Because everyone loves a before and after stat:

Weight before: 7st 12lbs/50kg          Weight after: 7st10lbs/49kg

Stats before: 33” chest, 25” waist, 33” hip                  Stats after: 33”, 24”, 33”

Day 1:

Like with any change, day 1 is either the easiest or the hardest. You are either in a super ambitious mood and can’t wait to take on your new adventure, or you feel miserable as sin because you already miss things you can’t have.

For me, I felt rather in-between those states. Bar the fact that I’ve had a stupid chest infection which has played its role in my mood this week, I did feel excited to liberate myself in this new way of living, but I was also a bit anxious about what it may bring in that change; mostly, I feared the potential of being hungry. I am thankful to say that thanks to some good organisation and prep though, hunger never struck! So, that was good.

However, as simple as it was to sort out the meals, I tended to forget that Veganism included other substances that weren’t food related…check out my post from day 1 above.

Day 2:

I was only 48 hours in, and was positive in thinking that I’d significantly polluted the atmosphere. If anything should happen that causes the world to take a nosedive, then I would suspect that I’m partially to blame. This radical change hit my stomach hard; I felt like a teenage boy who’d been drinking cola in his room all day just immersing himself in his own gas – it was awful! To see the inserted vlog, click here

On the plus side, my food was very pretty and colourful.

Day 3:

On the downside, I ate falafels for 4 days running…I don’t think I ever want to see a fried chickpea ball again for as long as I live.

Day 4:

I bet most vegans think that their new lifestyle will mean that they get to explore radical new fruit snacks, like pomegranate and acai nestled by crunchy pecans, or a tropical myriad of coconut, pineapple and papaya all beautifully towered together in a sticky veil of agave syrup.

The truth though? Bananas. Bananas are your new best friend. What with work, energy levels sapping and ease of putting things together taking most of my food focus, I went for the easy option. That included in my tea.

It wasn’t so bad, except for the fact that we’d accidently ordered 5 bunches, instead of 5 individual bananas. So I utilised them and made a banana granola too. Thank f*&$ I can bake!

Day 5:

Surprisingly, by this point, it wasn’t meat that I missed!

Day 6:

To be fair, this was a pretty nice meal. T’was a carrot, coriander and quinoa bake with a mint pea center, some split pea curried rice and salad with mayo-maize, a vegan alternative to mayonnaise. Find the bakes from the Gosh! site here . They’re great!

Day 7:

So today I haven’t really eaten much. I finished off the banana granola with some chewy banana pieces (surprise, surprise!) cashews, almonds and soya milk. Lunch was rather rushed and ended up being some Amy’s Kitchen Italian Rustic Veg soup, with a snack of grapes, more nuts, soya yogurt, banana chips (Jeeze, I rolled out the red carpet for that yellow fruit) and a dusting of cinnamon.

Aren’t leftovers just the best? Saying that, the roasted veg with the Mexican herbs and spices was bloody good. But I’m pretty done in with caramelised onion houmous and food that only consists of a mushy texture.

Aside from chickpeas, bananas and gas, what’s the message?

Okay, so…As much as I have moaned about gas (which did improve a lot, but as of yet, still won’t go entirely back to normal) and have had a couple of accidental slip ups (namely caramel brownie tea, which I forgot was made with dairy) It’s been pretty okay! I’ve enjoyed the food when it’s not been repeated and because of this experience, I have made a new decision from it…

I’m happy to say that I will be incorporating this lifestyle into my world. I’m not saying I’ll be fully vegan, I won’t lie, I miss eggs and salmon and honey (I’m sorry!). Buuuut, I’ve felt pretty good on this food. I’ve had a lot of energy, my mood’s been fairly decent (except for day 1, which I won’t count) and unwanted flab on my body is starting to shift! I’m not exactly heavy, but I’ve lost weight purely from an area that needed some attention, so I’m pretty happy about that!

So today, I bought myself more tofu-based bits for my work lunches (cos they really do beat a manky sandwich) and will continue to have more vegan/vegetarian meals in my days. I may not be a complete convert, but this lifestyle has certainly opened my eyes and broadened my culinary horizons, so I’m really looking forward to keeping it up!

But…?

However, no one is taking my caramel brownie tea away from me – nobody.

Anything else?

So, If anyone is digging for filling vegan recipe ideas, sweet or savoury, then I have at least a week’s worth for you to try, should you want to give this lifestyle a whirl too 🙂 Even if you don’t reckon you’ll change everything, then at least give it a go for your taste buds sake, because there really is more to life than a ham sandwich!