30 Days of Vegan - Wrap Up

Sorry this is a little late, I had a few days off of school and used them to clean the house and organize myself for the rest of the semester. After doing 30 days of Vegan, my verdict is that 30 days is not long enough to see a real difference in our bodies. My weight didn't decrease, nor did my overall measurements, but being less bloated after meals made me look and feel thinner and made my clothes fit better too. Also my total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides we lower by about 10 points all around. So although it wasn't the life changing experience that I was hoping for, it still made us feel good about what we were eating. So our plan for now is to eat "vegan-ish", where we'll cook mostly vegan at home with the occasional addition of good quality cheese, but if we have dinner with family or friends we don't mind eating a little meat on those occasions as it is easier for the person cooking, helps satisfy cravings, but still keeps our meat intake to a minimum, and supplements our vitamin B12 intake. Things may change in the future. I am definitely still drawn to a "whole food" diet, including organic milk and cheese, farm fresh eggs, grass feed-pastured beef and pork and wild caught fish.

P.S. That last week of 30 days had me craving a bacon cheeseburger like nobody's business. I'm sure people would like to think that it was my body's way of telling me it needed protein, but I know it was all in my head. My iron levels were spot on following the 30 days so it's true that a varied diet with plant sources of protein and iron are enough to keep a person nourished and healthy.

30 Days of Vegan - What I Ate - Week IV

Monday:

Breakfast: Granola with almond milk and earl gray tea with sugar

Snack: Pita chips and hummus

Lunch: Veggie burgers

Dinner: Stir fry with soba noodles and tofu

Sweet Treat: 3 Oreos with almond milk

Tuesday: 

Breakfast: Granola with almond milk and earl gray tea with sugar

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with peppers, onions and tomatoes
Dinner: Baked vegetable egg rolls 

Wednesday
Breakfast: Toast with honey
Snack: Popcorn, pita chips and hummus
Dinner: Whole wheat Naan with Punjab eggplant and Pav Bhaji
Sweet Treat: Two vegan peanut butter cookies

Thursday
Breakfast: Toast with honey
Snack: Tortilla chips with chili
Lunch: Lentil soup
Dinner: Pizza with garlic sauce, caramelized onions, butternut squash and apples
Sweet Treat: Two vegan peanut butter cookies

So, wondering what happened to the rest of the week? Well, although we set out to do 30 days of vegan, my birthday happened to fall on the 27th day. So, I decided that ending our vegan challenge at a nice even 25 days would allow me to indulge on my birthday guilt free. What did I indulge in? Well I didn't go out and eat a bacon double cheeseburger (even though I wanted to, and still might), instead we attended a beer and chocolate tasting with lots of chocolate (more on that soon).

I'll be back soon with another post to wrap up these 30(25) Days of Vegan. Including how we felt, if we lost any weight and how we're planning on eating from now on. Stay tuned.