The [Almost] End of My Vegan Journey

Well I have until Monday until my one month vegan journey is over. I have to say, it was pretty intense and crazy. Here are some things that made highlights in my journey:

• -Soy sauce became my best friend. Everything was bland without it
• Tabasco sauce was my lifesaver. I can't live without spice.
• Granola bars saved me from fainting of hunger.
• I experienced many days where I felt dizzy with hunger.
• I made vegan pasta! The sauce had tofu, red onions, and mushrooms in it. Weird but tastes great to me.
• I had vegan soup where apples were part of the spices. YUM!
• Being vegan means that I crave for crazy things and dream up of meat fests all the time.
• As a vegan, you're considered weird/a freak in the mainstream culture of meat eaters.
• A friend asked me if I felt any different due to eating vegan. I realized that I do. I feel a lot more energized. For instance, I was okay with waking up at 5 in the morning in order to go to clinical duty.
• Vegan ham was in my every meal.
• I devour fruits everyday. My favorite pick of the month? Green apples with peanut butter.
• The best thing I ate vegan was vegan pizza, documented in this post.
• Going to BBQs is depressing when you can't eat a thing.
• I lost a lot of weight. Then tried to re-gain my normal weight status by eating more.

So that's really it. Highlights of my journey. I know that in previous posts, I've said that I'll never eat vegan. It's true. I won't ever eat vegan permanently but that doesn't mean that this challenge DID NOT change the way I'm going to eat forever. It will change my eating habits. For one thing, I think once a week, I'll eat a vegan meal. Or go a day being vegan. This challenge has made me realize that I can go without chicken, beef, pork, and even my beloved seafood. Even if I'm not eating vegan permanently, decreasing my consumption of meats and other animal by-products means I'm taking steps to creating a difference.

Another thing: I saw an ad on the train yesterday as I was heading home. I thought it'd be interesting to share.

Bigger cages won't end their suffering. New laws won't protect them. Your donations won't save them. The only way to end animal suffering is....TO EAT VEGAN.

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I got a bunch of anonymous questions regarding my challenge of eating vegan and my end of journey. I answered most of them in this post but here's one I haven't answered yet:

What do you recommend for a person who wants to take on the same vegan challenge as you? Should I take extra vitamins just in case or eat extra? 

Since my vegan challenge was only for a month, I didn't think that it would effect my health so much that I felt the need to take vitamins. I know that permanent vegans or vegetarians do have to, in order to maintain a healthy body. Since this  challenge was very short, all I did was eat extra. I do take calcium supplements though, even prior to committing to this challenge. That's because I need the calcium since I'm lactose intolerant. Of course, if anyone does a vegan challenge and they already take daily supplements or vitamins, they shouldn't change that when they start to eat vegan.

I'm working on thinking up whether or not I'll do a challenge in August or wait until September. I'm also still working on which challenge I should commit to next! Thanks for reading!