It’s Day One of the Grand Vegan Experiment, henceforth known as the GVE. I didn’t have to wait long for the sales pitch. The pitch arrived in my first support email. An offer to buy a book and an online course. But first, let’s talk about the important part — the food.

I didn’t prep for this so I don’t have any substitutes yet. I decided to start at dinner last night even though I couldn’t count yesterday as the first day. We had already planned to have Italian sandwiches. I had a Italian vegetable sandwich. Luckily the giant bread rolls we already had in the house were vegan. The rest was vegetables I would have piled on top of meat, only without the meat. The Chef made me a condiment made of oil and vinegar and herbs so sluice all over it. (He took the news relatively well, by the way.) I didn’t miss the meat or cheese.

Went to bed early. Had sexy dreams. Got up to meet my morning partner (MMP) at the gym. Felt fine getting out of bed.

That’s when I hit the first pothole; first thing this morning. I like cream in my coffee — real cream. I haven’t shopped for an alternative yet so this morning it was either drink the coffee black or go without. I went without. I drank extra water on my way to the gym. (MMP also took the news relatively well. She told me to go get some almond milk for my coffee.) Came home, had a banana. Made some oatmeal without milk or butter. I stirred a spoonful of fruit preserves into the oats and drank more water. Got a headache, which I assumed was withdrawal from the caffeine, so I made a cup of English tea when I got to work. Headache abated.

To prep for lunch I found a box of couscous in the pantry. I threw away the Parmesan flavoring packet (contained dairy) from the box and just boiled the couscous. It made a huge portion — too much for one meal. Tasted bland so I added black olives and the remainder of the sluice juice left over from last night. Packed an apple with it. I won’t starve. If I need snacks I’ve got some raisins, some flour tortillas (yeay, they were vegan too!), and peanut butter.

Big salads were already planned for dinner tonight. They usually have chicken or turkey on them with gobs of cheese, plus The Chef’s homemade dressing made with buttermilk. I’ll be leaving off the obvious and doing more oil and vinegar. So far this has not been a hardship. World not ending.

How do I feel? Other than the headache I perceive no ill effects so far. I also can’t claim any noticeable positive effects other than better knowledge. I had to Google a bunch of ingredients while reading packages in my pantry. There’s dehydrated dairy in just about everything pre-flavored, so I’m learning a bunch of new words.

The email I received from the 30-Day Challenge folks was the ice-breaker myth-buster sort. It contained a link to a 20 minute audio message as well. As predicted, I got the invitation to join a Facebook group and a PDF about body mass index, cholesterol, and blood pressure. Good information and no complaints there. The link to the bonus recipe for a Mango Banana Smoothie + Daily Menu Suggestions contained the hidden sales pitch. The Smoothie recipe was indeed a free PDF but the Daily Menu stuff is only available if you sign up for an online course and buy a book. You can get the course for $40 or the course and book together for $53. I’m going to pass on that for now and try the free version as it is presented. I want to write about it as it is presented, and also because I’m on a Spending Fast.

However, just because I’m not buying doesn’t mean no one should buy them. If you are interested, here are the links. They might be awesome.

What The Health film (where you find the free 30-day challenge)

30 Day Vegan Challenge online course (the paid version)

Colleen’s book on Amazon

Alright, I’m off to find a plant-based cream alternative for my coffee. I’ll supplement if anything remarkable happens before the end of the day. Be well.

— Mercy