Post-Veg* Challenge - Results

Posted by Jill Harris Apr 10, 2007

For me, the veg challenge is over.

I started the challenge April 2 with the best of intentions. I have definitely gone for days at a time without consuming milk products or eggs before. Being vegetarian sometimes defaults to vegan when it’s been a while since my last trip to the grocery.

Anyway, I honestly didn’t think it would be difficult for me. That was my first mistake.

Because I thought I’d breeze through the week, I didn’t worry about the five bricks of cheese sitting in my fridge, half-eaten. I didn’t bother searching out speciality items like soy yogurt, or ensure my cupboards were stocked with vegan-friendly snacks. I’m experienced.

You can read the blog from my first vegan day.

On the second night, I whipped up a pot of my favourite TSP chili, garnished with avocado slices and served with garlic bread – using vegan margarine of course.

From there, I tried out some soups, bean burritos, and for breakfast my berrylicious smoothie for breakfast – truth be told I could not tell a difference between the version with yogurt and the one without.

Ironically, my lack of meal planning last week resulted in me consuming more prepared foods than I usually do, and far fewer vegetables. That’s right – observe vegan “junk food” – like copious quantities of Rice Dream (ice cream substitute) – and unbalanced meals that left me feeling hungry. This is hard for me to admit; I thought I had it in the bag.

Resuming the theme of “no planning”, I forgot to inform my mother and extended family that I was thus experimenting this week, which would not be a problem if it weren’t Easter weekend. Thus, shamefully (and dreading the thought of my angry mother throwing out her pasta-cheese casserole vegetarian main dish) I gave up my challenge on Friday.

Luckily, I will take more away from this week than simply what an idiot I am:

1. Planning really is key. Falling into the vegan junk food rut is not good enough – living on French Fries sounds good for a while, but believe it or not – I was actually craving veggies all week.
2. Snacks are a huge hurdle. Finding something to replace my morning yogurt and evening cheese and crackers with was more challenging than I thought – especially when I was craving that cheese.
3. Myself, individually, and society in general are extremely reliant on animal by-products. Ever been at the mall and find yourself hungry? What are the animal-free options? That’s right – you can have salad. Mmmm, salad. But some restaurants and fast-food places don’t even offer vegetarian salads any more.

Like power outages, perhaps it will take an animal shortage the make us think about how little we actually know about feeding ourselves – finding food, preparing it, and making it taste half-decent. It’s harder than I thought.