Alas, my challenge has come to an end. But rewind a week ago and it was Thanksgiving – a pretty big hurdle as a vegan. Yeah, the whole not being able to eat Turkey thing was obvious but I didn’t know just how many Thanksgiving meals are made with eggs or milk as well, so a lot of dishes had to be made differently to make them vegan. Luckily, my family had a low-key holiday and cooked ourselves. So I got to make all sorts of vegan goodies like sweet potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, sautéed spinach and brownies. Of course we did get a tofurkey to top it all off, which was a total disappointment. But overall, I actually didn’t miss the meat and it turned out well.

The whole experience has made me want to continue with a vegan diet, but I’ve definitely had my doubts. Even as I hit my stride and it got easier toward the end, I still get tempted to just get a slice of pizza or chicken teriyaki for a quick dinner, but I try to remember that more often than not, this is what I want and after learning about the ethical reasons of veganism, that food just wouldn’t taste as good anyway.

Doing a challenge like this has actually really made me realize a few things: Read More »

This week I finally feel like I made some progress. I’m getting more used to not eating certain things and preparing easy vegan replacements. I know it seems pretty much like common sense but it has been endlessly helpful to have vegan-friendly snacks always on hand. Carrots and hummus have become a lifesaver and I keep a stash of almonds on me at all times. I even found a great brand on gelatin-free fruit snacks at Target because I’ve been having the worst craving for fruit snacks! Clearly these don’t make up a full meal but they have helped me avoid the caught-off-guard factor I struggled with. Read More »

So far, this hasn’t really gotten any easier – I have made some minor mistakes. Like when my sweet tooth craving hit during homecoming and I (drunkenly) ran to Dunkin Donuts for a chocolate glazed donut, but I’d say that’s been my worst slip up yet. What’s harder, though, is when I try so hard to resist a temptation for something non-vegan that I just end up ravenously chowing down on bread and crackers and anything vegan-friendly I can get my hands on. This has, unfortunately, been the norm lately. But I am trying to go easy on myself and not let this make me feel crappy: the name of the game is “meatless,” not necessarily “low-cal.” Suffice it to say, my body isn’t quite in Olivia Wilde shape just yet. Read More »

Okay, so this week was kind of hard. And I think I may have accidentally cheated. I went out over the weekend and have a tendency to eat when I’m drunk. On Friday, my friend and I stopped at McDonald’s (a forbidden land for vegans) and I actually was able to resist any burgers or nuggets. On Saturday, as the drunk munchies struck again, I got bread sticks from Pizza Hut. In my drunk, hungry state of mind, I was pretty sure these must be vegan, but on second thought they must have had butter, which, of course, is a no-no. Oops. To be fair, I really thought I was making the right choice (as opposed to, say, a personal pan pizza in all its cheesy glory).

My time at work wasn’t much easier. On Tuesday my manager brought in pints of Ben & Jerry’s, just for fun. Really? Like, REALLY? Just rub it in a bit more that I, the biggest ice cream lover of all time, can’t dig in to free Ben & Jerry’s (mint chocolate chip, no less). But I was actually able to stay focused and keep my eye on the prize. Read More »

Up until I was 19-years-old, I lived my life as a happy carnivore. I ate meat daily, just like most people do. I always preferred a plate of vegetables over a hot dog, but I never really imagined cutting it out of my life entirely. And then I read a book called Skinny Bitch, discovered what apparently really goes on in slaughter houses, and changed everything about my eating habits.

If you’ve never heard of Skinny Bitch, it’s  a really popular book by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. The authors are two strict vegans trying to educate readers about how to live a healthier lifestyle. One day I was eating bacon with breakfast, chicken for lunch and steak for dinner, and the next, I was reading a paragraph about what was found in meat in slaughterhouses. When I was finished reading, I immediately went home and announced to my family that my meat-eating days were officially over. In the span of two hours, I decided to cut red meat and chicken out of my life for good.

I still eat fish sometimes, so I am technically a pescetarian and not a vegetarian. However, life as a pescetarian is still pretty difficult. For one thing, I never knew how many people had opinions about what I ate until I stopped eating meat. For another thing, I never realized how many things have meat in them. Here’s my story of what life is like when you cut out red meat and chicken… Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Emmy gave up meat. She tried (and loved) new things, she tried (and didn't love so much) some others. She felt great. And now she's done. Let's see what she's learned, shall we?]

October is finally almost over, and while I am frantically scrambling to come up with another costume for tonight, I am also thrilled that I am only one day away from being done with my meatless month. I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last beefy indulgence. I am really surprised by how well I did and the fact that I didn’t have even a morsel of meat during this whole time.

Being meatless has been a great way to shake things up and make sure that I eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. A bunch of my girlfriends were talking at dinner the other night about how one girl had been vegetarian for a while, and she actually GAINED weight because all she ate was carbs. That has definitely not been my experience at all. October has been an insanely busy week with academics, and I haven’t had enough time to work out as often as I regularly do. Yet not only have I not gained weight, I lost some! I don’t own a scale, but I can feel it in my clothes. Losing weight was in no way my goal in going meatless, but it’s not a bad side effect at all!

While I might not ever learn to like tofu, I have definitely expanded the variety of foods that I eat. Morningstar Farms Chik’n Nuggets (SO GOOD!) are something that will definitely stay on my regular grocery shopping list, as will the mass amounts of fruits and vegetables I’ve been buying. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Emmy's going 31 days without beef. Or chicken. Or turkey. Or....you get the idea.]

So, I’ve successfully made it through my first week without meat… and it hasn’t been too bad!

I’ve really liked that not eating things with meat has really forced me to try different foods and eat a more balanced diet, which is exactly what I was hoping would happen through this experiment. I’ve discovered that my school’s market actually has AMAZING hummus and vegetable plates that I’d never tried before. Like really, I don’t know what they put in the hummus, but it is madly addicting! I’ve also found a great vegetarian pad thai, a yummy Mediterranean veggie salad, and an amazing pesto tortellini all in just one of the campus markets! Who knew veggies could taste so good?

But I’m not taking any of this for granted. I’m lucky that my university offers so many Vegan/Vegetarian options and I know that not every school is quite as accommodating. If I had to exist on salads and plain noodles all month, I think I’d go crazy. Thank god I’ve got a variety of interesting and tasty options to choose from. Read More »

Nom nom nom.

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month we followed Meredith on her quest to give up junk food. This month, Emmy's going 31 days without beef. Or chicken. Or turkey. Or....you get the idea.]

Let me start off by saying that I love meat. Like a lot. If I could eat a steak for every meal, I would. And if it weren’t gross to bathe in burger meat, I’d probably do that too. (Don’t judge.)

So why on earth would I give it up for a month? Surprisingly, I have loads of reasons. First, I was inspired by the Vegan/Vegetarian club here at Loyola and their participation in Meatless Mondays, the idea being that we can all improve our health by just giving up meat one day a week. That got me thinking: if I could get healthier by trading out meat just once a week, imagine what I could do if I cut back even more? And seeing that it might not be that hard, I thought I’d go full throttle.

I want to go meatless to see what it’s like, how it makes me feel, and how it makes me look. I am also hoping it will inspire me to stop eating ice cream and chips for meals and actually do some real cooking.

For me, going meatless for a month is a drastic change, but one that I’m excited to try.

The benefits of not eating meat seem to be endless, not to mention that the less animal products you eat, the more the health benefits increase. As I’ve had it explained to me by real, full-time vegetarians, vegetarianism is not eating meat (obvi), fish, or eggs. Some (AKA vegans) even give up all dairy and anything that might have an animal product in it. To just give it a try though, they recommended that I start slow by just eliminating meat. Read More »

If not eating meat will make us as hot as any of the women in this PETA ad (that was banned from the Super Bowl), we’ll empty our fridge of all animal products right now.

On second thought, our fridge only has beer and peanut butter in it, so we’re good to go. Bring on the tofu!