Friday 7 September 2012

Two-Week Vegan Challenge

I had started this challenge on Monday.  It's really just for fun, just to see if I can.  I don't think I could ever become a vegan, I personally don't think it's necessary.  Becoming vegetarian is something I'd like to do but unfortunately I love steak and bacon too much.  Eggs, milk and cheese --- I feel no guilt in consuming these.

It's good to have some self-control.  Perhaps it's because I know so many vegetarians, Muslims and Jews that have all these eating restrictions, and I admire them for their self-control.  A week ago I'd have thought I could never turned down a crackling pork belly or lobster ravioli, and now, I know it's only been 3 days, but I've been pretty good.  Soy milk and cereal in the morning, lots of fruits, vegan brownies, vegetables and pulses and beans.

It can be quite healthy, and you could lose weight on it, but only because food choices are so limited. People always offer cookies and ice cream and whatnot, and I've had to turn them all down because they contained egg/dairy/butter.  In restaurants I'm forced to eat salads, because there's not much else.  Most restaurants are pretty vegetarian-friendly with at least a couple of vegetarian options -- but they always contain cheese and so I can't have it.  Although the other day I ordered a feta salad without the feta.  It's like once I ordered a caesar salad without the caesar salad and I could sense the waiter mocking me.


The main thing is getting enough protein.  According to the RDI based on a 2000 calorie intake per day,  one needs to eat 50g of protein per day.   If I were still in China, it would be no problem, supermarkets have isles and isles of dozens of varieties of tofu and seitan at extremely affordable prices.  Here I'm restricted to health stores and all these "health" products are just overpriced.  I can get tofu but on a student budget I have to rely on cheaper sources of protein.  So beans and legumes, nuts and some vegetables like kale will do me good.

So far so good.  Three days and I've been good.  I've been documenting my every meal, which will be posted on my FaceBook page.  The only annoying thing is eating with other people, and having to be a pain and say "Sorry, so kind of you to offer, but I'm vegan."  It's just a bit rude.  And I feel like such a fool when people give me free samples of things on the street and I'm like "I'm vegan".  I pride myself in the fact that I eat everything, there is nothing I don't eat -- i think of it as my best quality, and now that's gone and I'm embarrassed. 11 more days to go.  

1 comment:

  1. Mariaaaa! Please post more Vegan/ Veg tasteful recipes!

    ReplyDelete

 
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