day three-gan.

Currently blogging off my Blackberry while waiting for my car to get inspected so can go back to the CA DMV tomorrow and hopefully get CA plates successfully this time (I already have the license). 

Anyway, "15 minute Smog Check" is not living up to its name so far (I ended up waiting about 1.5 hrs). So on to being vegan. Its not easy. Yesterday blew. I was hungry and headachey all day and had cravings way worse than the first couple of days. 

Breakfast: juice...cucumbers, carrots, oranges, ginger root, celery and spirulina powder stirred in. 

Lunch: baked sweet potato with cinnamon and vegan chili from a local restaurant called the green spot. Not awesome but not awful either. 

Snack: got super hungry at work towards the end of the day. As you can imagine, the vending vegan options at work are limited. I was tempted to go with oreos (yes, they're vegan) but ended up going with peanut butter granola bars instead. 

Snack 2: got home, ate about 1/2 c of corn chex cereal and almond milk. The almond milk was weird - my first time trying it - but again, not awful. 

Dinner: quinoa, 1/2 of a fresh avocado, roasted brussel sprouts, and sea salt 

Dessert: I still wasn't satisfied after dinner...so I ate a piece of California style sprouted grain bread with earth balance soy buttery spread and black raspberry jam. 

So yeah. This morning (day 4) I didn't want juice, so I ate a banana and ran out the door, which I now regret as I've been waiting at this car service place for over an hour and its taking up my lunch hour. Sigh. 

**UPDATE**:
 After the 15 minute smog check place actually took 90 minutes, I ran over to a local Indian place to get takeout for lunch. I asked what they had that was dairy-free, and the guy behind the counter was super helpful and answered my questions. The good news is that the chicpeas, lentils, and rice I got were delicious. The bad news is that the naan I got was also delicious - and, as I found out after wolfing it down - not vegan. I didn't think about it because I figured most breads are made with yeast, water, and flour, but I kept chewing on the bread and thinking about how delicious it was and how I was going to eat naan all the time while vegan, and finally I was like "I should check and see how you make naan just in case." And I saw that  most of the recipes online used dairy. So finally, I called the restaurant and asked if their naan had dairy and they confirmed that it's made with milk. 

I feel sad. I know I'd only been going for a few days, so it's not like I broke some year long streak or something, but I guess if I was going to break vegan, I would have liked for it to be on my own terms rather than by accident. I wouldn't have broken vegan for the naan if I had known it had dairy in it. But that said, it also highlighted an important lesson of sorts, which is that if you're going to take on a diet like veganism, it's important to not be too shy to ask questions about what goes into your food. Which I guess is an overarching lesson for everyone, that it's better for all of us if we know what goes into our food. 

I was talking to Kelly yesterday about how funny it is that Oreos are vegan and she was like "Yeah, of course they're vegan...they aren't made with real food. It's like eating your sofa." Which is so sad when you think about it. So much of what we eat is not real food. Anyway. Just food for thought (pun intended). 

Oh, and as for an update on how I'm feeling overall: I do feel better. I just feel lighter. Literally and figuratively - I've lost 6 lbs since Sunday (which I know seems like a lot, but I think a lot of it was water weight rather than "actual" weight). But again, I guess I shouldn't really be keeping track of that considering that I am not doing this to lose weight, but rather just to feel healthier overall. 

Tonight Jerms and I are going over to our neighbors Brian and Kathy's house for dinner. They're making lamb. I am telling them that I've given up meat for Lent (not such a stretch) and so I won't be eating the lamb, but Jeremy is going to do it "so as to not be rude" aka "because he wants to eat meat." 

So, lesson of the day: Being vegan is hard enough when you're just going about your normal life - but what if I were traveling? Whew. I can't imagine.