Hello there!
It is day 14 of the October vegan challenge and I am surviving! I want to share with you what I have learned so far and how my body is reacting to this dietary switch. Being a normally heavy meat eater, it was not a completely smooth switch.
What have I learned?:
I have learned to adjust my expectations when it comes to the taste of vegan versions of dishes I normally like. Many of the vegan versions look and smell just like what I am used to, but the taste does not match. It’s like my brain and taste buds needs to adjust to not sensing what it normally does when it sees and smells these foods. Its an interesting mental game.
I have learned that when I eat the same portion size of food I am still hungry and looking for more. I underestimated how much I would have to make up for the less calories.
I have learned how dependent I am on dairy. Going into this, I thought dairy would be one of the easier foods to give up, until I realized that traces of dairy are in a lot of foods that I love. I miss having NYC bagels (which are egg washed), waffles at brunch, cheese and sour cream on my Mexican dishes, and so on. Even some healthy nutty snack bars have traces of milk in it and are off my list of snacks.
Where there any changes to my body?:
I have noticed that my eczema flare up is not as severe now that my diet is better. Usually I have a pretty significant eczema flare up when it switches from summer to fall and my arms, legs and abdomen gets covered in many large patches within a few days. It then is followed with patches on my back, arm pits and if I am eating horribly, my face. It then takes months for the scars to fade. But so far, my flare up has only been a few large spots on my arms and one medium sized patch on my abdomen. That I am ecstatic about!
I have noticed that I feel energized after my meals instead of full and sluggish. This is a great benefit while I am at work and have a long day left after lunch.
Expectations vs realities
I expected to shed the pounds quickly while being vegan, especially since I tried not to be too carb heavy most of the days. But in reality, I did not lose any weight, yet. If anything, I ripped yet another pair of my favorite old jeans in the thigh area just a week ago! Some things never change.
I expected for my stomach to go down after the first week or 2 and be on my way to a flatter tummy. I was not looking for miracles and washboard abs bud I did expect not to look so bloated and have my tummy hang over my pant waist anymore. But in reality, my stomach has not gone down one bit. That was a major bummer for me.
I expected a major boost in energy that all my vegan and vegetarian friends and blog posts have told me about. But aside from not feeling sluggish after eating, I do not notice an energy or focus increase.
What I made to eat this week
Vegan Creamy Lentil pasta
Ingredients:
12 oz Red Lentil Pasta
4.5 cups Vegetable broth
1 can diced tomatoes (canned)
1.5-2 cups whole spinach
Garlic, to taste (fresh is best, but powdered will suffice)
2 tablespoons Olive oil
4-5 tablespoons Vegan cream-cheese (optional– but I prefer it!)
Fresh basil, to taste (chopped)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Oregano, to taste (optional)
Directions:
Add all ingredients, minus the spinach and basil, into one pot and bring to a boil.
Once boiled, decrease the heat to a simmer for 20mins.
After 20mins, add the spinach leaves, basil and cream-cheese. Still in these ingredients until the cream-cheese is completely melted and thoroughly incorporated. 
The cream-cheese is option since the lentil pasta will give this dish a creamy constancy as well. This may take 1-2mins. By this time, the spinach will already be cooked.
Turn off heat and enjoy!
This dish satisfied my pasta craving without loading me up on the carbs. The pasta does get very soft since it is made from lentil flour so do not overcook this dish. If you try this dish, let me know how you like it!
Until next time!
With love,
CoCo with Love