That’s right, week one is over and I’m feeling great (thank god!). It has been hard, it has taken a lot of effort but I made it through. Here is what I’ve learnt in my first week:
I am not alone
PETA are challenging people to go vegan for January and whilst for a lot of people this might be a health kick or just a fad their Facebook event is helping me so much. It’s a place for people to ask questions, share storied and simply support each other.
The side effects do get better
I PROMISE!! So far there has been little to no bloating, no feeling sick, nothing negative. Now I honestly think that this is because my body has had time to adjust to the lack of meat and eggs, the removal of dairy more gradually.
Do some research
I have spent a lot of this week reading about vegan diets. Am I going to be lacking in protein? Where will I get calcium from? Will I have enough energy to work out properly at the gym (and more importantly recover from the gym)? The more I read, the more I realised that plant based diets are FULL of energy and nutrients, it’s just a case of balancing them so you’re not lacking anything. This is the case for any type of diet, balance is key, plates full of colour are better than plates that are all one colour, it can be as simple as that.
It doesn’t always work
This is my gluten free and vegan lasagne, it doesn’t look pretty and it didn’t taste like lasagne, the tofu was too firm, the tomato sauce was too thick and the lasagne sheets were crispy at the end. But it still tasted good!
You can teach an old dog new tricks
It just takes a while! I still head straight to the meat section in my local supermarket, I kind of forget where I am for a minute then think “hold on Amy, you don’t even need to be down this isle, MOVE IT”, then I walk a bit further and stare at the cheese, all the cheese, before I realise I don’t need to be there either.
Prep, prep, PREP!
I’ve left this until last because for me, it’s the most important thing. If you want to follow a new way of eating you have to prepare for it. I am fortunate enough that I have been prepping food for work for years, it’s the safest way for me to avoid accidental wheat incidents but attempting the plant based diet on top of the wheat free life, ooft! I’ve always wondered what the secret is to sticking to a vegan diet, the secret is prep. Naturally I used this as an excuse to buy a new diary so that I can record what I’m eating and how I’m feeling.
All in all it has been a great start to the year, I got up on New Year’s Day tired but hangover free, made myself a good breakfast and decided that this was the right time to do this.
Little Nibble 
My tip for the lasagne: spent at least 1 hour on the tomato sauce, skip the tofu and create cashew cheese with nutritional yeast. That tastes amazing and you get you B12. Will make one this week, let me know if you want the recipe and I’ll blog it. Good luck! I haven’t looked back.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh please do!! That would be perfect xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://veganfoodgirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/lasagne/ 😉 enjoy
LikeLiked by 1 person