BeetEater.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Happy Veganniversary, BeetEater!
It was one year ago last week that I, your humble servant the BeetEater, and my dear companion Mr. T, decided to participate in an experiment. We decided that for 3 weeks, we would try to adhere to a strictly vegan and oil-free diet and then assess how we felt on the other end. I have been a vegetarian since about 1994 (childhood), but veganism had been a lifestyle goal of mine for many years. Although I’d dallied with limiting the diary and eggs in my diet, cutting them out for good had always intimidated me. After reading this very helpful article about losing weight on a vegan diet, we finally talked ourselves into 3-week vegan trial period might help us cut back on unhealthful foods. I think we thought of it as a sort of “cleanse” that would help us reduce or limit unhealthful foods in the future. We started on August 22 of 2016, and we planned to return to a more “normal” vegetarian diet on September 12th.
We had no idea that after this 3-week experiment, we would be completely hooked. While the first week of learning how to cook again was tricky, the second week was much easier. By week 3, we felt incredible, we were pros in the kitchen, and we had absolutely no desire to return to our old ways. I dropped nearly 15 pounds by the end of the 3-week trial, and yet the food I was cooking had never tasted better. This experiment and the skills I learned in the kitchen during that time jump-started something within me that made me excited about cooking again, and it reminded me how delicious food could be, especially when it’s fresh, lean, homemade, and healthy.
I don’t know if we would have ever had the courage to change our diets outside of the context of a “trial,” or a “cleanse.” The idea of saying goodbye to dairy and eggs for the rest of your life is a much taller order than giving up dairy and eggs for a few measly weeks. I think it was the fear of commitment that was holding us back all along, but once we felt confident that we could be healthy, happy, and satiated without eggs and dairy, we finally felt comfortable eschewing them permanently, and we never looked back.
If you’re considering giving the 3-Week Vegan Trial a go, here are…
10 Pro Tips for Making a 3-Week Vegan Experiment a Success!
- Be Prepared. Decide when you want to begin your experiment, and mark it on your calendar, preferably a couple of weeks in advance. Make a list of a few vegan meals that you know you like and can prepare easily on weeknights. Stock your cupboards with a few key ingredients (raw cashews, nutritional yeast, sweet potatoes, vegan pasta, canned beans) that you will need when you’re craving dairy and eggs. The day before you begin, shop for plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, hummus, tofu, vegan mayo and other filling things that will keep you satisfied during the dark-days of that difficult first week. You want to avoid breaking down and ordering a pizza because “there’s nothing in the fridge!”
- Keep An Eye on Nutrition. You may want to get a blood test before your 3-Week Experiment so you have a baseline for comparison after the trial is over. Even if your a meat-eater, you are most likely a little bit deficient in B-12 and Vitamin D (most people in industrialized nations are). Check your blood lipids too, and ask your doctor for advice about what supplements you should be taking on a vegan diet. They will most likely recommend a good B-12 supplement, Vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids. Dr. BeetEater is not an accredited physician, so please follow the advice of your primary care doctor!!
- Spring for a Good Blender. Get a good one that is high-powered and can completely liquify nuts. This is how you’re going to substitute your cheesy sauces and creamy soups and salad dressings in your diet while you’re learning to love veggies and grains again. A Vitamix 5200 has a 2.2 horsepower motor, but you don’t have to spend that much money. Comb the market for inexpensive blenders with 2 or more horsepower motors.
- Learn How to Cook with Raw Cashews. This is where you can put your blender to work. Blend 1 cup of raw cashews and 3 cups of water in a high-power blender, and voila! You have heavy cream! Add it to soups, sauces, or anything that you want to be rich and velvety. Cashews are not fat-free, but they’re a heck of a lot more lean than real heavy cream. One cup of cashew cream has about 150 calories, compared to 821 calories in one cup of heavy cream. You do the math on which is healthier. But be forewarned, they are NOT cheap! I have done extensive research on good prices for bulk raw cashews, and these cashews from Amazon seem to be the best price around at about $7.99/lb and free shipping. Note: these are not organic. The best price I have found online for organic cashews is this 5-lb bag from Sincerely Nuts, which works out to about 11.80 a bag. If your local grocery has a bulk food section, anything under $10/lb is a pretty good price for organic cashews.
- Keep Something Quick On-Hand. At. All. Times. Miyoko Schinner’s Well-Crafted Macaroni and Cheese Mix was a godsend for me. Occasionally on meal-prep days, I’ll pop my dry-blade into my blender and mix up a quadruple-batch of this stuff (just the dry ingredients) and store it in a mason jar in my pantry. Then, on days when I just can’t figure out what to eat, I can heat up 1/3 cup of the dry mix with 1 cup of plant-based milk and a box of cooked pasta, and I’ve got Mac and Cheese. It’s just as fast as any store-bought blue-box, and it’s ten times as delicious and creamy. This mix is truly a game-changer. Don’t forget to re-stock when you run out! You’ll need it to get through your experiment.
- Be Strict. Especially when you’re doing your prep shopping. This is another tip I learned from the PCRM article I mentioned above. “[Being strict] is easier than teasing yourself with small amounts of the foods you are trying to leave behind.” This is so true. Read every label. You’re not going to learn any new skills by fudging it or cheating a little every day. No milk in your coffee! If you’re a coffee drinker and don’t have a nut allergy, spring for the Califia Farms Unsweetened Almond Milk and thank me later. It’s a little more expensive than Silk or other plant-based varieties, but I haven’t found a better coffee creamer, and it will keep you from cheating. As you grow more experienced with vegan products, definitely experiment with other brands and find one that works for your budget, but while you’re new, make it easy on yourself. DON’T CHEAT! IT’S ONLY 3 WEEKS! That being said, be kind to yourself if you make a mistake. If you have a momentary lapse of judgment, or you forget to check a label, it’s not the end of the world. You don’t have to restart the 3-weeks again from the beginning! Just jump back on the wagon and keep going. This experiment is about learning new skills, and that includes learning from your mistakes.
- Meal Plan/Food Prep. Knowing what restaurant food to order is a whole other skill that new vegans have to learn. For now, just keep it simple. Cook your meals at home, where you’ll know exactly what’s going in them. If you can, think of 2-3 meals each week that you can prepare in bulk on Sunday, then keep them portioned out in the fridge or freezer for easy grab-and-go work lunches or heat-and-eat dinners. This is the best way to keep eating homemade foods, even when you’re exhausted from work, and have no patience for cooking. Learning to do this will serve you well after the trial too, even if you decide that veganism is not right for you.
- Look At Food Porn. But make sure it’s the right kind of food porn. Browse the web for vegan bloggers that make absolutely irresistible vegan foods. Some of my favorites are Hot for Food, Mary’s Test Kitchen, and Cooking With Plants, but find your own favorites and follow them obsessively. And, ahem, don’t forget about all the great recipes on BeetEater.com! You’ll find that the more you salivate over these amazing vegan dishes, the less you’ll crave cheesy junk food. Train your brain to recognize how delicious low-oil vegan food can be!
- Find a Good Veggie-Based Broth. You’ll use this for flavoring your grains, beans, and seitan, as a base for sauces and soups, or as a marinade for tofu. As long as it’s plant-based, just find something that you like the taste of and keep it on-hand. It’s amazing how a simple pot of quinoa can be elevated to a delicious meal centerpiece just by adding some bullion cubes to the boiling water. Just keep an eye out for how much sodium your favorite broth has and try not to overdo it. Remember: good food is food with flavor, so live a little while you’re trying to learn some new cooking skills. One of my favorite boullion powders is made by Orrington Farms. They make a vegetable bullion powder, as well as vegan chicken, ham, and beef-flavored boullion powders, and they’re delicious. I also love the Better Than Boullion vegetable base. They also have wonder “No-Chicken” and “No-Beef” bases.
- Learn to Improvise. This is more of an advanced-level skill, but the hope is that by the end of your trial you have learned how to make a filling, satisfying and healthy meal without having to think too hard about it. A great mantra for coming up with a healthful vegan dinner: A Green, A Bean, and a Grain. Any combination like this should fill you up and be a fairly balanced, healthful meal. Whatever you have on hand should work – Kidney Beans, Quinioa and Kale? A commendable meal. Black-Eyed Peas, Brown Rice, and Broccoli? Beneficial like a boss. And don’t be afraid to experiment. Love grandma’s Chicken à la King recipe? Take a stab at vegan-izing it with some homemade seitan chicken and cashew cream based sauce. If you like it, it’s a win! But if it doesn’t turn out so hot, cut yourself some slack and try something else. You’re new at this! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you feel confident that you’ll never go hungry, cooking healthfully will be easy for you by the end of this experience.
Go forth, Fellow BeetEaters! Give the 3-Week Vegan Experiment a try! If you follow my pro tips, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to make it a success.