Eight great things I've learned about going vegan for Lent - number one, it’s easy pea-sy

From gloucestershirelive.co.uk

Loving the vegan life, apart from missing Maltesers and cheese

Every lent I like to test myself – not for any religious reason, but to try something different.
In the past, I have gone vegetarian, given up sweets and biscuits and done 10 minutes of exercise every day.

Ditching dairy as well as the meat had been on the agenda, but I always thought it would be too hard.

And this year, days before going plant-based, I’d pretty much decided to only do it for a week and then stick with being veggie until Easter.
Now that I am more than halfway through my vegan adventure, I can say loudly and proudly – I’m loving the vegan life - here's why.

It's easy as a lot of food is already vegan

Tucking into a huge portion of chips, demolishing a pack of Oreos, ripping my way through bags of McCoys – all vegan and what I love.

Add to that toast and bagels (with vegan margarine, obviously), pasta (hard to get at moment), rice, potatoes – all absolute fine and staples of my diet.

There are so many tasty alternatives

                                                Stuffed mushroom with vegan pate

I like burgers, I like lasagne, I like pasta piled high. Genuinely, there are plant-based burgers that are really tasty. I genuinely love falafel, so can whack some of those into a pasta tomato dish and it’s more than fine.

And mince alternatives – if someone had said to me a month ago that pea-based mince would be okay, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. But it is.

Tofu too, it’s very nice. It’s fine.
And dairy-free ‘milk’ alternatives. I love oat milk. I’ll probably stick with it afterwards.
I love chocolate, and while I can’t have milk chocolate (I miss Maltesers), there are cocoa-based brownies and bars which are about 70 per cent as nice as ‘normal chocolate’ and I can live with that.

I can live without cheese, just

This worried me. I love cheese. All cheese, with exception. The smellier and the stronger the better. And I’d be lying if I said some of the vegan ‘cheese’ didn’t exactly do the job.
However, after some experimenting I finally hit on a type of ‘cheese’ that was fine for burittos, pasta and lasagne.

I feel less bloated

It’s hard to say if this is linked to the diet, or other factors – eating less sweets, who knows. But I definitely have felt less bloated in the past few weeks.

Shopping is easier

Obviously some of this pre-dates coronavirus, but walking into a supermarket and seeing aisle after aisle of tempting meat, dairy and confectionery can make it hard to resist filling your trolley with stuff that isn’t always the best for you.

But when your shopping range is pretty limited, you can zero in on the fruit, veg and ‘plant based’ section and make your selections.

There's only two things I really miss

Cheese and Maltesers (not together)

Mistakes can be made

                                                               Vegan moussaka

Had an extra strong mint before realising it had gelatine in it.
Tea round confusion in the office when I had a sip of a colleague’s milky tea.
It's also really important to check labels - I was nearly caught out by soup as it often has milk powder in.

I'm definitely not going to stay vegan.

But I will stick with the dairy-free milk, have many more plant-based meals, and radically cut down on meat.
Not for ethical reasons, I have just enjoyed the discipline a vegan diet has given me.
When there are doughnuts, chocolates, and cake around, I can't have them. Simple.

I don't have much will power normally, but going vegan flicked a switch in my brain and there's no way I would have a Malteser now.
Five weeks ago, I'd have gone through a big party box like a plague of locust.

I've learned I can do it. I've learned I like it. But with a wife and two children, going vegan full time would be logistically difficult.

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/eight-great-things-ive-learned-3971130