My week as vegan – Day 4
Well, at least I’ve done my food prep! This should be a breeze. Let’s get to it…
6.30am Coffee, oat milk, yuck. (Note – I don’t choose to get up at 6.30 when I only need to leave at 8.20. This is what having kids makes you do.)
7.30am Morning smoothie with ingredients that aren’t just banana, hallelujah. Peanut butter and cinnamon, I have missed you.
9.30am Toast with…I’ll give you three guesses.
11.00am Mid-morning coffee with a side of disappointment to get me through my extensive Monday morning meetings. Honestly, I’m seriously thinking of buying a cow.
1.30pm Lunch – delicious quinoa bowl with red kidney beans, toasted pumpkin seeds, pickled onions and wokked veg, topped with beetroot hummus. Now THIS is why I food prep! So easy, nutritious and yummy – it makes the chaos of Sunday fade into a distant memory (coloured beige and smelling suspiciously like chickpeas).
3.00pm Snack – rice cake with hummus and olives. It was meant to be fruit, but I forgot it in the scramble to pack two enormous shopping bags of ingredients for my lunches. I look like the tupperware lady that used to sell door to door when I was a kid (I can’t believe that actually happened – why didn’t people just buy their tupperware in shops?).
3.30pm Afternoon cup of coffee aaaaaand I cracked. Had cow’s milk. Thank you oh sweet cow and sorry for my contribution to your pain, but OH MY GOD THIS IS SO GOOD.
3.32pm Felt bad. Looked at pictures of baby calves as penance.
4.30pm Headed to gym. I’ve been interested to see how going vegan would affect my energy levels during exercise as I didn’t do anything on the weekend (too busy with the shopping and food prep, dammit). I felt very normal – a slight motivational hump standing between me and the treadmill but once in the gym, all good. Had a good workout and then suddenly wow I am so hungry I could eat a horse…oh wait, it’s not very vegan to say that. I could eat…a forest of chickpeas? An ocean of avocados (as if)?
5.30pm Food emergency, snacker coming in hot. Thank goodness for pre-made protein balls. Feeling smug and healthy again.
7.00pm Made shepherd’s pie with lentils and mushrooms topped with sweet potato – recipe here.
8.30pm Rooibos tea and two raspberry macadamia nuts. There are no ingredients on this packet and I literally have no idea what I’m eating, which probably means it’s a) not vegan and b) not healthy. There are pitfalls lurking everywhere.
10.15pm About to turn my light off and had a total brainwave re the milk situation!!
Is this the answer for coffee-loving vegans everywhere? Will I change the world, one coffee at a time? Check in tomorrow for the scoop on day 5.
Catch up!