Conclusions

Here we are at the end of the month and I frankly couldn't be happier. Although the meals were not nearly as unpleasant as I expected, they were just as difficult to find as I thought. Things like coffee with soy are good, and you can get used to them, but eventually you get sick of them, due to lack of variety. Seriously, I hope not to see an eggplant or soy again for a long while.

I am not against the vegan lifestyle, or the principles it espouses. However, it's not a choice I think anyone could reasonably make for the rest of their lives. It's easy to avoid any one of the things on a regular grocery list, such as red meat, fish, cheese, or honey. But all of them? Forever? Any vegetarian or vegan that I know personally (beyond casually) simply cannot maintain the rigors of a strict vegan diet all the time. It's why vegetarians eat eggs and dairy still, it's hard to the point of impossibility to eat vegan all the time without eating gross  cheese or yogurt substitutes. Yes, those are fine if they're all you had, but we have the real thing, you know? It's sort of like eating according to a gluten-free diet when you're not allergic (it's needlessly complicated).

At first, I felt a lot better because I was forced to eat less fatty, high salt foods and takeaway. But then I found other versions of these things to consume and I continued on my merry way. Craving snacks and foods with recognizable flavors, I definitely ate a variety of high salt and sugary foods, just looking for something to satisfy my cravings. And towards the very end, I felt a major drain of energy and vitality. So I don't think the lifestyle was particularly healthy in my case either.

Finally, I felt I had to be policing my thoughts and my food all the time, obsessively checking labels to make sure foods were vegan and finding to my surprise that many foods I though were safe were not, or had some secret dairy ingredient about which I didn't know. It was taxing just to try and find a grab and go lunch, and so I often resorted to eating the same thing over and over again until I was completely tired of it. I actually would grow stressed about what to eat, especially if i was tired or really hungry. I would be paralyzed by what felt like a lack of options and just grow crankier and more upset as my blood sugar tanked.

I recommend this diet to every single carnivore and omnivore on the planet. It's important to know and really experience what it's like without animal products in your diet or your life. I know I will work to reduce the amount of meat I consume in the coming days. Just not seven days a week.