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Why I Went Vegan For a Month

Kyle Wilkinson

As the title implies- I went vegan for a month.

There are several reasons why I decided to try out this diet (hardcore vegans would call it a “lifestyle”). Sound familiar?

So whether you’re a vegan, have any interest in trying a vegan diet, or think the idea is repulsive, let me share with you why I did it and what you can take away from my experience. It may just open your eyes a bit.

Overall, I learned a lot and I’m glad I went through with it. Let’s get into it.

Why Did I Go Vegan For a Month?

By the way, if you don’t know what a vegan diet is, it’s a diet without the use of any animal products. This would include meat, eggs, dairy (anything containing cow’s milk), or any other animal by-products.

As I mentioned in the intro, there are several reasons why I decided to adopt a 100% vegan diet for a month- more like a month and a half. Here is why I decided to try a vegan diet.

  1. I wanted to see how my body would be affected by a vegan diet. I’ve come to realize that dairy is inflammatory to the body and might not be a fantastic choice for most people. For me, excessive dairy tends to cause bloating and lethargy.

  2. I wanted to see how my body would do without meat for a period of time. Year after year of consuming meat on a daily basis didn’t seem ideal anymore. I wanted to give my body a digestion break.

  3. I wanted to challenge myself to find alternative protein sources. Since I would be taking a break from eating meat, I knew I would have to find alternative protein options. I wanted to prove to myself that I didn’t have to rely on meat for daily protein.

  4. I liked the idea of the challenge. I knew that it would be a new and challenging journey. I wanted to face the challenge head-on.

  5. I wanted to force myself to eat more vegetables. I love vegetables, I really do. But when I’m constructing a meal, my mind always goes to, “protein, protein, protein! Eat all the meats!” Vegetables have usually been an afterthought and I wanted to make them a priority.

  6. I have been learning more about the meat and farming industries and wanted to take a break from supporting them. There are some terrible practices that go on in these industries. They lie, they cheat, and their priority is not our health, it’s their paycheck.

  7. Finally, the bible talks a lot about controlling your desires and not letting your body slave you. Our body is a sacred temple that holds our soul. I believe this to be holy and precious and that we should honor God by taking care of our bodies. Along with this comes controlling our desires and not giving in to every temptation. Maybe this topic is one to be expanded upon in a future blog.

Overall, I knew that this would be a challenging change for me and I liked the idea of not getting too attached to any certain nutritional practice. I wanted to prove to myself that I am adaptive and that I didn’t NEED animal products to survive. I also love learning about new foods, new ways of cooking, and new ways of getting essential nutrients from the foods that I eat.

So What Did I Eat & Where Did I Get My Protein From?

So I tried to make this diet as healthy as possible and limit processed foods. I mean, if you are going vegan you should strive to eat more whole food plant products and not just meat alternatives and junk food. Just because it is vegan doesn’t mean it is healthy.

Here are some of the things I consumed regularly:

And I tried out a couple of local vegan restaurants.

I tried to keep things pretty simple but I also tried new things and learned how to cook new dishes. I enjoyed that.

One of my go-to, nutrient-packed meals was my turkey and beans dish. So I took a dish that I was familiar with making regularly and recreated it into vegan black bean tacos. I actually liked it better than my original go-to meal. The key to me was discovering new ways to prepare some of my favorite dishes, while also being open to trying new things.

Here is that recipe- Black Bean Tacos

So How Did my experience Go & What Did I learn?

To be honest, I liked it.

I liked the challenge of being vegan, it helped me build stronger discipline with myself.

I liked learning how to be more creative by cooking new meals.

I never got a crazy boost of energy or felt on top of the world (like some people claim when switching to a vegan diet), but I did feel less bloated overall, and my stomach region leaned up a bit.

Now, too much of anything is still too much and it does me no good if I replace what I was eating with fake processed foods that aren’t good for me. Eating any processed foods, vegan or not, will still irritate your stomach and harm your body.

For me, it wasn’t too difficult to be vegan at home. The hardest part was when I was just a week or so in and I went over to my parent’s house for a game night and they had giant pieces of Benito’s Pizza. I hadn’t had that in YEARS and it looked and smelled amazing but I didn’t give in! And yes, I’ve eaten pizza recently before the diet but not the huge Benito slices! That was a hard one for me. Alright, enough with the pizza talk, it’s 9:30 AM on a Monday morning and I’m getting hungry for piz…. I won’t say the word!

Overall, I had a really good experience, felt good, and have implemented some changes into my diet now.

Now What?

So I never really thought that this would be a long-term diet for me. Ok, so I considered it. But my plan upfront was to commit to one month of being 100% vegan and then go from there.

Also, I eased into it. Here’s how I did it.

I started with cutting out dairy for one week. I’ve done this before so that wasn’t too difficult.

Then from there, I had a 100% vegan day. Then I went vegan during the week and ate whatever I wanted on the weekends for two weeks. Throughout that time, I tried new recipes, planned out what I wanted to eat (or maybe a general idea), and learned some alternatives to what I was used to cooking. From there I took the plunge into full-fledged veganism for a month.

So now, almost three months later, I’ve built some discipline and found a good balance in how I eat.

I’ve decided to eat less meat overall and keep dairy out as much as possible.

As soon as the diet ended, I took a trip to Mexico to an all-inclusive resort so I didn’t want to limit what I ate there. And I enjoyed a lot of really great food, let me tell you that. I would recommend Hotel Xcaret to anyone. The place was unreal.

But moving forward from that trip to Mexico- I still cook mostly vegan meals at home but I enjoy what I want, within reason, when I go out to eat a few times a month. This helps to keep me balanced.

I’m slowly starting to work meat back into my diet but I have parameters with it. Now more than ever, I’m trying to keep 90% of my meat consumption coming from an organic source. Overall, I’m reducing my meat portions and keeping vegetables as a staple with EVERY meal.

I’m also making sure I don’t eat meat every day. Maybe just a couple of times a week or so. In addition, I’m keeping dairy out most of the time and keeping it as a treat. Also, I’m starting to eat a lot more eggs again (which aren’t dairy by the way but since they are an animal product, they are not vegan). I’d say overall I’m still 75% vegan.

Personally, I found that it was a little difficult to get enough protein while on a vegan diet. It doesn’t have to be and the average person should be able to get enough protein from a vegan diet but I started to get bored with my protein sources and liked the idea of having meat as an occasional protein source while working the egg consumption back in more regularly.

What can you do with this?

So, am I recommending that everyone try a vegan diet?

Absolutely not.

If the thought of going vegan terrifies or irritates you, then it’s probably not a great choice for you. I had a genuine interest to try it so the drive made it that much easier.

But if you are looking to mix up your nutritional intake, try something new, and cut down on meats and other animal products, this might be a good diet for you to try. If you are interested, ease into it as I did then consider adopting a 100% vegan diet for a month and see how you feel.

If you want to see how your body would change and react to a vegan diet then going all in for a month would give you enough information. Anything less and you won’t be able to accurately gauge how your body would respond to the diet.

If that is a little extreme for you and you still would like to experiment with a vegan diet, then consider reducing your intake of animal products overall and try new plant-based options as much as you’d like. Hopefully, from the experience, you could at least learn some new meals to cook.

What I learned overall

Vegan or not, I do believe the commercial meat and farming industries are terrible.

But there are ways to fight this:

  • Buy local

  • Buy organic

  • Shop from trusted local traders

  • Don’t always look for the cheapest price-- you get what you pay for!

  • Consider reducing your meat and animal product intake and incorporating more vegetables

I’m not against animal products. I’m just more aware of how overconsumption can have a negative effect on our environment and on our bodies. Make sure you are getting good-quality sources that have sustainable practices.

I’m grateful for this experience, I’ve learned a lot, and I hope this gave you some insight into what I learned.

At the end of the day. I believe our bodies are precious and that we should take care of them. I believe we need to take control of our own bodies and desires and not give in to all our temptations. We should be disciplined and trained to feed our bodies good nutritious food. I also believe we should enjoy what we are eating but that shouldn’t be our number one priority. Our priority should be to fuel our bodies and to take care of them.

What are your thoughts?

Are you vegan or have you ever tried the diet? Let us know by commenting below.

Prior to starting this diet, I watched a couple of enticing Netflix documentaries. One was called, “What The Health” and the other was called, “Game Changers”. I think these are both good to check out but just know that they are highly biased towards veganism, so take it with a grain of salt. I don’t believe all of their claims to be as strong as they claim but they have some good info.