Still Mostly Vegan

Over a month since Lent ended I am still faithfully "Vegan Leaning".

Monday through Friday I am hanging tight to my vegan diet, and on the weekends I stray a bit.  Mainly fish on Sunday, but I have been tempted by lasagna, pancakes, pasta sauces, bacon, pork loin, and cake... mmmm cake.

I will admit that when I stray too much my body rebels.  I have taken to the mostly plant based diet and feel fantastic.  The thought of going back to my old diet (which was somewhat healthy by regular standards) is not appealing.

Now since the end of Lent I am more prone to sneak a bite of something here and there (even during the week), but I was trying to calculate how much butter, milk, eggs, and other dairy products I have avoided in the past three months.  Thinking of the gallons of milk products avoided.... it makes me nearly puke to just thinking about it.

Same thing goes for the piles of meat that have not been ingested.

Watching Man vs. Food on Travel Channel is now impossible without my being fully grossed out by Adam Richman and his dietary choices.  BAAAAARRRRRRFFFFFFFFFF.

Interestingly my weight loss has been less than expected.  I shed five pounds quickly, but leveled out.  Now this is because my diet is not low calorie.  I eat a lot.  If I am hungry, I eat.  Plus nuts and other foods are not low in fat either.

I am sleeping great, and my dreams are much more vivid.  No idea why.

Finally, vegan diet has eliminated most desserts... as they often have milk and eggs.  However, I have discovered wonderful vegan dark chocolates (hmmmm, maybe another reason the weight loss is not that much).  I have also learned about the cause of "Slave-Free Chocolate" and the mis-treatment of people in many coco producing countries.  If you are not checking on if your chocolate is grown in areas without slavery, you should be.  Turns out this is a serious human rights issue.  Who knew?

Lasagna Leaves Me Feeling Blah

Since Lent ended three weeks ago I have remained "Vegan Leaning".  Monday through Friday I try my best to make mostly vegan choices all day long.  On Saturday and Sunday I am on a free-for-all.... but still find my meat and dairy being very limited.  I have especially stayed away from dairy.

Although not 100% (even during the weekdays) my vegan diet choices have continued for the most part.  I still have been feeling great and am happy with the lifestyle choices I have made along the way the last few months.  I will admit on Easter Sunday I felt awful after five slices of bacon, two waffles, and a whole non-vegan brunch (think eggs and dairy) with friends.  Come evening I felt very sluggish.  Since then I have been careful.

Friday night my daughter's Drama Club at school hosted a "Dinner Theater" production.  The meal served was lasagna, bread, salad and homemade brownies.  Even though it was Friday, I decided to go ahead and eat the meal rather than go hungry. There was a lot of cheese in this lasagna, and I should have limited my intake.... but once I started I saw no reason to stop.  I even ate the brownie!

Big mistake.  The rest of the night and most of Saturday morning I felt like crap.  I was not in pain, but I could tell that my digestive track was in flux over the high level of non-vegan food that had been introduced in one setting.  A few bites here and there had not been a problem.... but this meal was over the top.

I had heard that going back to a regular diet after this long vegan would not be easy.  I think I learned my lesson.  Nothing about the meal was really even that good, certainly not worth the way I felt afterwards.

Saturday I returned to my vegan cuisine and was feeling better by the afternoon.