Tab Tries: A week on a vegan diet (kinda)

Let’s be honest, most students only have meat when they go back to Mummy and Daddy for the weekend. At uni a balanced diet comprises of strange concoctions made from the cheapest of the cheap.

So I thought it would be easy to try a vegan lifestyle. Cheese is overpriced and I always forget to buy milk anyway, what could possibly be hard about being a vegan? Nothing right?

I was so so wrong.

When I first agreed to try my hand at the vegan lifestyle I did not realise that this meant no cruelty free make-up either.

Day one of being vegan wasn’t the best day of my life. Apparently none of my make-up is cruelty free which meant going to work with no make-up and consequently being asked if I was hungover by most people who caught a glimpse of my face.

Luckily, Superdrug’s own brand is vegan-friendly and not too pricey either. Lifesaver

My breakfast wasn’t too different from normal. Cornflakes but with a switch to hazelnut milk, slightly strange, like a shit and seriously watered down version of Nutella. It kind of just tastes like eating nuts for breakfast.

But, I did cook some really good stir fries and taught myself how to make a mean vegan lentil curry.

After day four, things started to get harder. I was missing my morning cup of tea… hazelnut milk in tea doesn’t quite mix, the struggle was real and with end of semester deadlines coming up comfort eating was the only way forward.

Except I couldn’t even comfort eat to motivate myself to finish all those essays which have suddenly appeared. Chocolate is not vegan friendly, neither are most crisps, hot chocolate is off the cards.. the only thing I could have was popcorn.

Safe to say I have consumed a lifetime’s supply of popcorn since figuring out they’re vegan-friendly.

At day five I became that girl. You know that girl who claims they’re on a celery diet but you saw that secret stash of chocolate at the bottom of their wardrobe. I became one of those. I succumbed to animal products.

I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t watch my whole family enjoy some beautiful looking steaks in TGI Friday’s without joining in.

I’m sorry to all the vegans and PETA followers out there. Being vegan just isn’t for me. I’m just too lazy for that shit – checking the labels of every single thing you buy isn’t fun… and I also like chocolate too much. I’m never going to say a diet is easy ever again.

Safe to say this wasn’t the original angle I was going for, I thought I could be that girl that convinces everyone that we should all cut out animal products and save the animals and consequently become PETA’s new advocate.

All I learnt this week is that I have no self-control and I’m a complete fail of a vegan.