The Vegan Experiment

I want to start this post with some a disclaimer – we really did not do a very good job of achieving a nutrionally balanced vegan diet.  We discovered that it takes a lot more effort than we were willing to invest.  So, our experience is not really a fair commentary on a vegan lifestyle.  This is just a summary of our experience.  As a reminder, we decided to try one month of a vegan diet.  We chose February since it was the shortest month. 

Regarding the race...

The good news was that we had only been vegan for about a week, and that first week I put in the most effort toward nutrition.  Travelling was tough because it was a constant challenge to find food that meet the vegan criteria, let alone find on-the-go menu items that are good for pre-race fueling.  Incidentally, who knew that Taco Bell would be the fast food champion for vegans?

Both Jeff & I experienced a lack of energy during the race that could be attributed to the vegan diet.  I also noticed that my post-race recovery seemed to take longer.  I strongly suspect that this was due to a protein deficiency. 

 

Beyond the race...

Being vegan was much harder than I expected.  I don’t eat a lot of meat, but I do like my light dairy.  Milk was not a problem for me because I had already made the switch to almond milk, but I could not seem to find any non-dairy yogurt that I liked.

I started out trying to prepare meals, but this was hit or miss.  Why would I think that being vegan, I would suddenly become Betty Crocker?  I like to cook, but I don’t really have that much time to do it.  Our lifestyle resolves around convenience foods, which translates into vegan junk food.  By the way, did you know that there are now animal by-products in Oreos?  Who knows what type of chemicals are used to make the creamy middles, but they sure are tasty!

Dining out was particularly challenging.  We pretty much had to accept that we were not going to be ordering straight off the menu, and we had to find places where we could get solid answers on ingredients.  It is really hard to avoid dairy, whether it be milk, cheese, or butter.

Our energies levels were low for the entire month, which is what you would expect for people who are consistently failing to meet their nutritional needs.  We also found ourselves eating much more.  At the end of the day, I would be ravenous, so I would eat a lot of crap to feel satisfied.  I actually gained weight as a vegan.  Boo.

 

One of our best vegan dining experiences - the chef custom-created a meal for us!

After the first week, I was seized by a cheeseburger craving that only intensified for the rest of the month.  Did I indulge that craving as March rolled in?  You betcha!