At the start of September, I decided to go vegan. Being vegan does not automatically make you an earth-loving-hippie who eats leaves. It just makes you a healthier eater, with no consumption of animal products.  Dropping all meat, dairy and egg products seemed fairly simple to me. However, it was quite the challenge. Although it was difficult, becoming vegan opened me up to a new perspective on how I consume food. Becoming vegan is tricky but it has its perks and I would recommend that anybody interested should try it.

Weeks One and Two:

Initially, I was thrilled to start my new diet, and was really optimistic that I was going to love it. What was fun for me was finding new recipes and restaurants in the valley that were plant based and animal product free. Shopping at grocery stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts was exciting and I had no idea that a lot of my favorite foods could be found with vegan substitutes.

I realized it wasn’t too hard to eat at home, especially when you find the right things to buy. The tricky part was eating outside of the house. When the kids I babysit insisted on making cookies and ordering pizza, I unfortunately had to sit and watch. And when I went to my aunt’s house and she made cherry pie and homemade whip cream, I had to politely decline, (but I did desperately try to eat the cherries out of the pie without touching the butter/egg induced pie crust). Even attending birthday parties, the beautiful chocolate cakes filled with dairy goodness I had to simply ignore.

Since it was only my first week, I was curious if all vegans felt tempted by such foods as I did, so I did a little research. Junior Marybeth Bonner, who has been vegan for three months, said, “I initially went vegan for the health aspect, but after watching more videos about the diet, I started to realize there was more to just eating healthier. I plan ahead and eat at home a lot and I’ve lost my cravings for foods with animal products.”

I really started to feel like I was creating a healthier diet for myself, but didn’t feel like I was experiencing a lot of benefits, since I still craved the old foods I enjoyed. At the end of the second week, I caught a cold, and it was most likely due to my diet. I had been eating a lot of carbs, fruits and vegetables, but not enough protein. An essential part to becoming vegan is making sure you maintain a balance of essential nutrients, since you are missing a lot of your protein intake without meat and dairy.

I had already learned a lot through my first two weeks and was confident I was going to do well with my new knowledge through the final weeks.

Weeks Three and Four:

With two weeks down, I was feeling pretty happy about being a vegan. My cravings for meat were pretty much all gone, and I considered that when the vegan challenge was over, I’d still remain vegetarian. I also began to widen my horizons a little more with eating out. At Green New American Vegetarian in Scottsdale and Phoenix, I instantly became hooked on their vegan chicken sandwich and egg-free cookie dough. Nami, alongside Green, serves amazing soy based ice cream called “Tsoynamis” that are incredibly addicting and delicious.

It was really fun for me to look up new recipes and try them out with my family. Some of my favorite things that I’ve made this month were: fried buffalo cauliflower, chow mein noodles with tofu and homemade vegetable dumplings. When the challenge was all over, I was a little relieved to stop. I had gotten kinda bored of eating a lot of the same things and was ready to change it up.

Overall Thoughts and Tips:

Overall, being vegan was interesting and something I’d maybe try again, but not the type of diet I’d want to continue. Over the month, it became pretty exasperating, always having to read the labels of foods and making sure they contained no animal products (lots of things contain either some egg product or dairy). I did enjoy that I was eating pretty healthy for the most part and that I got to explore new meals that were all natural. My body felt really good not eating meat for a month and my skin even looked healthier, too.

Unfortunately, I like foods such as pizza, grilled cheese and ice cream a little too much to give them up forever. So I wasn’t too keen on the idea of continuing the challenge when it was over.

For anyone who is interested in becoming vegan, I recommend taking B12 vitamins, or eating lots of beans and nuts which will give you a lot of protein. It’s important to know that you don’t have to follow veganism to a T, and you can cheat when your body feels you need to. I learned that becoming vegan doesn’t automatically make you healthier. You have to find what types of vegan foods you like that will make your body feel good as well.

I give credit to the real vegans (not the part-time ones like me), who have mastered living an animal product free lifestyle and are slowly but surely impacting animal life and the environment. So, my advice for you is to go vegan if your heart desires and see how it makes you feel. Give veganism a shot!