Feeling normal

It's been over two weeks since I turned vegan and it feels normal to me now. On valentines day I will be able to eat meat again should I choose to. The last thing I ate before starting the challenge was a pizza so I will probably have a pizza to celebrate the finish but it will almost certainly be a vegetarian topping. Not just because I'm not sure I could eat meat again but also because I just crave vegetables. It's one of the great side effects of doing this. Fruit and veg become so important to you. They are the corner stone of my diet now and I find myself thinking about them alot of the time. I used to crave chocolate and burgers now it's garlic pokchoi and satsumas. So if you're trying to lose weight or change your diet and you have a sweet tooth, I highly recommend doing this challenge. It simply eliminates junk from your diet and it doesn't seem quite as hard as it would normally.

Books: (links are for amazon, but you can find them elsewhere too.)

The New Vegan
Really great recipes, I highly recommend the Jerk Cauliflower.


Everything you need you have


Netflix recommendations:

If you're on Netflix, I recommend watching the following documentaries. They may get you thinking about what we eat and how we eat it. Please remember, I'm not trying influence you to do anything you don't want to do. In the weeks leading up to this challenge I was feeling ill, I was unhappy with my health and I concerned that I was damaging my body with the amount of meat and sugar in my diet. These documentaries inspired me to do some research into the vegan diet and it has given me a great understanding of the huge benefits of eating a plant based diet.

Fat sick and Nearly dead
- Don't be afraid of the title, it's a great doc about juicing. There's also a part 2, also on Netflix.

Food Matters
Hungry for Change
Really good docs about nutrition and plant based diets.

Vegucated
A good doc on three New Yorkers going vegan for six weeks. It's not the best doc you'll ever see but there's some really good points made. Worth a watch if you're thinking about going vegan/veggie.

Vegan chilli

Thursday 21st January

It's been over a week now and I feel great. I've definitely got more energy and my general health is improving. Since the start of this challenge, I've been concentrating on the environmental effects of animal farming. Over the last few days, I've turned my attention to the animals themselves. I've been trying not to become the kind of vegan that makes others feel guilty. Apart from a couple of jokes aimed at meat eaters and I've tried my best to stay on the right side of annoying, but it can be hard. Especially when the reality is, every time we eat meat, we're eating an animal. That's the truth. We can justify it all we like, that's just the way it is. Now that I am half way through my challenge, I'm starting to wonder what I will do when it finishes. Will I stay a vegan? Will I become a vegetarian? Will I go back to meat?


Last weekend, I tried to find a way to eat my pre vegan favourites without meat. My most successful was a vegan chilli, using black beans and lentils and a little bit of vegan mince. I made it from scratch and made it fairly hot. I was delighted with the results, really tasty and packed full of goodness.

Alongside changing my diet I've joined a gym and I've been going three times a week. I also play sport two or three times a week with the school and I've noticed a big difference in my fitness levels. I've also noticed that after sport, I'm craving healthy food instead of fatty sugary stuff. I'm also drinking alot more water and eating ALOT of fruit. 

Whatever happens after this month, I will never see vegans as wimps or lacking in something. It's quite the opposite, I've never eaten as healthily as I have done in the last two weeks. 

One more thing, I used to drink up to two pints of milk a day. On my cereal, in my tea, and by the pint with biscuits. I now drink coconut milk and soya milk in my tea. I now only have 1 cup of tea a day. I don't miss milk at all. I just don't need it. Coconut milk on my granola has been the best part of this challenge. I highly recommend it. 

Hitting the wall.

Friday 15th Jan

I was warned by a few people that at some point I would hit a wall. It's fair to say that I've basically been surviving on meat and sugar for the past 33 years, so a week without either was bound to effect me sooner or later. Last night I suddenly felt like I needed to munch on something. I had cravings for ice-cream, chocolate and anything meaty. After a good sleep the cravings past but I woke up this morning feeling terrible. This was made worse by having my first training session at the gym. By 8am this morning I was ready to give up. But, after a really big breakfast I feel much better. I'm hoping that the cravings have now past and I'll just be fine.

I'm trying to go to the gym at least three times a week, I'm finding it useful to go early in the morning,  helping me to avoid tea, toast, butter, jam and rich tea biscuits!

Had a great morning with some of the students at the allotment, it's a gorgeous cold sunny day today and it felt great to be out there. We have come back and Kieren and Jonesy have just tried their first cup of tea with Soya milk, whilst AJ enjoyed a homemade juice made from blueberries, apples, carrot and kiwi fruit.

I'm now the end of my first working week as a vegan, I have no intention of giving up yet.

Getting used to it.

Wednesday 15th Jan

For the past 12 years I have taught a class in a clinic down the road from here. Every Wednesday, after I've finished my class I eat lunch. The food is amazing, for the past 12 years I've enjoyed selections of cold meats, beef chills, pork ribs and other treats. Basically, it's like having a buffet every week. Needless to say, I was a little nervous about eating lunch today. I had never taken any notice of what was on offer for vegetarians or vegans for obvious reasons. But today, I had no choice and I'm delighted to report that I worried for nothing, the veggie option was excellent. I had a vegetable stew, couscous with veg and a side salad. I left full and happy just like always. The only difference being that this lunch was far healthier than usual.

Dinner was great, still had some black bean chilli left overs, added some hot sauce to spice it up a bit (accidentally vegan hot sauce) and nailed two plates. I'm defiantly eating more than I usually do. Three big, healthy animal free meals a day. I've not felt hungry or uncomfortable so far this week at any point.


Re: video recommendations:
I hope you've enjoyed watching the videos, I'm careful not to recommend any vids that have anything too hard to watch. However, I think it's important to understand the truth behind the food that we eat. You have a choice on what you eat and where it comes from. Be honest with yourself and find the courage to seek the truth. Especially when it comes to organic and free range. If you care enough to buy free range, care enough to research how the animals are actually treated. If, after that you're happy with what you find, it's your decision. I've watched and read alot of vegan material over the past week or so, some of it has been extremely distressing. Be warned, if you are seeking the truth behind what you eat and search for videos, be prepared to be shocked. I will continue to recommend videos that I have found inspiring and useful.


Things to watch:

How to be vegan

30 min Vegan doc. A lot of the stuff you'll see is from the USA, this is made in England. Felt a bit closer to home. A couple of hard bits to watch but nothing too bad, easy to look away. Some interesting things. The restaurant SAF looks brilliant too!


Recommended websites

Ecotopia

Really great products on here, buy in bulk and save money. I'm really trying to reduce my use of harmful chemicals I use on a daily basis.

Nakd bars and Soya milk

12th January End of day two.

I'm not missing meat and I'm not missing milk. I AM MISSING CHOCOLATE BISCUITS AND CAKE.
Between 3 and 4pm, school's finished, tea is being made and people are handing out biscuits... This is the danger zone. However, I have found a solution. Nakd bars (pictured). I've also had my first soya milk tea today, which doesn't taste like milk but it does taste good. Patty kindly made me another delicious dinner, she's been a veggie for 33 years, she was pregnant with me, looked in a cow's eyes the rest is history. She seems to be enjoying making me dinner, perhaps it feel shoo to finally be able to share her meal with someone! Another good day in planet vegan.

Dinner: Black bean casserole, with wild rice. Full of protein and goodness. 

Something to watch: 98 year old vegan doctor

Day One

Monday 11th January

It’s 8pm, end of day one. Just had a lovely dinner, bean casserole, sweet potato and crispy kale. It tasted great, I felt good afterwards and no animals died so I could eat. That's is a good feeling. I’d never really registered before that every time I eat meat, I'm eating a dead animal. I think it’s important that we understand where our food comes from, not just geographically but literally. The beef on my pizza last night used to be a cow. (Probably many cows!) I, like many meat eaters try to deny the truth to myself, but we owe the animals that provide their lives for us to have a burger, the decency to admit to ourselves that it is/was an animal. It had a life, relatives, friends, feelings just like all of us. I would absolutely call myself an animal lover so it feels good that today, I can say that, having not eaten one! 

Too soon to tell if I feel any different yet, but I definitely felt less heavy and full after dinner. Interestingly, I also didn’t feel the need to have anything sweet after it either. I’d like to say thanks to my mum Patty for making the bean casserole. 

Breakfast: granola with coconut milk (I LOVE this breakfast), banana, satsuma

Lunch: M&S Moroccan spiced butternut salad 

Dinner: Bean casarole, sweet potato, crispy Kale

Things to watch: 

Cowspiracy  - Netflix

Really interesting documentary, hard to watch at times, but some really important information on the environmental effects of agriculture on the planet.

The Last Supper

Sunday 11th January

The Last Supper

Here it is, the last meaty dinner for me for a month. I had a triple beef and ham Dominos pizza, one and a half bottles of coke and some Wagamama deep fried squid. Afterwards I felt terrible. Really full and heavy, which, I have to say is a very familiar feeling to me. Apart from the environmental and ethical reasons for this challenge I also just want to feel better. I think we kid ourselves into thinking that a dinner is not a dinner without a big slab of meat. Very often I feel so full I can’t move after dinner. This is usually followed by my persuading myself that it’s ok to have ice cream or chocolate too for desert. Well, for the next thirty days I will be eating a plant based diet. Starting tomorrow I will be fully committing to a vegan lifestyle.