Well, I had 2 glasses of wine at dinner the other night, along with a smidgen of gluten and dairy and I woke up with a headache. I’m blaming the headache on the wine because my gluten and dairy consumption was so minuscule. Interestingly enough, I found that while I normally could drink a whole bottle of wine with dinner, after two glasses I felt my body say “no more, please.” I’m still feeling like my body is not feeling the alcohol. I’m only on day 5 and my cravings for cheese are growing. But thus far, I’ve resisted temptation – including the ball of fresh mozzarella staring at me in my refrigerator day after day.

Days Two, Three and Four

Did you drink cof­fee? Yes, on day 3, I had to get up early on Saturday for a work event and decided I needed coffee to function. I also decided that I would reintroduce coffee so that I I could really start to tell how this vegan thing was making my body feel. If I felt tired, how would I know if it was from lack of coffee or from the way I’m eating?

Break­fast: Toasted Ezekiel english muffin with soy free vegan butter, sprinkle of salt and garlic pepper on days 2 and 3 and brown rice gluten-free “rice crispies” with raisins and almond milk on day 4

Lunch: Kale salad with sliced almonds, pears, fresh figs (which I found laying around the kitchen at work) and red pepper cashew cream dressing on day 2, day 3 was hummus and some salad and a corn tortilla and day 4 was a ton of beans that I prepared and ate in class.

Snack: On day 2, I spent the late afternoon making cookies for both humans and puppies for a work event tomorrow. Somehow I managed to use every bit of self control in me to not lick the batter! I did eat 2 doggie biscuits (yes, you heard me). They had egg in them (oops) but they were gluten free and tasted like delicious crackers. Snack on day 3 – my boss was really nice and got me vegan cookies to eat while we worked the event on Saturday. I may have had 4 of them. Oops again. Day 3 – beans beans and more beans.

Din­ner: Day 2 dinner – I made sautéed burdock root with shiitake mushrooms, celery and carrots, day 3, I had quinoa pasta with lemon, a little soy free vegan butter, sauteed kale with garlic and some nutritional yeast. I also had a piece of bruschetta with a chickpea and smoky lemon spread when I went out later that night and a bite of brussels sprouts that may have been drenched in butter, but man were they good. Day 4 – BEANS.

Glasses of water: Day 2- 2 glasses (oops again), Day 3, probably about 3-4, Day 4, probably about 3-4

Alco­hol: Day 2, no alcohol! Day 3, I had a small glass of wine and a gin cocktail in the evening. Day 4, no alcohol!

Exer­cise: Day 2, N/A, Day 3, I biked to work event and back, Day 4, N/A

Temp­ta­tions: COOKIE BATTER. I resisted.

How do you feel? I felt pretty good on day 2, again tired towards the end of the day most likely due to lack of coffee, but also because I was baking hundreds of cookies and using all of my will power to not eat them. Day 3, I felt pretty energized after my bike ride and day 4, I was in class all day and I usually feel pretty energized when we’re cooking because I’m doing something I enjoy and I felt pretty awake and alert, but by the time I got home, studied for my quiz, and cooked more beans, I crashed.