You’re vegan? What’s that? You don’t eat dairy? I could NEVER do that. Where do you get your protein? What DO you eat, there’s nothing left!

My goal with this daily food diary is to log every single thing that my body consumes. Water, tea and coffee included!  For those who are curious about trying a plant-based diet, this could be a good tool to get you started or at least answer some questions! Maybe it will even expel some common misconceptions.

DAY 1

Pre-Breakfast (religiously, every single morning)

Green Machine by Naked Juice, 4 oz. serving plus my Barlean’s Omega Vegan Swirl  3-6-9 supplement. I also take a multivitamin to ensure I get all the necessary B12, iron, etc. I would like to think I eat “perfectly”, but I don’t, so the supplements are there as a backup plan.

~ 130 calories, 22 carbs, 5 g fat, 1 g protein

Breakfast

Let me start off by saying this is NOT typical. I normally have a very large breakfast but this morning I was not feeling hungry and just felt a little off. So, I grabbed food I could eat once I was in the office. Typically, I eat a 4 egg white omelette with fresh garlic, spinach and tomato. Before anyone judges and says, “that’s not a plant” – know that I recognize that! 🙂 I choose to include eggs in my diet for breakfast, from cage-free or local farm raised hens because I like eggs, they are quick and easy in the morning and it’s a good source of  lean protein. Today, I opted for an extremely light breakfast, sans eggs. I was also careful to call this self-created adventure, “A Week in the Life of a Plant-Based Diet” versus “A Week in the Life of a Vegan Diet”. It truly is PLANT-BASED, and telling strangers I’m vegan is a much easier explanation. TRUTH: My whole focus is to eat plants before anything else. I’ve changed my mode of thinking when I reach for food now. Was it made by nature or made by man? Fruits, veggies, nuts, beans versus potato chips, pretzels, snack bars, etc. Colorful foods, versus bland and processed foods.

So, for today’s breakfast I had one medium banana with raw, plain pepitas and dried blueberries. Coffee with homemade almond milk (nothing added to this particular batch).

~ 260 calories, 46 carbs, 9 g fat, 6 g protein

Delicious half regular, half decaf coffee with a little bit of homemade almond milk!

Lunch

Out to eat at That’s a Wrap in Phoenix. I ordered the Earthly, as a salad versus a wrap and exchanged the tahini dressing for balsamic vinaigrette because I don’t like tahini!

The salad contained: Granny smith apples, red cabbage, kale, broccoli florets, red grapes, carrots, slivered almonds and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. For my side I got their pumpkin soup. I was told all their soups are always vegan, which is awesome because soups are definitely one of those risky foods to eat while dining out; at least when trying to avoid meat and dairy. ~ 189 calories, 21 carbs, 5 g fat, 4 g protein

All gone! I didn’t eat the tortilla because I am limiting my gluten intake right now. I didn’t feel like asking if it was gluten free, I just assumed no.

We were freezing before, during and after lunch, so we swung into Nami to get some coffees to warm up! I got a decaf coconut milk latte… mmmm… foam. ~ 95 calories, 8 carbs, 5 g fat

Since I didn’t plan well today, I grabbed two bananas on my way out the door, realizing I would need it for the afternoon. Sure enough, I was starving by about 3:30. Enter banana #2 – again – I try not to do this but it is a reality. ~ 105 calories, 27 carbs, 1 g protein

By the time we got home, I was starving again and bordering on HANGRY (angry because I’m so hungry!) While preparing dinner, I ate a little snack. I measured it so I wouldn’t eat the entire thing! ~ 156 calories, 26 carbs, 5 g fat, 1 g protein

Dinner

I put my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants dinner together in a slideshow with a little bit of how-to for those who may be curious about how you cook vegan, when it’s not for a formal, fancy, blog post. 😉 At this point I’d like to state that I have been vegetarian since 1997 and in May of 2012 decided to cut out dairy completely and haven’t looked back. Over the past 2 years my partner and I have slowly, gradually changed our diets. Mine has evolved into what we will see over the next 7 days. This transition didn’t happen overnight and I don’t necessarily believe in cleaning out your pantry and starting from scratch. With a change that drastic you would most likely feel deprived and your body would go into shock. Not convulsing on the floor shock, but shock nonetheless. Most likely it would manifest itself into something similar to a toddler’s temper tantrum when the employee at your corner market has no idea what quinoa or amaranth are. It’s all about little choices, everyday. A little effort, a little change, goes a long way.

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After dinner I was stuffed!! Oh! I almost forgot, I did add a 1/4 c. of chopped walnuts to the final quinoa mixture. It just so happens that my phone’s camera was having one of it’s daily hissy fits and I needed to restart it and I never got a shot of the nuts! Final dinner numbers? ~ 423 calories, 81 carbs, 14 g fat, 16 g protein

I took another dose of my Immuno Well Rx herbal supplement while preparing dinner, along with another 4 oz. of  Green Machine. Got to keep that immune system strong during cold and flu season! ~ 70 calories, 16 carbs, 1 g protein

Despite being completely stuffed, I was craving something sweet. What? Me? NEVER. Realizing I had already eaten enough food for the day, I made myself a cup of orange herbal tea. ~ no calories, but pure joy

I entered all my dinner ingredients into My Fitness Pal and realized I was pretty far from where I should be with my protein for the day, especially since I’m trying to build and repair my muscles during the final week before my upcoming marathon! After much consideration I realized I couldn’t add more protein without adding calories and decided having enough protein was more important for tomorrow’s 10 mile run and my overall recovery.

I ate 13 almonds ~ 105 calories, 3 carbs, 9 g fat, 4 g protein

Then swiftly decided I should have just reached my protein goal by using my Vega Sport Performance Protein Shake. Whoops! I added it to 4 oz. of my almond milk and whisked vigorously. Still a little scratchy on the throat! But it got the job done! ~ 78 calories, 6 carbs, 1 g fat, 11 g protein

Grand total for the day?

Calories = 1,610 kcal

Carbs = 256 g

Fat = 53 g

Protein = 45 g

Water intake = 18 cups or 144 oz. (this does not include tea or coffee)

It’s nice to have day 1 complete, it wasn’t too bad tracking along the way. I wish I had a better day 1 to show, but the whole point of this it to be 100% honest and let people see how it can be done! 🙂 Even poorly planned days can turn out ok. It’s all about choices.