7 Things I Learned in 7 Days of Veganism

Chai Tea Latte and a Grateful Graham from the Redtree Gallery and Cafe

This past Friday (November 18th) marked exactly one week of 100% vegan eating. After my epic juice-fast fail, I went right into a vegan detox of sorts with the ultimate goal of rebooting and getting on track before Gluttonfest '12 aka Thanksgiving. Overall, the week was a great success and it left me feeling recharged and fabulous.

Here are 7 Things I Learned in 7 Days of strict veganism:

1. You don't have to go to a vegan-only restaurant to eat out.
There are a lot more food options out there than I initially thought when it comes to dining out. While it definitely helps to find restaurants that are openly vegetarian- and vegan-friendly, it is also possible to eat at more mainstream restaurants so long as you just put some thought into it. Find veggie-heavy dishes and just ask for no meat. Get a giant salad and have them leave off the cheese. Ask for a soy latte sans whipped cream in place of your usual dairy-filled beverage. Just be creative, and be clear with your server about what your goal is-- sometimes they make some good suggestions too!

Some ways I got creative with my dining out:

• I ordered a Premium salad from Panera and had them take off the meat and cheese. Then, for my side dish I skipped my usual baguette and went with an apple which I then chopped up and added to my salad for some extra flavor. Yummy!
• My family went to a Mexican restaurant and instead of sulking about not being able to get a big beefy burrito, I went with the vegetarian fajitas. In place of the refried beans that usually come with the meal (and are often cooked with lard), I substituted plain black beans, which I prefer anyway. I got rid of the sour cream and doubled up on the guacamole to keep the moisture factor.
• My usual coffee house regular mocha and blueberry scone was replaced by a soy chai tea latte and-- one of my most favorite discoveries so far-- a Grateful Graham from a local vegan baker. They are AMAZING.
• A local favorite around here is Skyline Chili threeways-- spaghetti topped with Cincinnati-style chili and mounds of cheddar cheese. On the last day of our vegan detox I had an art show to set up for until late at night and by the end of it we were in no mood to cook. We stopped by Skyline and ordered a threeway with their black bean mixture instead of the chili. It has the same spices and seasonings as the regular chili so it satisfies the same craving which is good. When going through the drive-thru, Skyline puts the cheese in a little baggie on the side for the customer to put on when they get home. Since Kyle knows how much I LOVE cheese he made sure they didn't even put it in the bag so that I wouldn't be tempted. Oh Baberoo, always looking out for my best interest!

2. My old eating habits were destroying my skin.
Over the past week I've noticed lots of changes including a slimmer waistline, lots of energy, and better sleep. However, the biggest change for me personally is the condition of my skin. From the age of 12 years old until now, I have struggled with acne and within a few days of clean eating, my skin was completely clear. My face was brighter and "glowier" as I call it, and the skin all over my body became smoother and softer. It was the miracle cure I had always searched for-- who knew it was so easy!?

3. Sometimes the substitutions aren't even worth it.
Growing up I drank milk a LOT. I had it in my cereal for breakfast, chocolate milk as a snack, drank it to wash down a home-cooked dinner, and to dunk my cookies in for dessert. As part of my experimental veganism I tried a couple of different varieties of milk-- hemp, soy, rice, and oat. Although soy milk consistently goes into my lattes now, and the rice and oat milks taste fine in my cereal, I have not yet found a non-diary milk that I can drink plain in a glass like I used to. In that regard, I decided that drinking milk substitutes was not worth the less-than-yumminess so I just bypass milk as a beverage altogether and have green tea or water instead.

4. Sometimes the substitutions ARE worth it.
As I mentioned before with the Grateful Grahams, some of the vegan alternatives I've found are completely worth it and often taste even better than their non-vegan counterparts. The soy lattes I order taste creamier to me than before, tofutti sour cream tastes just like regular sour cream when it's mixed in with food, and Coffee Emporium sells a to-die-for vegan pumpkin roll I could eat daily.

5. Vegan food is delicious
Luckily, going vegan has not been much of a struggle for me as far as my taste buds go. I've always liked a wide range of fruits and vegetables and I've also been blessed with a sense of adventure when it comes to food. I'll try anything once. On a recent trip to Barnes and Noble, I decided to check out some vegan-themed cookbooks and found myself salivating as a flipped through the recipes. Everything looked so amazing-- I can't wait to try them all!

 
6. I was eating way too much.
There were some days during the week, especially when I was working or very busy, that I would go for hours without eating anything at all. Sometimes it was because I was at a location were there were exactly zero vegan options, other times I was simply so busy I forgot to eat. While I do not condone starving yourself, I will say that it made me realize that I really don't need that much food to survive and thrive. Before my reboot, I was eating all the time, and often mindlessly. Not Good. Now I feel like I am more aware of my body's signals and I can determine when I'm truly full before I stuff myself silly.

7. I LOVE CHEESE. 
Forgoing cheese has been the absolute hardest part for me so far. I don't crave steaks or burgers or even eggs for breakfast. However, I DO find myself fantasizing about diving head first into a pool of queso, devouring entire blocks of cheddar, and eating a giant gooey slice of cheese pizza. Finding a substantial cheese-substitute is my next mission!

What are some things you've learned in your vegan journey? What are the biggest challenges? Do you have a favorite vegan milk or cheese substitute? Please share in the comments below! :)

Juice Fast FAIL

Let's start with a confession:

I did not complete my 10-Day juice fast.
I didn't even complete 3-Days.

It. Was. Hard.

Now, I'm not knocking the idea of juice fasting, and I'm not ruling it out for the future. However, I will say that this time around we were completely unprepared. We had never juiced anything before we started and as far as recipes go, we were totally lost. When we would go to make our juice we were really just guessing and the concoctions we came up with were less than appetizing DISGUSTING.

Perhaps it would have been a different story had the juices tasted delicious, but instead of being a filling and yummy meal to look forward to, we found ourselves dreading drinking them. Instead of choking them down we would rather skip them altogether and therefore, we ended up just starving ourselves instead of filling up on nutrient-rich drinks. Not good.

I'm not sure Kyle would be on board for giving juice fasting another shot (he was NOT a fan), but I would be open to doing it again in the future-- with more preparation.  I understand the benefits of detoxing, and I've also read a lot of stories about a Day 2-3 "hump" of feeling miserable and blah, then suddenly feeling amazing the next day.

That sounds more like it.

I will continue to experiment with juicing as a supplement to our everyday diet and hopefully come up with enough yummy recipes to make a 10-day (or longer) fast more doable.

So if we haven't been juicing, what have we been up to?

We've been eating 100% vegan since the end of our juice fast. No meat, no dairy, no eggs, and (much to my dismay) no cheese. We've been using the fruits and veggies we stocked up on for our juice fast, throwing in some whole grains, nuts, and beans, and whipping up some delicious vegan meals.

Today marks Day 5 of our Full-Time Vegan Detox System Restart Extravaganza. A full report on how things are going is in the works, so check back soon to get the scoop!

The Juice Experiment

Today was the official start of my new adventure in juicing.

The closest I've ever come to fresh, all-natural fruit and vegetable juice has been Simply Orange OJ and V8. Growing up, my family never had a juicer and in my mind, juice came in the form of a juice box or Capri Sun pouch. OJ didn't come from squeezing oranges, it came in from a "from concentrate" can in the frozen foods section. And don't even get me started with juicing vegetables ("Do people really drink carrot juice?!")

I decided I wanted to give juicing, and more specifically juice-fasting, a try after seeing "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", a documentary following the 60-day juice fast of Aussie, Joe Cross. The results were remarkable-- he lost tons of weight, lowered his blood pressure and cholesterol levels, had loads of energy, and had no more need for his medications for a skin condition. Yes please, I'll have some of that.

He made it look so easy! The juice tasted delicious and he always had some handy. Hell, he even blended up some healthy drinks right in the back of his car! He was loving life and spreading the word. How hard could it be?

We borrowed a juicer from a family friend and decided to get started! According to the Reboot Your Life website you're supposed to start changing your eating habits a week prior to your fast. Umm, no. For us it was more of a "Last Hurrah!" mentality so the past week has been filled with whole milk coffee drinks, chili-topped cheeseburgers, and McDonald's breakfast sandwiches (poor decision). Last night was met with zero energy and a pounding headache.

Needless to say, I was SO ready to begin my detox.

I woke up this morning bright eyed and busy tailed and ready to go:

(ha.)

We already had enough fruits and veggies to prepare our morning drink so we went with the "Mean Green" recipe from the movie. 

It consists of the following (we doubled it for the two of us):

• 1 Bulk of kale
• 4 Stalks of celery
• 1 Cucumber
• 2 granny smith apples
• ½ lemon
• Ginger root

So... how did it go?

Well, let's just say I'm surprised Kyle didn't throw up.

After downing our beverages and waiting a while to make sure we didn't have an adverse reaction that needed emergency bathroom time (if you catch my drift), we took a trip to Sam's Club to stock up on produce. We bought all kinds of goodies including apples, pears, spinach, romaine hearts, oranges, watermelon, carrots, and zucchini.We're ready to go!

What did we learn so far?

• The Mean Green is pretty disgusting, in our opinion. I think we added too much ginger or perhaps too much kale, but whatever the problem it didn't go over well with us.
• The fewer ingredients the better. I think my favorite so far has been a simple apple and carrot juice.
• Whoever said they're not hungry during their fast is a big, fat, liar. We. Are. Starving. For me the toughest times are when I would normally just be mindlessly munching on snacks in front of the TV. So I suppose it's a good thing that I'm not doing that.
• The recipes we found make WAY more juice than we ever imagined. Our cups aren't big enough to hold them.
• Juice fasting is not for everyone. It's much harder than the movie portrays. I'm not going to say it won't be worth it, but I'm also not going to make any promises on lasting 10-days. We'll take it day by day...

So that's the start of my juicing experiment. Have you ever done any fasting? What did you think? What was the hardest part for you? I'd love to hear about your experience so leave me a little love in the comments below!

Meat is Delicious.

A strange title for the first post of a so-called vegan blog, huh?

But it's true and I'll say it again: 
Meat is delicious.

A juicy steak done just right. A cheeseburger topped with all the fixin's. Barbecue chicken cooked on the grill. Pepperoni Pizza. Turkey Clubs. And bacon..... Oh sweet Jesus, the bacon!

I was raised just like most American children are these days. We'd get the meat-toppers pizza on a Friday night and the Fourth of July meant burgers and hot dogs. Lunches would consist of a packed ham and cheese sandwich with a crock pot full of pork chops waiting for dinner when I got home. A meal was not complete unless there was some kind of meat at its center.

So with a history like this and what appears to be a love of all things meaty, why did I start a blog called "Experimental Vegan"?

One word: Health.

When I was in college I started paying more attention to the food I was putting in my body. Forced to cook my own food for the first time in 18 years, the whole process of putting together a meal suddenly became very interesting to me. Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals show was very popular at that time and watching her whip up delicious, and often healthy(ish) meals inspired me to try all sorts of new foods. Cooking became Art. 

Around that time I also taught myself to run via the Couch to 5K program. I fell in love with running and ended up losing about 25 pounds during the summer between Freshman and Sophomore year.  I felt beyond great.

I kept up with things for a while but after graduation I got a full-time office job and things started to slip. Fast food and take-out became easier after a long day of work and going out with friends took priority over running.

Life happens. 

When Kyle and I first met in March of 2010, I was right smack dab in the middle of a healthy routine. I lived at them gym, obsessively counted calories, and was on the ball! I was also still in school for Massage Therapy at the time so every Monday and Wednesday I got to sit in my Anatomy class and soak up some great holistic health information from my teacher (who also happened to be a nutritionist).

As Kyle and I got further into our relationship, we got "comfortable" (i.e. lazy) and I stopped thinking about how many calories a meal had or how it would make me feel after eating it. We were in love and nothing else mattered. Fast forward a year and a half and while we're still very much in love, the laziness has caught up with us and we're feeling it-- in our poor sleep patterns, our frequent headaches, our overall lack of energy... It's time to do something.

So what do we do?

Over the past few months we have been exploring the "documentary" section of our streaming Netflix account and have found some great films that have had an impact on us: Super Size Me, Food, Inc., Forks Over Knives, Dying to Have Known, and Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. All of these movies show an eye-opening look at our relationship with food as a culture, the politics of the food industry, and the impact processed foods and factory farm products have on our health. Unlike some extremist groups they do not use over-the-top shocking images nor a fear-based approach, but rather show real people undergoing real life changes, along with scientific research and statistics.

All of that evidence seems to prove the same basic idea:

A plant-based diet is the best approach to preventing diseases and staying healthy.

And so, I'm ready to become what I call an "Experimental Vegan"

As an Experimental Vegan I intend to:

• Explore a whole new world of fruits, veggies, grains, beans, and even-- dare I say-- seaweed.
• Taste-test the myriad of meat-alternatives out there.
• Document my ups and downs during this learning process.
• Record the effect the plant-based diet has on my health and my appearance.
• Write as honestly as I can about thoughts and opinions of the foods I try and the vegan lifestyle I will embrace.
• Share with you the reaction I get from friends and family about this new way of eating.
• Embrace the fact that I am not perfect.

On a final note, I want to emphasize the fact that my expectations and goals are not to become a 100% All-Or-Nothing Vegan. It is not my intention to never eat an egg, bite of meat, or piece of cheese ever again for the rest of my life. It is my intention to experiment with the vegan lifestyle, eat clean as much as possible, add vegan foods/recipes to my everyday diet, and overall, to just see what happens. To some die hard veganites out there, that may not be good enough. Or maybe it seems like a cop-out. But for me, it is more of a "baby steps" approach to a potential full-time lifestyle in the future. I am testing the waters so to speak.

I am excited for the journey.