Do you hear a repetitive dialog in your head going something like, “I know I should do [insert idea here], so maybe I’ll start [tomorrow, next week]…”  So something like, “I know I should stop eating donuts for breakfast, so maybe I’ll start eating healthy tomorrow.”  Or, perhaps something like, “I know I should work out more, so next week I’ll start using that gym membership that has been unused for the past three years.”  When I get in these ruts I always wonder what it is that has me stuck.  I honestly think it’s just a case of self sabotage being done subconsciously.  Maybe it all it takes is thinking about the situation from a slightly different perspective to get the ball rolling towards doing rather than wishing you had done it already.

The final day of the vegan week experiment is over.   As promised, it started humdrum but ended with some good experimentation and flare!

The fourth day of this experiment was one where I was really close to breaking it. Stress always requires release, and we want to fall back on our crutches.  That’s booze for some, drugs for others.  For me it’s food.  Combine that with some lack of preparation and I narrowly averted breaking the plan.  I didn’t though, and got the chance to try another new dinner option concocted by my friend.

Third day of the vegan experiment went off without a hitch.  Preparation and familiarity is the key, but ending off with the best vegan “burgers” I’ve made yet was perfect.

Day 2 started off and ended better than Day 1 did.  I was certainly a bit more prepared, but it was still a bit trying due to a heavily compressed schedule.  What I’m looking forward to is trying tomorrow’s new vegan burger recipe, but today’s food was certainly tasty nonetheless.

Maybe I didn’t pick the best day to start Vegan Week, but it is what it is.  I know I didn’t prepare enough for it which is going to make things ever more interesting through tomorrow.  Despite all the problems I actually got through mostly okay, minus one slip up….

I wanted to spell out what I’m modeling my vegan diet to look like for the next week, and what it will probably look like for the three months of the real experiment.  Just as in the other diet worlds there is some variety in terms of what should make a healthy vegan diet.  One thing that is constant across them is the absence of animal products.  No meat, no dairy, no honey will be found in any vegan diet.  That still leaves a lot of room for error, which requires a plan to avoid.

Many of us take supplements or eat foods to ensure better health.  Getting extra omega-3’s (a type of fatty acid) in our diet has been a common problem for people.  We are told to eat fish and certain foods high in omega-3’s, which actually also includes naturally raised and fed chicken and livestock products not just fish.  A way people can get around that is by taking fish oil capsules. According to this study however, you may be doing more harm than good by going this route if you aren’t careful about which manufacturer you are using.