Vegan for a Week + A Giveaway
Last month my friends over at Amazing Grass contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in participating in their 5-Day V-Tox Challenge to encourage moving towards a plant-based diet and an overall healthier lifestyle.
Considering that I already eat plant-based meals 75% of the time, it didn’t seem like going 100% would be too big of a stretch for me and honestly, I’ve always been curious to see how eliminating dairy and eggs from my diet would make me feel.
As a part of the challenge, Amazing Grass sends out a daily newsletter that includes workouts, plant-based recipes, veg-ducational articles, ambassador spotlights and v-tox challenges. To kick things off they sent me a variety pack including their awesomely delicious Amazing Meal, one of each of the Immunity and Energy blend, and their new Alkalize & Detox formula.
In addition, they also offered to give one of my readers a variety pack so that you can participate in the challenge as well. But before we get to that, I want to share my experience and show you what eating a plant-based diet for a week looked like for me. I wasn’t able to photograph every single thing I ate (most were repeats) but I did take note of everything.
Like every other weekend, I spent a good deal of time cooking and prepping for foods for the week, including black rice pudding, lentil soup, farro risotto, veggie burgers, and granola bars. By Sunday my refrigerator was packed full of prepared meals, salad and random produce.
I’m a firm believe that no matter what kind of diet or philosophy you follow, preparing food ahead of time is always a great way to stay on track with healthy eating. :)
Day One
Morning Snack: Alkalize & Detox blend mixed with Kale, Banana and Orange Juice + a piece of a Puffed Amaranth Granola Bar
Late Breakfast: Black Rice Pudding + sliced banana + hemp seeds + almond butter
Late Lunch: Mediterranean Chickpea Burgers on Dave’s Whole Grain Thin Slice Bread + 1/2 bottle Gingerberry Kombucha + a large handful of Luke’s Superfood Chips (I’m addicted to these chips!)
Late Dinner: Mixed Green Salad + Lemon Hummus + Field Roast’s Vegan Chao Cheese + multi-grain crackers <cheese plate shared with Bran
Day Two
Breakfast: One Degree Sprouted Honey O’s with sliced banana and defrosted frozen wild blueberries + 1/2 Chocolate Amazing Meal Smoothie (mixed with unsweetened almond milk, frozen banana and dates)
Lunch: Buffalo Cauliflower and Chickpea Tacos with Vegan Blue Cheese + 1/2 Trilogy Kombucha
Dinner: Orange, Avocado and Arugula Salad + Moroccan Lentil Soup
Dessert: way too many pieces of vegan + gluten-free brownies that I’m recipe testing | forgot to take a picture :)
Day Three
Breakfast: Leftover Black Rice Pudding + banana + hemp seeds + almond butter
Lunch: Leftover Moroccan Lentil Soup + handful of Luke’s Superfood Chips + honeycrisp apple
Snack: Puffed Amaranth Granola Bar + Tangerine Immunity Defense (mixed with water)
Dinner: Mixed Green Salad + 2 small slices Frozen Daiya Supreme Pizza <shared with Bran
Dessert: a much smaller piece of brownie than the night before
Day Four
Breakfast: Cereal + defrosted blueberries + unsweetened vanilla almond milk
Lunch: Lemon Tahini Farro Risotto (recipe coming soon!) + lemon hummus + whole grain crackers + unsweetened green iced tea + honeycrisp apple
Snack: Lemon Chia Almond Granola Bar (another recipe coming soon!) + Watermelon Energy Drink (mixed with water)
Dinner: Defrosted Mediterranean Chickpea Burgers on Dave’s thin slice bread + roasted purple sweet potato + hemp seeds + roasted broccoli
Dessert: one last piece of brownie
Day Five
Breakfast: Tahini Date Smoothie with Vanilla Chai Amazing Grass + Morning Glory Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies (more recipe testing!)
Lunch: Curry Tiger Burrito (obsessed with these burritos) + handful of Luke’s Superfood Chips + honeycrisp apple
Dinner: Defrosted Mediterranean Chickpea Burger on Dave’s Thin Slice Bread + green peas + roasted and seasoned red potatoes
Dessert: piece of dark chocolate + almond milk
Takeaways
So how did I feel after eating vegan for a week? Not drastically different except I did notice some additional bloating and cramping. I usually eat organic Greek yogurt every morning and I think not having the daily probiotics made it harder to digest all of the high fiber foods in my diet. But other than that, I felt about the same.
Did I eat more processed food (faux meat/cheese) as a result? No. I usually have frozen burritos, chips and a frozen pizza on hand so that was the same. The only addition was Field Roast’s vegan cheese which I don’t normally buy but I was pleasantly surprised with it. It’s actually really good! The pizza from Daiya however was not good…at all. Lesson learned: make homemade vegan pizza.
Did I miss dairy and eggs? Yes. As a matter of fact, the first thing I did on day 6 was make scrambled eggs topped with sriracha. I know. But I ate them with vegan sausage and cheese…does that count? ;) I’m sure some of it had to with the idea of elimination that made me want it even more but I also kind of felt like my body was craving a low-carb form of protein.
Am I becoming a full vegan? While I have the utmost respect and admiration for those who are able to give up animal products 100% of the time, it just isn’t the right fit for my body at this time in my life. I feel healthier when I have the occasional small amount of eggs. However I will continue to do my best to source my eggs from certified humane, local and pasture based farms whenever possible.
With all of that said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the additional health benefits of supplementing my smoothies with Amazing Grass and I was especially blown away by how good the vanilla chai tasted in the tahini date smoothie. You guys have to try that smoothie!
If you would like to sign up for the challenge, you can click here to enter you email for their daily newsletter. Even if you decide you don’t want to participate, you can still enter the giveaway for a chance to give their Amazing Meal a try. It’s honestly a really great product. To enter just leave a comment telling me your thoughts on eating plant-based foods for an entire week. I’ll notify the winner one week from today!
P.S. I’m linking up with What I Ate Wednesday today. Thanks to Jenn for hosting!
Not gonna lie, this post made me want to live inside of your refrigerator. All that healthy make-ahead food? And so well organized? Ugh, if only my refrigerator could look like that for half of a day! I love the recap of your V-tox! I should seriously do something like this asap considering I’ve been eating straight up animal and rice lately, ha! Thanks for the inspiration, dear!
Your food prep is pretty amazing! I’d be interested to see what difference I’d notice if I went vegan for a week. My sister is a vegan, so I’d make her come cook for me!
Just discovered your blog. I love Daiya products. My cousin is going vegan for all of Lent. I’ll send her your blog for ideas.
Josh and I occasionally do vegan challenges. I haven’t been blown away by Daiya’s pizzas either, which is weird because I actually like Daiya pretty well. The Tofurky vegan pizzas are much better if you need one on hand ever!
The bloating from all the fibre is one of my biggest struggles with a 100% plant based diet as well. I don’t feel like I can get in all the calories I need without really amping up my fibre intake and suffering the consequences, but I do try to eat as many plants as possible. Also… can you come cook for me?! All your meals are amazing!
I eat a mainly plant-based diet, but would be curious to see what would happen if I gave up dairy.
If you are ever in search of a GOOD vegan cheese, please please please try the Field Roast Chao “Cheese” Slices… seriously unreal. I love making grilled cheese sandwiches with it!
That’s actually the one that we tried and I loved it!!
Eating plant-based sound like a healthy week. I’d love to try the shakes!
Interesting to read how you felt. I always wonder what I would feel like giving up dairy, but have never tried before. I would surely miss my cheese and Greek yogurt. That being said, you meals are incredible. I’m always up for a challenge, so I’d try this one day. Thanks for sharing, Sarah! You have to cook for me soon:) I’ll bring a massive bottle of champagne for us.
Deal! ;)
I could happily eat plant-based foods for a week, though I’d miss my Greek yogurt after a while…
There’s always coconut yogurt :)
Oh my. Can I come live/eat at your house for a week? Everything you prepped sounds so good.
I used to eat fully vegan but made the switch back to lacto-vegetarian because like you, I’d miss cheese and Greek yogurt in the long term. But I could hop back on the vegan wagon for a week for sure. Actually, I found veganism fuelled my creativity while cooking.
Sure, come on over! ;)
And I agree, it does force you to think more creatively when you cook. I just need more time to make things!
Your meals looked sooooo good. Especially that chickpea burger. I notice whenever I’m bloated and whatnot its my fiber intake as well. I think it’s so interesting that you took this challenge but I’m not sure I could do without my eggs! :)
Ohhh this is pretty cool! I’d be curious to see how I do…. considering chicken sausage is part of my morning routine, I feel like I might struggle a bit. BUT your make ahead meals sound SO GOOD. Wanna prep my meals? ;) THANKS.
Just stumbled upon your sight today and I love the recap of your vegan week! I have tried going vegan before, but with being gluten free I became very overwhelmed with all of the things I was cutting out of my diet. Now I stick with a mostly plant-based gluten free diet. I often have chicken, fish, eggs and sometimes dairy. =)
I am already plant based, but am in a rut, and quite honestly, doubt I eat as a HEALTHY plant based eater! Your meals look amazing, and so COLORFUL, I want to dive in and eat it all! Thanks for inspiring me to be more creative!!!!!
I ate plant based for three years so I think I could manage a week ;)
This was so fun to read! I’ve been wanting to try going vegan and seeing how it feels, but I also like my yogurt and feel like it helps my digestion :) I love all your meals though! So creative and I love how you reuse things. Also, I’m going to make that black rice pudding!!
Thanks, Leigha! I think you’ll love the black rice pudding. It’s so good!
We are so similar in our diet styles (well, and in a lot of other ways – like our love for dogs & travel!). I also eat a lot of vegan meals, but if I go totally vegan, I miss the dairy that I use to supplement my protein intake and just generally enjoy. I’m totally a fan of cheese and yogurt. However, I’ve gotten more and more picky about what dairy I buy, and 95% of it is now organic and/or locally made. I also switched to eating plant-based protein powder instead of whey-based recently.
PS – Beautiful food photos, and that smoothie sounds delish!
This is so cool! Thank you so much for sharing! I enjoyed hearing about your experience as a vegan! …in fact my latest post is called Vegan Snacks! …your meals look delicious and I’m sorry that it left you bloated! I hear ya on craving ‘low carb protein’ like eggs… they’re just so satisfying! Thanks again!
Good for you Sarah, for stepping outside of your box and challenging yourself! Not always an easy thing to do especially when it comes to diet, no matter how subtle the change. Amazing grass got me through a time in my life where I didn’t have daily access to my vitamix. It is truly good stuff. Their chocolate amazing grass is my favorite. Love how they’re challenging people to think about their diet. Field roast makes some fabulous foods yet I didn’t realize they made ‘cheese’. So excited to try this… I’m wondering if going vegan for say two or three weeks would make more of a difference in how one would feel? I recall when I started eating a mostly plant based diet, my bowels were particularly grumbly, bloaty… but I don’t experience that any more. It took me about a month to start feeling the benefits. I think I’d like to take this challenge (my husband is going to grumble!! hehe). Thank you for your inspiration and sharing your journey with us, Sarah!!
Yes, I wonder if it was that my body needed more time to adjust too. I might try it again for longer next time and see how I do!
i am gonna try it definitely since I can’t do total vegan lifestyle, i love cheese too much!
I think it is a fabulous idea to eat vegan for one week, instead of 21 days or a month like most challenges. It is so doable this way, and yet long enough to really give you an idea of how it would be like to eat that way permanently. This post was helpful because missing nutrients and not having tasty choices are the 2 big reasons I don’t commit to vegan, only dabble in it.
This is so awesome, my dear. I am dying over your recipe teasers. I mean lemon tahini risotto?! Are ya kidding me?? Can’t.freaking.wait.
I could eat vegan for a week, but like you, I wouldn’t want to eat that way full time. I love eggs and dairy too much and the occasional meat too. I feel like I’m already restricted enough by my nut allergies, so I don’t like to restrict what I eat even more. I mean, sometimes I will go an entire week eating completely vegan, but it’s totally unintentional. I’d rather it be that way than have it be a forced lifestyle, ya know?
I would totally do a vegan challenge! I’m with you on the eggs though, they’re one of my favorite foods so I don’t plan on giving them up long term. Oh, and those snack bars look delicious.
So interesting to hear how it went for you!! We eat mostly plant-based but I really don’t think I could do it completely permanently (well that was a weird way to say it! lol) – I feel better when I have some regular dairy and eggs (we occasionally eat meat but not very often anymore). Plus, I mean cheese. Gosh I love my cheese :)
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I couldn’t agree more “preparing food ahead of time is always a great way to stay on track with healthy eating” and wow – you sure did prep well!
when you eat an animal, it’s said that you also eat their pain… there may be an energy transfer from an unhappy animal (i.e. factory farm) to your body…
i’ve been pescatarian since 3rd grade.. i wonder what it would be like to be vegan!
Although I eat meat daily, I would be up for trying to eat vegan for a week to reduce my carbon footprint!
I would totally do a vegan challenge!
I’d totally be up for the challenge! I love my fruits and veggies, but I often rely on meat to meet my protein needs since I’m trying to gain weight and muscle. If I planned it out, I’m sure a vegan week would be pretty easy.
I’ve been a vegan for years! i love it!
All of these foods look so good! I’ve been trying to eat mainly plant-based, but I still eat meat and animal products semi-regularly. I would honestly love to do a challenge like this to see how challenging it would be for me and to see how my body reacts!
I’ve been vegan for about a year now, but it still gets hard. Honestly, I think it’s one of the greatest things you can do.
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i would love to try it once i live on my own. it’s too hard with meat eaters around me