BY SHANNON VETERE [ Lifestyle Expert + creator of SkinnySometimes.com]
After returning home from a NYC trip with a lot of random and delicious plant-based eats, I was inspired to try giving the lifestyle a go for a week. I didn’t know what to really expect or how my experience would pan out, but overall it was a great experiment. Here are some of my thoughts and findings from that week:
It really challenged me to try new things!
I used “flax eggs” for my morning oatmeal pancake and it was great! I will definitely continue to do this. I ate a lot of beans, which I truly enjoyed. Nutritional yeast, that was fun! There were little things here and there and I was pleasantly surprised with all the new foods I tried.
It was A LOT easier than I thought it would be.
I had no issues because I did some meal prep the weekend before I started. Even though I live in a small town with limited resources, it was so easy! The recipes I made were enjoyable and I didn’t feel deprived at all. I didn’t dine out, which I’m sure would have made things more difficult, but at home it was so easy.
Plant-based foods are super filling!
I still can’t get over how full I was after some meals. I definitely had to readjust portion sizes. One little salad with some quinoa and beans would leave me full for hours.
I realized what I was lacking
I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep, I was coming off of white sugar and I wasn’t drinking enough water. Those are the reasons I felt light-headed and hungry at the beginning of the week. By the end of the week, with less sugar and more water in my system I felt a thousand times better. And yes, I started sleeping more too. After the week was up, I made sure to be careful with all 3 of these. It was an eye-opener.
I can’t and I won’t do labels.
Before I started Skinny Sometimes, I had an unhealthy relationship with food. I had lame rules and made certain foods off limits. That of course, in turn caused me to binge. I did eat a cookie at one point during the week. If I had prepped plant-based foods without declaring that’s what I was to do for a week, I don’t think I would have eaten the cookie. I felt guilty after I ate it too, which is an absolute no-no for me! I eat cookies all the time and never feel guilty. When I realized I associated guilt with food is when I realized no matter what I will never, ever label my dietary habits.
Moving forward, I’m excited to try new recipes and add more plant-based meals and snacks into my days. It was a positive experience and a real eye opener. One week isn’t long enough for me to see if it made any impact on my health so I can’t make any remarks in that regard. It was a fun challenge though and I learned so much about myself!
