Last week, I decided to take on what I considered a pretty big challenge and go completely vegan for a week. When I told people this, the responses I got were various mixes of disgusted and confused looks accompanied by "why?" I'm a big fan of those stories you see on Snapchat that say things like "I tried [insert random trend here] for a week and this is what it was like." So, to be fair, I was probably inspired by that. However, I'm a strong proponent of making conscientious decisions about how to treat your body and recently, I hadn't been living up to my words. I think it's important that we all know what we're feeding our bodies with, where it comes from, and the impacts it can have on the environment and society. Yes, I also care about the ethical treatment of animals, but I don't discourage people from eating meat as long as it's produced responsibly. So, if I'm being totally honest, I had a bunch of reasons for eating vegan for a week and some of them didn't come to light until the end. It was a big change for me, and I did learn a lot.

For clarification, I define "vegan" as containing no animal products. No meat, fish, eggs, milk, milk or animal by-products such as whey and gelatin, or honey. That last one was a bit of a surprise to me, I'll come back to that. I did, however, ignore possible traces and cross-contamination due to same-factory processing. I understand that this may not meet the standards of every vegan out there, but to me it seemed appropriate. Disclosure: I did "cheat" once. When your boyfriend's mom finds out how much It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia you watch and still wants to cook you dinner, you don't refuse, you eat the chicken.

So if I wasn't eating any of the aforementioned foods, what did I eat? Peanut butter. Lots of peanut butter. I also substituted tofu for the meat in pretty much every meal my family made. Some were surprisingly good, some I could definitely live without. I also tried to eat more fruits and vegetables. I tried my best to keep my diet as balanced as possible, but I struggled with plant-based protein. Surprisingly, eating out was way easier than expected. I was fully prepared to make all my own food for a week or be forced to eat at exclusively vegan restaurants, but almost all restaurants offer at least one tasty vegan option (check the websites). When in doubt, almost anything can be made without cheese to accommodate allergies and the like.

In my week of eating entirely plant-based foods, I've thought about whether I could do this long-term which led me to ask myself what foods I miss most. I came face-to-face with this first thing Monday morning. I've been religiously drinking 16oz of iced coffee with a splash of half-and-half each morning for four years. Suddenly, I had to remember to reach for the almond milk in my decaffeinated morning zombieness. It actually wasn't bad! My inner foodie would say the earthy almond flavor enhanced the natural coffee flavor, a normal person would say it tasted more coffee-y but in a good way. Throughout the week I tried to replace junk food with healthy snacks instead and I honestly don't miss much. For a sweet treat, Ben & Jerry's makes an absolutely delicious dairy-free coffee-caramel pint that I devoured. Craving: demolished. I also had a sore throat during the week and made a cup of tea, which is when I discovered that honey isn't vegan. Luckily, my mom is on a health kick and had some sugar-free vegan honey-ish stuff that worked well. Honestly, what I missed the most was salty, gooey cheese. I never found a satisfactory substitute and pasta isn't the same without it.

Eating vegan really forced me to pay attention to everything I ate, and now that I'm in the habit I'm going to keep it up, even if I do reintroduce some animal products. I knew everything that went into my body for a whole week and almost all of it came out of the ground. It's pretty amazing and my body felt great. I also actually lost a few pounds, although that might be due to the fact that I was too lazy to hunt down a vegan snack on multiple occasions of hunger. I gained more appreciation for people with allergies; this is their daily struggle. I don't think I'll stay vegan long-term but I want to keep up the habits and keep trying new foods, though maybe with fewer rules.