GRAPES of WRATH

It was 1:30am and the glow of my phone screen filled part of my bedroom as I aimlessly scrolled through social media on a sleepless night. I discovered a blog post about someone going vegan for a month and they explained how energetic and happy they were by the end.

As an anxious hypochondriac, I’ve considered trying the vegan lifestyle to be healthy. But I do love eggs in the morning and anything with cheese. I honestly don’t think I can live without chocolate.

At that moment I decided things needed to change. We need to be more responsible for what we eat and how we look after our planet. As much as I wanted to try being completely vegan for a whole month, it’s just a bit unrealistic. So, I tried it for seven days. I was vegetarian for seven years for environmental reasons so I thought it would be pretty easy.

I used this week as a test to see if this can really fix my energy levels and mood. I did little research on some vegan recipes and made a budget for food. Here are my dishevelled thoughts I recorded from the whole week:

Monday

At the beginning of the week I felt pretty sluggish with little motivation to be productive, which is how

I feel most mornings in a normal week. Before I shopped for food I had peanut butter on toast for breakfast (which is the only thing I had to eat) and I scrolled through vegan meal ideas on social media. The food shop took a bit longer than usual. I scoured through all the ingredients on the supermarket food I bought to make sure it really is vegan. I was surprised at the amount of products with animal derived ingredients in it. I had mushrooms on toast with vegan sausages for lunch and a home made lentil dal with cauliflower for dinner.

Tuesday

Day two of the vegan challenge. I had exactly the same meal as the day before: mushrooms on toast with vegan sausages. My lunch was lentil soup and bread with popcorn as a snack. This may sound strange but I feel like I am struggling to feel ‘full’. With my busy schedule I don’t have time to think about a filling meal. I’m just grabbing anything in my house that’s technically vegan before I leave, which ended up being grapes and popcorn. I also have no idea if I’m eating healthily enough. My thought for the day is that to be vegan properly, you need to have a good level of organisation and cooking skill to make amazing looking meals.

Wednesday

Today I experienced that awkward scenario: having to tell someone that I’m vegan when we were deciding where to eat. I dreaded to know what they were thinking- it just seems to make things more complicated. But of course, more experienced vegans would be used to this situation and the awkwardness would have disappeared. Also, why should I feel awkward when I’m doing a good thing for the planet? We ended up going to Greggs for a vegan sausage roll and it tasted decent. It’s great to see many places serving more plantbased meals nowadays. I tried wok fried noodles with mushrooms and tofu from a vietnamese restaurant later that day and it was delicious.

Thursday

I mixed things up with my daily porridge today by adding some peanut butter and I used almond milk instead of cow’s milk. I also found that dates are a great alternative to chocolate if I’m craving something sweet. I made 2 servings of a stir fry with lots of vegetables and chickpeas. Finally the effects of this diet are kicking in- I’m actually feeling more energised now. I’m definitely eating way more fruit and veg than normal- I feel like I’m getting my 5 a day everyday. Before this week I probably only got about 2 or 3 a day.

Friday

One thing that hasn’t left my mind all week is the stress that I’m lacking some nutrients. I had more porridge with a pear for breakfast and I tried the vegan burger at Burger King. I’ve had it before but I felt I needed a break from thinking of vegan meals for the evening. In terms of my mood I feel way more positively minded and I can do more work throughout the day without needing a nap.

The Weekend

It’s coming to the end of the week now and I feel pretty good but I’m actually looking forward to Monday. I ate leftovers from the week and used up the rest of the food in my fridge.

Final Thoughts

“How hard could it really be? It’s basically like being vegetarian again,” my friends would say.

It turns out it’s more difficult than I thought. I think it’s a great diet and really healthy, only if you do it correctly. My source of protein throughout the week was a lot of tofu, lentils and chickpeas. I also realised by the end of the week that I basically lived on mushrooms and grapes all week. Don’t get me wrong, they tasted great and it was easy to cook but I really missed having eggs in the morning and taking my omega 3 fish oil capsules. To be honest I was paranoid that I was malnourished all week. BUT I am glad I tried it.

The best outcome of the week is that my skin is almost completely clear of acne after just a week of not consuming cow’s milk. I know this isn’t a revelation but I was shocked at how quickly my skin changes after a shift in my diet.

In hindsight I probably should’ve been more prepared and looked up proper filling vegan recipes and it would have been way more successful. I’m excited to integrate some of these meals into my daily life, and maybe I will gradually become a vegan full-time.