Day seven- no vegan heaven

Sunday we awoke bright and (not so) early. Last day of my diet and myself and Velo Vegan were rolling into town to check out Africa Day in the Iveagh Gardens and "Shakes- Dublin's first Milkshake Bar" on Dame Street, which we heard offered non-dairy alternatives for the non-dairy lovers amongst us.

After breakfast, which was toast and jam (the boy had no non-dairy spread)

Africa Day was a bustling mess to be honest- the crowds bumbled through the place and swarmed around every stall. VV and I wandered around but we weren't able to get a good look into most of the stalls. The drumming workshops were filled to the gills with yearning onlookers so after some discussion we decided to get some vegan munches at one of the many stalls offering African cuisine.

Settled on a hill after a baffling interchange with a stall owner we surveyed our plates (which were quite small, and at six euro, not the best value. When it comes to outdoor events though, such is the nature of the beast).

We both opted for potatoes and spicy rice with some vegetables (not too generous with the vegetables mind you). The potato seemed to be coated in potato mash with an orange addition of some kind. We considered it being cheese but it didn't really have the consistency of cheese- although it did have a cheesy-ish flavour to it. The rice was determinedly vegan however, and very tasty.

After our fill of rice and culture we walked down to the new milkshake bar. Once inside we were stunned to find that for the pleasure of soy milk instead of regular dairy we were to be charged a euro or two extra.

We didn't even get the opportunity to cough up our hard earneds in the end- they were out of soy. According to some friends, that was the second day in a row they were out of soy. Not a good reflection whatsoever.

I ambled home soon after. I was feeling a little queasy after the spicy rice and potato mixture- maybe a little too much carbs in one go? The plan was to go for a cycle but I took a cat-nap instead and didn't notice it getting later and later.

Later I descended from my lair and munched on some toast. As days go, I ate a helluva lot of carbs, but it was the last day of the diet.

Overall the diet was a resounding success, if weight loss was the aim. One week and I'm between six and seven pounds lighter. I must admit, I'm stunned. I've been eating all the same food you're so strenuously warned away from when on a diet- white bread, noodles, sugar, chips.

However, as I've been cutting out dairy and meats I assume I've also cut out a lot of fats. It makes me wonder about diets and dieting in general. I'm quite allergic to citric acid so I avoid it, pineapple in particular and yet I never bother to avoid the other things I'm slightly allergic to. For example, after eating heavy carbs I generally feel immediately very swollen, and unpleasant.

I'd suggest veganism to anyone. I don't know if it's that veganism agrees with my physiology or if I was simply eating less carbohydrates.

Either way, it was a success. I'll be eating more vegan food from now on.

Day six- and feeling sick

Yesterday was the second last day of my week long odyssey (I must check now how long an odyssey is actually supposed to be).

Myself and the better half strolled into town. For breakfast we'd both eaten a handful of nuts which (worryingly) stated on the back of the packet they SHOULD NOT BE EXPORTED OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES. It was The Philippines' loss; those things were delicious.

After the danger-nuts we ambled into town to do a bit of shopping, deciding to stop by Cornucopia for some eats. The fat sod inhaled two Yops on the way there (and teased me about it, the dairy-loving meanie) and wasn't in the mood for a plate of vegetables by the time we arrived. I opted for a mess of salad and what I ineloquently referred to as the "red stuff" and the "yellow stuff". With a side of salad, it was probably the healthiest breakfast I've ever eaten.

I've never actually been to Cornucopia before, which is a little shocking, really. I pride myself on being something of a gourmand, and having worked in catering, I've eaten (often when I shouldn't have been eating) some interesting vegetarian alternatives. However, the fare in Cornucopia didn't strike me as particularly delectable, and while this isn't a restaurant review, the staff were a little bit snappy. When I went into Govinda's the other day I expected to be treated like the ignoramus I am but when I asked for "all the vegan stuff" she just piled away, ladle-happy.

In Cornucopia, imbued with the confidence of the never-bitten, I proffered the same request, to be greeted with a sneer.

"They're all vegan."

"Oh... Can I have a mix?"

(Darting sideways glances, hushed voices. It was like University Challenge, except in this instance I didn't get to snap "No conferring.")

They did give me a mix in the end but you'd think I'd asked for meat or something similarly offensive. With two spoons of salad and a bottle of sparkling water I was €15.45 out of pocket and a little out of sorts. The lad had a blueberry tart which I contemplated with jealousy. We both stared at it, wondering just how vegan it might be until he eventually smeared cream all over it, sorting out the problem.

"If it was vegan, it's definitely not anymore."

After that we strolled around town for a while. He chatted about his dinner that evening- burgers.

I hopped off the bus not too far from my humble abode and nipped into Centra. I went to the frozen food cabinets to see if there was anything palatable in them. A few battered looking boxes of Quorn burgers sat sadly toppled to one side. I decided to give them a good home and fished out the least abused looking box.

They were lemon squeezy to cook- two minutes in the microwave and I had me two burgers. I ate both of them, tossing the second half of each bun as I started to fill up rather rapidly.

Not too long after I started to feel very ill. I wondered if perhaps I had eaten too much and went to bed to try and nap off the tummy ache. Later that night, over a glass of what I hope was wine that hadn't been filtered through fish bones, which apparently is how a lot of alcohol is processed, I informed the gang of my Quorn misadventure only to bury my face in my hands two seconds later as Velo Vegan exclaimed:

"Quorn isn't vegan!"

It all made sense: my body was rejecting the eggs.

I suppose today is nearly over but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read the last entry (about today). Who knows- I might get up in the middle of the night and eat a steak wrapped in a rasher and fried in butter. I know, I know. The suspense is killing me too.

Day five

Yesterday was a super busy day, and I mostly forgot to eat, so this isn't going to be a very long post.

At four o'clock I had to hand in my Irish dissertation. I still had to put the finishing licks on it so I sat around not doing very much except for spellchecking until about half eleven. I was meeting my mother at one and I had to run for the bus at around twelve. I put on some toast and forgot about it. Before I ran out of the house I quickly buttered it (non dairy spread, en fait) but once I bit into it it was like cardboard, so I threw it in a bin. I was in college at one and after that it was a fluster of printing, last minute tables of contents and collating. Once I had the dissertation handed in and signed off I wandered off on my merry way again. It was a quarter past four and I was on my way to an appointment at half five in Dun Laoghaire, so off to the DART station with me.

In the seven blissful minutes of calm waiting for the dart to arrive I meandered towards a cafe beside me. There was almost nothing vegan in it so I bought a Kombucha (I don't know why I'm on a Kombucha buzz at the moment, perhaps my brain has convinced me it's more vegan than Diet Coke) and I poured it down my gullet before my appointment- hydration is important after all.

On my way back into town it occurred to me that I hadn't really eaten very much. I nipped into a shop and yet again, was presented with an assault on my delicate vegan senses.

Being busy and being vegan aren't mutually exclusive concepts but it's tough, I tells ya.

I sidled over to the hot counter and got a tub of potato chunks. Bear in mind, this was around half six, and the chunks reflected this, having been there I assume for quite some time. I tried to eat the larger, not completely crennated ones but it was disgusting regardless so I threw most of them out.

When I arrived home I was pretty tired from my day of running around (and not eating much presumably) and was thrilled to see a vegetarian lasagna and a potato mash in the fridge. However, the lasagna had pasta on it (as it invariably does) and the mash was made with cream butter, so all my potatoey, pasta-ey dreams were smashed on the cold hard rocks of dairy and eggs.

There was an enormous carton of orange juice so the brother and I polished it off throughout the evening. I was going to go out last night but in the end I was just too tired so I curled up to a film with the boy and promptly fell asleep.

A very empty-tummied day, really.

One potato, two potato, three potato, Day four

I thought I should write this now while it's all fresh in my head- today was a long one from start to finish and I messed up a bit, so it's been an interesting day, if not a particularly successful one.

This morning I forgot to eat breakfast, as per usual. Clever girl, eh? On the way into college I grabbed a Kombucha. I'm sure you've heard of it but in case you haven't, it's a fermented tea drink. It's not to everyone's tastes but I love the taste of it, it's got a nice tang to it.

That didn't exactly fill me, although it did stop my tummy grumbling quite as much as it previously had been. Not a bad start, but not great either. I bought lunch early enough. I'm an impoverished student (O, woe is me) so lunch was never going to be anything fancy but today I went the easy route and bought a roll. I was surveying my salad bar options and considering coleslaw before it was palm straight into face-mayonnaise. Not keen to ask the good fellow behind the counter for a roll with peppers and ketchup I cast my eye to the hot food section, and lo and bejaysus, what was there but wedges?

I'm not going to lie. I have something of a fear of carbohydrates. The morning I informed the mother I was going vegan she harrumphed and then asked "don't vegans get very fat from all those carbs?"

To be honest, when I think of a vegan I don't think of someone with much body fat. Maybe someone with a "save the whales" t-shirt and hemp shoes (I am sorry, vegans everywhere. I know this is inaccurate. I have betrayed you), but not a lot of body fat.

However, it's very easy to eat a lot of carbs. Bread has no dairy in it (for the most part) and wedges are just potatoes. It was perfectly vegan, but it was not perfect. There was nothing nutritionally balanced about that mess of bread, wedges, ketchup and a few pathetic looking tomatoes. Not even unprocessed tomatoes. Sun dried tomatoes. I hang my head in shame.

While I was waiting in line at the sandwich counter I passed a stand of cereal bars and thought to myself, sigh. Something else I can't eat. But; one bar struck my eye- cranberries, macadamia nuts and dark chocolate. And according to the packet, nothing else. Genuinely, that was its selling point. I picked it up, read the ingredients and whaddya know? Vegan friendly! No dairy nor nuffink!

I grabbed a bottle of water, mosied back into college for lunch and spent about ten minutes enduring stick from the lads about my diet and questions about bread and carbs, dairy and animal proteins. And again, the urbane, witty conversation turned to fellatio. I don't know why I bother.

How AND ever. The shop across the road throws a few crisps in with every sandwich. At the time it didn't occur to me. There was no slow motion lunging to slap away a hand full of crisps, no "NOOOOOOOOOO" coming out of my mouth. It just didn't occur.

They were cheese and onion crisps. And do you know what they put in cheese and onion crisps?

You are correct, sir. It's cheese. The same cheese they make with dairy.

GROAN.

To make matters worse, I polished off my cereal bar, happily munching away, wondering why I hadn't been able to have one in the first place. I mean, there was no dair-

Wait. It wasn't the dairy that was the problem. It was the honey.

And there it was, hanging off the end of the ingredients like an awkward, unpoint-out-able piece of snot. Honey.

I could say I felt physically ill. I could lie and say I felt terrible. As much as I'm trying to stick to the vegan diet (and believe me, for an omnivore/undecided carnivore, I'm not doin' too bad) I think an important part of it, maybe the most important part, is the ethics behind it, the whole philosophy. And while I obviously disagree with animal cruelty, at the same time my first thought was, it's the last ingredient. It's a tiny proportion. It hardly matters, does it? My mind didn't make that immediate jump to the cruel conditions in which bees are kept. Going vegan can be done off the bat with no experience, and so far it hasn't been impossible. My heart ain't in it though, which is unfortunate. It has however been making me rethink the ethical treatment of animals, and that is the point in the end, really.

After that it was time for coffee. I know a commenter on this blog suggested that I drink green tea instead of coffee but these last few days of college have me a bit worn out and on edge, and coffee keeps the engines motoring along nicely, so coffee it was, with some Ginger Snap biscuits, which luckily have no dairy in them (because they really are the perfect accompaniment to coffee).

Dinner was cous cous again. I finished off the mammoth amount of it I made the first day (I've been working my way through it), again with a vegetarian pasta sauce but by the time nine o'clock rolled around I was exhausted, shaky and nauseous. So much so in fact that I called the mother and asked her to collect me. I was starting to wonder why exactly we need protein when we can utilise carbohydrates so effectively as an energy source but I think I might be a little low in iron- I'm feeling quite tired and queasy.

When I got home I was still feeling pretty sick. I decided it might be hunger so I made a small plate of wedges (I know, this has been a terrible day for high carb food) and clambered into bed. Even after my wedges my weight was the same as it had been this morning, which is odd and a little worrying- I should be much heavier at the end of the day than I am at the start. Either way, I clambered into bed and I'm now pondering whether I should lay back into the counterpane and slumber or stay up and do a little work before tomorrow. I suppose I'll know soon enough if sleep overcomes me.

Night!

Day three- I'm a level five vegan. I don't eat anything that casts a shadow

To be honest, that line from The Simpsons sums up a lot of what I used to feel about vegans.

The vegan ideal, to me, seemed a little pretentious. How can you be completely ethical in what you eat and wear?

This week's thrown up some very interesting facts for me though- did you know there are vegans who only eat things that have dropped to the ground? They don't actively pick the fruit. I can only imagine this is very limiting, but I suppose they're taking it to an ideological extreme. In a way, I wouldn't like to do it myself, but I can respect the thorough attempt to be completely ethical in how you eat. There's no hypocrisy or double standard there.

Veganism has thrown up a few questions too- my friend Nick asked me if I could eat limestone. Initially I didn't really understand what he was talking about and ignoring the fact that limestone's completely indigestible, I responded with a "....yeeeeah...". He called my attention to the fact that limestone is composed out of animal bodies. This is a bit of an extreme extension of what you can and can't eat when it comes to surprise ingredients (you can't eat cereal bars as I discovered yesterday morning- honey might be the smallest ingredient but it's in there). Ian, ever humorous, asked if vegans engage in fellatio, because animal byproducts are involved. A little disgusted, but intrigued, we immediately googled it (as we do with every question we're ever presented with) and there's quite the amount of discourse on it. Weirdly, people actually have strong opinions.

These are rather odd, isolated examples of (not easily parsed) ideological conflict but they're part of a bigger question- what is okay for vegans to eat? Where do you draw the line? Is it totally personal?

Yesterday went well. The boy made me beans on toast and he surprised me with some vanilla soy yoghurts (he's taking very good care of me, it must be said). Yesterday was the second time I've ever eaten beans on toast. I hated them as a child and refused to eat them until a few months ago, when after a friend's birthday, his parents made me a fry, complet avec beans, and out of politeness I felt obliged to eat them. What did I discover then, but; beans are the shizz. They're pretty tasty and they're full of the protein I'm sure I'm not getting enough of this week.

Breakfast was pretty late so I wasn't really in a "lunch place" so to speak. Now, I'm mad for a bit of custard. I could eat that stuff on its own, straight out of the packet and the day I discovered that they do little individual pots of it was a very good day indeed. However, there's been a carton of it sitting in my fridge this week that I haven't been able to touch (tragic, really). When I cracked open the yoghurt yesterday and discovered that it basically is custard.... I'm not gonna lie. I gave one of them to Frankie but I demolished the other three on my own. I only had a fork to eat them with but I managed. Oh, how I managed. I felt really guilty, but I read one of the pots- 100 calories per pot! That's nothing! A three hundred calorie lunch? Pasta salads from Marks are over twice that and I used to think I was healthy eating them. Ah, the follies of my youth.

I finished off my nuts (with a little help) and then the gang decided it was dinner time and Solas was the venue.

The menu was pretty restrictive. I was edging towards a green curry but the waitress informed me there was dairy in it so I opted for pretty much the only other alternative- soup of the day. It was a tomato soup, and it was really hearty- loads of veg. I'd put the ratio at seventy percent veg, thirty percent water and it was damn good. It came with a side of brown bread and some little pats of butter and I do love buttery bread with soup but there was no alternative to butter so naked bread it was. Still tasty, mind.

College wasn't open much longer after that so I mosied homewards. I flaked in front of the TV for a few minutes with my brother. Some sadistic person bought chocolate muffins and I stared longingly into the fridge for a good minute until I sighed and opted for some toast and jam instead, with a big glass of dilutable orange juice to wash it down. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. I've always cheated on any diet I've ever been on to date but this careful recording on the blog makes me feel like I have something else to work towards apart from weight loss.

In saying that though, I have lost three pounds, and in three days.

Day Two- chocolate, crisps, and milk

All is not lost friends. I can still eat crisps.

Salt and vinegar ones anyway.

Yesterday morning was the start of day two on my vegantastic adventure and I must say, I haven't been tempted by any non vegan food- I'm not suffering. This diet doesn't make you crave food in the same way others might. You can still eat plenty and in a sort of sneaky way (not many sweets are vegan, and you're eating less of the saturated fat and cholesterol that comes with meat and dairy)you're eating good stuff.

I forgot to eat breakfast yesterday (I frequently do) so I snacked on my carrot sticks and nuts and raisins for the morning and polished off about half my cous cous at lunchtime. I mixed it up with a vegetarian pasta mix but it wasn't great to be honest- the cous cous had lumped together and the sauce was unevenly distributed for the most part, so maybe I'll give the cold cous cous a miss for the rest of the week. I inhaled about five cups of coffee during the day.

I finished off the rest of the cous cous later and ate some more nuts. I've been eating away at the same bag since last week (nuts are a sound investment). I was feeling pretty weak so next on the menu was some bruschetta (toasted bread) with coriander and oil, (toasted under the grill) complete with some chopped tomatoes, drizzling oil and thyme. NOM.

After that I mosied along to the boy's house and pigged on dark chocolate and black coffee with sugar while watching TV. I had a very filling day, to be honest.

I'm starting to wonder about how muc protein you actually need. Apparently it's not that much- I'm not lacking energy and I'm not hungry. I can still eat fun food (before I forget, I ate some salt and vinegar crisps yesterday, as well as that orange flavoured dark chocolate, which I've always loved, luckily). I have about four euro left- I'm still in college though and the gang is talking about getting dinner, so we'll see what kind of dinner a vegan with no money can get (hmmmm).

Today I discovered Alpro Soya Vanilla Yoghurt (well, the boy bought it for me, in what was a surprisingly lovely yoghurt related surprise) and yesterday I tried Soya milk. It was DELICIOUS. It genuinely tastes just as nice as milk (although different, a little sweeter and creamier)- I'd go so far as to say it tastes better. I've been considering its possibility as a mixer in milkshakes. Very excited altogether.

Feelin' Vegan- Day one.

Before I launch into more self indulgent foodie tales there's an article by Louise France in The Times Online about Gary Dakin, and an accompanying video.

Gary Dakin is the man who has transformed the world of plus size modelling- now worth over $5 million, they're pulling punches that waiflike models can't withstand. The girls are healthy, happy, and while Dakin himself admits that maybe they could exercise more, the message he sends out to his girls is one of reaffirmation and positivity- here gaining a pound isn't a cause for wringing of hands and teary eyed trips to the gym, but a cause for celebration.

Another beautiful celebration of form is The Adipositivity Project (NSFW). These photos of naked, voluptuous women in all their natural, god-given glory is a repository of beautiful images- the focus isn't on folds, fat, or flaws, but on the subtle play of light and texture, on the natural lines and curves, and promotes positive body image in a thoughtful, artistic manner. As it says itself: "The Adipositivity Project: Changing attitudes about the aesthetic validity of big women, one fat fanny at a time."

It's something of an odd contrast to jump from writing about positive body imagery to carefully cataloguing what I ate yesterday but que sera sera, I suppose. The vegan diet's going pretty well it has to be said (I'm aware I'm only on day two).

For breakfast yesterday I had brown bread and orange juice. I didn't get a photo but I think you can probably use your imagination as to what they looked like.

I'm a grazer so around eleven it was tea time. I opted for black coffee instead, leaving out the milk. While we were in the shop it occurred to me how limited vegans are in their choices- lots of sweets contain gelatin or bees' wax as a glazing agent. I'm not going to pull the drama card and say that modern retail outlets are ghettoising vegans but I can see how it's harder to make ethical food choices, and how more than a little bit of ingredient reading could be involved. Instead I opted for mini rice cakes with a chocolate covering, thinking to myself, great! I can pick away at these all week! However, about three minutes later, as I bit into one it occurred to me that there's milk in chocolate (doy) and ended up spitting it, rather unceremoniously, into a bin.

A little disheartened I was eager to get to lunch- my tummy was grumbling and the limitations of my new diet were dawning on me.

Myself and the boy travelled along to Govinda's, a vegetarian diner for lunch. I had a bit of a fright mid morning when I was informed it had been closed down because as a brand new vegan my knowledge extends as far as Cornucopia and the salad bar in Dunnes. A friend told me it was because they had been using raw milk apparently, but it's an essential ingredient in one of their products and lo and behold, it was open when we arrived.

Govinda's is great. You can go in and say "bitta everything please!" Today I had to be a little more careful with my choices though- all of the food is vegetarian, but not necessarily vegan. I was a little nervous asking "just for the vegan stuff please" but the girl behind the counter didn't jump up on a box pointing a finger and revealing me for the fake I was. Instead, she gave me what I could eat and asked if I wanted salad as well.

The plates in Govinda's are ridiculous- when I say heaped, I mean heaped.





The boy just ate vegetarian. I was a little saddened- he was able to eat the cheese paneer, which I love (and it's really filling) but i shouldn't have worried, I wasn't able to eat all of what I had anyway.



After that I stayed in college until about half nine when it was closing up, working away. I had felt too full after Govinda's but after an hour or two I started to get hungry again and by seven I was positively ravenous. I had some more coffee and some water, but it was doing nothing to get rid of tummy pangs so when I got home I tucked into some cous cous with jalfrezi and some sliced chives. Lacking in imagination maybe, but spicy, and filling.



I'm sitting here as we speak chewing on some nuts and carrot sticks (I figured out the snacking problem). And I'm proud to say that I stared down a croissant last night and came out the better. Day one over, and day two already going well. I'm off to buy some tofu- have a good day!

(As a sidenote, the boy asked me if I had weighed myself before starting- I hadn't. I weighed myself last night and when I woke up this morning I was five pounds lighter. I'm going to lay some of that blame on the cous cous, but I'm going to take my starting weight as the one I measured this morning and we'll see if I drop any pounds by the end of the week).