Thoughts on Going Vegan: Meal Ideas & Afterthoughts

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

I've had many requests in the last week to share a few vegan meal ideas that I enjoyed over the last month. The requests were from people just starting to eat vegan or vegetarian diets to those of you who were simply looking for a few alternatives to try out for Meatless Mondays. I do understand that trying a new diet can be very overwhelming in the first couple weeks and I hope that sharing meal ideas and tips with you can help ease any transitions. To preface this, I can be a little boring when it comes to cooking for myself and I often find myself preparing and eating similar meals week after week simply because I enjoy them. I don't, however, think that's necessarily a bad thing.

Breakfast

I am a fan of big breakfasts. I don't feel experimental in the mornings, so I often enjoy the same meal day after day.

• Blueberry Breakfast Quinoa with a glass of orange juice (I ate this nearly every morning—I love it and it's packed with protein!)
• Cold cereal with almond milk and fresh berries

Lunch

I pack a lunch during the week so I try to eat foods that fit into a lunch box and can be kept fresh with an ice pack.

• Hummus & veggie sandwiches (toasted bread spread thick with hummus, tomatoes, cucumbers, and spinach) with apple slices or carrot sticks
• Vegan cream cheese & veggie sandwiches (toasted bread spread with vegan cream cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, and sprinkled with sunflower seeds) with fresh fruit or cut-up bell peppers
• Vegetable soup (since I could not find a vegan canned/bagged soup, I would make a big batch of my own soup on Sundays so I could nibble on it throughout the next few days)
• Peanut butter and jelly with a banana (it's a classic and perfect to whip up when I needed to be out the door five minutes ago)

Dinner

Dinner was often my biggest meal of the day and I'd usually take some time to cook up a nice meal.

• Spaghetti with a fresh tomato and basil sauce (though vegan sauces are very easy to find in jars)
• Tacos made without sour cream/cheese (though you can buy vegan sour cream—I'm just not a fan of sour cream on tacos in general). The taco meat was made of meatless ground crumbles and taco seasoning [note: these meatless ground crumbles were a staple for any meal where I wanted a ground hamburger/turkey substitute. I'm absolutely in love with these and highly recommend them (and I'm not being sponsored to say this). They make the transfer from traditional food to vegetarian or vegan food much easier.]
• Pasta with sauteed vegetables in a wine/olive oil sauce (sometimes I used spaghetti noodles while other times I'd use penne pasta and added the meatless ground crumbles for a more robust meal)*
• Potatoes with beans and roasted corn or asparagus
• Stir fry with vegetables and tofu on a bed of rice

*I made dozens of variations on the pasta/vegetable dish depending on the kind of wine I had, vegetables, or noodles so it was different every time I approached it.

Snacks

I do like to enjoy at least one snack a day and these were a few foods I'd reach for when I just wanted something to munch on.

• Bowl of a healthy cereal with dark chocolate almond milk poured on top and sprinkled with fresh berries (it's a little sinful and tastes kind of like ice cream)
• Ants on a Log (celery sticks or apple slices spread with peanut butter and raisins)
• Vegan cream cheese toast sprinkled with sunflower seeds (I really feel in love with vegan cream cheese and almost prefer it to the real deal)
• Fruit smoothies with tofu (this Banana Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie is one of my favorites and it's super filling)
• Almonds and a glass of dark chocolate almond milk (since dairy-free chocolate can be hard to find/expensive, a few sips of this milk would nix any chocolate cravings that would pop up)
• Veganbakedgoods (for better or worse, I do actually eat quite a bit of the food I share with you. It has to go somewhere.)

It has been a couple of weeks since the challenge ended, but I still eat an almost exclusively vegan diet when I'm preparing food for just myself. During the vegan challenge I developed a new way of cooking, with new recipes, and I just don't want to give that up. To put it simply, I don't miss or crave meat and will choose the vegan option if I have the right ingredients in the house. That said, when I am with friends or family, I will eat meat when I'm at a restaurant or enjoying a home cooked meal from my mother. I found this is a good balance for me, though it may not be the right one for everyone.

I did see an allergist and was tested to see if I did have a milk protein allergy as I believed. In reality, I do not have one. However, the general consensus seems to be that my body does not know how to process dairy products efficiently, which results in symptoms very similar to a milk protein intolerance. Since the vegan challenge, I still eat a dairy-free diet whenever possible; I feel much healthier without dairy than I ever did with it. However, dairy in very small amounts seems to be okay, which means that soon butter may once again find a place in my heart.

I still encourage you to try out new vegetarian or vegan meal options. While I'm certainly not going to try to convince you to go on a particular diet, I think trying out new foods and recipes can be a good experience for everyone. Meals based around plant based diets are often healthier than animal based diets and, in addition to helping you to enjoy more fruits and vegetables, they can open a little window into a world of food you may not have explored.

Thoughts on Going Vegan: Week 4—The End?

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Meal Ideas & Afterthoughts

I've successfully completed the fourth and final week in my month long vegan challenge. As for eating, this week was smooth sailing, with plenty of delicious vegan food. There was, however, a very huge, life-altering realization. Here are a few personal observations about my fourth week*:

• I've had very few cravings for non-vegan food this past month (and even they were quite fleeting). The first week of the challenge I was worried about missing my favorite foods so much that I sought out vegan alternatives—which weren't very good. I worried for naught. Occasionally I'd get a pang of nostalgia for some of my favorite foods, like Fettuccine Alfredo, but the feeling passed as quickly as it came. Without non-vegan cravings, going vegan was really quite easy and I didn't feel like I was missing out.

• I accidentally ate half a chip that had milk listed on the ingredient label. I never expected potato chips to contain milk; in between popping a broken one in my mouth and turning over the bag to look at the nutritional information, the damage had been done. It was half a potato chip and whey was the last ingredient on the label, but I felt guilty about it for days. In fact, I still kind of do, which is why I'm confessing it to you.

• The day after my vegan challenge ended, I went out for a celebratory brunch with my sister and re-introduced myself to dairy and eggs. I had scrambled eggs (without cheese), cream cheese on a bagel, french toast, and half a slice of bacon. After a month of avoiding animal products, I was not expecting that I wouldn't actually like non-vegan food again. They tasted differently than I remember, with a texture that was strange and completely undesirable (especially eggs/meat). I didn't get sick afterwards, but it was an unexpected experience for me.

• Since the vegan challenge ended, the vast majority of the food I've eaten has been vegan. Here or there I'll eat an old favorite, such as my favorite turkey sandwich or ramen noodles (a guilty pleasure), but they don't taste right and I find that I have to force myself to get it down. While eating turkey sandwiches, I dream of eating humus and vegetable ones instead—a sandwich I didn't even like all that much when I was vegan. Maybe my taste buds have changed? Is that even possible? I wonder.

• After growing to love vegan food, I think it will definitely have a new role in my diet. It's generally healthy, tastes delicious, and my body feels good when I eat it. Just as there was an adjustment period when I went vegan, there is an adjustment period going back. It may be a few weeks before I can eat and enjoy meat again, but the recipes and lessons I've learned from going vegan will stick with me for a very, very long time.

• Lastly, it's time for the big realization. I've been plagued with uncomfortable and sometimes painful digestive issues my entire life. While I won't go into detail, it's a condition I've seen several different doctors about, been prescribed different treatments for, and gone through a colonoscopy to try to resolve. No method has fixed the problem and the doctors couldn't sort out what was wrong—for all intents and purposes I was "normal," even though I clearly wasn't. I assumed this was just a problem I would have to live with for the rest of my life.
• Two weeks into my vegan diet, the problem I had faced continuously for twenty-four years disappeared. Disappeared. I could have cried. For the first time in my life, I had a normally functioning digestive system and it was glorious. While there aren't many allergies associated with eating meat, there are quite a few associated with consuming dairy. After a little research, the symptoms I had been plagued with seemed to match up fairly well with a milk protein intolerance. It is a hypersensitivity to the proteins, casein and whey, which are found in milk; this is not the same thing as lactose intolerance, but the treatment, avoidance of all dairy products, is the same. I've always been a big milk drinker, typically consuming 1 1/2 cups every single day with breakfast. If I really did had an intolerance to milk proteins, I never would have gone long enough without milk to notice a difference until now.
• Over the next few weeks, I'm going to continue to cut dairy out of my diet while re-introducing meat to see how my digestive system reacts. If it's true that I do have a milk protein intolerance, the diagnosis is really a double edged sword. On one hand, it will shape the way I eat and the way I approach baking for the rest of my life. On the other hand, it may solve my digestive issues, making me feel healthy for the first time in a very long time.

After the fourth and final week, I am sincerely glad, in a hundred different ways, that I took on this challenge. It introduced me to a new lifestyle, new recipes, new flavors, and a new outlook on healthy eating. If I hadn't gone vegan for a month on a whim, I never would have discovered a potential solution to a lifelong health problem. I feel greatly indebted to my time spent as a vegan and urge you to give vegan dishes a chance. You might just like it.

*I mean no offense to those who have gone vegan for moral beliefs and obligations (in fact, you have my utmost respect). This is just a record of my personal experience with the lifestyle.