Day Fifteen: 10 Pounds

I didn't start this intending for it to be a diet. But after 15 days of being vegan (well 14 since I had pokey sticks and pizza last Sunday) I have lost somewhere around 10 pounds. 

I put hummus in tortilla shells and rolled them up and microwaved them. Then a bit of salsa and a delicious snack/meal.

Days Ten - Fourteen: Pokey Sticks

Day Ten: Went to a Thai restaurant for lunch after my interview.  Got some tofu ginger meal. Delicious, and super vegan. However the waitress talked me into trying Thai iced tea, which I later realized had cream in it.  The rest of the day involved driving through terrible I 94 and I 57 traffic, recording a Christmas CD with the choir, and watching my roommates perform "Bad Romance" at a talent show. Crazy impressive btw, they learned how to play/sing everything by ear.

Day Eleven: After midnight the roommates got pizza, I couldn't help it. It was technically Sunday so I thought I'd have a couple slices of cheese pizza. It was pretty good, but extremely greasy.

Day Twelve: Waking up with heartburn from the cheese-nasty pizza, I decided to eat brunch vegan and not deal with dairy again.  This is the second Sunday of the Vegan40, the first Sunday I remained vegan completely.  But later this Sunday we wanted to get Pokey Stix (Cheesey breadsticks made from pizza dough). We ordered too much for four people but finished it all anway.  Talk about stomach-ache, heartburn, and other related activities.... It was a refreshing reminder to NOT eat cheesey grease stuff.  Which also means that my body has adjusted to the vegan diet. This might be an experience to adjust my diet more long term because it is a vivid (and physical) reminder of how terrible processed foods can be.

Day Thirteen: Recovered from the Sunday cheese binge.  The cafeteria I eat at got a new flat bread wrap, its delicious with my hummus and veggies. I also added sprouts in the mix this time with a drizzle of vegetable oil and dash of salt. Then I warmed it on the panini grill.

Day Fourteen: The parents of a roommate were in town today. I hadn't seem them in over a year. His mom told me I look like I've lost weight in my face.  I have no idea if there is any truth to that at all, but always fun to hear. Well sorta, I guess that means she thought I was fat last time I saw her. lol. Today was boring, more hummus and vegetables. I did wake up in time for breakfast of cheerios and almond milk though. But I did try panini grilling a jelly sandwhich. It tasted like a crepe dessert or something, sweet fruit filling and crispy bread.

That catches up for the past few days.  I still haven't gotten to a scale. I don't feel like I've lost weight though. Since raspberry iced tea and potato chips are vegan.

Day Nine: Jewish Ice Cream

FMT: 7 layer burrito from Taco Bell, $1.99.  Actually 5 layer b/c I didnt get cheese or sour cream.

I'm currently in a nice Hilton Garden Inn in Evanston, IL (North side of Chicago). I have an interview tomorrow with a consulting firm. So I drove up and gave rides to two engineers who are also interviewing (I didn't know them prior). We stopped at Taco Bell, which is when I realized that we had a Catholic Vegan and a Jew (doesn't mix meat with dairy) trying to order at a Taco Bell. Hilarious.

Then later when we were at the hotel, he invited me over to his room. His parents had come to visit (they only live 15 minutes away from our hotel) because his birthday is next week. They offered me gluten-free cake with ice cream on top like frosting. I know its rude to say no to food being offered and I didn't want to make a stink, and I didn't want to start explaining why I spend 40 days not eating, so I took the cake. The gluten-free part was terrible, the ice-cream was delicious.  I tried really hard not to enjoy it. It doesn't count as messing up, lenten promises can be broken in order to not be rude in this exact situation.

Ok, bed time.

Day Eight: Salt

FMT: Mashed Potatoes with corn and garlic powder

DVF: Carrots are not a "fun" snack during class :(

I had a sandwich with hummus, cucumber, and peppers again today. Really delicious, I think I eat that at least once a day. Seriously though, I crave SALT.  Raw foods have no salty flavor, obvi, and I really want Doritos. Actually there are probably some flavors of Doritos that are vegan, I just don't have them.  I could probably have pretzels, but again, I don't have any.  I didn't get to thy gym and therefore have not checked for weight loss. Will post when I do though.

Day Seven: Energy

Reminder: I write these posts after midnight generally, so don't pay attention to the date stamp. Day Seven is Tuesday the 23rd.

FMT: Toast with humus, cucumber, red pepper, spinach.

DVF: Searching for vegan facts online is obnoxious.

I would definitely have to say that my energy level is up as compared to before Ash Wednesday.  I have been sleeping very little due to an unbelievably busy schedule that I won't bore you with (but everything is going quite well school/job search wise, praise God). Yet despite getting less sleep, I feel more awake/alive during the day.  I think I've been cheerier and been drinking less coffee. My caffeine consumption is one shot espresso with the protein shakes some mornings and occasionally a black tea during the day.  For night class Wednesday, I'll probably have another cup of coffee.

Summary: Great energy level, great digestive system health, happy Pete.

I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow (if I have time to get to the gym/pool) and see if I've lost weight from Wednesday to Wednesday. Although I haven't exercised much, just daily stretching and I ran two miles last Thursday.

It's also interesting to monitor my interest in greasy foods that ARE vegan. Like potato chips, french fries, and hash-browns.  If I'm hungry, they sound really good, I love salt and those foods are most similar to the food everyone around me is eating.  When I'm not explicitly hungry, I think of them as greasy/disgusting. I'm expecting the greasy mindset to continue developing as I go.

Day Six: Nothing yet

FMT: Pasta and vegetables covered in marinara.

DVF: People think vegans don't eat.

So at dinner there is a hot tray full of a vegetable and rotini mix with a tray of marinara next to it.  They were actually pretty good together, course anything with some amount of flavor seems amazing these days.

I'm also more and more surprised by how little people know about vegans. Several people have thought that vegans can't have french fries, and still don't believe me after I explain it. Almost everyone responds with "so, what do you eat?"  As if, once I decide not to eat meat or dairy, there are no longer any food groups available.

No really exciting stories from today.   Maybe thats a good thing, six days and I'm starting to settle in.

Day Five: Monicals Pizza

FMT: Hummus, cucumber, red pepper, spinach sandwich on toasted wheat bread.

DVF: Vegan bread is less difficult to find than expected.

My dorm serves a wheat bread which does not list milk or egg on the ingredient list at all! Unless I'm majorly missing the code-name for egg, I'm pretty sure its vegan. It makes a great hummus sandwich!

I decided to come home this evening to do homework and laundry at my house, relaxed. Except I came home and my parents and brother and his wife were ordering Monicals Pizza. So I had breadsticks and marinara. Not too bad. Cheesy things are starting to look less appealing. Part of it that I just have a feeling of hate towards cheese now since I know I can't have it, but part of it is that the cheese products look greasy and lard-filled. Hummus is more fresh and delicious!

I apologize for the dates being off. I didnt have internet all weekend and I realize that the date of the post is much larger than the title of the post. Anyway, today is Sunday the 21, day five. The date and title for Sunday should agree and Friday/Saturday will be off.

Day Four: Another Salad

FMT: Vegan Riblets, Newman Hall Caf

DVF: Vegan diets are high in fiber. (no sources needed...)

Newman had vegan riblets today! They were marked vegetarian so I assumed they must have some cheese product of milkfat. I decided to ask anyway, so Germain brought me the box and I read the ingredients, vegan!!! Delicious, probably a big introduction of processed foods, but not too much weird stuff.

From past experience with not eating meat, at about two weeks I began to start disliking the idea of meat. I remember watching someone eat a chicken wing and being completely disgusted. I was able to eat a chicken wing again a couple months later, but at the time, it sounded horrible.

I am now only four days into the vegan thing, and meat is definitely out of my mind. I still get really jealous of people eating cheese though. I'm wondering if or when I will fall into the vegan mindset. Good signs are I am starting to like / crave / want things that I can have. I've never liked hummus and spinach as much as I do right now. Even granola sounds like a good idea. Carrots are really addicting as well. Not to mention nuts, but I've always eaten lots of nuts.

Day Three: Portillos

FMT: None.

DVF: Flaxseeds have NO flavor.

Breakfast and lunch were amazingly boring today. I really have nothing to write. Breakfast was fruit again and lunch was a big salad with oil and salt. I added flaxseed meal to the salad, it looks like crumbled croutons and I really couldn't taste it at all. Actually the flaxseed added minimal texture as well. For such a healthy food, it is really easy to mix-in to things.

Then 6 other SCM students and I went to Downer's Grove for a Case Competition hosted by APICS. So we stopped at Portillo's for dinner before check-in. Have you ever looked at their menu? Yeah, so I ordered a baked potato and coleslaw. The potato had no toppings and then the coleslaw turned out to have a white sauce. Really sad. Then I remembered that I can eat fries, so I got a large order of fries and called it dinner. Not too bad, but I really wanted a chicago dog. I decided that if we ate there again, I'd get a chicago dog without the dog. Then at the case competition, they served us Rosati's Pizza and the non-pizza snacks were salami and cheese. Luckily I brought hummus and crackers.

With the exception of eating more fries, I can definitely see my diet being much more healthy and having far less processed foods. I guess thats pretty much implied by veganism, but I'm starting to like it.

Breakthrough! #2

The Vegan Mocha. I just figured this out. I mixed chocolate soy protein shake powder with almond milk, poured over ice, and added a shot of espresso. I really thought this would be gross. Turns out, it was fantastic! I had a three other people try it, one a non-coffee drinker, all carnivores, and they agreed that it was delicious before they knew what it was.

So now I can get protein AND caffeine. Mornings are looking good now.

Breakthrough!

Some dark chocolate bars do not contain milk! Of course, all the chocolate bars I have in my room right now either have skim milk or milk fat or dried milk solids in them. BUT, now I know I can find some chocolates that are okay. This whole thing just got a bit easier.

Day Two: Everything has Eggs!

Favorite Meal Today (FMT): Vegan Humus Wrap from Espresso Royale coffee shop.

Daily Vegan Fact: Vegans have their own food pyramid! (Busy-Vegan.com)

This morning I walked by the hot breakfast line of scrambled eggs and bacon. It wasn't too difficult I was very excited about some peanut butter and, ooh, english muffins! Five seconds later and I realize that english muffins are probably made with eggs. So I grab an apple, and orange, and a banana and off I go. Apples actually have 3grams of protein, oranges have lots of vitamins, and bananas do to. Not a bad breakfast, especially compared to the guy next to me checking out with a pop-tart and two pieces of bacon. But I knew I needed substance for lunch.

Lunch was a hummus wrap, it got the FMT. Delicious. I think i'm going to have carrots and peanut butter now for a snack. Hopefully I find something at dinner!

I went to Strawberry Fields natural food store today. I bought a bag of flaxseed meal to sprinkle in almost anything I eat, especially cereal, salad, and salsa. It really has very little flavor and just adds a crunch. The point is to get lignans, omega-3, and other fatty-acids that are lacking in the modern diet, and especially in a vegan diet. I also got some almond milk, which is delicious, you'll read about it in breakthrough #2.

I think its too early yet to say I feel super healthy or that I feel a lack of protein. I think I feel the same that I did last week. But the challenge is definitely mentally stimulating. I think I'll start logging my weight to see if I lose some flab from all this rabbit food.

Day One: Ash Wednesday

Favorite Meal Today: Refried beans, dirty rice, corn, and salsa in a tortilla shell. Side of vegan chili.

Daily Vegan Fact: 1.4% of US Adults claim to be vegan. (Vegetarian Journal. 2006.)

Day one was not too bad. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting, so I was complaining a bit by 10pm but that's beside the point. I enjoyed my FMT. Watching everyone else pour cheese on their plate was a bit difficult, but I relished in the health benefits of my dish. Kashi Crunch bars contain dairy products, so thats out the door. Luckily, Clif Bars are vegan! I should probably by 40 Clif Bars today.

This Crazy Idea

I really am not sure why this sounds fun to me. I like a challenge I guess. I'm expecting it to challenge me mentally, physically, and spiritually. I'm trying to think of Veganism as a lifestylem more than it is just a diet. Let me clarify that I'm not making a moral or ethical stance on the eating or treatment of animals. However there is significant data showing that the typical American diet is not sustainable, we can't produce enough food to continue eating the way we do. I'll explore more sustainability and environmental liberal garb later. But the point is, I'm doing this to challenge myself and maybe later I'll make a stance on something.

So vegans don't eat or consume anything that is or comes from something that at one point in time had a face. No meat, no seafood. No dairy which means no cheese, no yogurt, no butter, and worst of all no chocolate. No animal product includes honey, and also means no Burt's Bees chapstick. I'm still going to wear my leather gloves and shoes, b/c that cow died for food, I'm making good use of the by-products.

Relax, I AM doing research on dietary needs and nutrition. I have vegan multi-vitamins and protein shakes.