Veganism--Week One

We've been attempting veganism for just about one week and here are our initial observations. But first, a review of our ground rules:

1) We're doing this as a two-week experimenting simply in order attempt another method of healthy living and to see if the claims of "more energy through vegan diet" are true. In general, we're comfortable with our own "flexitarian" diet, but are intrigued by other possibilities.

2) Since this is an experiment, rather than a staunch cause we're following, we are keeping the kids' diets fairly similiar. They eat the vegan entrees we make, but eat meat and dairy sides, (i.e. cow's milk to our rice milk, etc.).

3) We haven't been eating at restaurants during this time, but when we are at other people's homes, we eat what is served in order to be gracious guests.

4) Yes, we are carefully monitoring our protein and calcium intake. Not to mention considering the baby growing inside of me.

So how's it going?

Overall, well! We've sampled some yummy new vegan dishes. My wonderful husband whipped up some fantastic Indian chickpea appetizers. We've substituted soy products for sandwich options and eaten lots of peanut butter in various forms. Lentils seem to go well with anything, including a new recipe for rice bread in the bread machine.

Believe it or not, cost can actually be be prohibitive. We both have good (okay, huge) appetities and have needed to be re-fueled regularly. While beans, rice, and lentils are super-cheap, products like rice milk and veggie burgers aren't. We also have found that we need to keep up a good stock of fresh fruit and vegetables, peanut butter, and healthy granola bars as snacks.

Dairy might just be the hardest to give up. I haven't found a good substitue for eggs while baking and yogurt is generally a staple in our diets. We use plain yogurt regularly as a topping in place of sour cream and also for dessert smoothies. And I do miss cheese. Of course, there are soy versions that can replace those products, but until I do more research, I'm not comfortable in using soy for every part of our diet (i.e. soy burgers with soy cheese, soy yogurt, soy milk--doesn't seem "balanced" enough).

Filling up nutritous, whole foods definitely makes a difference in feeling healthy. I've noticed a lack of junk-food cravings because my body's needs are taken care of. We both feel energized, even with the normal demands of toddlers and life in general.

We're on to the next week, although our schedules won't let us eat completely vegan over Memorial Day weekend. Still, I'm excited to continue as such the next few days and learn what we can incorporate from this in the future. Suggestions welcomed!