We’re Going Vegan
Kara and I spent some time in LA last week for a conference. Great to get out of this heat for awhile (heat index has been regularly in the triple digits in Kentucky).
And great to catch up with some friends who we only get to see a few times each year at these conferences. I also spoke at the conference and went to a bunch of other sessions to learn from others…
…then on the last day, we learned that two friends from New Jersey, Jason Ferruggia and his fiance Jen, were in Santa Monica — just a short trip up the road.
Jason and Jen run a gym in New Jersey called The Renegade Gym — by far our favorite place to train, even if it is just a few times per year.
So why am I telling you all this?
Jason and Jen are also vegans — and we’ve talked a ton about diet and shared some different ideas and thoughts over the years. When we were out with them in Santa Monica we visited a place called Planet Raw … where they serve, well, only raw foods.
While you may initially think that sounds disgusting — pretty much living off veggies and fruits, you’d be absolutely amazed at what they come up with and serve.
For example, I had a Green Curry Pasta ("pasta" was made out of shredded zucchini to look like pasta strands), followed up with a Coconut Cheesecake for dessert. Since it was also a vegan restaurant, the cheese cake wasn’t made with real cheese, but they instead used macadamia nut and cashew cream. It tasted exactly like cheesecake, just much lighter.
Everyone else had incredible meals too …
…but what really struck both Kara and I (the other two are used to eating this way), was how great we felt when we left. We certainly didn’t leave hungry, but contrary to the usual feeling when you leave a restaurant … overstuffed and bloated, we instead felt amazing.
Hmmmm.
So as we were walking after dinner we decided to try a vegan diet for 1 week. And we’re going to post about some of our meals here with recipes and post our grocery bill to give an idea of what it would cost as well.
We’ve consistently suggested eating a few vegetarian meals/week so you’re not eating meat on a daily basis.
We just thought we’d take it one step further and try a vegan diet (no meats, no dairy, no animal by products, which includes eggs and honey) for 1 week.
Maybe we’ll love it and want to continue. Maybe we’ll hate it. You’ll get the full report here.
What do you think? Could you follow a vegan lifestyle
August 12th, 2010 at 11:50 am
I did that for a month based on a recommendation from a friend who is vegan and felt great. I must admit it was hard though. So, I’m looking forward to seeing the recipes you post at the end of the week.
[Reply]
August 12th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Hi – I’m game to try it, but I wouldn’t know where to begin. If you could post a week’s worth (or even a few days) of menus & recipes, I’d love to give it a go.
Thanks.
[Reply]
August 12th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
I have been eating quite a bit of raw foods for the last year, but I can’t give up meat. It’s too good a source of protein and essential amino acids.
[Reply]
August 12th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
My wife and I did all raw for 30 days starting January 1st this year (was supposed to be 21 days but we decided to keep it going a little longer). I did to stretch myself so I could relate better to some of my clients who are vegetarians, or vegans, and be able to better help them. Tracy wanted to lose weight and felt she had a hormone imbalance. The 1st week was really tough we got headachs from about day 3-6. The next week I started adding more fats through, Avocados, coconut and olive oil, chia and flax seeds. I found this helped, and we were losing our cravings for other foods. (By the way Tracy used to get bad headachs all the time, and hasn’t had one since that 1st week in January) By the 4rd week we felt great energy was up, clearer skin, things were clearer, and we both lost weight. We aren’t totally raw or even vegan now, but doing it opened our eyes and we do about 75-80% raw, some steamed veggies, and lean meat. My wife dropped 30 lbs since January and half of that was that first 30 days, of course its hard to get as many calories on a raw plant based diet. By the way the zucchini pasta is one of our favorites now.
[Reply]
August 12th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
My wife and I did all raw for 30 days starting January 1st this year (was supposed to be 21 days but we decided to keep it going a little longer). I did to stretch myself so I could relate better to some of my clients who are vegetarians, or vegans, and be able to better help them. Tracy wanted to lose weight and felt she had a hormone imbalance. The 1st week was really tough we got headachs from about day 3-6. The next week I started adding more fats through, Avocados, coconut and olive oil, chia and flax seeds. I found this helped, and we were losing our cravings for other foods. (By the way Tracy used to get bad headachs all the time, and hasn\’t had one since that 1st week in January) By the 4rd week we felt great energy was up, clearer skin, things were clearer, and we both lost weight. We aren\’t totally raw or even vegan now, but doing it opened our eyes and we do about 75-80% raw, some steamed veggies, and lean meat. My wife dropped 30 lbs since January and half of that was that first 30 days, of course its hard to get as many calories on a raw plant based diet. By the way the zucchini pasta is one of our favorites now.
[Reply]
Andrew Reply:
August 12th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Sorry, not sure why this posted twice.
[Reply]
August 12th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Oh I could absolutely go vegan! After my last fitness competition, when I was totally burnt out on chicken breast, tilapia and egg whites, I was eating vegetarian and pretty close to vegan for a while. With tempeh, seitan and tofu I didn’t miss meat at all. And not much beats a good raw dessert.
[Reply]