I went vegan and I liked it!
- Jordan Doll
- Nov 21, 2017
- 3 min read
A lot of my friends have asked, so here I am to give my vegan testimony. A friend and I agreed to do a plant-based diet for 30 days. That’s not so bad, 30/365 days, I can do this! Well, my friend sucked at it, but I stuck to the vegan plan and found great results. Let’s explore how.
First, I googled what foods are vegan and even found a 21-day vegan diet plan. I didn't stick to that diet, but it gave me ideas to help me out. After researching, you’d be surprised to know how many foods are surprisingly vegan and how many foods you’d think are vegan, but sadly, are not.
Breakfast
I tried chia seed pudding and I didn’t really like it. I couldn’t get over the texture and the way it looked. It tasted decent, just not for me. Most of my breakfasts consisted of either Cinnamon Life cereal, Chex cereal with almond milk, or oatmeal with cinnamon and nutmeg and a banana. I always tried to incorporate a fruit to fill me up in the morning. And occasionally green tea.
Lunch
Normally, I ate a salad. Sometimes I ate fruit. If I didn’t have an appetite because I didn’t know what to eat I would just eat a spoon of peanut butter. That actually happened a lot. I didn’t want to starve but I also couldn’t decide, so peanut butter it was. I also had apples slices with peanut butter, an old time classic of mine. I ate hummus and chips and tortilla chips and salsa. And I ate a lot of rice bowls from Chipotle, no meat. Veggie chicken sandwiches and sweet potato fries or regular fries. Fries saved my life. It gave me the satisfaction I’d crave from a real fried chicken sandwich.
Dinner
For dinner I had vegan smoothie meal replacement from Smoothie king. Sweet potatoes, lots of potatoes. Veggie soups, lots of green vegetables and salads. Name the vegetable I ate it. Kale, cabbage, sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, green beans, broccoli. Spinach, everything.
Did you cheat?
I did. Hey! It’s hard to just dive right into a full culture of things I never tried before. But I never cheated and fully ate meat or eggs. I ate pretzels, I put butter on my sweet potato a couple times, and I ate wheat bread. While it may seem like wheat bread should be vegan, most breads use eggs to make the dough, etc. so yeah. I also ate candy because it was during the month of October and that’s basically national candy month.
What do I wish I would’ve tried?
Cauliflower fried chicken
Vegan chili
Home-made smoothies
What did I learn?
Vegan breakfast is very basic.
The U.S. doesn’t really have many vegan options.
There are many restaurants who are incorporating vegan options.
Reading the ingredient label matters
There are so many things we put in our body that we don't know about. Words that we don’t even know the meanings of and stuff that is harmful to us. I found it very important to read the ingredient list labeled on foods.
During my vegan journey, I felt light, bloat-free, full, and I woke up with a lot of energy. Cutting out foods such as mayonnaise, meats, fried meats, preserved milks, alcohol, candy, eggs, cheese, whey, etc. really makes a difference. I even lost 15 pounds (didn’t expect to lose that much). I also worked out 3-4 times during the week. It’s also important to make sure you’re receiving all of your daily nutrient necessities too though. I only had two headaches due to lack of nutrients during the month and I knew it was because I was being lazy and not eating the right food. Many people asked if I ever felt hungry and the answer is no. Once you get used to not having meat, your stomach fills up just the same.
All in all, I plan to do it again, but I also enjoy meats and foods like pizza so I'm not sure if I could commit my life to being vegan. My take is that you can learn from it and it’s always good to give your body a change of scenery; a nice detox! I recommend trying it for even two weeks to see the difference. Get over the fact that it’s “too hard” and that’s 75% of the battle.
Live life,
Jordan
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