I tried being vegan for 14 days—and it was somewhat of a disaster

Editor’s note: To start the new year, CharlotteFive writers and staffers are committing to 7-day, 14-day and 30-day challenges from now through January to shake up our norms and lifestyles. Here’s the third in our series. Read our first and second articles.

When our team decided to come up with challenges for the month of January, I confidently stated, “I’ll become vegan for a week.” The team responded with a simple, “Sounds good.” Feeling hyped up on too much coffee, I blurted, “No, actually I’ll do it for TWO WEEKS!” (Honestly, who am I?)

Now, I would consider myself a somewhat healthy person. I love a good salad and try to maintain an active lifestyle — but let’s just say I’m no vegetarian yogi, like my co-worker Katie Toussaint. (Seriously, Katie, you’re insane.)

So before I chronicle my 14-day journey, let me clarify: While my typical eating is far from animal-free, I do opt for cruelty-free products. I don’t own any furs and I admire those who opt for a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. I wanted to see if I could do it myself for a limited amount of time.

First, I had to brush up on what exactly “vegan” means.

According to The Vegan Society, veganism is “a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.”

I decided to focus on food. And I made to sure to tell everyone—before, during and after the challenge—about my experiment. Literally, I told every person that came near me, texted or called me that I was going to be a vegan for 14 days. Here’s a tweet from my cousin making fun of my journey. (What an amazing support system, am I right?)

Days 1-7:

Verdict: Living my best life

Initial Mood: Before I began, I was already feeling pretty gross from all the holiday eating, little exercise and stress from work, so I was excited to begin my short-lived vegan journey. I researched sample menu meals that were vegan friendly, bought all my groceries for the week and took a B-12 vitamin to maintain energy throughout the day.

Here’s a look at what I ate:

Breakfast items included:

• Silk Almondmilk Yogurt Alternative with chia seeds and blackberries

  

• Two pieces of whole wheat toast with Justin’s almond butter and blackberries
• Starbucks oatmeal with walnuts and brown sugar
• Fruit cup including strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, blackberries and pomegranates
• Smoothie
• Black coffee
• Green tea

• Two pieces of whole-wheat toast with white beans mixed with hummus, with some edamame on the side. Not a great start for my first vegan lunch. Also not very photogenic.

• Celery with hummus and hot sauce
• Almonds
• Applesauce
• Luna’s Living Kitchen kale caesar salad and arugula harvest salad
• Green tea

• Falafel with spinach, tomatoes, onions and tahini sauce
• Avocado toast
• Oranges
• Viva Chicken half quinoa stuffed avocado, with house balsamic and lettuce
• Cauliflower pizza with tomatoes, spinach and olive oil
• Bad Daddy’s black-bean burger with avocado and green chilies (I nixed the cheese and chipotle-ranch sauce.)
• Green tea

Challenges:

Did I mention I’m the social media manager for CharlotteFive? That basically means I see amazing food pictures on Instagram all day. I’d catch myself watching Tasty videos and even bloggers trying food like Chinese donuts and bowls of ramen. I don’t even like ramen?! It got weird.

You’d think I could escape from dreaming about food while out for work, but no, that was definitely not the case. On day two, I came back to see a pile of homemade cookies brought in by my so-called “friend” Caroline. I even had to say no to a media lunch at Stoke. UGH, the agony.

Home life wasn’t easy either. You never notice how many food commercials there are until you’re on a diet. I legit was drooling over Burger King and Little Caesars commercials before deciding to clean my room instead. That curbed the craving—for a bit.

Mess Ups:

Day 4: I was feeling mentally stronger. Nothing could stop me. I bragged to my childhood friend Allison about my healthy lunch, and added, “I also bought some gummy bears for a treat since I can’t eat anything chocolate.” She promptly responded with, “You know gelatin in gummy bears aren’t vegan, right?”

I quickly Googled it. The chewy collagen is obtained from various animal body parts. DAMMIT, SALLIE!

Oh wait, there’s more.

Day 5: It was Friday night, and my team at work gathered for a post-holiday party. I brought a fruit tray and caprese skewers. (Yes, I bravely touched the mozzarella in prepping the dish, but didn’t eat it.) Katie Toussaint’s boyfriend, Remy, even made me a special vegan “cheese” and fig appetizer (bless his soul). The night was going well.

I bypassed the cream-cheese-filled jalapeño poppers, the charcuterie board and the oyster cheese dip. The party was almost over. We’d all had a few drinks, people started to leave, and my stomach started angrily growling. I started feeling weaker by the minute. And I allowed my hand to graze the bowl of sausage balls. I snuck one.

It was everything I’d dreamt of for five days. The hunger was gone immediately. Seconds later, I confessed: “I ATE ONE SAUSAGE BALL.”

My team just rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

End-of-the-week mood: The first few days were definitely an initial shock. I always felt like my eyes were glazed over and I was never fully myself. I did however have WAY more energy at night and would decide to vacuum at 10 p.m., re-arrange the artwork in my room, do laundry, etc. (Wow, I’m an excellent and quiet roommate.) Although my energy levels were a little out of whack, I felt like I was starting to get in the zone when it came to healthy eating, eating small meals throughout the day and not eating because I was bored.

Days 8-14:

Verdict: Disasterville, U.S.A.

• Starbucks oatmeal with walnuts and brown sugar
• Fruit cup
• Black coffee with a bit of soy or almond milk
• PB&J smoothie with almond milk
• Green tea

Lunch items included:

• Quinoa, sweet potatoes, spinach and carrots
• Almonds
• Luna’s Living Kitchen kale caesar salad
• Rhino Market Tofu You sandwich (which was actually pretty tasty)
• Blackberries
• Green tea

Dinner items included:

• Quinoa, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes
• Not Just Coffee’s avocado toast
• Quinoa with black beans and carrots
• Luna’s Living Kitchen split pea soup, hummus and cauliflower rice
• Green tea

Challenges:

The last week was definitely the hardest for me, mentally and physically. The best meal to me throughout the last week was avocado toast. I ate it every other day. It was the only item that curbed my salt cravings.

Did I mention that I also live on Park Road, seemingly 500 feet away from Chick-fil-A, Smashburger, Wendy’s, Viva Chicken and Jimmy John’s? Literally, animal-based products were surrounding me at all times. This was becoming a problem and I was getting more annoyed at things I couldn’t eat during my final week. Mentally I was crashing and burning, especially on the twelfth day…

Mess Ups:

Day 12: The weekends are seriously the hardest to be strict on a diet in general. Your schedule is up in the air and all I wanted to do was eat a turkey sandwich or, in this case, something more extreme…a number one from Chick-fil-A. Yep, I admit. I’m the absolute worst at this challenge.

My body was physically weak and my mind was going insane. I had gone out the night before for a bit with my friends and could not find any food that was up to my liking for lunch on Saturday. I didn’t want to eat quinoa or a salad, and couldn’t make it to Not Just Coffee quick enough for avocado toast. So instead, I told my roommate, “I don’t care what you say, I am leaving to get Chick-fil-A.”

Off I was, with a beanie, sunglasses and a hoodie on to remain ‘undercover.’ I felt eyes were on me the entire time. I didn’t even look at the kind woman taking my order because I felt so guilty.

I came back to eat only half of my meal, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it wasn’t even that amazing. I threw my arms up in disappointment. That wasn’t even worth it! Sure the chicken made me feel a little full, but I honestly felt gross with everything fried I was eating.

End-of-the-challenge mood

I was a little disappointed, cheating a few times in the little time of my challenge. Hey, I’m human and humans have cravings. This was a complete 180 on my typical eating routine.

I lost a few pounds, which was nice, but I was also eating real food, cooking more and getting into a healthier routine – which was my overall goal for 2018.

I’ve been done with the challenge for a few days and still haven’t had cheese, mayonnaise, yogurt or beef. The only animal-based products I’ve consumed have been eggs and turkey burgers.

I’m more excited about cooking and trying new foods that are not in my usual grocery store routine. I have more energy and am pickier than ever when it comes to what I’m consuming on a daily basis.

It’s been an interesting start to 2018 and I hope to continue getting out of my comfort zone every once in a while. That’s what life’s all about, right?

This story was originally published January 22, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "I tried being vegan for 14 days—and it was somewhat of a disaster."