explore a plant-based vegan diet for three months

I didn’t hold to a strict vegan diet these last few months but I had many vegan days. Since I already had high BP my insurance company is chipping in for the cost of my seeing a nutritionist. I’ve seen him once already and will be going back again next week.

I will be a full time vegan starting January 1st. That’s the day after tomorrow. These last 3 months have been a transition state. I haven’t eaten an omlette or any other egg based dish nor have I drank a glass of milk in 3 months but yesterday I had ice cream. I may have a “farewell pint” today or tomorrow. We will see.

Right now I’m eating ice cream. I’m not giving up. Its just that I’m visiting my mother next month and she’ll be making all my cheesy favorites. After I get back, I once again throw myself into this goal, fully.

P.S. This ice cream is pretty good, Ben and Jerry’s Banana Split. Mmmmmm

Looking back at the past week from a “glass half empty” point of view I can say I’ve done piss poorly on this goal. I haven’t even bothered to read food labels and have knowingly and willfully eaten cheese and milk chocolate on more occasions than I care to admit.

From a “glass half full” point of view, my diary intake is less than half of what it was 7 weeks ago. I’ve completely stopped eating fish, ice cream and straight milk or straight eggs. I may still be eating things made with milk and/or eggs but they aren’t the main ingredient. I haven’t had anything like a milk shake or omelette in over a month.

Did you know that if you go a week or so without dairy and then eat a couple of cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, that you should stay near a bathroom? I learned this today at Pike Place Market. I seriously thought I was going to be completely embarrassed out there. I wasn’t, I made it home. I stayed home the rest of the afternoon and evening. I guess my body has started purifing itself.

Not doing good with this but not bad either. I’m not eating cheese omlettes or drinking milkshakes or anything but a few times this week I drank regular lattes. Then I realized I can order them made with soy milk! Yum.

I do need to focus on the “plant-based” part of this goal more. I’m eating way too much processed food.

It wasn’t very good either. The cheese tasted a little off. Someone told me they had given up meat for a while and when they went back to eating it; if the meat was even a little bit spoiled she could tell. She found out most meat is just a little spoiled.

Usually mac and cheese is my favorite but …yuck. That was so not worth the calories.

I changed the name of the goal again. I had to. I thought by removing all animal products from my diet that would FORCE me to eat healthier. But I’m junk food addict and if there’s a way to be a vegan and still pig out on junk, leave it to me to find it.

In the past three days I’ve found: one vegan bakery, one grocery store with a decent vegan baked goods selection, a vegan diner, that Ritz crackers with peanut butter and jam are vegan, that graham crackers are vegan, one outstanding pizzeria with many vegan options, a vegan Thai restaurant, and vegetarian/vegan hot dog internet cafe and a vegan sandwich shop which serves macaroni and yease (not a typo). That macaroni and yease was surprisingly good. Not as good as the real thing but definitely decent.

Anyhoo, I don’t even want to get on a scale after these last three days. I did some internet research and found that this has happened to others as well.

So I feel like now, while this goal is young I’m going to refocus my attention on what I originally set out to do. I want to eat healthier. My focus will be eating a plant based diet. (sigh) There, no more title changes.

It appears there are more junk food options for vegans than I originally thought- at least here in Seattle. I just came back from Mighty O; organic, trans fat free, vegan doughnuts. They tasted a whole lot better than I expected. I bought a bunch and am going to keep them on hand for when I need a pastry fix.

There, I changed the name of the goal. This way I won’t be beating myself up when I get weak and have a brownie that I’m pretty sure was baked with milk and eggs. Why? Because I’m just exploring the idea right now. Trying it on. Seeing how it feels. Taking it for a test drive….

With the other title I was just setting myself up for failure and weeks of beating myself up before giving up. I lot of people who seem like failures are actually perfections like myself. We feel like if you can’t do it perfectly, why even bother. In the end nothing gets done. I’m learning new ways to approach my goals to get around this way of thinking. Hence, the title change.

I’ve definitely stopped eating fish forever. This week I have been guilty of eating things I new probably had milk and eggs in them, like breads and cookies. I’m working on it.