so it was really interesting learning from them and hearing about their experiences. My family was also supportive. They accommodated the best they knew how. We would have spaghetti with them and they would leave out the meatballs until we had our serving. It was very sweet how they all encouraged us in our decision.

After about the first week, it started to get old. We wanted to go out to eat, but had a hard time finding a lot of options. Let's be honest here, I want a burger or chicken and pasta when I go out. Not vegetables and tofu. But we found a few options and took advantage of them. For example, the whole family went out to Red Robin to celebrate birthdays; we were able to order Boca burgers and even a GardenFresh option. Super awesome. Also, Subway's Veggie Delight sandwich is amazing! I think we both started to get used to it around week three. We ate a lot of PB&J. Like, lots. Also, don't be fooled, if it says "Veggie" on it, you might want to check the ingredient list. Chances are it's not vegan, it's vegetarian. And yes, there's a difference (see Addendum I, below). That was one of the most difficult parts of the experience: shopping. So much was suddenly off-limits to us. We had to double and triple check everything in the ingredient list. But, we were also very surprised as to how much we ate before that was actually vegan-friendly (Oreos!). By the end of week four, we were done. We just didn't want to have to deal with checking labels all the time or not being able to eat with our families anymore. (Clarification: We could eat with our families, we just couldn't have the same food. And that kind of stinks sometimes.)  So we cut our six week challenge down to four weeks and called it good.

Pros to the vegan challenge:
We did actually feel better. We were more awake, had more energy, recovered faster after a work out, and our systems functioned splendidly. We also got to experience a different lifestyle for a while. It's made me wish there was a vegan section in the store, or a restaurant that catered to vegans, or something like that here in my little neck of the woods. (If we lived in a bigger city like DC, New York, LA, San Francisco, or Seattle it would be a different story.) It was definitely an eye-opener for both my husband and myself.

Cons to the vegan challenge:
Shopping. That was really hard. Maybe it's because I'm just not patient enough, but I had a really hard time finding vegan-friendly foods. It was also very difficult when I knew Sunday dinner was going to be a big breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, blueberry muffins, and the like) and knowing that we wouldn't be able to participate in that tradition. I also missed baking (see Addendum II, below).

All in all, it was fun and I'm glad we did it. But we also found it wasn't for us. Which is OK. We took a chance, we learned a lot, and we're better for it. So what about you? Have you been wanting to try something new? DO IT! Try it out for a while. Challenge yourself for a week, or a month, or six months. Who knows? You might find something you really like. We did! (Coconut spread is one of the best things ever. And so is almond milk.) What have you got to lose?

Addendum I
While vegans don't eat anything from an animal, vegetarians don't eat meat, but will eat animal products such as eggs, dairy milk, cheese, etc. (According to my understanding.)

Addendum II
Baking is still an option for vegans. There's this great website called Vegan Outreach that gives all kinds of product substitutes (along with all the information on veganism you could ever want). We baked some cupcakes using applesauce instead of eggs and they actually turned out really good. They were very dense, but very moist. We are definitely keeping that in our arsenal of baking.