A week on a vegan diet

I went into this week determined to stick to a vegan diet, but I was unsure what to expect. I was pescatarian for over five years and, even now, I tend to eat mostly vegetarian food when I’m cooking for myself. I’ve even been to a vegan restaurant before. But there was one thing I instantly knew I would struggle without: cheese. With some drinks nights on the horizon, how would I survive without cheese and carbs in those early hours? Stay tuned.

Day one went fairly smoothly. I was ready to face the challenge and went out food shopping. Seems pretty simple, right? Wrong. Turns out almost everything has milk powder or eggs in it. Any food branded ‘vegan’ is ridiculously expensive and the options are limited. While my friends chose from twenty different pizzas for dinner, I had to decide between three ready meals. These were all some variation of stew with rice and cost the same amount for one portion as the pizzas did for three.

I learnt three lessons while food shopping. Number one: if going on a vegan diet, don’t look for the vegan branded stuff. Two: know that the chances are you’ll have to cook almost everything yourself, because processed products are rarely vegan. On a more positive note, three: Indian food is generally a good place to start – Sainsbury’s samosas were vegan!

Just as I went to get the bottle out of the fridge, I was met with my Dad’s smug face. Oh yes. Apparently not all wine is vegan

Despite a more challenging food shop than normal, it was much easier to stick to being vegan once I had more of a variety of things I could eat at home. I imagine that with time, once your cupboards are stocked with vegan alternatives and essentials, it would be much less difficult. Unfortunately, I was vegan for a week at home, where three other people were still eating animal products. This meant every time I went to grab something from the fridge, or took out an item I would normally not cast a second glance at, I had to examine the ingredients list.

After watching my family devour some mustard chicken while I ate a sweet potato burger (nice but a bit dry), I decided I deserved a glass of wine to help me through the vegan adjustment period. Just as I went to get the bottle out of the fridge, I was met with my Dad’s smug face. Oh yes. Apparently not all wine is vegan. Something to do with the ‘fining agents’ wine can be clarified with. Guess I’ll be hitting the hard stuff this week.

One factor a lot of people discuss when it comes to veganism is how the diet works if you’re a regular gym-goer or into sports. How can you eat the right amount of protein? Do your muscles take longer to repair? I can’t say that I gave veganism the proper opportunity here, because I went to the gym for the first time in about two months and doing circuits almost killed me off. I know that I can get a bit sore after an intense workout, and the time off from working out probably made this worse, but I would say that I felt significantly sorer than I usually do after the gym. I can’t say for certain that this was the vegan diet, however it is something to consider.

I was left feeling a bit limited. I didn’t have a lot of options and I was getting a bit sick of vegetables

On Thursday, I went out for lunch with some friends. Fortunately, we went somewhere where I knew there was a vegan option and had actually opted for it out of choice before. It’s a delicious vegan curry, coconut-y with chickpeas and mushrooms and it comes with pickled vegetables. However, I found this usually tasty dish somewhat marred by the fact that I had to have it. Eating it without really choosing it put a bit of a damper on the situation.

I wouldn’t say that eating vegan food was particularly horrific. I didn’t dislike anything I ate – almost everything was stuff I would eat anyway. It’s just that I was left feeling a bit limited. I didn’t have a lot of options and I was getting a bit sick of vegetables. So, to cheer myself up, I went onto Pinterest and decided to make myself some vegan banana pancakes for my final breakfast. They were incredibly easy to make (as all pancakes should be) and honestly, they tasted amazing. I don’t doubt that I’ll make them again moving forward, despite not becoming vegan.

I’m not going to lie, there were times when I took some cheese out of the fridge and stared at it, wondering why I decided to do this when everyone else was having Maltesers, and mayo on their chips

So, I can safely say that I ate some pretty good food this week as a vegan and that most of the things I did eat were not any different from a normal day for me. It just involved more label checking and elements where cost was a significant factor. I did enjoy the week, but I don’t think that veganism is for me. It’s expensive, and sticking to a vegan diet is not something that is possible for people with medical issues or already limited dietary restrictions.

Is it hard? I’m not going to lie, there were times when I took some cheese out of the fridge and stared at it, wondering why I decided to do this when everyone else was having Maltesers, and mayo on their chips. Despite this, by the end of the week, I was used to checking labels and cutting out a lot of processed food. It definitely takes some adjusting, but in many ways, it was much easier than I expected.