Vegan weeks :) (Day 174 + 175 of the world trip)

February 25th + 26th, 2020

Yesterday we were back in Bacalar at the lagoon and it was pretty cool again :) In the morning it was quite windy, so there were even waves and swimming was a bit more exhausting, but in the afternoon it was scorching hot again :p:D

In addition, the two Belgians left, so we have the whole apartment to ourselves again ^^

This morning we skyped with Germany for 2.5 hours and then went to the mall to find a copy shop. We finally found it at Office Depot and it was quite a lengthy process to print and scan one page (the employees do it for you there). I think we were there for at least half an hour until it was finally finished ;-)

Then we went to another supermarket and the reason for that is also the topic of today's blog post. As promised, I wanted to write something about food as well :)

Jonas and I have been dealing with the topic of veganism for months. In the middle of this research, we also came across the documentary "The Game Changer", which went viral :O

We have been living vegetarian for months and we finally decided to try vegan life after our return. In our opinion, it was not possible while traveling, especially when we (as always) go out to eat in the evenings because our accommodation does not have a kitchen.

Well. Now we have an apartment with a kitchen and we can actually cook, so we decided to "test" being vegan for these two weeks :)

There are sooo many posts about the health consequences - both positive and negative - and one last time we watched a few vlogs on the subject to do it "properly" ;-)

Because being vegan alone is not enough. If you do it for health reasons, you should of course also eat a balanced diet. It's called "vegan whole food diet" and in one of these videos, we came across the app Cronometer, where you can enter what you have eaten and then get an overview of how many nutrients you have taken in (carbohydrates, proteins, fat, but also all the "small" ones like iron, fiber, calcium, and various vitamins).

The app is great for beginners if you have no idea, like us, which plant-based foods are high in protein or such^^

Using these guidelines, we put together a kind of diet plan where we pay attention to everything to avoid deficiencies.

I have to say straight away that we have never before placed so much value on a nutritious diet :D We are pretty sure that as vegetarians, just like as "omnivores", we have never reached our daily requirements for ALL nutrients ;-)

But, veganism was a good reason to start, so there was a bit of planning but above all a lot of experimenting.

And, what can I say? It works wonderfully!!!

In the morning we have oats with plant-based milk (Jonas likes coconut milk and I like rice milk), banana, apple, and a few unsalted peanuts. Then for lunch, we have toast with peanut butter or hummus and always a "big" fruit (so far we have alternated between pineapple and melon. And yes, we bought the pineapple in pieces and with a YouTube video, Jonas successfully cut it up :D :D).

As snacks, we have corn chips or more fruit, and in the evening, because of time constraints, we always have our biggest meal where a real cooking session for beginners takes place :D

We didn't want to buy expensive spices for the two weeks, so our dishes are very very simple. There is always a carbohydrate boost in the form of potatoes, pasta, or amaranth and then various vegetables - the more colorful the better^^

Amaranth, by the way, looks remotely like rice and Jonas and I had never heard of it before but it is very cheap here in Mexico. We still have a lot to learn about its preparation, but it doesn't matter - even the mush tastes good :p:D

Every dinner also includes beans, lentils, or peas, so according to the app, we manage to fill all areas pretty much every day, which is a really great feeling ;-)

After these 9 days, our conclusion is quite positive. Before our departure, I would have dismissed many vegans as esoteric, but with the science behind it and with a bit of planning, it is just such a great thing! For the environment, for health, and depending on the country, even for the wallet :)

There hasn't been any food that we have "cooked" (we just throw everything together and fry it^^) that didn't taste good and you get full thanks to the legumes too!!

The negative point is that, at least with the app, for my taste, there is too much planning and calculating instead of just eating without thinking :p In the first few days, when calcium was only 50% filled, we would just drink a glass of (rice) milk and I really wanted to do everything right :D:D

Now we check if we really are still hungry if something is "missing", but without hunger, the nutrient intake for the day may not be in the optimal range and we won't drop dead^^

We don't have the feeling that something is missing at all. There is simply soo much variety of food and combinations. We could probably cook every day for weeks without repeating a dish, and the health benefits may be convincing enough.

We will continue to eat vegan until next Monday and then hope to continue as much as possible during our onward journey, but if we don't have a kitchen again, it may be more difficult. If there is milk or eggs in something, then so be it ;-)

As of today, we definitely want to live vegan permanently in Germany.

Before, I always pictured it as something impossible. Without milk and eggs, you won't get full and such :D Or be unhappy. But there is little that is impossible. With an oven, we could even bake (vegan) casseroles, cakes, and cookies, so even my sweet tooth will be satisfied :D

So this was a slightly different post and is by no means meant to be instructive or anything. We are not professionals, but since we have so much time here, I wanted to share what we have been researching all the time and why we go shopping all the time :D:D

At first, the step seemed big, but I think living vegan is super easy nowadays. Maybe you have to think a bit more sometimes, but that's not necessarily negative, and we definitely enjoy it <33