If someone had told me that I’d go vegan for a month, I would look at them with eyes that say “Don’t be silly”. I have always wondered why people became vegetarian, let alone vegan. The world is filled with interesting food. Why deprive yourself of them? Most importantly, how do you wake up one day and say “No, I’m not touching this glorious steak and I won’t have that piece of cake either”? All I could say to that was: “Challenge Accepted”.

For someone who could happily have a pork chop for breakfast, I went through an entire month, 32 days to be exact, without a single piece of meat, no dairy products and no chocolate. The only thing that kept me going was the smell of BBQ chicken tapas coming from my friends plates whilst I was faced with a small quinoa salad that was barely enough to feed a toddler. Now I can describe myself as a recovering meat eater. In fact, I should probably join a CA (Carnivore Anonymous)  club to get the appropriate support during this transition period.

Many people have asked me why I decided to put myself through that. It was indeed a tough experience, but well worth it. The idea came to me last year in March. Whilst enjoying the eclipse in Reykjavik, I started thinking about what I could do to make my life more intriguing. There were a lot of ridiculous and fun suggestions such as “wear a sling on my right arm for a month”. Of all of them, being vegan was the one idea that seriously stuck to my brain.

The toughest part was picking the right time of the year to go vegan. Summer won’t work because of the BBQs, impromptu night outs, events, staying out late. Autumn is just too miserable to add more to it. December? Hell No! I have to celebrate my birthday in style, not with vegetables. February? Are you serious? Do you want me to miss pancake day? The only month I was left with was January.

The problem with going vegan in January was that the sweet taste of lamb, meatballs, chicken, chocolate and Christmas indulgence was still vivid in my mind. The first week was the hardest. Coming back to work after the Christmas holiday, the office was littered with boxes of leftover chocolates. The temptation was extremely high. This was the first time in my entire life that I said no to chocolate!  In addition to that,  I was attempting to eat smaller portion of food and as little carbs as  possible. The result was a very cranky and tired me. Towards the end of the week, I was very unhappy, and fed up of steamed vegetables, banana and peanut butter sandwiches, and other tasteless concoctions. Decision time: do I quit or embrace it? The vegan thing was here to stay. I spent hours  reviewing recipes and shopping for good ingredients in vegan friendly stores. This was  the beginning of a new me. The rest was history.

What have I learned from this experience? Did you know that manufacturers are now highlighting allergens on their packaging? In the past, I’ve never bothered looking at ingredients. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that allergens, such as milk, nuts, butter, are written in bold! Wow, thanks Joe Blogg for inventing this. You saved my life.

Vegan food is fun and tasty. I know I gave the right to some friends to shoot me if I ever said ridiculous things like “I like broccoli or cauliflower”, but OMG broccoli is so much fun and tasty when cooked properly. Before the vegan experience, vegetables were the necessary evil I had to put up with to have a slightly balanced meal. When I transitioned from steaming them to doing more with them, I unlocked sensations that I never thought was possible with vegetables. I could enjoy meals that didn’t have beans, chickpeas or lentils. I started having fun and playing with food, trying different combinations, cooking in different ways. Now that the challenge is over, I can now enjoy the best of both worlds. I am comfortable having a vegetable meal without cooking some chicken on the side “just in case I’m not full or satisfied”.

Very few restaurants cater for vegans. It is a sad truth. Unless you want to go for a curry every time you go out, your choices are limited. Many restaurants will take a vegetable dish, strip out eggs, cheese and dressing, then pass it out as a vegan meal without a second thought. What you are left with is a tasteless plate of freshly cut greens and not much else.

Being vegan, in my opinion, requires a lot of planning. You can’t just walk to a supermarket and pick something quick and tasty off the shelf. I remember picking up some vegetable soup in a hurry. Got to work, read the label and realised that butter was listed as an ingredient. I spent more time cooking and planning my meals during my vegan month than I normally do. The great thing is that most of my snacks were healthy.

My proudest moment of being vegan was making a conscious choice to say “no” despite being hungry and exhausted. I was at a family birthday party. As carnivores, we tend to ply our guest with an array of trays full of chicken, lamb, different types of fish and many more goodies. I turned up to the party with my own food. The smell of meat was everywhere. It was a real ordeal. When midnight stroke, the music stopped. Suddenly there were no more distractions. I swapped my heels for an apron and went on kitchen cleaning duties. There was so much leftover! Everybody was encouraging me to grab as much food as I wanted for a “takeaway”. And all I could say was “I’m ok”, when inside me I was tired, hungry and reaching breaking point.

I am glad I survived. This experience gave me the strength to enjoy the remaining two weeks as a vegan. I could go out, socialise, knowing that I could look at all the lovely crisps and food on the table and say “No”. I have never felt this confident and controlled around food as I did in January. My goal is to take this new “me” and carry it forward in my life. How amazing would it be for me to turn down Guylian chocolate without any feeling of guilt or resentment! Now at least I know that I can do it. All I need to do, is choose to make it my lifestyle.

Would I do it again? I doubt it. I truly enjoyed the experience. I learned so much about food and plant based diets in general. I have a better appreciation for vegetables. I still have a fairly decent amount of vegan meals a week. I am working on tipping the balance so that meat becomes a luxury, something that I have when I eat out. The main problem with going fully vegan is that it doesn’t suit my lifestyle. If I had someone who could cook and prepare all my meals and snacks, then sure, I’ll give this another go. For the moment, I take pride knowing that I turned down meat, alcohol and chocolate in one go. This required a huge amount of self-control and determination that I didn’t know I had.