From bluedotliving.com
By Anna Popnikolova
I challenged myself to eat vegan for one week while away for college. Here’s what I learned
When I’m at school, I eat chicken almost every day and red meat maybe twice a week. I try to keep my red meat consumption to a minimum — it’s one of the best lifestyle changes we can make to reduce our carbon footprint and a great move for heart health and cholesterol. As for dairy, I don’t drink cow’s milk, but I do enjoy cheese and dairy yogurt.
As a little challenge, the week before Thanksgiving break, I decided to try to keep a strictly vegan diet for one week. I wanted to learn how difficult it is to eat vegan on my college campus, find some fun new substitutes for my regular animal-based meals, and just see how my body felt after a diet change.
I kept some journal entries from my first few days and took pictures of all my meals.
Breakfast
Surprisingly, many things I was already eating were vegan — and I didn’t even know! Here’s what I wrote in my diary on Day 1:
I was pleasantly surprised this morning — the cereal bars I keep stocked in my dorm in case I wake up late and don’t have time for breakfast are vegan! I eat the Nature’s Bakery fig bars, which are a great portion size for a quick breakfast on the go. I love their raspberry flavour and got their seasonal pumpkin spice one to try out. Over the summer, I became well-acquainted with their whole grain fig brownies … to die for.
Some days, I woke up early enough to visit the dining hall before class. I was surprised to find that all the bagels there are vegan. I had to walk past my usual butter and cream cheese and opt for jam or avocado spread, but the substitution wasn’t too difficult to make.
When I didn’t have time to get a dining hall breakfast, or when getting coffee with a friend, I frequented two on-campus cafes: Clover and Flour. Flour has always been one of my favourites, and I practically live for their low-fat vegan chocolate muffins. Even after my challenge was over, I found myself peering through the window at their pastry case to see whether they had them in stock. I’ve found a dupe recipe for them online, and I am excited to give it a try next time I go home.
Coffee wasn’t a problem for me at all! I’ve been an oat milk drinker for about three or four years now and have recently started shifting over to soy, for the added protein. I like the texture of soy a little better, as I find it less oily. So, I kept getting oat and soy milk as usual.
I picked up an oat cappuccino from Clover, which we have in one of our academic buildings, where my 9 a.m. class is. Their coffee is my morning ritual. Usually, when I grab my coffee I pick up a pastry — a muffin or a slice of banana bread. Drooling over the pastry case this morning, I realized none of my Clover usuals were vegan. I said ‘just the coffee’ and went on.
Beyond missing out on cafe pastries, I missed eating eggs in the morning. And yogurt! I lamented in my diary:
My biggest struggle so far is yogurt. I miss yogurt! Soy yogurt is nowhere near the same, and it has such a weird texture.
Lunch
I learned throughout the week that the dining hall has a lot of really great vegan options. Every entrée option typically comes with a vegan/vegetarian alternative — often, one that I prefer anyway — and they are actually well-thought out and delicious. A few days into the challenge, I wrote:
Today, I was just starving when I got out of class. I don’t have a habit of checking the d-hall schedule, but I was so happy to find that lunch was vegan chorizo quesadillas. They’re one of my favourite lunch options, and while it was sad not to have sour cream with them, I replaced it with the guacamole, and it was just as good.
Clover became one of my go-to lunch spots when I knew I’d miss dining hall hours. Their falafel sandwich on pita with tahini sauce was a very affordable and filling lunch option, especially between classes.
Snacks
I found some great snacks to keep myself full between classes. My fall semester schedule wasn’t great for meals — I had classes practically back to back from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., often with no time to eat breakfast or lunch. So snacks kept me going.
I continued popping the Nature’s Bakery bars into my bag, along with dried apricots and dates, which were a great sugar boost for my classes and meetings in the afternoon. I also found myself opting for more nutritious options:
I feel like trying to be vegan has made me generally eat a little healthier – instead of fries, I’ve been having cucumber slices or cherry tomatoes as a side, even though the fries themselves are also vegan.
A lot of crackers and chips I was already snacking on were vegan-friendly. I discovered some great roasted chickpeas that I added to the crunch rotation during homework hours.
Dinner
I found myself eating a lot more beans than were previously in my diet to make sure I was getting enough protein. Cannellini white beans, hard-boiled adzuki beans, butter beans, and chickpeas became everyday additions to my salads. I ate tofu every day, sometimes several times a day. And then there was soup:
It’s really cold out today, and I had 30 minutes between classes, so I ran into the dining hall to grab a cup of soup. They had lentils!! I’m so thankful that our dining halls have good soup. I probably wouldn’t survive otherwise. I love soup, and it’s so easy to grab and go…
I have been a die-hard lentil soup fan since I started eating with my school’s dining services and have also become a fan of their carrot-ginger soup. I missed having chicken noodle soup and chili, but sometimes the dining hall serves a sweet potato and quinoa chili, which is just as delicious.
At the end of the week, I headed home for break.
I’m excited to be eating at home again, but I’m a little worried about my stomach. I haven’t had meat or dairy in a while, and I don’t know if it’ll make my tummy hurt.
I’m really looking forward to cooking for myself again — even just opening the fridge and having ingredients is going to be great. And eating berries!!
When I was home, I found myself drinking a lot of tea and eating lots of fruits and vegetables, avoiding too much cheese and even yogurt, in exchange for bananas and citrus. My mother always fills the fridge with berries when I come home, because she knows berries are hard to come by on campus.
Ultimately, I found this challenge really enlightening — I felt great in my body and not tired at all, as I worried I might be. In fact, I think it helps with my energy levels and mental clarity, much more so than loading up on ground beef, bacon, or pork.
In the time since completing the challenge, I’ve found myself cutting meat even more from my diet and opting for plant-based options instead. I’ve been reaching for the soy meatballs on spaghetti and meatball night at the dining hall and tofu over grilled chicken more and more often. Yogurt, however, I won’t give up — there has to be a better alternative for vegans than the runny, cardboard-like soy, coconut, or oat yogurt. Until I find it, the dairy yogurt must stay.
A lot of vegan creators online say people tell them, “I would totally go vegan, but … cheese.” Their response? “OK — go vegan but cheese!” If having a bowl of yogurt for breakfast or a slice of cheese on your sandwich makes all the difference, do it. It’s better to try to eat a more plant-based diet, even if you don’t do it perfectly!
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