Quick plant based diet round up for January.

So I failed on a few days because I ate gluten free bread which had egg in it. However I made it a full month.

I have a new found respect for vegans, for people that choose to eat like that and put up with the negativity from everyone is hard work at the best of times. I had a massive self struggle, because I want other people to be able to see the reasons why I’d want to test it etc, but I found that most people would argue with a closed mind and weren’t willing to question things that they thought were fact. (Does that make sense?!)

Anyway, mentally, Coley was right, I genuinely felt quite down about what I could and couldn’t eat, there were some days I just couldn’t be bothered to cook and instant meals are hard to find. The diet doesn’t allow you to be lazy that’s for sure, which makes me think I’d picked the wrong month to do it as I was behind on work after taking time off over christmas. Given a more relaxed month I think I would have enjoyed the diet a lot more because it did make me cook more than usual, and I created some pretty cool concoctions… in my opinion! haha

It also really makes you think more about what you’re eating and what you’re putting into your body, I read all the ingredients on everything which is probably more reading than I’ve ever done before, and it amazes me how little I know about some of the ingredients… especially sweet! Who knew there was gelatin in almost every gummy sweet?! I certainly didn’t.

Physically… I lost 5kg / 11lbs in a month… not bad going considering I’ve been around 85kg for the last year without much wavering no matter how much exercise I did. In January I did very little exercise and dropped below my lowest weight in a long time. (I also got comments about my arms looking thinner, my face looking thinner… not in a positive way!) and I can actually almost (if I squint) see stomach muscles… although they’ll be gone in no time with the amount of chocolate I’m eating.

I did have a lack of energy, and get ill half way through with a cough that turned into a chest infection, although those that know me know that I get these every few months… so nothing new there… and the lack of energy thing… I’m just instinctively lazy… so again, nothing new there.

All in all, I found it really hard, but actually quite rewarding. After a week of binging on chocolate, I’m going to cut everything back again but not to the same level, i.e. if I’m eating at a restaurant then I’ll only focus on the gluten and if the sauce has milk in it then I’ll eat it. If I’m cooking for myself, I’ll try and make it plant based, I’m going to change to almond milk for cereal etc (tasty stuff!). It is crazy to see just how many things contain egg / milk, and I find it unreal to think just how much of the stuff we need to produce everyday to sustain the level consumption we must achieve.

The biggest thing I’m taking away from January’s test is that we all need to think a little more about where our food comes from and what we’re eating. Eat less meat, and if you do eat meat, don’t buy cheap meat, and make sure you buy it from a local butchers. Cook more meals, and enjoy the process rather than just eating microwave meals and reheated oven food.