Experimentation

Last month, Rob and I took on a new challenge. Inspired by a friend who was doing a cleanse, we devised a little “cleanse” of our own. Ours didn’t involve cutting calories or relying on any special tonics, shakes or supplements. In fact, we could eat as much as we wanted. It was quite simple really. No meat. No dairy. No gluten. No processed or refined anything. No alcohol. And for me (though not Rob), no caffeine. We were going vegan (plus) for a week.

Why were we doing it? Good question. Mostly I think because we like a healthy challenge. We like a little bit of suffering to make us feel alive. And we were just plain curious. Lots of people swear that even if you’re not technically lactose intolerant or allergic to gluten, that they’re still tough for the body to process and can lead to myriad not-niceties, everything from bloating to acne. So, while neither of us was ever aware of any issues, we were curious to see if we felt any different after a week without.

To kick things off, I did some preparatory cooking. I made a big pot of quinoa porridge, and a big pot of my Antioxidant Bomb Vegetable Soup, (recipes coming soon) and put single servings of each in containers to bring to work. Breakfasts weren’t too bad. I wasn’t feeling very deprived as I ate my quinoa porridge, with a handful of dried fruit and soy milk. It was both filling and tasty. My morning green tea did get somewhat of a downgrade though, as I switched to a decaf green tea kombucha blend, and had to forego the generous squeeze of honey I typically use. Still, not awful.

Lunch was somewhat more challenging. I love my vegetable soup, but missed having a grainy hunk of something glutenous on the side to soak up those last drops of broth. My organic red grapes were good, but not quite as satisfying. Afternoon snacks were rather torturous. No sweets, no baked goods, no treats. Carrots and hummus.

Dinner wasn’t too bad, but definitely required some creativity. Many of the vegetarian recipes I found involved wraps or flour or eggs or yogurt, all things off limits for us. The first night I made a white bean soup with rosemary (and no parmesan, even though the recipe teasingly called for it), and served it with a salad. It was good, but given that Rob and I are both athletes accustomed to a generous intake of protein at each meal, we polished off the whole pot, meant for 4-6 people, in one sitting. The next nights included a black bean chili, vegan burgers with sweet potato fries, tempeh and vegetable stir fry and, most interestingly, a West African Groundnut Stew. I added a package of extra firm tofu for some extra protein power. It was a surprisingly delicious success!

So, overall, how did the week go? How did we feel? Did it change our lives forever? Well, by the end of the first day I was verging on a migraine. I think my daily cup of green tea left me more accustomed to caffeine than I’d realized or hoped, so I’ve since switched to decaf green tea permanently. As for everything else…well…I was kind of miserable. I really did feel deprived and sad and unsatisfied (especially in the first couple days). I could have done the vegetarian bit pretty easily, it was going without dairy and gluten that presented the true hardship. Dairy and/or gluten are in EVERYTHING. Everything good at least… But, I’m glad we did it. I’m glad that, when I wanted to throw in the towel with all of my being on the second day, we didn’t. It proved that it was possible. It made us more aware of alternate options. It broadened our vegan horizons. And at the end of the week I was feeling pretty “streamlined.”

So, what did we do to celebrate our accomplishment? We enjoyed our Valentine’s Day dinner at a fabulous local vegetarian restaurant, Leaf, and capped it off with a well deserved glass of wine.