30 Days to Vegan.

I just realized, I’ve been Vegan for 10 years….Like, for real…how did 10 years just happen?!

As I have figured out…through math…it was January 1 of 2012. Nowadays, I don’t really do anything significant on January 1, but for whatever reason, I was into it that year

At the time, I was a stay at home mom to an almost 5 year old, and a 2 1/2 year old.

Everything had changed after I had my children. Yes, in all the ‘no more sleeping in, no cursing, go to bed at 9 pm kind of ways, but I also started to feel a bit panicky about my health.

Now, I needed to be healthy. I had kids relying on me! All of a sudden being healthy, not just skinny, was the priority.

I started running to build up my cardiovascular health (what if I had to run somewhere to rescue my child?!) and started juicing at home. I made an effort to move towards whole foods, and dabbled with vegan recipes, but I wasn’t committed to any long-term changes. I was already vegetarian and I thought going vegan would just be torture.

It wasn’t until my friend casually asked me in December if I wanted to go Vegan with her in January…just for 30 days.

Here was a chance to try being Vegan without having to really commit. A test-drive with no promises to buy! 

But I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen.

‘I am going to crave cheese and eggs the whole time, and then have some crazy binge when the month is over!’

But…I was game.

On January 1st of 2012, I started my vegan experiment. It was actually kind of fun!

I’m a girl who likes a challenge, and it was the ultimate game! Looking at labels to find the bread that was vegan. Figuring out what to use instead of butter. Trying all the non-dairy milks to find my favorite. It was like a whole new world of food opened up to me!

By the end of the month, I didn’t feel the need to stop. In fact, I felt encouraged to continue. I began weeding out the ‘good’ vegan products from the ‘gross’, and then realized I was still eating a lot of processed foods.

I also pondered another dilemma. As a stay at home mom, I prepared 2-3 meals on a daily basis for my family, who were not vegan. Could I still make meals everyone was happy to eat if they were vegan dishes?

So I went to a health supportive cooking school, and got some education..

Months after ‘the experiment’ was over, I found that I still wasn’t missing out on the old stuff I used to love.

The friend who got me to go vegan….she still eats meat.

The point is, if your interested, try it out. Go vegan (whole foods not junky vegan) for a month,  a week, or even 1 day a week. 

You will be eating more whole grains and plants and chances are you may not even want to return to your old ways.

At least not entirely.

What have you got to lose? Except for some bad habits.

Needs some ideas? Come check out some of my recipes with something for every meal of the day, including desserts like black bean brownies and one of my favorite lunches, chicpea ‘tuna’ salad!