Going Vegan

If you know me, you know that I have always disapproved of a restrictive diet of ANY kind. I've seen many people trying to lose weight by going on so many different fad diets and when people asked me how I lost weight, I always said "eat healthier and move more." I also always let myself eat whatever I wanted in moderation. While I was more strict about what foods I was eating, I was still enjoying foods that I loved. Yes, I still drank wine. Yes, I still ate ice cream. Yes, I still ate buffalo chicken dip and other garbage snacks. I have always felt that completely depriving yourself of things that you like to eat just sends you backwards eventually. So maybe you tried the Atkins diet, but then you had been so starved of carbs that you started eating loaves of bread every day. See where I'm going with this? By the way, carbs are good! I am a fan of a mindset of everything in moderation. That being said, I'm going vegan (eye roll) for the next 3 months.

Let me first start out by blaming my husband because this is entirely his fault. This was something he wanted to do after spending time with Harvey Lewis on the Appalachian Trail. Harvey is a supreme athlete, a freakishly talented endurance athlete in fact, and he happens to be vegan. He swears by a vegan diet. Other vegans we have known have sworn to us that miracles will happen if we go vegan. We have heard about having more energy, having a healthier digestive system, and on and on and on. My husband will say he did not force me to do this and he definitely did not, but please read previous blog posts about him driving me to every race, making signs, dealing with me choosing pizza before long runs on Fridays without him having any say, going home early on Friday nights because I have to go to bed for long runs, ignoring the bank account when funds have been depleted by race fees and running shoes.... and the list goes on. I really wanted to do this to support him and something he wanted to do. Also because I really do like a challenge and this intrigues me because of the mental hardship and self control. Therefore please know this is not a "diet" for me as much as a social experiment. I am not trying to lose weight. If I'm not trying to lose weight, what more might I be trying to get out of this other than supporting my husband and winning a "vegan trophy?"

1. I hope to become more comfortable with plant based eating. I tried to make several meals that were considered vegetarian throughout the week. I think our society has begun to incorporate meat into every meal and snack, which I don't necessarily think is healthy. I would like to eat more plant based meals in my regular life after the vegan project is over.
2. I am interested to see if this improves my athletic performance at all. I am currently skeptical, but with 2 half marathons coming up in October, I'll give it a try.
3. I would like to get better with self control. I have gotten into some bad habits with eating that I'd like to get rid of. While I say everything in moderation, some things were becoming less moderate and more daily indulgences. For example, I was eating candy every day after lunch. I began thinking I had to have this candy every day after lunch. Now I can't eat this candy, and am learning other ways to cure my sweet tooth or to avoid sweets after lunch and get back to eating them more as a treat.

We started on Monday and so far I haven't noticed much of a difference. I had a great run Tuesday and while TJ wanted to claim it was from my new diet, I highly doubt it. I don't really know where this journey will lead, but know that for my whole life, I will still find vegan cheese offensive to cheese culture.  BTW so far I miss my morning egg more than any kind of meat!!!

Some cookbooks we have found helpful:

TJ plans on vlogging our experience as a sort of short documentary series. If he ever ends up editing all the footage he has shot, I'll share a link. Meanwhile, you can hate me for doing this vegan thing. I completely understand.