It was the end of 2018 in Sydney and I had heard so many positive comments about exclusively plant based diets. Athletes in the documentary “The Game Changers” on Netflix claimed they felt faster and stronger, and even recovered from injury more quickly with a vegan diet. Others claimed it improved their athletic performance and had lasting long-term health benefits. I felt I needed to try it for myself. 

Going Vegan

Obviously there are many reasons to choose a vegan diet. On one hand, I wanted to do my part in helping save the planet and its animals. I also wanted to experience what it was like to be a plant-based athlete first-hand to further understand my vegan clients. 

At the time, my friend Levi and I were hanging out all the time and he decided he was doing “Veganuary” (becoming vegan for the full month of January). On Dec 31, 2018, I decided I would join him and we had our “last meals” together, starting with the famous pancakes from Bills Bondi (which were sadly disappointing) followed by a chicken burger and more naughty food later that day to get our final fix. And then BAM! January 1st, 2019 arrived and I started Veganuary. I went from a regular diet to cutting out all animals and animal byproducts cold-turkey. 

Veganuary aka January

The first week was hard, I cut out meat, dairy, eggs, and all animal byproducts, including honey. I had done some research before going vegan to make sure I knew what the best sources of protein were, and also made sure I had a bunch of recipes up my sleeve. During that first week, I didn’t miss meat but damn I missed cheese! I felt like I was seeing it everywhere and it was on everything! My favourite avocado toast had feta on it. The asparagus I wanted to order was sprinkled with parmesan. The pasta had cheese in the sauce, and, well... you get the point. I made it through the first two weeks unscathed and felt pretty proud. It really helped to have Levi doing it as well, because we often ate out together, and having a partner in crime made it easier to avoid temptation and stick to our new vegan diet. Together we discovered a bunch of great vegan restaurants (for any Sydney-siders, our favourites were Vegan Lebanese Place and Peppe’s. For any Montrealers, my faves are Aux Vivres & Cafe Bloom). 

I feel like it needs to be mentioned that at the time, I was working 12-14 hour days Monday-Saturday and really relied on food as fuel to get me through my long days. My long days also quickly made me realise that I didn’t have the time, energy or patience to cook myself breakfasts at 4:30am because I started at 5. I got home exhausted around 7-8pm and didn’t feel up to cooking then either. Take-out and fast food is super easy to find, but as a vegan finding delivery/meal prep or even ready-to-go meals was a TASK. As a result, I started eating a lot more carbs than I ever had before, simply due to a lack of patience and limited vegan cooking skills. I was eating plain pasta or finding the only vegan pasta for delivery because at least I would feel full. I realised I didn’t love three major sources or vegan protein (tofu, tempeh and lentils) and this left me at a loss for different, easy, vegan meals. I’m not a great cook and I didn’t have time to learn any complex dishes, that was my biggest challenge. 

As January 2019 came to an end, I was proud to say that I had completed Veganuary with only two slip-ups (I had feta cheese on my avo toast because the guy at the restaurant said they couldn’t remove it and that toast was the only vegetarian option available). I felt proud to say I had successfully completed a month of veganism and even my parents were in shock. My father is Hungarian and eats a predominantly meat-based diet and I grew up on cold cuts and a lot of different red meats. Although I grew up that way, and my father is set in his ways and refuses to reduce his meat intake, when I moved out at 19, I had already significantly cut down on the amount of meat I ate. By the end of my month being vegan, I didn’t crave meat at all and I did surprisingly well without it! The big problem was the cheese, I would spot it everywhere and constantly crave it. (but I LOVE cheese)

February

Levi decided he loved being vegan and was going to continue after January and I decided I would follow along. If he could do it, so could I! So February became Veganuary 2.0. I started to adapt better and find more foods and meals that I liked. I still ate way more carbs than I should have with sweet potatoes, pastas, breads, rice, and even legumes. As time went on, I started to feel very exhausted. I couldn’t make it through one of my 14 hour work days without a nap. Most of you might think “obviously, it was a 14 hour work day” but I used to get through them and feel tired only at night. This was a noticeable change for me and I couldn’t help but feel that my vegan diet was behind it. I felt faint during the classes I’d teach or felt completely depleted after my classes to the point that I’d take a 20 minute nap on the floor of the staff room. I started to feel really fatigued and weak. I realized my sluggishness was coming from an excess of carbs and lack of protein. I just needed to focus on getting the most protein out of my plant-based diet, since I was finding the quickest vegan options and forgetting about macros. It is much harder to hit your protein targets when you’re vegan, let me tell ya! Most vegans will say there are so many ways to do so, however I had such a protein based-diet previously that even the 14g of protein per meal I was getting from lentils and chickpeas wasn’t enough compared to the 35g of protein from the chicken and chickpeas I used to eat. During this second month I regularly felt weak, but I couldn’t quite say it was from being vegan, instead I blamed it on my heavy workload.

March

Fast forward to March and Levi decided he was staying vegan for life. I wasn’t sure about life, but I was definitely committed to another month. It was comparable to a fitness challenge. I didn’t want to give up and I wanted to win. I wanted to help the planet and find a way to function as a plant-based athlete, since I knew it was possible. Unfortunately, the third month was the hardest! I cheated a bit with cheese (never with meat, though) and I had sauces with cream or cheese in them. I kept feeling lethargic and I really couldn’t explain why. The only thing I had changed was my diet. I began to eye people eating a burger and my mouth would water and I just seemed to be craving a meal that made me feel truly full (everyone is different, so I understand that for many people vegan meals are truly satisfying). Although I was eating a lot, I never truly felt satisfied from a meal unless it was imitating meat, like the vegan chicken shish taouk from a Vegan Lebanese Restaurant (for those curious, it was shiitake mushrooms and their homemade garlic sauce that made it amazing and filling). 

Ultimately I lacked the cooking skills to make exciting and fresh meals and would load up on vegetables (which is amazing, but also boring). I never got tested, but I was worried about becoming anaemic. I took B12, Vitamin D and Omega 3 tablets starting from January and they hadn’t made/weren’t making an obvious difference. Plus, the three together cost me $150 a month. Regardless, I made it through March and was happy to still be on the vegan train.

April 

April came along and damn I had made it through three full months of being vegan! I was finally telling people I was vegan. I had some slip ups, including once at Nobu in Honolulu when I was encouraged to eat the specialty wagyu beef by my date. I just didn’t have the power to say no when the plate was placed in front of me. 

That’s what was good about having Levi in it with me, because when we were out, we were never tempted to eat meat or anything like that because we were both vegan together. By April, Levi had dropped a ton of weight. He lost almost 10kg and saw a major change. I on the other hand didn’t really see myself losing any weight. I was healthy and my goal was not to lose weight, but people always ask this question to vegans. Over three months, I had probably lost about 3 pounds and it was likely because I started doing Barry’s classes more regularly. Losing weight as a vegan is not a guarantee. This misconception may be true for people who had an unhealthy diet before becoming vegan and a healthy one once they switched to plant-based. However, you can be vegan and still eat unhealthy (like eating too many carbs), so weight loss and improved health as a vegan is far from a sure thing. 

In the second week of April, I could feel my drive to stay vegan start to weaken and by this point I was always tired and lethargic. I did my best to eat the highest plant-based protein-focused diet that I could. Working in the health industry I had the tools and knowledge to figure out what worked for my body, I just didn’t have the energy to commit and invest in them when I was already feeling so run down by my intense work schedule. Veganism just didn’t seem to work for me. 

One day a client came into the gym with a burger and I broke. I felt starved that day and the burger just looked so satisfying. I went upstairs and bought a burger, and the moment I bit into it I immediately felt better. I know that sounds crazy, and against my commitment to help the planet and animals, but I finished the burger and instantly felt more energised. From that day forward I gave up on being strictly vegan. Depriving myself when my body so badly craved certain foods and proteins wasn’t ideal. So instead I made some big changes to my diet to continue to reduce my impact on the planet.

Moving Forward

In the end, I was vegan for four and a half months, and I really did my best to make it a lifestyle change. Although I failed at being completely plant-based, I have succeeded in changing my diet for the better. I used to eat meat or animal byproducts almost three times a day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I now eat meat or animal byproducts a maximum of four times a week. When I eat meat it’s limited to fish or lean white meat like chicken or turkey and I only rarely indulge in a red-meat burger. 

I have stuck to what I would consider a much more plant-based diet. My body, personally, seems to function better on animal-based proteins like eggs and meat and I make sure that when I am purchasing these products, I try to find the most ethically sourced products, including grass-fed beef from local butchers or eggs from my friend’s farm (yes, one of my friends has five chickens). 

Although this post may be disappointing to some vegans or others that have completely different experiences and journeys, I truly did my best to become vegan and it helped me empathize with the vegan athletic community. It taught me a lot and I highly recommend that everyone do the research into plant-based diets and their pros. I have incorporated many things that I learned from being vegan into my current diet and have reduced consuming animal products by almost two thirds. 

I feel the most energised and healthy from a diet that incorporates all food groups and my focus is on buying fresh, local, and organic products all while cutting back on meats and animal byproducts as much as possible.