Vegan Challenge: Day 1!

Okay, so I actually thought about calling it V-Day, but that just makes me think of Eve Ensler and The Vagina Monologues. Which is awesome, but not what I was going for. Either way, today begins Red’s 21-day vegan kickstart challenge. He had his last supper yesterday, and woke up this morning bright-eyed and ready to tackle three weeks of blissful veganism.

I jest.

Actually, we both woke up feeling like death on a Triscuit. Our hot water heater busted over the weekend, I had a hellacious allergy attack, and we’re still frantic about our reception. So we did not wake up bright-eyed about much of anything. Still, we woke up, which means we came out ahead.

I’ve been posting on PCRM’s kickstart forum, and I’m surprised at the number of people who are all, “I want to go vegan for my health, not for any political or lifestyle reasons,” or “I’m not planning to be a vegan convert.” Oh, you’re not? Then why are you participating in a vegan kickstart? Why are you here if we can’t suck your brains and initiate you into our tofu-worshipping cuuuulllttt?! I snark, but I did try to gently suggest that even though health is a major reason people begin considering a vegan diet, they tend to learn about animal rights and environmental sustainability along the way. After all, the personal is political. It’s another example of what Red calls “falling down the rabbit hole,” but in a positive way. Besides, if it was merely for my health, I’d find it a lot easier to fall off the veggie wagon.

That said, I do feel for the people with unsupportive, meat-gobbling family members. Maybe I’m just a bitch, but if I wanted to try going vegan and my husband didn’t, he’d either be 1) cooking for himself, or 2) hungry. But I know how stressful it can be to live with people who don’t understand your choices, so I’m empathetic and hope that they can find a way to make it work. Red, however, finds himself baffled by the dozens of vegetarians doing the program. He figures that they’ve already done the heavy lifting, so kicking dairy and eggs should be a piece of (vegan) cake. I understand their desire for a supportive community to help them remain accountable, but they do seem to have the omnis outnumbered. Hopefully there won’t be a vegetarian-omni kickball game.


Triscuits are vegan. Nom nom nom.