I have a week left of the Vegan Challenge and I have mixed feelings, to say the least. I have really enjoyed the challenge and it has made me way more aware of what I am eating but I have to be honest, I have not done the best job at maintaining a complete Vegan lifestyle. It is really hard.
Everything has milk or eggs in it. Unless you really plan ahead, you will end up eating a diet full of carbs, and even then you might not be able to eat certain things. For example, a lot of bread has eggs in it, granola almost always has honey in it (which I didn’t realize was not allowed on a Vegan lifestyle until recently – oops :/) I am feeling kind of guilty because I want to be more strict and stick to the diet, but I am really having a hard time. I have not had any meat or animal products but I have slipped up and ate food with diary, honey and occasionally eggs. Most of the time, I do not realize it until after I ate it.
I went out to breakfast with my aunt and uncle this morning to Crows Bakery Cafe, which makes bread, pastries, eggs, etc. and I literally could not order anything on the menu. They did not have fresh fruit (which was my plan), the oatmeal was cooked in milked and they did not have soy milk so I got homemade whole wheat toast. For all I know, the bread was cooked with eggs. Regardless, I took the chance and ordered the toast with peanut butter because butter or cream cheese are off limits. But… the toast came with PB and butter. I wasn’t going to fight it and send it back, I mean it’s just toast after all, but I was still frustrated and annoyed and I sat there for a couple minutes deciding whether I should eat it or not. In the end, I ate it. But I always have a wave of guilt rush through my body when I cheat on the Vegan Challenge.
This challenge has been difficult especially with my busy schedule, going to VT every weekend and traveling for work. Eating out or going over to people’s houses makes it hard to control what is in the food. I have found it is important to make the people around you aware of your diet choices so they can try to accommodate you, to the best of their abilities, and even that doesn’t always work. The best I can do is try and that is what I have been doing. I have one week left and it’s going to be busy (we have to pack up our apartment and get ready to move to Boston!), but I am going to try really hard to finish strong and be a good Vegan!!
