Vegan Challenge!

The last 3 weeks have been pretty interesting and I can actually say overall my insides feel good and I've definitely had my fair share of what being a vegan feels like. Often I've been asked 'what do you eat?' or on a few occasions I've been told this actually isn't Godly 'kill and eat' lol, but for the most part people have been intrigued to know more or just generally surprised that I've come so far.

To be honest it hasn't been easy all through, and there were times I wanted to satisfy the craving but I kept going guys! One of the hardest things for me, has been how restricted I've felt at times constantly checking the label of packages to make sure it contains no eggs, milk, gelatine and then just to find 3 lines down it contains one of the above. You become more cautious of what you put inside you and definitely become much more creative in the kitchen.

Being vegan has forced me to include more fruit and veg into my diet which by the way is obviously a good thing and also cook and use ingredients some of which I had never used before the challenge in my meals. Something I have noticed  on the challenge however is that on some days my face looked a bit grey and I sometimes felt tired. After a little research I found that most vegans take a supplement called B12, which helps in the production of red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body. This is usually obtained in meat, fish and dairy products so because it is not found in foods such as fruits and vegetables vegans tend not to get enough of this vitamin. A lack of vitamin B12 can thus lead to extreme tiredness, yellowing of the skin or a general lack of energy etc. However, after some advice I was told that I was probably lacking iron and not B12 which would take a bit longer than 30 days to suffer from any serious deficiencies.

Nonetheless, over the last few weeks I've had some fantastic meals.Here are some pictures of my vegan life :)

Origins: vegetable burger, curly fries and salad (this became a staple when on campus
as it was the only meal that I could actually eat that was vegan)

Chickpea and sweet-potato burgers with red onions and
sweetcorrn 

Chickpea and Sweet potato pitta with sweet potato fries

Butter bean stew with kale, tomato, scotch bonnet, garlic
and rice with salad

Swede and Carrot stir fry with coriander and lemon couscous

One of my favourite meals : Bean and carrot soup with dumplings
and vegetable fried rice

Carrot and Coriander soup with ginger and slice pitta bread

Jollof Rice and Sweetcorn with fried plantain

Butter bean stew with mixed veg and sweet potato squares

Spaghetti with vegetable pasta sauce

Sweet potato squares: fried in butter garlic and salt = divine