It's been about a month since Dan first started making some vegan changes to his diet. When we started the vegan project we decided to just take it slow. Instead of Dan just completely changing everything over night. In my post last week I talked about going grocery shopping with Dan and shared a video of him trying his first vegan sandwich. You can see that post HERE if you missed it. Our grocery trip happened around Easter weekend. About a week later I received an email from Dan updating me on his progress. I can't put into words how happy I was the entire time I was reading it! Now I would like to share it with you...
Hello Jess,
The recent changes I've made to my diet are working really well so far. :) This morning I weighed in at 173 lbs, which is the lowest in many, many years. It was around 178 when you were here. For the last two years I've been around 185, and then before that I was over 200.
One thing I've really been enjoying is Spinach Leaves. I bought a medium size container the other day just for the hell of it, and I've been just eating the leaves non-stop. They are really a great treat to munch on. I started with one leaf, and would just continue eating them. For some reason I always thought spinach had a very different taste, maybe like kale. I didn't really like the kale I tried, but I'm really happy about the spinach. I just can't believe I've never tried it before.
I haven't had any meat or dairy products that I am aware of since the day before we all went to the zoo, March 29th. The night before we all got together, I had two chicken sandwiches from Chick-Fil-A on my way home. But since my PB & J sandwiches at the zoo, I've done extremely well. I have even been giving food to my parents that I no longer have the desire to eat. Foods include a pound of butter, some of that shredded cheese I showed you, soup requiring milk, that large jug of Hawaiian Punch, powder (sugar) to make Iced Tea, and probably a couple other things. I'm going to watch that movie you let me borrow, after I return from my vacation. (Peaceable Kingdom) I did watch Vegucated last week. :)
When I visited my parents last weekend, I just brought my own food. I ate the rest of the vegan pizza we had cooked together. And yesterday, I packed strawberries, pistachios, and a non-meat sandwich. Things THEY were eating included birthday cake for my nephew, steak hoagies, and pizza. Back when I hung out with you a year ago when you became vegan, I remember you saying how certain foods would make you sick just looking at them. At the time, it was hard for me to fully understand because I was still eating those foods. When my mom offered me cake, and those other foods, I just told her, "I'm good", and "I brought something". If you looked in their refrigerator, it's twice as bad as mine was. I've eliminated almost all the crap from my home. I did have 2 Sprites today, because I don't want to waste them. But, I'm positive I won't buy any more. I have 5 left. There are a couple other bad foods left. Most I've given to my parents. I don't want any new food that is unhealthy coming in my house.
There are several aisles I won't even need to go down any more at the grocery store. All the bad snacks, cheeses, and sugars I don't want a part of right now. Only a week or so in, I feel very comfortable being able to make these changes last. Of course time will tell, but I'm feeling really good about it, and you know that's not always an easy thing for me. I did have to work late two nights last week, but I stopped at Subway and got the foot-long Veggie Delight on Wheat. No cheese or mayo. I had lettuce, tomato, pickles, spinach, olives, and oregano. When I've gotten home earlier, I've been eating those Boca spicy Chick'n sandwiches. I was shocked at how much I LOVE them! I didn't try those when you were here, but those are so awesome. I can't believe it's not real chicken. It made me so happy. I put a little of the organic ketchup on one, and also ate one with spinach. I'm sure I'll try different toppings in the future. I already had to buy another box of those...actually 3 more boxes so they would last! I bought some healthy wheat buns for those sandwiches. I already know I can eat those instead of Chick-Fil-A. They are just as good.
It's been going great so far. No more turkey sandwiches in my lunchbox for work! And no more Cheez-It crackers. I drank only water for lunch last week, and like I mentioned, I just have a few Sprites left til those are gone. My vacation will be interesting. I think I will have to make a few exceptions, basically because I had the trip planned for a couple months. I may have *some* bad foods, but not everything. I will stop at the grocery store and mix in some good things. But, I know when I get back I'm gonna stick to my healthy foods, so that's good. Oh yeah, those Snicker Doodle cookies. I said I would mail them to you if I didn't like them. Haha! Well, you are not getting them!!! Those are excellent too. I'll eat two or three as a treat. Much better than times I'd be on the computer eating 8 or 10 chocolate cookies just because they were convenient.
Also today, I made my first pizza. It turned out alright for my first one, but there are some changes I need to make. It ended up a bit runny, so I need to eliminate a bit of the water so it cooks better. But the toppings worked out well and I ate just over half of it. So, I'm sure I'll get better at it over time. When I was making the "cheese" with the cashews, I started thinking that was probably the most complex thing I'd ever cooked in my life. It's something simple to start out with, and I can learn from my mistakes. I didn't heat up the tomato sauce, so that's something I need to do next time. That's why it was so watery I think. I did buy a blender ($30), and a rice cooker from Target ($40). I used the blender to chop up the cashews, and that's probably the first time in my life I've ever used one! Hopefully I can make some rice this week. Looking forward to trying that out.
This has all been very exciting so far. I will save a few bucks from eating at Chick-Fil-A once a week. It will take a little while getting used to buying ingredients instead of everything already made. If I can get back to the grocery store next time when it's not so busy, it will be even better. I will keep you updated so you've got stuff to use for the blog whenever you decide to do that. I just wanted to be as thorough as I could so you've got enough for your next update. Right now, I am very optimistic. Looking in other peoples carts and seeing the crap just makes me want to eliminate the bad stuff immediately.
Dan
I am so proud of Dan's progress so far! I was pleasantly surprised at how easily he changed over. He was able to find things right off the bat that he loved. I couldn't believe he had already cooked the pizza himself. I hadn't even gave him the recipe yet, he got if off my blog! My next step is to get some recipes together for him. He mentioned how he is going to be watching the movie Peaceable Kingdom. I haven't done an actual post about the film here on the blog yet. I think the only way you can watch it is by purchasing it from their website. It's a film about the farming industry. Probably the hardest thing I have ever watched in my entire life. I am curious to see how Dan handles watching it. It's very graphic, real and honest. A lot of things that most people wouldn't dare watch. I am so thankful that Dan is being as BRAVE as he is.
Oh that was such a pleasure to read Dan's note. It's a joy to read other people sharing their progress as they learn and adopt a healthy cruelty free diet. Thanks for sharing it, Dan and Jessie! And man do those tacos look good. We make some mean (mean = good, in this case) tacos here. Tacos are my favorite meal but the great thing is how easy they are to make vegan. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Aubrey! Dan is doing such a great job. Tacos have always been a favorite of mine. It's nice that even being vegan you don't have to give them up. You just change them! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's been so fun to read about Dan's journey and to hear his thoughts on all of it. It's amazing how hard we think something will be and sometimes it just takes trying it to realize that we can do it. I haven't gone vegetarian but I have eliminated a lot of 'bad' food from our diets. I relate to Dan when he says that there are aisles in the grocery store that you just don't go down anymore. I also relate to the fact that when I look at some foods that I used to eat, they make me sick just thinking about it. This project is very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim! I really hoped that by me doing this it would be inspiring to others. When Dan and I first started talking about it he was so nervous. He had second thoughts about even trying. Once I suggested foods for him and then took him to the store he realized it wasn't as hard as he thought it was going to be. :) I look forward to seeing how he did on his vacation. I know he probably ate meat, because he loves his In-N-Out Burger out in California. hahaha Thanks for following along!
DeleteWOW! What a fantastic update :) It is so fun reading about Dan's experience and I love that he is finding so much success. I also wanted to point out how much HEALTHIER Dan looks in this photo compared to the other ones we've seen from the earlier posts. When I went vegan, I never thought I had that 'vegan glow' but look at Dan--he totally has it!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I love that you are doing this on your blog; just imagine how many people you are inspiring.
Thanks Melissa. Your comment means a lot to me! I am sure Dan will like it as well. :) I pretty much keep my blog to inspire people. Even if I never meet them or even know that I did,...it's worth it.
DeleteYAY DAN! He is doing so great. I wonder if he will end up staying vegan. Those tacos look amazing.
ReplyDeleteI have high hopes that Dan will stay vegan. Maybe break his diet from time to time as a treat, which I've heard some vegans do. I guess it depends on how your view are about animals. For me, just the smell of dairy products or seeing meat makes my stomach turn. I miss silly things like goldfish crackers and gummy worms. Gummy worms are probably vegan, just not healthy. hahaha
DeleteWow! Great job to Dan! That is amazing that he is finding it so easy! I have been thinking about it a lot lately. But I am just not quite there YET. My husband would also hate it. Hahaha. But, to let you know, it's been on my mind. :) I am so glad Dan is having a great time with this, and a MONTH! That's so great! Soon it will be ingrained!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are at least thinking about it. The food really is awesome once you find recipes that work for your hubby and you. There are so many different options out there it's amazing. Plus, you can always just eat vegan sometimes, it doesn't have to be everyday. When we decided to do it we made the decision to just go cold turkey and dive head first into it. That worked for us. I think most people go slow and think about it for awhile. Dan went pretty fast which actually surprised me, but in a good way of course. :)
DeleteDan is doing SO good for a first timer and I am so glad that he is loving most of what you have suggested him, and that he is finding it easy to transition over!
ReplyDeleteWow, he's doing so well! Seems like he's going to stick with it ;) The only thing I've implemented the last few weeks is carrying around a reusable bag. I don't accept plastic bags anymore. Also, we eat spaghetti every monday. I now make my own sauce without meat (my parents still eat it with meat). So now I only eat meat two times a week anymore. Huge progress :D xo
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! Eating less meat is a huge step and way better then what most people are doing. I ate meat everyday before going vegan. Also, using reusable bags is HUGE. I am proud of you. :)
Delete