A New 60-Day Challenge

A few days ago, I completed my 60-day vegan stint and I'm currently trying to figure out what's next, as far as balanced eating goes.  Erica and I agree that the way we've been eating has been a huge improvement over the way we were three months ago, so our goal is to not change much.  We're still predominantly vegan (me) and vegetarian (her), but with Halloween and all the leftover food and candy, it's been a struggle not to fall back into our junk food habits.

So, I guess if you were to put a label on it, the one that fits best would be clean eating. With an emphasis on making most foods from scratch, eating very little processed food, and using natural ingredients, clean eating is really a better description of what I've been striving for.  We've already cut out soda, processed flour, potato chips and cheese crackers, but there are other things (salad dressings and vegetable stock come to mind) that I'd like to rely on less, or learn to make myself.

What this means for the meat/dairy that we eat:  we'll strive to buy dairy products that are steroid free and eggs that are from free-range farms.  The same applies for meat, if we decide to eat it. However, the price tag on all-natural chicken doesn't currently come anywhere close to fitting within our food budget.  So for now, our meals will remain mostly plant-based.

Erica and I have committed to another extreme challenge to go along with our clean-eating lifestyle:  in the same way we took a radical step to clean up what we eat, we're going to clean up how we drink.  Starting November 14th, we commit to drinking only water* for 60 days.  

While I was giving up soda and coffee, I became way too reliant on apple juice, apple cider, and (sugary) tea.  And while I am drinking more water now than I was before, I'm not drinking nearly enough.  And Erica, well, she never really did give up coffee with me.  So here's the deal.  No coffee, juice, or alcohol for 60 days. No wine at Thanksgiving, no shots on my birthday, and yes, because we chose not to start on Nov. 1st, we'll be having a totally sober New Year.  But it's supposed to be a challenge, that's how we know we're changing something.  I'm really excited.

Now, I expect this challenge won't be nearly as fun to blog about as the last one was, so I'm going to continue to use this space to talk about our adventures in cooking and what we're learning about clean eating and clean living.  I'm still on the hunt for awesome recipes, and I think one of the first up is going to have to be making another soup, because HOLY CROW it is freezing outside.

*There will be one exception although I don't know if you really consider this a "drink":  Erica and I are both pretty fond of [and not willing to give up] cereal for breakfast, so milk (soy for me) on cereal is staying.