The Vegan Experiment: Day 1

I've decided to try eating vegan for the next two weeks. Why? To see what happens. More specifically, there are a few things I am interested in monitoring:

1. Weight. I am on the "last ten pounds" phase of my weight-loss goal. There is no real evidence, as far as I can tell, that a vegan diet contributes to weight loss. But this is a last ditch effort to see if there is an easy solution to losing ten pounds before I go back to counting every calorie and dropping my caloric intake to 1,300/ day. In other words, hopeful laziness.

2. Lactose. I've never removed dairy from my diet. Ever. I know it affects a lot of people's digestion, etc. What happens to me? There are a lot of claims about improved skin, sex drive, etc. from removing dairy. We'll see.

3. More healthy foods. Removing all animal products will force me to look to other sources that I commonly neglect (e.g., vegetables). Perhaps forcing myself to eat more leafy greens in the short-term will help me to make them part of my regular diet in the long-term.

4. The placebo effect: If I think I'm doing something good for me, perhaps I'll feel "healthier" simply from the psychological effect of it.

The only legitimate health concerns I found about a vegan diet are the possibility of not enough B-12, or omega-3 fatty acids. I think my fancy-schmancy vitamin supplement I picked up at New Leaf market should take care of that.

It doesn't seem like it will be very difficult. I live in Santa Cruz, Ca... probably the easiest city in the country to be vegetarian in. I can even eat out at Dharma's.

So far so good. Breakfast this morning:

Cheerios
Soy milk
Banana
Coffee w/soy creamer