30 Day Vegan Challenge: Be a Vegan for 30 Days

Inspired by Matt Cutts and his 30 Days Challenge TED Talk, I decided to go on a 30 day adventure as a vegan for 30 days.

Those of you who know my typical diet would think that I will certainly fail. However, for the past 9 days, I’ve been 100% vegan and as of this morning, I’m down 10.2lbs. So, it seems reasonable that I could drop 30 pounds in 30 days, which is my goal.

Actually, I’m more eating like a “Veganazi”. Because, I’ve had no meat or dairy… but, I’ve also had no soda, no sweets or any processed foods. I’m doing it to retrain my body and flush the cholesterol out of my system… and to drop some lbs.

Eating vegan for 30 days is more of a discipline mindset and taking control over food, instead of the other way around. I’m not doing it because I think animals should not be eaten. I love animals. They are delicious… especially bacon! But, I work at a computer desk all day, so I had to stop mindlessly “fog eating” and “storm eating”.

In Brooke Castillo’s book, “If I’m So Smart, Why Can’t I Lose Weight?”, she outlines the 4 Types of Eating:

1. Fuel – Eating what the body needs to do its work. Fuel eating should be done 90% of the time for maximum health
2. Joy – Eating what we love, no substitutes. Nom. Nom. Nom. We eat for joy, maybe ten percent of the time. Nom.
3. Fog – Mindless eating like a whole bag of Cheetos while watching TV. We don’t ever want to fog eat.
4. Storm – Basically a binge eat. We never want to storm eat.

All of the meals that I’ve had so far, have been beyond delicious. I’ve had a few fajita veggie burrito bowls at Chipotle. I’ve eat plenty of taco salads. I’ve had a “Veggie Delight” from Subway. In the mornings, I’ve been drinking a juice smoothie or a “Mean Green Juice“. Also, throughout the past 9 days, I’ve made a few “Acai Bowls”, which are unbelievably delish. Nom x 3.

My biggest challenge to this vegan challenge was yesterday at the local Kansas City area amusement park, World’s of Fun, all day with my children. It was tough to be in a place for 11 hours with nothing but junk food! Luckily, there was a Panda Express in the park, where I got some vegetarian noodles and spring rolls.

What 30 day challenge would YOU like to start? Let me know in the comments below!