My 21-Day Vegan Kickstart Challenge

It’s a new year.  I thought I would start it off by doing something a little different.  Resolutions are boring.  I mean, who doesn’t want to get fit, lose weight, get organized, etc.  We all do!  It’s the rare person who can claim to be all of those.

I only knew that I wanted to try to eliminate dairy.  Why?  Well, there are many reasons, but the one that makes the most sense is because I am allergic to the milk proteins casein and whey.  Let me tell you … casein and whey are hidden in everything!  And the other MAIN reason is that as a vegetarian, it only makes sense to progress into this way of eating, for me.  I already refuse to wear leather, suede, wool or use products that have been tested on animals.   If you want to get into it further, you can certainly find reasons why many experts are saying that it is not good for us, and you can certainly find out how dairy is an even crueler industry than eating the cows that dairy comes from.

And because I was giving up the dairy, I stepped it up to eliminate eggs and to try to eat as many whole foods as possible to try to ease up reliance on convenience foods.  I think that switching to whole foods, foods that come from nature, that I actually have to cook and/or prepare, will be the key to my finally reaching my goal weight.

This style of eating is also just naturally low in sugar.  I am not deliberately eliminating that.  If I find something vegan and has sugar, I will consider it.  And I don’t mean fruit.  Fruit sugar is another thing altogether.

To help me with this challenge, I decided to follow the guidelines and recipes of the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart by the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).  You can find information about it here:

I tried to start on Monday, but although it was vegan, except for some butter, I don’t count it since I relied on what I had and not on whole foods.

On Tuesday, I made the Confetti Couscous Salad.  I had to adjust it, as I thought I had raisins and cabbage, but I had neither.  Well, I had cabbage, it was just not edible.  I deliberately left out the carrots and substituted dried cranberries for the raisins.  This was absolutely yummy.

Wednesday, which was even better, I had oatmeal for breakfast, for lunch I had the couscous salad leftovers (and I still have more!) and I made the Carrot Red Pepper Soup, without the carrots, so essentially it was just Roasted Red Pepper Soup.  This was very easy to make and very tasty … but needed some spices … maybe some Italian seasoning.  I also made the “Southern” Beans and Greens.  I put Southern in quotes, cause I am quite sure that in the South, it ain’t vegan!  My beans of choice were organic Pinto and my greens were kale.  I thought these were really good.  This mixture could also be wrapped in a tortilla (thanks for the idea Christy) or served with rice, which is what I had for lunch today.

I don’t aspire to follow the food plan to the letter, but I am definitely staying vegan, whole foods and using the recipes on the plan.   I’ll be eating out a little this weekend, but I will be doing my best to stick to whole food, low fat, and vegan.

It’s only been three full days, and I can tell you I feel better already.  My stomach doesn’t feel all pouchy and full.  I feel lighter.  I hope to take off a few pounds at the end of this as well, especially once my cough goes away completely and I can exercise again.

Adios, my friends and readers, I’ll be back tomorrow with a more complete list and maybe some photos and other updates.

*I was actually directed to this particular challenge by my very beautiful, talented and intelligent friend, Emily, a Holistic Health Counselor and owner of Triumph Wellness.  Her blog is listed in my blogroll.