My Vegan Experiment - Day 2

The second full day of My Vegan Experiment went swimmingly! I experienced some noticeable improvements with my digestion and congestion. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't really have any strong desires for anything that was off limits.

There was one moment when I felt like I needed something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. This is a feeling that would normally cause me to eat something that doesn't serve me well. I quickly reached for my emergency snack - organic raw cashews (from the freezer) and dried cranberries. Oddly enough, putting the cashews in the freezer and mixing them with cranberries somehow makes them taste like an amazing treat to me.

Here's what I ate today. I did better than yesterday, considering I ate more vegetables. However, at some point I need to do a nutritional analysis to see if I'm getting everything I need. I think I'm doing fine on protein. I'm just not sure if I'm hitting all the vitamins and minerals.

• coffee and rice milk
• quite possibly the perfect breakfast: organic hot high-fiber breakfast cereal - walnuts, bananas, dried cranberries, flax oil
• tabbouleh - couscous, cilantro, tomato, garlic, lemon, olive oil
• whole wheat toast (an improvement over yesterday's pita chips that were not whole grain)
  
• Steaz Peach Ice Tea, which is certified vegan, by the way
  
• organic raw cashews and dried cranberries
• earl grey tea and rice milk
• half of an organic orange
  
• raw organic cabbage with onions and olive oil
• an organic green salad made from my Sweetwater pickup (several types of lettuce, carrots, radish, and kohlrabi). I added white kidney beans for protein.
  

I did have one "oh no" moment when I realized I wasn't going to be able to have my usual homemade honey-mustard dressing. I just made it with mustard and olive oil, sans honey. It was just fine. Less sugar is certainly a good thing.

Could it Be the Perfect Breakfast?

I had the most delicious breakfast the past two mornings. The best part is that it was really healthy. I challenge you to find a way I could make this meal better. Seriously - any suggestions?

I started with Bob's Red Mill Organic High Fiber Cereal, which is packed full of fiber (10 g), protein (8g), iron, and bunch of other stuff. It even has flax meal! See my blog post, Bob's Red Mill High Fiber Cereal $2.58 on Amazon.

Then I added:

• a fresh cut-up banana
• walnuts
• dried cranberries sweetened with cane sugar
  (not high-fructose corn syrup)
• drizzle of flax oil

That's it! I did not miss the honey because the banana was sweet enough. I did not miss the butter because the flax oil is just as good, and is a great source of Omega 3-fatty acids.

It was so delicious - it tasted like banana bread!

How could I improve this perfect breakfast? Perhaps the flax meal in the cereal and the flax oil on top may have been too much. Also, I could have used unsweetened cranberries. Hmm... what else?