Because, this blog, is a guest blog. I've asked my husband, Brad, to briefly recap his experience.
You see, for almost two years, I had been vegetarian; but my husband still ate meat. So when I went vegan, I asked if he'd try vegetarian. To that, he was pretty reluctant. But he stuck it out, and even pushed further.
This is his story, in his own words --
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As I type this it has been 32 days since I started the 30 day challenge of being a vegetarian while my wife became a vegan for 30 days. When she told me that she was going to try vegan for 30 days, I first thought there is no way I could do that, but I could at least try being vegetarian while she tried this. I wasn’t a person that ate a lot of meat to begin with, so I didn’t think it would be too hard for me.. but I knew I would miss some things like crispy bacon and hamburgers.
After a week or so I decided it would be easier to make the one meal that both of us could eat for dinner. This pretty much changed how I was eating the rest of my meals and so I decided to be vegan for the rest of the 30 days.
This was not an easy decision, as I love my dairy products; especially milk. There had been times where I could drink 4-5 gallons of milk a week by myself. Over the last year I had been trying to cut back to a couple gallons a week but I knew this was going to be the hardest thing to just give up and quit consuming it.
After the first week of eating only vegan foods, I realized it wasn’t really that hard to cut things out of my diet, and still enjoy what I was eating. I didn’t really miss the milk, cheese or eggs. I started using soy milk in my cereal and coffee in the morning.
One of the things that surprised me the most is how well I enjoyed what we were eating for dinner and other meals. Everything still had plenty of flavor.. Some things even tasted better. I think because it was fresh food with real flavor.
I think the hardest thing has been figuring out what I am going to take to work for lunch. I can no longer just grab some prepackaged meal or lunch meat. I actually have to plan what I am going to take and fix something the night before sometimes. Luckily, it's been easier since my coworkers have been fairly understanding. We recently had a cookout at work where they were going to fix hamburgers, hotdogs and potato salad. Our HR manager knew that I was trying this for the month and she actually went and bought black bean burgers just for me so I could still eat with them.
Given that, I'm assuming, you've read my wife's blogs up to this point.. none of this may sound too groundbreaking. But my background is a little different from my wife's.
To give you a little background on myself, I grew up in the country. Both my mom and dad came from farm families, and my dad farmed pretty much my whole life. My mom’s family had a dairy farm when she was growing up so that is evidently where my milk addiction came from. My dad grew up with his family growing crops and raising livestock.
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| Brad's mother with dairy cow. |
I lived and breathed farming growing up and still would frequently go back to help after I moved away from home.
I probably would be the last person most people would think would become a vegetarian; let alone a vegan. But that is where I am today, and where I plan to be for the rest of my life.. a vegan.
How did I come to this conclusion or decision you ask?
After eating this way for the past 30 days I have seen a definite change in myself, from the way I view food, to how I feel.
I have not been working out at all during this time and yet I have lost almost 10 pounds. I find myself not snacking as much as I used to throughout the day, and I have been not eating as much at meals because I am feeling fuller, quicker. I have more energy from the time I wake up til the time I get home from work. Basically, I've only seen positive results.
I am very interested to see what the next 30 days brings and if I notice more changes. I would recommend to anyone that they give this a try for 30 days and see what kind of changes you notice in yourself.
- Brad
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