Update: My PARENTS Are Trying Veganism!

Original post here: http://ift.tt/2m2VyQM

TLDR for last post: I convinced each of my parents to agree to a 30 day vegan challenge in which I would do all of the cooking.

Due to some complicated circumstances, my parents' challenges did not happen at the same time, so I ended up doing pretty much back-to-back 30 days of coming up with new recipes and packing lunches and taking my parents out for dinner at vegan-friendly restaurants! However, I think that overall this challenge was a huge success.

My parents both managed to stay 100% vegan for the whole time (my dad slipped up once because he didn't realize that the chocolate powder he was putting in almond milk contained dairy--but it was unintentional). We tried lots and lots of great new vegan recipes that my parents are going to start adding to their regular menus. I bought them a slow cooker and they really enjoyed how easy it was to use and prepare meals. They were able to see that being vegan was both easier in some ways and harder in other ways than they realized. (For example, they had previously had an attitude of, "Stop being so picky about restaurants, you can just order a salad anywhere!" Now they realize that this is not always possible. However, their eyes were really opened to the many wonderful vegan alternatives that exist, and I think they realized it was not as much of a bland, flavorless lifestyle as they had imagined.)

BIG VICTORY: my dad has been on cholesterol medication for a long time. His regular blood test was scheduled about halfway through his vegan challenge, and his cholesterol levels had gone down from 90 to 60! He also lost 11 lbs! His doctor was very impressed.

Long term impacts: My parents are not yet ready to commit entirely to veganism but they are taking some big steps. My mom has decided to cut out dairy entirely at home and to a pretty big extent away from home (ie, she wouldn't order a cheese plate, but she won't ask if the bread contains minimal amounts of dairy). My dad has decided to use almond milk in his daily cereal and glass of milk instead of cow's milk (this is about 90% of his dairy intake anyway). And they've BOTH decided to stop eating mammals! They're also going to start eating a lot more vegan dishes now that they know how easy and delicious they can be. I know this isn't as great a commitment as it could have been, but I honestly never would have thought that my omnivorous parents would ever come this far.

So if you have a friend or family member who you think might be a little openminded or willing to take a step in a vegan direction, even if they probably wouldn't "convert" overnight, I highly recommend trying a 30 day vegan challenge! It's a good amount of time for a person to really get used to trying new foods and new recipes, and realizing how their body feels and how much more energy they have. Thank you so much to everyone from the last post who gave suggestions!!

Submitted March 08, 2017 at 12:43PM by TheBardsBabe http://ift.tt/2mmbX5y