Sunday, February 19, 2012

Goal #16: Hungry


So vegan week was interesting. The first day was easy but I was hungry for most of it. I made a lot of green smoothies, lentil soup and rice. As delicious as those spring rolls were (pictured above) they weren't filling. And I really wanted the ones with crab. Snacking was the hard part. Everything has milk and cheese, but these are the things that saved me:





Most protein bars are vegan friendly turns out. Well, as long as you’re not weird about honey. I’m not. I also was loose with food items that were processed in a facility that also processed milk. I don’t have an allergy for heavens sake.

So breakfast was easy: cereal, oatmeal or I’d pop a cliff bar. Lunch was harder. The second and third day, my lentil soup sounded absolutely disgusting. So the second day I Googled “fast food vegan” and found this great site that listed a bunch of chain restaurants and what on their menu was vegan. So I went to Noodles & Co. and got the Indonesian noodles. They were good but so spicy that I was crying by the time I was done.

On Tuesday I was hungry for most of it. This is when I started making lists in my head about what I was going to eat at the end of the week: eggs, cheese, donuts...mostly things with eggs and cheese. Meat wasn’t an issue. Oh, and Jon wins for most thoughtful for bringing me cashews on Valentines Day figuring I’d be hungry. And I was.

Wednesday is when things started to go downhill a bit. I went to a retirement party at 11 AM (right before lunch) and there were chocolate eclairs. I was STARVING and there were only eight of us there and everyone was eating one so I did. I couldn’t help it. Didn’t feel too bad though. I thought “OK, I’ll just tack a day on to my vegan week to make up for this”. For lunch I went home and made this delicious stir fry (again, thank you Jon for the cashews).





But then I had a meeting that night at Thanksgiving Point where there was delicious catering. There were breadsticks, artichoke dip and giant chocolate cookies. I figured since the day was shot I might as well indulge.

Thursday was fine, Friday was fine. But then Saturday I was at Harmons to get some rice (for my tofu fried rice that I had for lunch today) and there were cheese samples. I hadn’t eaten since my mini cliff bar at 1 PM. That’s when I decided there is no reason to be vegan if you don’t have to be. And I don’t have to be. So I had 3 samples of cheese. And they were delicious.

And then today I cracked an egg into my fried rice and I didn’t care. And then I popped a kit kat that was in the lovely bowl of chocolate my mom gave me for Valentines Day that was just sitting there waiting for me.

So I’d say goal 16 was a success.

4 comments:

Julie said...

Definitely a success! :) I've found it takes like two weeks for your body to adjust to new diet things. I went for no sugar in January and the first two weeks were torturous! The last two not as bad.

Ilene said...

You crack me up.

And I thought my effort to go off of sugary items was bad. Not that I couldn't abstain from sweets and such but it was just so well, boring. What is the point of living without the promise of a cookie (or kit kat) to look forward to?

leandparkermakes3 said...

I think you did a great job. I tried to do it too for a week. I agree, the meat is not the issue. I missed my treats!!!!! I think those lettuce wraps look delicious...maybe with a side of cheese. :)

Molly and Brent said...

I think you did a great job. Ever since I went off wheat and gluten I have to say on some of my bad days I will have a candy bar that I am not suppose to eat. It is very hard to go off certain foods because it seems like they are everywhere!