Day 2: Vegan For A Day

Day 2: Vegan For A Day

Good morning and welcome to Day 2 where I will be eating Vegan all day long!

According to Wikipedia; Veganism is a diet and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.[1][2] Vegans endeavor not to use or consume animal products of any kind. This means no meat, dairy, honey etc.

I have two friends who are Vegans and thought I would put myself in their shoes for a day. I planned ahead with recipes and I realized the only thing I didn’t have was dessert. One thing I must have daily is chocolate.

On the way to work I stopped at the corner CVS to pick up a dark chocolate bar. I checked the back of at least 10 different brands and only two didn’t have milk in them but did have Cocoa Butter. When the word “butter” is used I immediately think of the creamy dairy goodness I love to spread on a bagel. I might not know the ins and outs of Veganism (as all the shoes I own have leather somewhere on them) but I do know that butter is not kosher in the Vegan World. Not wanting to waste $4.00 on something I couldn’t eat I came into work to do some research.

According to Wikipedia Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil or theobroma cacao, is a pale-yellow, pure edible vegetable fat extracted from the cacao bean. I deciphered this to mean plant = vegan = chocolate I can eat today. Crisis averted!

BREAKFAST:
1 Nectarine (1 Weight Watchers point)
½ cup of dry Fiber 1 Cereal (0 Weight Watchers point) **I checked and this is indeed Vegan

LUNCH: 1 baby orange (0 Weight Watchers Points)
1 Mission Tortilla (It's Vegan, I checked) (2 Weight Watchers Points)
2oz of hummus (2 Weight Watchers Points)
Grilled onions and peppers (0 Weight Watchers Points)
1 square of Ghirardelli "Intense Dark Chocolate" (1 Weight Watchers Point)

The hummus and veggie wrap was much better than i expected. I feel full, happy and satisfied. The chocolate that I was so excited about was disappointing. It was very bitter but in the end still helped my craving.

I get 20 Weight Watchers points a day and so far I've only used 6 - this is way less than on a normal day.

4:15pm and I still feel FANTASTIC. It's great to be able to eat and feel full. By this time I'm usually hungry again and craving bad foods. With so many points left I was able to eat a fantastic snack that usually wouldn't fit in my points budget.

SNACK: 1/4 cup of almonds (3 points)

I arrived home around 7pm and got to work on Dinner. I made Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu With Bok Choy or Baby Broccoli - click here to see the recipe http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/health/nutrition/16recipehealth.html?_r=2

This was a stretch in my cooking abilities but a great challenge - after a few minor burns from sizzling peanut oil and a small cut with a super sharp knife I managed to make a healthy dinner for myself. I was a bit weary of the tofu - the strange consistency gave me the creeps - but it turned out to be pretty good. I've decided that I don't care for Asian flavors and that's why I didn't LOVE this dinner. Chip thought it was delicious. See photos below.

DINNER:

Tofu Stir Fry (4 points per Weight Watcher's E Tools Recipe Builder)

1 Banana (2 points)

Pops Cereal (3 points)

1/2 Cup of Almond Milk (0 points)

At the end of the night I still had a few points left over but I was satisfied all day long. I would definitely eat a Vegan meal again - especially the Hummus/Veggie wrap. It was a great way to get my 5 servings of fruits and veggies in!

My friend, Kat, introduced me to Almond Milk - although it doesn't taste like milk it's quite good. I was struggling to get my calcium in and this did the trick! I look forward to putting it in my coffee and my fiber 1, even on days I'm not a Vegan :-)

This might blow y'all out of the water but I also found that my cravings were not as strong today. I knew what I could eat, stuck with it and it worked. I guess that's why I'm trying new things hun?

To follow up with a comment that was made. I do work-out. This week I've been waking up early and walking "the long way" to work from the PATH station. This consists of a 25-minute walk. Stay-tuned next Monday when I try a new circuit training program.