Vegan Week: Day One

So, this week I'm going to conduct an experiment. I've always admired vegetarians and vegans for their willpower to voluntarily give up what is so delicious (read: bacon), but I started to wonder if I could do that too... So, here is my first experiment in eating: Vegan Week!

This week (from today, Monday, February 28th through Sunday, March 6th - excluding Tuesday night, when my dad is taking me out to dinner), I am going vegan, saying goodbye to everything I love about food (milk, butter, beef, ice cream, yogurt, eggs, chicken, honey, and BACON) to see if I can really do this.

So far, it seems to be going OK - breakfast consisted of bananas and peanut butter, without the glass of milk I usually have, but I didn't miss eggs or dairy too much. Granted, a part of this is because Val's breakfast selection is quite poor, but I'll call it a win.

Lunch was also easy. Passing up the greasy, fried Chicken Parmesan, I made a huge mixed green salad with cucumbers, chickpeas, and red peppers, topping it with some microwaved spinach, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms and drizzling it with olive oil and lemon. Not too shabby.

So far, I'm not missing much of my usual diet. I'm sure that will change when I smell the burgers and chicken quarters that are for dinner tonight, but so far so good!

Update: I survived dinner, but just barely. I was thinking about a garden burger, but they honestly looked too awful to even try, so I went with the garbanzo bean casserole (some sort of odd amalgamation of chickpeas, garbanzo beans, and carrots with a lot of seasoning), some steamed brown rice, and some sautéed zucchini, peppers, onions, and carrots. Add a little soy sauce and voilà! Not too horrible. Dessert was a peach and the day is done. All in all, not as bad as I thought it would be. My overwhelming impression right now is one of hunger. Granted, I probably didn't consume as many carbs as I should have, but I was hungry about 3 1/2 hours after lunch, which never happens... Maybe this feeling will go away as my body becomes adjusted?