Vegan (ish) - an update

Today is the last day of my (half-assed) veganism. I have survived. And I’m happy to say, except for one dinner out that involved a pasta sauce which might have contained some cream, I did not cheat. And that aforementioned pasta dish was the closest to vegan I could get. Though it was not as hard as I thought it might have been it was also not that rewarding. Maybe I was being unrealistic, expecting to feel totally different after 14 days of no seafood and dairy, maybe I should have given it more time.

Though I did not cheat I don’t think a vegan diet is something I could maintain full-time. I like food too much. A pescetarian diet works well for me and I think allows me to eat a pretty healthy balance of vegetarian meals, with seafood on occasion. And also never feel like I’m missing out on anything I want to eat or limiting where I am able to eat.

In addition, despite trying other types of veggie cheese I can say that stuff is not for me. I have found some improvements but when I crave a grilled cheese sandwich, soy cheese just doesn’t do it for me.

Vegan (ish)

Starting today I’m vegan (the whole lent thing is a coincidence BTW). Ok, so not exactly. I’m becoming a half-assed vegan for 14 days. I’ve been thinking about doing this for awhile now, more of an experiment than a lifestyle change. I already don’t eat meat so in effect I’m giving up seafood and dairy. I anticipate the hardest part of this will be cheese (and sushi). I love cheese, cheese is the one thing that has prevented me from becoming vegan in the past. So I embark on this cheese free lifestyle for 14 days to see if I can do it.

To prepare I made a trip to Wholefoods to stock up on vegan friendly items. I purchased coconut milk yogurt (fingers crossed it's better than soy yogurt – bah), almond milk creamer (which I have had before and know it is quite good) and soy ice-cream (also good), and last but not least soy cheese. I have gone down the soy cheese road before with less than desirable results so I’m hoping this brand has something better to offer.

It should be noted that when I say it’s half-assed it's because I’m not really excluding things that have dairy or eggs as an ingredient. Bread is a good example of this. If I can’t see the dairy or if it is not mentioned in the name of the food (cheese nips you are a no go), then I will probably not eliminate it. Clearly cheating if I were actually becoming vegan but for the purposes of my 14 day experiment that is just fine (so I don't want to hear any backtalk - I make the rules!).

I’ll be providing updates along the way!