No, but talk to me mid-March and I might be. Yes, that’s right, this year for lent, I’m going vegan. Ohhh baby.
As you all may or may not know, I don’t really have an ounce of religion in me, but I do find Lent to be a very fascinating ritual and think it’s fun to participate in. In year’s past, I’ve given up sweets, ice cream and one year I did cheese. That was the worst of them all. I did not grow up in a religious household, but (hold your breath, hear comes the blasphemy!), I think church and worship are a bit of a silly ritual with that old preacher man up there telling you what’s right and wrong. I think there probably is a higher power, but I am pretty sure me and that being can figure out what’s right/wrong, good/bad all on our own without someone telling me how to do it. So basically, if you haven’t figured it out yet, my problem with religious things is that I just don’t like people telling me what to do. That and I’m not a very good singer. And on Sunday morning, I wanna be at brunch having a mimosa. That’s just me though.
As for my decision to be a vegan this year, I think the vegan lifestyle is wildly over-hyped and I want to know if people do it to lose weight or if it really makes your body feel oh so wonderful. Am I going to have more energy than I’ve ever had in my life or am I going to be cranky and hungry as hell? I already ate a mostly vegetarian diet before I started my veganism today. When I do eat meat, it’s usually fish. Otherwise, the majority of my meals are vegetarian.
Things I’m worried about:
I can’t eat CHEESE or EGGS aka my two favorite foods! I will be lost without them.
Accidental slip ups. Because I’m not one of those psycho people worried about whether there’s butter in the food I’m eating and whether that butter came from a cow, I am prone to accidental slip ups, where I think something is vegan, but it’s not. I went grocery shopping last night and had to read the ingredients of every product I bought a couple times to make sure I was getting it right.
I’m gonna be hungry. Though being vegan isn’t a huge departure from my normal diet, I really depended on things like greek yogurt and eggs for protein to keep me full. I’m not sure how life will work without them, but I’ll figure it out.
Things I’m excited about:
This supposedly “amazing transformation” that’s bound to come any day now (haven’t even been vegan for 24 hours) where I just start glowing and get great skin and constant energy and blah blah blah. Wouldn’t mind if my pant size dropped either! (Hey, no one ever said I wasn’t shallow!)
Creativity in the Kitchen. The first couple of weeks, I’m sure I’ll be content with my old bean, vegetables, and grain medley for dinner and salad with some sort of vegan burger for lunch, but by mid-March, I’m gonna need to branch out. I’m gonna need to lurk on vegan, food blogs and learn how to make some creative foods that I will mostly likely thoroughly enjoy and add to my regular rotation once this is all said and done.
I’ll try to keep you guys updated over the next 40 days. Depending on my mood, you could be in for quite the comedic treat.
SKs,
Bri



