So today is day 14 of my new way of eating; plant-based. So far, I am really enjoying it. I haven’t gone too far down the rabbit hole as I haven’t had any tofu yet. I have been focusing on eating lots of legumes, nuts, veggies, fruits, rice, lentils, quinoa and pasta. I made homemade lentil soup and it was delicious. I also did try a veggie burger which was surprisingly good, as well. My favorite thing about eating this way is the carbs. I am enjoying healthy carbs like fruit, whole wheat pita bread, and baked yams. Eating this way gives me a lot of energy and it’s quite tasty, too! The only negative thing about it so far is I had two days where I evidently had too much fiber and didn’t drink enough water and got really bloated and I was actually in pain. So now, I make sure to drink plenty of water and try to eat a little less cruciferous veggies each day. I think I will continue this journey. I am looking forward to learning to make new recipes. Furthermore, a vegan friend of mine and I are planning to meet for lunch at a vegan restaurant in a few weeks. I am looking forward to that experience as well since I have never been to one before.

After reading and hearing about the benefits of plant-based eating, I have decided to try it out myself. I don’t have any ethical reasons for doing so. My reasons are health and curiosity related. I am one of those people who loves learning about health and fitness. I am especially intrigued with nutrition related topics. I have tried several approaches to my own nutrition including diets that are high protein, low carb, low fat, and different combinations of these approaches. One approach that has always intrigued me was the vegan/vegetarian diet but that is also the one I have never tried. I come from a family of meat eaters. From the time I was a kid every meal was built around meat. If it didn’t include meat, it wasn’t really a complete meal in my world. But as I have learned, meat doesn’t have to be the star of the show. Some even advocate that meat is detrimental to your health and may lead to heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. I am not a nutritionist nor a medical professional so I am not suggesting that this is true or untrue. I am also not willing to go strictly vegetarian nor vegan because I am not willing to give up eggs and dairy at this point on my journey. So for me, I am just going to try a plant-based approach which means I am not eating meat but will continue to eat eggs, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products. I also don’t know how long I plan to do this yet. I think I will at least try it for a month to see how it goes. After that, I will decide if I want to continue. I have decided to start this plan tomorrow and today I did some food prepping for my lunches for the next two weeks.