Is Vegan Diet Suitable For Everyone?

....And I've decided to make this a series with a crazy friend of mine, who currently wants to be known as Mentaiko A.K.A. Taiko.

We will be trying and testing out different things every week (hopefully), mostly out of curiosity and fun. Because we post on Wednesdays (again, hopefully) that's why it's a We-Test-Day! (Sorry if it sounds lame haha.)

Feel free to comment if you have any ideas on what to test out!

Today, we are testing on VEGAN DIET.

What Is Vegan Diet?

According to Wiki and some other Vegan websites (like Vegan Kit and The Vegan Resource Group), it is to eat foods only derived from plants. This means you not only eliminate meat from your diet, you also avoid milk, eggs, honey, cheese, etc, as these food came from animals. This is why vegan diet is different from vegetarian diet, because vegetarians do accept those foods.

Why Are People Going Vegan?

From what I know, there are a few reasons:

• Ethics: Because all animal lives should be equal
• Environment: Because meat production process is harmful to the environment
• Health: Because some studies said that we don't need meat to survive

You can read more from these 2 articles: "Why Go Vegan" and "The 5 Reasons People Go Vegan".

For me, I have a pet at home and have been contemplating whether the life of Dou Dou is more valuable than the other animals like chickens and cows.

Sometimes I find it weird that I am trying hard to keep Dou Dou alive everyday, get angry at those rabbit/dog meat eaters, yet enjoy chicken breast and char siew. It feels kinda hypocritical isn't it.

So one fine day, I have decided to take up this challenge. I posted on my IG to invite friends to join me in this 28 Day Vegan Challenge, and only one crazy friend, Mentaiko, said that she will join me.

For Mentaiko, she said that wants to try this as a detox diet and also see if she'll lose weight during the process. But in my heart, I thought she would give up on the 3rd day, because she's a well-known barbaric carnivore. 

AND THE 28 DAY VEGAN CHALLENGE STARTED.

Preparation

Mentaiko was really excited and went grocery shopping on the first day.

Avocados, Bananas, Udon, Kimchi, Mushrooms, Oat Milk, Spaghetti, Olive oil....

Very motivated, I like.

I already had things like pho, brown rice bee hoon, banana and strawberries at home, so I got myself some cabbage, carrot and mushrooms as well.

Our First Problem.

The problem about having a Vegan diet in Singapore is that, you'll have to prepare most of your food. The available food choices in most food courts and hawkers are close to ZERO. (Although some hawkers are really nice, to cook me something that is not in their menu)

So these are some of the food we made: 

Mentaiko's Breakfast Menu: Buckwheat pancake with avocado and Oat chocolate milk.

My Breakfast Menu: Oatmeal with berries and nuts and Peppermint Tea

Then for lunch:

Mentaiko's Lunch Menu: Aglio Olio with broccoli and vegetable dumplings

My Lunch Menu: Japanese Somen in Kimchi soup with tofu, carrot, cucumber, mushrooms and sesame seeds

We also met at Vegan Burg for dinner, one of the rare Vegan restaurants in Singapore and just 2 train stations away. (We live very near each other by the way)

YESSS. BURGERRRR.

We were happy kids that night.

After about a week, we slowly lost the motivation to cook and also got sick by the food we made. I'm not sure what Mentaiko did, but I searched for alternatives nearby and found this vegetarian bread shop, Yes Natural, just 7mins walk away!

Source

Singaporean vegetarians and vegans should totally check them out, location here . They sell handmade eggless breads, muffins and cakes! Vegan breads are clearly indicated and so I can eat in peace!

Breakfast Alternative: Sugarless Black Soya Milk and Almond Vegan Muffin

I wouldn't say the muffin was great, but I was grateful for whatever other alternatives I could find. 

Oh I also realised I am a member of Yes Natural (I wasn't sure what happened)! For any purchase, I can get 10% off! They also have a vegetarian restaurant right next to the bakery, and the food there is really good! I asked some of my meat-eating friends to try with me and they enjoyed it as well!

"So... what's the problem?" You may ask.

Finding food while I'm out was a big headache. Yes, even at salad stores.

I was out running errands and it was lunch time. I found a salad store and was looking at their list of dressing. To my horror, ONLY lemon and vinegar was vegan. Even though I was very hungry, I couldn't finish that bowl of veggies, because my stomach couldn't take so much sourness. I got very hungry later that day and ate a fruit bar (which is also something I hate because it was so dry).

Our Second and Possibly the Biggest Problem.

I am a person who loves to dine with my family and friends. But going vegan means they'll have to accommodate to me, which can make me feel very bad about it (even though it was a healthier choice for them).

So I told my mum about my diet, that I am "only eating vegetables", because she doesn't know what vegan means. And this was the dinner that night:

Yes you see meat in ALL the dishes.

Honestly, I almost cried.

I was so hungry and looking forward to her cooking, and I can't blame her because she probably tried her best trying to understand what it means to "only eating vegetables". I can even see the new and beautifully decorated dish (minced meat on egg tofu) right there, which was said to specially cooked to suit my diet, but I told myself to not touch it.

When I went to the kitchen to take some brown rice (which she cooked because I requested for it), and took a look at the soup. It was my favourite Chinese Yam Soup in PORK RIBS.

OH MY GOODNESS. So sad!!

I gently explained to my mum about my diet, but she couldn't really accept it and got a little angry. It was understandable because cooking is a tiring chore. To make her happier, I had to take a bowl of that soup. I guess drinking that soup has helped to put out that little fire on her head.

THEN, it was our friend's birthday.

We had a good time watching a Marvel movie, then it came to the important question - Where shall we eat?

After the movie, we were walking around in Plaza Singapura, looking for food. It was a birthday celebration, meaning we were supposed to eat something GOOD. But there were no vegan restaurants, not even vegetarian. Initially, the birthday girl suggested this Japanese udon restaurant, but we left eventually because we couldn't find anything vegan in the menu. In the end we found another Japanese restaurant that looked good to the birthday girl and also had something for the vegans.

We had a Kitsune Soba with Grilled Mushrooms.

Sorry we were not interested to take any photos as we were as hungry as a she-wolf.

Anyway this is how Kitsune Soba looks like, if you're curious. Source

But deep down in my heart, I felt bad for the birthday girl. Even though she didn't mind accommodating to our special diet, it was her birthday and she was supposed to choose whatever she wanted to eat. Well, I guess it was too bad for her.

Our Third and Most Important Problem - Health.

I met Mentaiko on the first day of this diet, and she was awfully pale, even though she said she felt alright.

We concluded that her water and protein intake was insufficient. So on the next day, she tried including more protein and drank more water, so that she can look more like a human again.

Everything was alright for me though, just occasional meat cravings which I had expected it.

But after about 2 weeks, we started to notice some things.

Mentaiko said she had constipation and gained weight, while I lost appetite and would sometimes forget lunch because I didn't feel hungry.

Quoting the birthday girl, she once said that: "The feeling of hunger is good, it means you're healthy."

I can't agree more. We are lucky to have ample food in our country, but sometimes other external factors can affect our health in different ways. If you're not eating, something is wrong.

For Mentaiko, we suspect that it's again because of her bad water drinking habits that resulted in her constipation. And also, she ate more carbs than before, so that her stomach can be happy the whole day.

But for me, my energy levels decreased, partly due to the loss of appetite and maybe my body was not used to vegan diet yet.

Anyway, I stopped this diet after 28 days and went for a trip to Japan. Somehow the ramen there tasted even more delicious than before.

Mentaiko stopped after 17 days, because she couldn't control her cravings anymore and always felt sad when dining with meat eaters.

#truestory

Is Vegan Diet Suitable For Everyone?

Vegan diet is suitable for you, if you are taking enough nutrients in your diet, if your body seems to be reacting well, if your loved ones are fine with it, if the place you are living at can give you (just slightly) more food options, and most importantly, if you are happy with this lifestyle.

Even though many people are only concerned with its health effects, but I guess for asian culture, people around you plays a big part as well. To me, it feels like, if I go vegan, everyone around me should go as well. But I don't believe you should impose ideas on people when they are not ready yet.

Also, during the 28 days of vegan diet, I wouldn't say that I was unhappy, but I didn't feel happy as well. I just felt generally neutral throughout the 28 days. But I am especially sad not eating the food my mum had prepared, and felt especially bad when my friends had to adjust to my diet.

I think vegan diet is especially hard for Singaporeans because food is one of the most important activities between family and friends. Many Singaporeans are hardcore foodies and people can quarrel over what to eat for dinner.

Because of these reasons, I stopped going strictly vegan. But I still go vegan / vegetarian as much as I can, if I am alone and the choices are available. I also decided to not waste any meat, if I have them on my plate.

My mum seems to be really pleased when I told her that I ended this diet.

Mentaiko has resumed her barbaric carnivorous diet, but doesn't mind going vegan for short periods of time.

BUT, I still think everyone shouldn't CHIONG (eat a lot of) meat during buffets, or order lots of meat knowing you cannot finish it. Don't take food and your health for granted.

Before we end, disclaimer first.

I know there are many people who strongly believe Veganism is the way of life. I can understand the reasons behind their beliefs, and do agree with them.

What we are doing here is to experiment what it's like to be vegans in Singapore. It is also for our own sakes to test whether we suitable for this diet. We are not discouraging people from this diet nor asking people to stop going vegan, we are merely sharing how we felt and what we noticed throughout this challenge.

If there are any Singaporean vegans reading this post, I really commend you! It must have been a tough journey. If you don't mind, please share some tips on how you have made it, how you manage to find food, persuade your loved ones and overcome health issues. We are really open to resume this diet again!

With this, we come to an end to the first post of this series.

 Mentaiko and I would hope to come back with more tests and experiments! Once again, do leave a comment if you any ideas on what we girls should try!