Prior to being a full time vegetarian, I gave up meat for lent two years in a row, eventually vegetarianism just stuck! Although I am not Catholic I like the idea of sacrificing something for lent. As I am already a vegetarian, this year I opted to go vegan for the 47 days of lent, little did I know how much more of a sacrifice that would be!
Before starting this adventure, I toured around a vegan friendly grocery store in search of vegan options for the things I was already using, like coffee creamer. I am a lover of cheese! I attempted to try some vegan cheese... guys it was not good, the texture was really off! In fact I gave the cheese to a friend to attempt to feed to her 3 year old niece, I wish I had a fun story about how that went, however Grandma intercepted when she saw it in her fridge and threw it out! I know I should have taken the vegan cheese label off! I have been told nut cheeses are much better and would be open to trying one! I did purchase some raw vegan protein powder, as I am a runner and wanted to double check my protein intake, although I probably didn't need it, it was delicious!
Life obviously can not stop due to my food choices, Google was my go to friend for this 47 days! Its amazing to me how many animal products are in foods it has no business being in. I attended a birthday dinner and luckily was able to order a salad with no cheese or croutons with vinaigrette, while everyone laughed including myself! I have since been told I could order a bowl of lettuce and ask them to put all the veggies they have in it! I am a wine drinker, thank you Grandma and Grandpa for teaching me to drink a glass of red wine for your health! Most wines are NOT vegan! I am just as shocked as you! A lot of wines contain casein, an animal derived protein, however it is not the good kind of protein. Too much animal protein such as casein is linked to many types of cancer, breast cancer being the most common. The good news for wine drinkers, there IS such thing of vegan wine and they are delicious! I even found a company in California that sells organic vegan wine and it IS amazing, they have several options! Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.organicwinelounge.com/
I have always been told when you go vegan you have more energy. I think it takes longer than 47 days for that to kick in. I was tired at first, I felt depleted, that said, I am certain it was just due to my body detoxing any animal proteins left in my body. Had I pushed though the 47 days I would have been more energetic!
Over all it was a wonderful experience, and I intend on doing it again next year! Meat eaters can participate in what's called Meatless Mondays, which is a concept where they give up meat one day a week for a plethora of reasons. Everyday is meatless for me, I have incorporated one day a week where I go vegan! I love that this experience has opened my eyes to new things! Who knows vegetarianism started this way for me, perhaps one day I will be standing in front of you a vegan!
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