We didn’t start out eating plant based. Probably thought anyone who did was out of their mind. A meal without meat? Yeah right. We’re from Kansas, the capital of meat and potatoes. Fast forward 25 years to a boring night of television. “Hmmm, I wonder what this Netflix food documentary is about?” Two hours later….”This can’t be legit, right? Surely this is just another one of those crazy diets”. So began our search for the “truth."
Unfortunately, we soon realized the “truth” was a lot more complicated than expected. It’s probably more accurate to say we simply weren’t able to find it. Article after article, book after book, documentary after documentary didn't seem to provide the concrete, 100%, without-a-doubt evidence we were looking for. Tons of convincing data, life-changing stories and impactful information that seemed to point toward a plant-based lifestyle, but not enough to satisfy our quest for the truth.
This left us with only one choice. Decide for ourselves.
We decided to go cold turkey. 28 days with no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no processed foods, no added sugar. Sounds like a lot of no’s, right? That’s what we thought in addition to, “What’s left to eat?” But we wanted to do it right and we wanted an answer.
We prepped for 3 days prior to starting. Compiled a list of new and approved recipes and completely revamped our pantry. We said our good byes to pizza and ice cream and yogurt and deli sandwiches. We cajoled our partners into joining our made-up challenge and officially started on a Saturday morning.
Day 1 and 2 were deceptively easy. The excitement of something new and the ease of cooking on the weekend probably had something to do with it. It got a little harder as we went back to work and passed donuts on our way to the kitchen in the morning and smelled our coworkers french fries over lunch. Ahhhh, we really were addicted to sugar and fat and salt and wonderfully fake foods. Our mouths watered just thinking about them.
It was a little harder after Day 3. Learning a completely new way of eating required a ton of time, something we weren’t quite expecting. We had to have a recipe for everything, we weren’t sure where some ingredients were in the store, we didn’t know what was approved and what wasn’t without looking at every nutrition label and we had never spent so much time cutting and chopping vegetables night after night.
And then Day 14 arrived and it got just a bit easier. Most of the cravings had passed and we were starting to get the hang of things. We were able to throw meals together more quickly and started experiencing some of the positive effects of going plant-based. Without counting calories or restricting the amount of food we ate, we ended up losing weight, our skin cleared up (a big deal considering our genes) and we had this hard-to-explain sensation of just feeling more energetic and healthier.
Day 28 arrived and as crazy as it may sound, we didn't want to stop. We found our “truth” and no longer needed to hear it from scientists or doctors or nutritionists or our Mom. We experienced it for ourselves and had come to the realization that it really wasn’t so complicated at all. Eat more plants and eat less animal products and processed foods. Duh. This totally makes sense but somehow gets lost in the dozens and dozens of food ads and news stories and diets and billboards that we see and hear about everyday.
This is why we decided to create Plantsanity. We wanted to create a forum for sharing our experience with others knowing that if it could make it easier for just one other person to make a change, it would all be worth it.
So, if we’ve piqued your interest, take a quick look around the site and see what you think. We would love to hear from you, especially if you think you have what it takes to complete The Plantsanity Trials.