Now that the challenge is over...

For some reason last week seemed to be a really busy week for us and I felt that I didn't get the chance to elaborate on Bryn's 7-Day Vegetarian Challenge.  So I thought I would do a retrospective.

I believe it's easy to switch from a meat eater to a vegetarian cold turkey then it is from meat eater to vegan.  There is a big difference between vegetarian and vegan diets.  Vegans don't eat any flesh meat as well they omit all dairy products and eggs, strict vegans will also refrain from wearing or using leather products.  Vegetarians for the most part abstain from eating flesh meat, however I've heard that some still consider eating chicken and fish a vegetarian diet, I happen to disagree.  In the vegetarian philosophy meat industry by-products are still acceptable to consume because the animals don't have to be slaughtered for their milk or eggs.  Since starting my journey back in September I have slowly made the transition to vegan and through my experiences I have made the conclusion it's better and easier to ease into the vegan diet rather than trying cold turkey.  As for Bryn's challenge, we opted for the vegetarian diet, he likes his lattes and his high protein breakfasts!  He omitted all flesh meat and we substituted with beans, tofu and soy products.

Here's what a typical day looked like before:
Breakfast: Latte, 2 eggs, 6 chicken sausages.
Lunch: Chef's Salad
Dinner: Tossed salad, stir fried veggies, chicken breast

Typical Vegetarian day:
Breakfast: Latte, 2 eggs, 2 slices Yves vegan bacon, 1/2 cup vegan baked beans.
Lunch: Tossed Salad, 1 cup vegan baked beans or chili, 1/2 cup hummus and veggie sticks
Dinner: Tossed Salad, stir fried veggies, more beans and marinated grilled tofu.

I think the changes were really subtle and it made it easier that I had already gone through my own transition and with my experiences I could make dishes that I knew he would enjoy eating.  As I said before I'm really proud of him and I've gained a new respect for him too!  I hope our experience will challenge you and your family to try your own Vegetarian Challenge!  You can make up your own, maybe you go for a week or maybe 30-Days!  Or try 1 day a week for 3 months!  There are no rules or limits!  I guess there's one rule, you must have fun with it, oh, and send me your favourite recipes ;)