Vegan Challenge, Day 0
I've been a vegetarian a couple times in my life, the longest lasting a little over a year. It's hard work, since the American way of life doesn't lend itself well to a single guy being able to prepare his own meals all the time.
After reading Richard Blais' 21-day experiment in veganism (yes, his was inspired by Oprah's earlier this year), I thought I might give it a whirl. Here's some information about what "veganism" is.
Since quitting smoking and starting cycling a few weeks ago, I think the net effect of both is slightly towards the negative -- in that yes, I am losing some weight but at a really slow pace. Maybe if I learned how to think outside the "bachelor box," which is actually very often out of a literal box, I would do better at losing weight. Most people lose some weight in the initial stages of veganism, so hopefully this will kickstart some weight loss and encourage me to stay eating well.
I don't intend to stay vegan, perhaps a "flexitarian" approach for me is ideal. I am not a PETA fanatic. I'm just a bachelor guy in his late 20's looking to eat a little bit healthier and maybe take a small stand against the American way of eating. We just eat too much damn meat! Over 10 billion animals are killed in the United States, and the damage we do to our environment, our animals, and our bodies in the process is just unacceptable.
So off we go.
I started off picking up some basic ingredients from my local farmer's market. I usually shop here anyway, just avoided the meats this time! I love farmer's markets. Usually the only white guy in there, but the produce is just amazing. Dozens of kinds of mangos, fruits that look like they're from outer space, many types of zucchini -- and it's all cheap. In the coming weeks I'll try to document what I'm eating and what it's like going without animal products.
Incidentally, my first experience so far was with 2 things. I had a Kashi meal for dinner -- the Tuscan Bake (lasagna w/ vegetables, no cheese), and it was decent for microwave meal. The second was with Rice Dream milk. It was good! I actually love the stuff now. I see myself sticking to rice milk even after the vegan experiment.
More to come later!