5 Days as a Vegan

Hubby and I recently watched two documentaries (with Cliff's Notes in case you don't want to click the links):

1. Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead - overweight, sick man juices for 60 days and is extremely healthy and cures his autoimmune disease

2. Forks Over Knives - two doctors do extensive research and find out that plant based diets free of any animal product (meat, dairy, eggs) or processed foods can either greatly reduce or completely eliminate a variety of serious medical conditions including cancer and diabetes

We found both of these documentaries very interesting. I was particularly interested because PCOS may or may not be related to crappy eating habits.

I don't want anyone to do outright mean things to animals and I think hunting is kind of gross unless people are really and truly using all parts of the animal, but I do believe that's it's okay for us to eat animals. We are mammals and there are lots of mammals who have a diet that consists almost entirely of meat. BUT - these documentaries did present a lot of compelling facts to me.

So . . . I decided to give it a whirl. I didn't have meat, cheese or anything with eggs in it for 5 days.

It was straight up brutal. By the third day hubby came home and I said "I AM GOING TO TACO BELL RIGHT NOW!" I just felt like I was really missing something and my stomach just didn't feel right. I don't know if this is because I really missed meat and dairy out of habit or I actually need meat and dairy in my diet. I feel like I have been eating WAY too many carbs and I had that feeling like I was starving for something substantial to eat.

On the other hand, I ate a ton more veggies, fruits and whole foods than usual. After two days, my headaches went away that I've been having. Something that changed almost immediately was something that is kind of nasty to share on the interwebs, but I will. My poop. I have ass issues that are more normal for a 90 year old and they went away in ONE day. One day only. I also felt a lot less bloated. This should turn the lightbulb on that I am lactose intolerant. Duh. I also was consuming a very minimal amount of salt.

I did not go to Taco Bell on that third day. I held out. On the 6th day I broke my veganism. I ate a salad with chopped up chicken on top. Damn, that chicken was delicious. Very delicious. Later that night I ate chicken again and it was pure heaven. For sides with my chicken I had vegetables and a salad, which I can assure you I would normally never choose (french fries, boo yah).

I decided that I am not cut out to be a vegan for two main reasons:

1. I loathe vegetables. I think they are absolutely disgusting and I hate them. Especially cooked ones. It would be hard and actually pretty sad in my opinion to live my whole life eating the thing I like the least.

2. I love meat baby. Meat meat meat. Yummy.

On the 7th day, I totally effed off in the morning. I had a caramel mocha (dairy present) and an egg mcmuffin (dairy, meat and egg present). A strange thing happened. A few hours later I felt yucky and gross and then ate some processed food and felt yuckier. By lunch time, I chose an avocado and tomato sandwhich instead of the roast beef sandwich I wanted so that I could feel better. I also ate french onion soup for dinner and drank a mother load of water.

I decided that I will continue with a few things:

1. No dairy. Dairy makes me feel like crap (emphasis on the crap, literally). My body is happier without it.

2. I am going to eat a lot more vegetables and fresh fruits. I really did feel good in such a short time doing that so I want to keep it up.

3. I am going to try to keep breakfast and lunch meatless. Sometimes not lunch though.

4. I'm going to keep eating a lot of whole, fresh foods so I can keep that clean, non-bloated feeling.

So there you have it. Now if I just find time to exercise I will be little Suzy Healthnut . . . . .