#97 - Eat Mor Chikin'...PLEASE! [101 in 1001]

I've heard a lot about vegan diets and how beneficial they are supposed to be to the body.  In all honesty, I'd probably make a better vegetarian than vegan.  I can go without meat a lot longer than I can go without eggs, dairy, or other animal products.  But, I thought I'd try it for a week and see how it goes.

The Good

For starters, eating fruits, vegetables, and nuts isn't new to me.  They are already an integral part of my diet.  The first couple of days were tough, but good.  Do you know how hard it is for a Southern girl not to put butter on her grits or not eat any chicken?  Eating cleaner is always a good thing.

The Bad

"What do we want?  VEGETABLES!
When do we want them?  ALL THE
'OOH LA-LA' TIME!"

I spent most the week on the couch or in bed.  I had absolutely no energy and started getting dizzy, cold, and achy.  I only got in one workout, and it wasn't pretty.  I don't mean just a little lethargic; I was as weak as lukewarm dishwater.  Now, I need to insert a caveat here.  My system can't tolerate much soy.  For example, soy milk does to me what regular milk does to the lactose intolerant.  Therefore, I couldn't incorporate any tofu, soy cheese or other such products into this experiment.  I'm not sure if soy products would have made any difference, but my body was screaming for iron and my muscles were protesting for lack of significant protein by the end of the week.  Also, my doctor made some changes to my medication and that didn't help matters either.

The Ugly

I find it funny that people will take vegetables and form them into the shape of meat, but no one's ever taken meat and tried to market it in the shape of a vegetable. "Hey, look at this carnivorous broccoli! It's made out of bacon!" - Auntie's Musings

 

When I went shopping for my vegan week, I noticed that my local Wal-Mart had a tiny section of vegetarian products in the freezer section.  I like hamburgers, so I thought I'd try a veggie burger.  To be fair, they didn't taste too bad.  However, the ingredients left a lot to be desired.  Things like textured vegetable protein, modified tapioca starch, disodium glutamate, cellulose, soy lectin, egg whites (egg whites?  I thought this was a veggie burger.) were listed.  OK, maybe I'm a simpleton, but shouldn't a veggie burger have veggies in it?   Even the "textured vegetable protein's" ingredients didn't contain a single vegetable (wheat gluten, soy protein, and water).  This isn't a complete listing.  These veggie burgers had more chemicals listed than a Coca Cola.  I think the vegans and vegetarians are being duped into buying this crap. 

 

The Conclusion

 

If you can/must eat vegan, I say God bless you, but it is definitely not for me.  It's going to take days for me to recover from this experiment.  Pass the chicken, please.