Plant-based Diet

What is it like to go on a plant-based diet for a month?

Well, I’m in the middle of that very experiment right now. On March 1, my husband and I decided to give this whole plant-based thing a go.

And right off the bat, you’ll notice I said plant-based, not vegan. The difference? Nothing at all except people’s reactions.

For example, I told a close a friend a few weeks ago I was going to try eating vegan for March and she explained that she could never do that and really I shouldn’t either. Where would I get my protein? My calcium?

Then I talked to a friend who has been plant-based for more than four years now. She explained I should tell people I’m going plant-based.

And what do you know, people’s reactions have been very different. From “oh, God” to “I should really eat more veggies, too.”

 

Why I’m Giving Plant-Based a Try

 

What led me to this point is a little more than the idea that I should eat more veggies, although that was certainly part of it.

It was actually because my husband and I had just finished binge-watching all seven seasons of Game of Thrones. After watching night after night of the killing of animals of all sorts, I couldn’t disconnect the fact that the animal on my plate had once been walking around, just like me.

I know we all take away different things from Game of Thrones. 

Beyond that, I have been listening to people like ultra-Ironman Rich Roll talk about how a plant-based diet has changed his life. He feels better, has excelled at endurance sports, and the time to recover between workouts is very low.

Then I thought about my mystery leg pain that I haven’t been able to kick for months. So, I decided it was time to give it a try.

 

Why not just go vegetarian? Or just eat meat in moderation?

 

It’s just not my personality type. I’m a recovering alcoholic who does marathons and half Ironmans. Moderation is clearly not my strong suit.

What was surprising is my very moderation-abled husband, who definitely LOVES meat, decided to give this whole month-long plant-based thing a try.

So here we stand, exactly two weeks in. How is it going? Well, I have to be honest, the first week was tough.

We both felt pretty drained, super gassy (sorry, but it’s a fact!) and ironically, our tummies puffed out a bit.

What the heck?

But then I did some research and this is actually very normal for the first week or two. Over the years, your body adapts to eating meat and processed foods. So it makes sense that it’s going to take a bit for the body to adjust to a different diet!

 

 

However, week two was much smoother sailing.

 

We both started to feel way more energy and our bodies have been humming along.

It’s been fun trying out new recipes. We have something different every night for dinner, which definitely wasn’t the case before this little experiment.

We also started trying new restaurants. We even found an amazing place in Sacramento call Veg which has an almost completely plant-based menu. The food is ridiculously good!!

As for giving up meat and dairy, it’s been challenging, but in a different way than you’d expect. Of course, cutting out meat is pretty straightforward, but we had no clue that dairy is in so many pre-packaged foods. From bean soups to chips, it’s in a lot.

The answer has been sticking to more whole foods, which is actually better for you anyway.

So, we’ll see how this little experiment continues.

I’ll give another recap a week from today. Right now, I’m feeling this plant-based thing. My husband has even admitted that he’s glad he’s doing it, too. Although he assures me on April 1st he is having a big steak. No April Fools.