Rest of Week

I've been keeping to the no meat or animal products, with the exception of some pasta sauce last night that was made with sausage. Tuesday I had an excellent potato and pea curry dish with brown rice (from Yamuna Devi's vegetarian indian cookbook I've had for 20 years). It would be good to pick out one recipe a week to make, and have for lunch also. They are for the most part very simple and quite economical. Mornings I've been alternating between organic shredded wheat cereal and oatmeal. I also had half a red velvet cupecake that had cream and eggs in it, half once each day.

One thing I've noticed other than not having a cough after I eat (although I did have a cough last night, but I think it was more related to dry air), is I'm not craving fats and sweets as much. Last night I was perfectly content to have a cup of tea after dinner and nothing else. Does eating fat and sweets make you crave them more? Could it have an impact this quickly, or am I just feeling healthier all around because of this diet and it's all the power of suggestion? I suppose the real test will be how it continues.

My birthday is this weekend, so I will be having more pasta sauce with meat on Sunday, and dairy in the cake.

Day One

Here starts a journal I plan to keep while I'm experimenting with a vegan diet. I am curious to see if I feel any different. My goal isn't to eliminate meat and other animal products entirely, but consciously whenever I'm aware, I plan to do so for a few weeks. The main symptoms I've had before this diet are fairly frequent stomach upset (acid buildup, sour stomach at times, and stomach aches), and a persistent cough particularly after I eat.

DAY ONE

Breakfast - had some organic Kashi cinnamon shredded wheat with coconut milk mixed with a little 2% milk, which I'm trying to use up, and also wean myself off of. I had my usual cup and a half of coffee with some soy french vanilla creamer (very tasty!), some soy mango yoghurt, and 8oz of half OJ and half pomegranate juice.

Felt fine after, with a slight cough but not too bad.

Lunch - had leftover baingan bharta indian food (eggplant in a peanut sauce) over leftover german spaetzle. It occurred to me that the eggplant dish probably had cream in it, and the german noodles had eggs. Oops! This is going to take some getting used to. It doesn't really occur to me how much dairy I consume without even thinking about it. Had some organic applesauce for desert. I'm having some organic fig newtons later with coffee and soy milk.

Cough was worse after lunch... some congestion. I wonder if it was from the dairy?