I've successfully and happily made it halfway through Vegan February, so I thought I would check in and let you know my thoughts thus far.
So far, I feel great, am loving the "challenge" of coming up with new and delicious veggie/grain based meals, and have even lost weight (now, this is not entirely due to the vegan diet, I've also be pushing pretty hard at the gym and on the basketball court lately).
The results of trips to the grocery store have changed a little...but not too much. I was always getting fruits, vegetables, and grains...but now have swapped out cheese, yogurt, and chicken for ground flaxseed, soy milk/yogurt, and agave nectar.
Paulo gave me this book - "Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life" by Brendan Brazier, founder of Vega. Though I've only had a chance to flip through it, I've already concluded it is a fantastic gift - the first half talks about proper nutrition and exercise (perfect for the "student" and "athlete" in me) and the second half is recipes (perfect for the "cook" in me).
The back cover highlights some of the benefits of the "Thrive" lifestyle, which combines the vegan diet with exercise and nutrition (in blue below). Though I think 2wks is too short of a time to make any conclusions, I would have to agree so far.
There are a bunch of recipes for smoothies and I adapted/combined a few into a delicious breakfast!
One of the "secret ingredients" is ground flaxseed. I've always known that flaxseed was good for you, but have never really known why. "Thrive" to the rescue...it has a section on flaxseed. Apparently Omega-3 and Omega-6 are essential fatty acids that our bodies cannot produce. Omega-6 is very prevalent in nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils - thus easy to get outside of a meat based diet. However, Omega-3 is pretty rare in plants (it is very high in salmon). However, 57% of flaxseed's fat is Omega-3 and just a tablespoon gives you a proper daily dose. Omega-3 is very important to athletes because it reduces inflammation, allows the body to more efficiently burn body fat as fuel, is high in potassium which the body looses when it sweats, and contains a lot of fiber.
Will I continue this "experiment" through the rest of the month? Definitely! Will I continue longer...hmmm...probably not - I must agree with Melissa when she says "you're too much of a foodie to be a vegan for the rest of your life!." However, I am feeling really strong and healthy and not "deprived" (i.e. no cravings for dairy or meat) so I am pretty sure that my kitchen will remain primarily vegan long after February but I'll be a little less "vigilant" outside the home. Who knows - time will tell!
3 comments:
I'm curious... do you have enough data, so-to-speak, to also do a mini-comparison of grocery costs while eating a vegan diet vs. your normal? I'm interested to see how the cost of some of the specialty ingredients compares to the usual animal proteins, etc. (does that make sense?)
By the way, this is one of the more popular food (even among non-vegan) blogs around currently and it just so happens to be vegan! Thought you might be interested to check out some of her recipes. Maybe we could have a virtual cook-off then! (I just thought of that idea... no clue how it'd work)
Kara - wow - that link to the vegan blog is great. All that food looks fantastic...I will definitely be trying some out! I was just perusing it to try and find a polenta recipe b/c I have some I want to make...didn't find anything, but found lots of other fantastic ones.
And I agree, it would be interesting to figure out the "cost" of the vegan diet. Based on my last shopping trip it seems very high, but I was also "stocking up" on a lot of staples, so I should not be so quick to draw a conclusion. Will keep you posted!
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