Life of an Amateur Vegan

Vegan.... It's definitely not a word that comes easily to my vocabulary.  When I first heard of this diet/lifestyle, I literally thought that one lived off of nuts and berries, a la Tarzan; comes to show you how ignorant I was about the topic.  Fast forward to present day, and I'm still not the most well versed about it, but I do consider myself more knowledgeable.

When my friends first learned about me going the vegan way, most of them were surprised.  I'm not the biggest red meat eater out there; you can blame that on my cheapness to buy overpriced cow, but I do love my fresh chicken and fish.  You add my love of poultry and crustacean with the fact I eat like a horse, then you can understand why folks find my dietary move surprising.  Yet there is a reason for my madness... Let the story begin.

As not to bore you too much with medical history, I'll just say this: since I was 16, I've been plagued with genetically high cholesterol.  It doesn't matter that in high school I did track and martial arts, my cholesterhol was so high that I was told I'd be dead by twenty if I wasn't put on medication.  So for the end the second half of my high school years I was placed on all kinds of meds that supposedly burned all the excess grease in my veins, all the while turning me red as a strawberry; needless to say that when I hit college I stopped taking medication.  As far as I knew, I no longer wanted to look like the Kool Aid man!

Well as college goes, we don't necessarily treat our bodies the best while in that ramen phase; but I survived and later after graduation decided to go a healthier route.  I rarely ate fried food, fast food or anything with lots of generic oils; mix that in with exercise and I thought I was set.  Well from a triglyceride level of 260-270 when I was 16, my levels had gone down to 237 by about two years ago; let's just say I wasn't impressed.  With those numbers in hand and at the climatic age of 30, I decided to go more pseudo vegetarian; I steamed alot of my food, used better oils and pretty much moved to fresh fish and poultry with very little red meat.  As of two months ago, my levels were at 217.  Granted, I'm sure that they would be by far lower if I took medication, but I'm just not a fan of modern medicine, especially if I can take an holistic path to health.

That brings me to present day and to this blog.  About a week ago I was goaded (well not really... let's just say I've got folks who worry about me) into trying the vegan route for a month to see if going this route would lower all my levels.  Let me be honest, me?  Vegan?  Enough said!  I was a bit nervous about it.  Not only would I have to give up my chicken and fish, but also desserts, cheeses, pastas, all the foods I hold dear.... or so I thought.

I started friday February 7th and the world hasn't ended for me!  The transition from omnivore to vegan cold turkey was a bit of shock; combine that with starting martial arts after a few months away and the reality check is tough.  Yet all the foods I thought I had to give up on this thirty day quest was just something I drew out of fear.  Since I've started my diet, I've had tofu lasagna, lots of veggies, nuts and granola bars, mixed in with some almond milk and sugar free coffee.  Oh yea, along with this vegan kick, I've decided to give up all additional sugar; so I will only consume whatever sugar is naturally found in what I'm eating or drinking.  No sugar also means no sodas, so whenever I do drink I've gotta drink my alcohol with juice or tonic.

Let me set the record straight though: I'm a complete rookie when it comes to the vegan lifestyle.  I'm trying to teach myself more everyday, but I'm a novice at best.  I know that some of my friends are hardcore vegans and may look down upon the fact that I may not be aware of certain vitamins or things of that nature that may be animal based; that's where I'd like to ask everyone for help or advice.  I got the idea of blogging about my conversion from my best friend; so here I am, six days into this diet and enjoying it all so far.

As a way to bring folks into the fold of what's going on with my gastronomical journey, I've decided that everyday I'm going to chronicle my vegan days with those who are willing to read this.  I love the fact that I can be creative with what to make now since my mind has to be open to other options, but wow, it can be tough especially when you're craving Krispy Kreme or just some sugar in your cuban coffee

.  Yet thankfully, there are ideas I've put on the stove top!

Day 6 (Better late than never right?) breakfast was Aunt Jemima whole wheat pancakes made with bananas instead of egg.  I found a recipe that stated that half a banana could make up for an egg; not only did it work, but I've never made fluffier pancakes.  Add some Mrs. Butterworth syrup and sugar free coffee with almond milk, and you have a good starting meal.

Lunch was just a hodgepodge of various veggies pressure cooked and blended together to make porridge.  Long story short, you mix some cauliflower, broccoli, onions, potatoes, spinach and some olive oil and you have yourself a tasty veggie puree.

As for dinner, I haven't gotten that far just yet, but I'll update you of that later today or in my entry tomorrow.  I think that for now, I'll start writing my posts at the end of the day so I have all my daily meals eaten and ready to be shared.

Like I said in the beginning, I'm very new to this and I'm sure I'm cutting corners somewhere inadvertently; I'm going to try my best to stay the straight and narrow route (with Thursdays being my one freedom day) but if anyone notices something I'm doing wrong on my virgin vegan journey or have any ideas or suggestions for me, please chime in with your comments.

As of six days ago, I weighed 195lbs with a triglyceride level of 217, let's see if these numbers start to go down shall we?  Thanks for joining me on this adventure!