The 7-day vegan challenge is described as a “fun, easy way to try veganism, and in the process learn about your health, reduce your carbon footprint and find compassion toward all other creatures.” For seven days straight, you refrain from eating any meat products, seafood, poultry, dairy and eggs. There is no email address required but you can add your name to a list of people taking the challenge on the 7-day vegan’s website. (7dayvegan.com)
After reading about how eating meat products affected the Earth’s ecosystem and the cruelty behind factory doors in the meat industry, I decided to try the 7-day vegan challenge.
Eager to start the challenge, I drove down to the nearest Whole Foods to go grocery shopping. After all I was about to cut out all the things I was used to eating, mainly eggs and cheese as I do not eat a heavy amount of meat products. I stocked up on classic vegan junk in attempt to make the week more fun and varied. I had a cart full of vegan pizza pockets, hummus, almond milk and frozen vegan Asian dishes: along with some fruits and vegetables in attempt to not gain ten pounds during the week.
The first two days were actually the easiest days for me, I had a bunch of delicious foods that I could just pop in the microwave and done. I lived off of my veganized pizza pockets and when I had to eat at my job I just made a sandwich with veggies on it and a vegan mayonnaise spread called “Just Mayo.”
Days three and four are where it got difficult for me. I was sure that I was getting enough daily calories, considering all I was eating, for the most part, was junk food. But I woke up feeling tired and low on energy all day. Workouts with my personal trainer seemed insanely more difficult than usual, but I figured it was all in my head. I spent these days trying to eat a more well balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables instead of the usual junk food. I supplemented with Sun Warrior protein powder to help ensure that I was getting enough protein, but most protein powders are made with Whey or Casein which is not vegan, so I had to find a vegan alternative.
Unfortunately I did not complete the challenge - I caved in the middle of day five and ate some eggs. My experience with the 7-day vegan is that you have to plan ahead! If I went somewhere and did not have something that I could eat I would just refrain from eating until I got home- and this probably contributed to some of my energy levels dropping after the first couple days. I did not lose any weight probably due to the fact that I was eating a good deal of junk food, although my blood pressure did go down by almost 10 points on both systolic and diastolic pressure.
My main reasons for trying the 7-day vegan challenge were for environmental concerns as eating a diet rich is meat, poultry and seafood products contribute to pollution, water shortage as well as deforestation. Although I did not complete the challenge it was an eye opener for me about the difficulties of being a vegan as well as the environmental impact one can have based on their diet alone. If you’re interested in this challenge you can find more information on 7-day vegans website (7dayvegan.com)
