22 Day Food Challenge!

Who remembers all the hubub around the holidays, when Jay-Z announced he and Beyonce would be going vegan for 22 days? The reasoning behind the number of days was because experts say it takes 21 days to break a habit. Apparently Queen B has been at it again, as I heard on the radio a few weeks ago. This led me to think about the idea of a vegan diet and if it was something I could do for 22 days. While I have my own set of thoughts relating to the consumption of animal products, I would not consider myself one to go vegan for ethical reasons. I'm merely intrigued by the idea of cutting out a large number of foods, and the effect it can have on your overall health. Alright: challenge accepted.

But then I thought about the technicalities of this temporary lifestyle. No animal products means no dairy, eggs, or honey* for goodness sakes. That means no chocolate. No sliver of butter with my sweet potatoes. No whey protein in my morning smoothie. Eating out would be a nightmare. I'd have to be that person that is asking a million questions about how something was prepared. And first and foremost, I started getting nervous that eating vegan would just be a path to carb overload.

I've therefore decided that I'll be embarking on a modified vegan/vegetarian/pescetarian lifestyle for the rest of the month. Basically, I will cut out all meat and also abstain from fish, dairy, eggs etc. as much as possible. I'd like to try and make at least 3 days each week completely vegan. I'm going to blog about my experiences, which of course means giving you new recipe ideas! 

 

Photo Credit 

Today is day one and so far, so good. I made an avocado and cacao smoothie for breakfast, had a mid-morning snack of an apple and a few almonds, and brought some beet soup along with celery and rice crackers for lunch. Dinner is going to be my new favorite meal, buckwheat soba noodles and tofu (my mouth just watered in anticipation of this dish. SO good). And all of my recipes today are thanks to this fantastic cookbook.

Have you ever eliminated particular foods from your diet? What was the result?

(*I totally get that vegan means no animal products and this isn't just limited to animal flesh. However, I have an argument against this one. First of all, I buy honey from the farmer's market; these bees were not put in any form of distress to acquire the honey. Secondly-I hate bees. They are the worst.)