It’s hard to believe, but we have accomplished 2 weeks of completely vegan eating with daily juicing, and we haven’t dropped dead yet!  Going into this I wasn’t sure about our ability to be completely vegan.  I figured that we would likely cheat at least a little, but we haven’t.  Tonight, we will weigh in and see if we have measurable results.

I want to explain our eating plan.  Vegan means no animal food sources of any kind.  We do not eat any meat, dairy or eggs.  What is the reason for this? – you may ask.  Our bodies need cholesterol.  Our bodies produce the cholesterol that we need.  The ONLY other source of cholesterol is from animal products.  Too much cholesterol can cause issues with the heart and circulatory system.  I’m not opposed to eating meat, but the average American eats too much meat.  We are designed to be herbivores, not carnivores. Our bodies can handle eating meat, but we do damage when we eat too much of it.  I think of Biblical times – meat was reserved for celebrations or feasts, not every day.  We know that Jesus ate fish at times. 

We are also trying to stick with whole foods.  This means nothing processed.  Whole grains only, when it comes to bread, rice or pasta.  We are eating the vast majority of our veggies and fruit raw.  When you cook or freeze fruit and veggies you kill the enzymes.  This is the living part of the produce.  When you see your fruit and veggies rot, or go bad, this is because this living entity is, or has, died.  We are living human beings; we need living enzymes for optimal health.  

We also recognize that we are human and will make mistakes.  We have had days where we wanted to eat our usual way of eating and this drive is quite strong.  I liken it to an alcoholic who just wants a taste of alcohol to ease the craving. On Sunday when we ate comfort food: Hannah ate a portobello mushroom sandwich, Tiff ate a buffalo tofu sandwich that looks like a buffalo chicken sandwich, and I ate fried tofu that looks like chicken fried steak.  These meals were completely vegan.  There were no animal products of any kind in our food.  I was surprised how much it tasted like the real thing, but it wasn’t.  However, there was almost no nutrition in that meal – except for Hannah’s as she had a side salad.  The goal of our eating plan is to get as much nutrition in our bodies as possible. We want our bodies to heal from disease, not just be tastefully satisfied.  Later that day we ate very healthy salads to try to make up for the lack of nutrition in our lunch. 

My sister pointed out that us eating Chipotle was throwing her off in regard to our eating plan.  I have always viewed eating at Chipotle as a healthier option, and I still do.  She is remembering the days when I got a chicken filled burrito and the tortilla is made up of white flour. When I eat Chipotle now it is a bowl, not on a tortilla.  I use the brown rice, not the white rice.  I use only the black beans as my protein, not the brown beans as they are cooked with bacon. I use the fajita veggies and here is the only questionable choice – I have talked with the Chipotle people and the oils they use to cook the veggies is vegetable oil, but they use quite a bit of it.  Our plan calls for minimal-to-no oils in/on our food.  When I choose to eat at Chipotle it’s usually just because I don’t want to prep and cook food myself – I take a night off from cooking.  It’s a convenience food.

Day 14 is done, day 15 is on the way.  “I could never go vegan, said almost every vegan before going vegan” – anonymous.