21 Day Vegan Kickstart, Done!

I can't beleive it, but the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart is done! I actually did it! In honour of reaching my goal, I'm going to share 21 things that I learned over the last 22 days.

1. "Going" vegan was not as hard as I expected.
2. I don't miss meat.
3. I'm learning how to cook more things like quinoa.
4. You can get a salad at Wendy's without chicken and save $2.00 on your meal (note to self, remember to ask for it without cheese too).
5. It's possible to find vegan chocolate.
6. I don't hate dark chocolate as much as I thought I did.
7. Reading labels is my newest habit. Good thing I love to read!
8. I like to cook from scratch. I forgot how much!
9. It's not as much of a hassle to follow a vegan diet as I thought it might be.
10. A lot of junk food is vegan, but that doesn't mean it's a healthy food option!
11. I don't crave sugar like I used to.
12. I'm surprised by how much I like following a vegan diet.
13. The thought of eating an animal now makes me sad.
14. I'm learning more about nutrition in general.
15. I still need to find a store which sells some of the more specialized food products.
16. The bulk food store is my new favourite store.
17. I still don't like green onions or white onions, or well, onions.
18. It's easier to say "no" to foods that people try to foist off on you when you know you can't/don't eat it any more.
19. I feel good about eating this way.
20. I feel like I'm finally making headway on being healthier.
21. I'm going to stick with this way of eating. I found the Kickstart was a great way to move into a vegan eating style. It was helpful to have the recipes and motivational messages every day. I may not have read them all, but I know where to find the information if I need it.

Vegan 21 Day Kickstart Update (days 2-4)

Please don't think that because I haven't posted that I'm no longer doing the Kicstart. I am, but life has been hectic with the girls going to school (Angel started kindergarten today!) and my work shift changing from nights to days. I'm very happy with the shift change and I did ask for it, but I am so tired now that after the girls are asleep, I'm pretty much down for the count. I even fell asleep on the couch after work one day while hubby was making supper!

Vegan eating is feeling pretty good. It certainly cleans out the pipes so to speak and yes, I will spare you the details on that! I'm still figuring out how to add in the four food groups (grains, fruits, vegetables and beans), but it has been pretty good so far. I haven't been following the recipes given in the Kickstart too much lately because I've been eating leftovers and reworking them.

My oldest daughter is curious about the whole vegan thing, so I've been answering her questions about what vegans do and don't eat. I am unsure of honey though. I've seen some vegan sites list it as vegan and others not.

I noticed that I need to pay more attention to getting things out of the fridge. This morning I got my cereal and berries already and without thinking about it, grabbed the regular milk and poured it on. By the time I had realized it, it was already done. Then I used margarine on my vegan bread (which my wonderful hubby made in the breadmachine for me!). After I had spread the margarine, I noticed that in my Soy margarine, one of the ingredients listed is milk solids. Add margarine to the shopping list!

So it's going OK right now. I'm enjoying trying new foods and even cooking more. I just hope that I start to feel that increase of energy that I've read about, because I sure could use it!

Still Researching Going Vegan

I finally made it to the library this week and was able to borrow a few books on Vegan eating. The ones that I really wanted were not in stock, but I found one that I liked: This Crazy Vegan Life: A Prescription for an Endangered Species. I haven't gotten very far into the book yet, but what I have read so far has made so much sense. It's helping me to change the way I think about food in general.

I've also been looking for health food stores where I live. Surprisingly, for a city of this size, I'm not having a lot of luck. I'll keep looking though. Hopefully I'll find somewhere nearby so I can start buying more healthy foods. I'm not without hope that eating better foods will also help my daughter who has special needs, but we shall see.

Made my first foray into vegan baking tonight. I found a recipe online for vegan banana muffins, but I'm not sure how vegan they are as they have sugar in them and regular flour--although I substituted for whole wheat flour and instead of the optional nuts I added chocolate chips (definitely NOT vegan), because the little one really wanted chocolate muffins, and since they are for her snacks at day camp, I figured I'd let her have her way this time. They turned out pretty well. It did feel odd making muffins without milk or eggs! In my husband's words, they "didn't taste too bad". In other words, he's not ready to dive into eating the vegan way just yet. Anyway, that's what's been going on here.