About two weeks ago I came across a documentary on Netflix. This documentary was talking all about the advantages of switching to a plant based diet, a.k.a. becoming a vegan. Like any average person who has eaten meat their whole life I was highly skeptical. At the same time, as I watched more and more of it I started to believe in some of the stuff they were preaching. Also important to note, I am an easily convinced/gullible girl so by the end of it I was a vegan believer. Also, not going to lie, how cool would it be to put on your Instagram bio that you’re vegan. I decided right then and there that I would try this out for two weeks and see how it affected my body; I mean how hard could it be right? Little did I know that this is not a change for the weary. What’s even more convincing is the fact that I bought a vegan cook book called, “Oh she glows”. Let’s see if I was still glowing by the end of day 5.
Day one and two started off great, I was sure I could do this thing. I had planned out each meal, this way I could make sure I was getting enough protein through veggies and other foods. I got through these days just fine…. almost too easily. When I was younger I went through this stage where I rebelled against vegetables. When I say “younger” I am actually referring to my entire life until like three years ago. Nonetheless, I pretty much refused to eat anything that was green/grown from the ground. You can only imagine my mom’s frustration, as I was appalled whenever she sneaked onions or mushrooms into the spaghetti sauce. Yes, I was that girl who picked through every dinner stubbornly. The funny thing is that whenever I did somehow manage to accidently swallow a veggie I really didn’t mind the taste of it, don’t tell my mom though;) Nonetheless, after 20 years of leading a vegetable free life I realized that they were actually important to any athletes diet and in fact, my mom wasn’t trying to kill me. So, long story short, I started to eat vegetables and I have loved them ever since. The whole point of that rant was basically to say that throughout these 5 days I pretty much had to overload on vegetables to feel full. Was I happy about it? Not really. What I didn’t plan out was all the preparation that goes into being a vegan. Let’s be honest, the last thing you want to do is spend an hour after a hard practice laboring over a seemingly impossible satisfying vegan dinner.
Against all odds I make it to day 5, the unexpected last day of my vegan journey. On this day a couple girls on the team and I decided to spend the day at Suomenlinna, this little island that you have to take a ferry to get to. It was one of those beach days where you seriously underestimated the sun because of how windy it was. So maybe it was the sun that got to me but by the end of day I was craving something and that something was pizza. What makes this even harder is that I was with Vilma. You know those friendships you have where you convince each other that eating a certain food is actually good for you? Yeah she’s my go to girl when it comes to food. On our way home I somehow convinced myself that I deserved a pizza because it was such a long, tough day. My initial thoughts were to go for a vegan pizza, not sure if that even exists. I’m not blaming Vilma for the downfall of my veganism but when I left the pizza place I was carrying a beautiful meat lovers creation, not my initial intentions at all. Never had guilt tasted that good.
– Rief
