30 Day Vegan Experiment Results

Lentil Baked Beans

In attempt to start to eat healthier, I took on a 30 day challenge to eat a vegan diet.  A healthy vegan diet.  No oil, no sugar, low salt, no caffeine and no processed products. I also maintained eating gluten free.  I successfully ate no meat all month.  My only "cheats" we a sip of coffee with Almond Joy creamer that I so wanted to try (it was awesome by the way). I also had some onion rings when I ate out.  The gluten gave me a 24 hour headache and I'm sure there was egg in the onion ring batter.  So not worth the headache. All in all, pretty good.  I made egg salad for husband and didn't taste it.  That was hard.  :-)

Typically, I started the day with a Green Smoothie. I would make a whole pitcher and drink the whole thing throughout the day.  I'd have a light lunch, maybe Veggies and Hummus or a Bean Burrito.  Then I would eat a fairly normal dinner. I tried to post 30 days of recipes but seriously I didn't need to cook that much. I loved having so many leftovers in the refrigerator. I like eating simple delicious food.  Plus I had a couple of recipes that were good but not blog worthy. I planned a meal with spaghetti squash but after I opened it up, it was not pretty inside.  I ended up eating homemade Refried Beans on a corn tortilla with tomato. Simple and delicious. I do have here some recipes that I wanted to make and I will make again soon.  Take a look at the last several posts to see what I was eating all month. 

Spaghetti Squash, Black Bean and Avocado Burritos

30 days, Pros and Cons

Pros: I felt great. I went the whole month without a headache (but for the onion ring incident). Right before this month, I had so many headaches, a friend of mine told me I should go to a doctor for them.  Well, this way of eating seemed to work. No doctors for me. Another pro - I did lose weight. And wasn't hungry at all. 

Cons: Since my family wasn't exactly on board with this, I had to often make extra meals.  One for me and one for them.  Since I ate so many leftovers, this wasn't actually that bad. I am working on them getting healthy too and getting them to include more veggies in their diet. 

Santa Fe Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Will I continue to eat a vegan diet?

First of all, the word vegan will never describe me.  I view a vegan as someone who won't buy leather shoes and will buy certain kinds of lip balm that don't have animal products in them.  Vegans don't eat honey and I don't think that eating honey is wrong.  That may be fine for some but not me.  Plus a lot of people who eat a vegan diet don't really eat a healthy diet. Oreos are vegan.  Many vegans eat a lot of fake meat and processed food.  

I like the term "Healthy Plant Based Diet".  That just makes sense to me.  Processed foods aren't healthy or plant based. If God didn't make it,  I have to question if we should eat it.  For now, I see no rush in eating meat or dairy. 

 Eliminating or severely reducing meat makes sense to me.  I don't believe that we really need animal protein.  I do believe that we are eating too much meat and are unhealthy because of it.  The jury is still out on dairy foods.  I've heard and read that they are not good to eat but no one has given me convincing proof.  Yet.  I really didn't miss dairy products this month except for the cheese on pizza. I didn't miss meat at all. I did miss eggs though. I so love eggs. 

 For now I will continue to eat a healthy plant based diet.  I feel better, a LOT better. So why would I go back to eating foods that don't make me feel good? I do have about a month worth of posts scheduled on my blog that aren't all plant based. I still make new recipes for my family. I will be posting a variety of foods but this won't become a vegan blog.

Here is some really good information about how to have a healthy plant based diet.  Even if you have no desire to give up meat, it is worth reading. She really has some good information. 

Quinoa with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Corn (ignore the chicken in the picture)


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