Vegan?

So on January 7, we went vegan.  The challenge is to make it 28 days and we are half-way through now.  I just got the idea to post about it and wish I had started at the beginning, so I could make comments on what we've been eating, but I will start doing that tomorrow on day 15.

So far, so good.  We each had our blood work done and the idea is to check it at the end of the challenge and see if it made a difference.  We've all done well.  I think we've each had very small, minor "mess-ups", but overall, we're doing great.  Some of the meals have been great and some not so good. 

What I've learned so far.....
I can live without meat & dairy & sugar. 
I really like crunchy things, like chips or whole grain crackers. 
Costco has some great fresh salsa that we devour quickly. 
I don't care for gnocchi.
I CANNOT eat a portabello mushroom...ever.
Vegetarian tamales are actually good. (I learned that today! For dinner, I bought some frozen vegetarian tamales & we had a big salad with them. YUM!)

We are following the Engine 2 Diet-28 day challenge. 
Some other inspirations we've found are Forks over Knives & the China Study.

Why are we doing this?  For quite a few years, I've felt prompted to move to a more plant-based diet, but I've not had the courage or the energy to re-haul my kitchen and cooking.  With the 28 day challenge, the meals & grocery lists are planned for you, so that alleviated 1 stress for me.  I literally went through my kitchen and gave away or packed away whatever was not whole grain or plant based.  To be honest, we haven't missed any of it.  Sure, there are moments when we've thought: "Vanilla ice cream would sure taste good on this!" or "A supreme pizza would be awesome right now!"  But the moments pass.  We figure we can do it for 28 days and then decide how we want to adapt our lifestyle.

Bottom line: we want to be healthier & prevent disease.

Wish us luck!