My three days as a vegan

Ever heard about something and thought, 'I wonder if I could do that?'

Well, after researching and interviewing people about veganism for a week, that was my main thought on the subject. So, I decided to give it a go.

For three days last week, I stuck to the vegan diet of no meat, dairy, or other animal byproducts. I learned that cutting out certain things was much more difficult than others.

Replacing meat really wasn't a big deal for that amount of time. I just replaced it with chickpeas, cannellini beans or black beans. I made sure to get necessary protein that I would typically get from meat.

Dairy, though, was a different story. While regular milk was no problem--I already drink almond milk--"milk products" are everywhere. Even certain types of baked chips claim to contain milk on the bag.

Eggs were an issue, too. They're quick. They're easy. They're one of my staples. But they are definitely not vegan-approved. So where most people would bemoan not being able to eat their burgers and ice cream, I was suffering through three days without eggs, yogurt, honey and cheese.

The hardest part, though, was that most chocolate has milk in it, even some types of dark chocolate. If I tried to go vegan for real, that would be my Achilles' heel.

It was interesting to see the challenges vegans face. When making cookies or other baked goods, they have to find replacements for eggs, milk, butter and other necessary ingredients. Not that it's impossible, but it requires pre-planning and can sometimes get expensive if buying vegan-versions of dairy products.

I glanced through Kroger the day before I started my experiment to see what types of vegan products they had. While there were a lot of replacement options for dairy and a variety of tofu products, those products were a bit pricey for a college kid.

I can't say the idea of paying nearly five bucks for a three-serving package of tofu was appealing. So though I'd planned to give it a try, I had to give up on that aspect.
In my desperation for chocolate, though, I did splurge on chocolate almond milk. It was actually really good.

Overall, living the vegan life wasn't terrible. Since I didn't have money to go buy a lot of vegan packaged products, I stuck to fruit, veggies, whole wheat bread, and beans.

You know that feeling you get when you eat healthy for a while? Well, that was a great side effect of those three days.

So, for me, three days was doable. Would I go vegan forever? Heck no. I feel like I should mention that the first non-vegan meal I had after my little experiment was chili, followed by steak the next night.