For the next two weeks our family of five will embark on a vegan exploration trip. We will try to live as vegan as possible.
We do this because we have tried to cut down on our meat consumption for almost three years now. To be honest we have not found the journey easy. We all enjoy a great variety of vegatables but breaking free of old habits and favorite dishes have proven more difficult than first expected.
We want to eat more plant based because it is better for the environment. Producing meat require a lot of land and leads to high carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile we also believe more plant based foods will be beneficial for our health.
Status quo
Today we eat meat free dinners 1-2 times a weeks and going further have proven difficult for us. For lunch we still feel quite stuck in old habits of eating a lot of traditional Danish cold cut meats and some caned or smoked fish.
Our goal
We aim to get a lot more plant based food into our eating habits while having fun exploring new foods. It is important to us that we use our curiosity during this test period.
We don’t expect to go all vegan after our exploration trip but we hope a lot more plant based products will find their way into our diets when animal based options are left out for two weeks.
I once heard a doctor say that children choose from whatever they have available. I very much believe this is true and hope once there is no meat available their natural curiosity will lead them and us for that matter towards some new plant based favorites.
Our youngest daughter is only 7 months at the beginning of this vegan exploration trip. She will try the food we eat but will besides that follow the national nutritional guidelines and get meat, fish, oils and supplements. Our other children are 3 and 7 years old. The eldest will eat almost fully vegan as we prepare the food he eats during school. Our eldest daughter is still in kindergarten where her lunch will be prepared. Her afternoon meal we prepare and this will be as vegan as possible.
Ups and downs living vegan
I hope to write a few more posts on our ups and downs during this journey but turning 38 this March I have finally got to know myself well enough to know that my ambitions are always sky-high and over optimistic. Somehow it is like I’m 18 again when I sit in from of my macbook. In reality many years have passed and three wonderful children take up a lot of my time leaving almost no time for hobbies like writing this blog.
Not a scientific study
Our vegan journey is by no means a scientific study and should not be seen as an attempt to claim that a vegan diet is more healthy than the diets suggested by health organizations around the world.
I highly recommend seeking guidance if you want to go all in on the vegan lifestyle for a longer period.
More Conscious 