Two Weeks!

I've officially been maintaining a vegan diet for two weeks!!! Yay!!! Vegan month is halfway over!

This week has been pretty much unremarkable besides eating my weight in guacamole this weekend courtesy of my new favorite restaurant, Mari Luna! I was even able to whip up some yummy vegan dishes--curried vegetables and rice (from scratch!), and carrot raisin muffins (which turned out much better than last week's apple banana bran, I'm happy to report!).  This week I'm aspiring to bake some cookies and a casserole dish that I found a recipe for in Post Punk Kitchen.  Maybe a soup as well.  I've already bookmarked a kajillion recipes in the same book to try out next week when on spring break.

Further reports and images to follow...

Days 4-7

One week in and still going strong! I am so glad I'm going through with this challenge, it's opened my eyes to a lot of issues and has increased my respect for veganism immensely. 

Day 4 presented me with a huge roadblock as a tried tofu scrambler for the first time.  At first it took a little getting used to the texture and flavor but after the addition of a little salsa it became quite tasty...until I suddenly felt intensely nauseous halfway through!  That not-so-pleasant feeling stuck with me throughout my entire work day and caused a lot of concern as I hardly ever feel sick to my stomach like that.  Not sure if it was because the particular scrambler I ate was heavily doused in nutritional yeast or if it was a bad batch of tofu... either way it turned me off of tofu scrambler for a while.  In fact, it turned me off of tofu in general for a while, making things just a little more challenging.  Later that night, I was able to nurse my stomach and spirits back to health with a delicious veggie sushi and miso soup dinner from Aloha Sushi! Yum!

Day 5 presented just a minor bump in the road as I searched for somewhere to eat dinner in Federal Hill.  Not too familiar with the neighborhood I walked blindly down Light St. focusing my attention on more ethnic-based restaurants.  I was turned away from Thai Yum as they had no idea what the word "vegan" meant.  Venturing across the street to Thai Arroy, the host escorted my date and I down the street to a new Lebanese restaurant--Byblos. The staff was more than friendly, more than accepting of my dietary choice, and boasted a menu that was about 80% vegan! I ate everything and it was good! So good.... especially the hummus!

Days 6 and 7 were the perfect end to an enlightening week.  Day 6 was pretty unremarkable, I managed to avoid tofu by enjoying french fries and a spinach veggie burger for dinner.  Day 7 brought me to The Great Sage for the first time ever to enjoy a scrumptous brunch! Still avoiding tofu, I enjoyed a Baltimore Benedict featuring an artichoke-based "crabcake" with vegan hollandaise, a chocolate-almond vegan pancake, vegan sausage, and a bite of Kiko's tofu quiche (which confirmed that yes, I should still be avoiding tofu).  Followed by a trip to Root's market, Sunday was a great day to be vegan!

Intending to cook dinner last night (for the first time all week!) my plans got squashed by life and I ended up joining some friends for dinner at Kyro pizza, planning on just getting some falafel or hummus.  Much to my delight I discovered that Kyro has a soy cheese option for all of their pizzas! I was able to enjoy a California Delight (squash, onion, and sundried tomatoes) with soy cheese and it actually tasted really really yummy!

Still happy to be a vegan, the optimism that I thought I had lost in the middle of last week has now returned! Let's see if I can maybe eat out less this week and delve into cooking some awesome recipes!

Days 2 & 3: To honey or not to honey?

It's Day 3 and I'm still full speed ahead on the vegan train! So far I've only hit one minor speed bump along the way: yesterday I somehow became insatiably hungry.  For breakfast I had a small bagel with peanut butter and a banana, followed by a second breakfast of granola and toast with chocolate-hazelnut butter an hour later, a snack of cinnamon covered almonds shortly thereafter, followed by a salad with hummus and crackers for lunch.  An hour and a half after eating lunch, I was literally counting down the minutes until I could order vegan tacos at work. For some reason the thought of eating refried beans occupied my brain all day-I couldn't shake it until I ate it! Yum yum! After the tacos I was good...the consensus around town was that my protein intake was lacking-eek.

Since my introduction to veganism started, one question I have yet to find a clear answer on is whether honey is acceptable in a vegan diet.  When I first stashed away my non-vegan pantry items the honey went with along with all products containing honey (including my favorite granola bars) and I also went through great lengths to find bread that was free of this lucious nectar.  It seems obvious that a diet consisting of no animal products would not include honey as it is produced by bees.  However, bees are going to produce honey whether we eat it or not.  Flowers and plants rely on pollenation to grow and reproduce.  Plus, so far I have yet to hear about bees being exploited or mistreated for their honey.  As long as a natural process is occuring, why not enjoy the benefits?

In the midst of moral dilemmas such as this I ask myself what any upright citizen would ask: WWPD? aka What Would Pooh Do? In this case, I think the answer is quite obvious...

Day 1

Inspired by a deep respect for a lifestyle that I had previously perceived as being unattainable to me and incredibly supportive friends and fellow 30-day challengers, I decided to take on the 30-day challenge of being vegan for thirty days.  I've had the intention since the start of the year but needed two months or so to get acclimated to the idea, more so the idea of not eating cheese.

Some pertinent background information about me: I love cheese.  Meat I could take or leave-I was a vegetarian for about 5 years at the end of high school and through college.  As a vegetarian, I wasn't very educated about what I ate and basically survived on eggs, cheese, granola, and salad.  Not very healthy, right? The inevitable happened and I was pretty sick for a while, eventually turning to meat for the necessary nourishment my body was lacking in.  I got better and have since maintained a primarily vegetarian diet since with the occasional burger or turkey sandwich making a guest appearance.  However, the main feature of my diet has always been cheese.  I eat it everyday, all the time.  By the slice, as a brick, string cheese, on a sandwich, on nachos, quesadillas, burritos, on crackers, eggs, etc. etc.  I love cheese.

Anyway, I am very much aware that there is a whole world of food that can be consumed without cheese and I'm about to discover it! Inspired by receiving two cookbooks from a vegan friend to help me on my journey, I started my 30-day challenge a day ahead schedule, and boy I am pumped! 

Today saw me discard perishable dairy items from my refrigerator (cheese and cream cheese) and pack up non-vegan pantry items to consume at a later date (or donate to a local food bank if I exceed 30 days).  These items only accounted for half of a grocery bag's worth of space so I'm not really all that nervous about abrupt changes.  Went to Whole Food's Market to purchase some staples and ingredients for 4 recipes I hope to make this week.

So far the only speedbump I hit today was when I realized that my 1-a-day vitamins contained various fish.  Weird.  At the Whole Food's I was able to consult with an incredibly nice and knowledgeable employee who suggested some great multi-vitamins and also encouraged me to start on a B-complex regimen as well.  I love random encouragement from strangers!

I sense that today will continue to go well; so far I've had some granola with soy milk and O.J. for breakfast and a hummus sandwich and banana for lunch.  Going to score a substantial meatless meatball pasta for dinner tonight at One World.  Go veg!