My PARENTS are Trying veganism!

I've been vegan for 7 years now and vegetarian for 4 years before that, and I honestly never thought I would see this day. I told them that the only thing I wanted as a present for Hanukkah this year was for them to try veganism for 30 days, and my present to them would be that I would do ALL the cooking for those 30 days. I think 30 days is a really good amount of time to really see the impact on your body of having no animal products--how good they will feel, how much energy they will have, and maybe they will realize that they can eat perfectly happily and healthfully without needing to eat animals.

(I highly doubt my parents will ever go 100% vegan because they both travel internationally a lot for work and pleasure and a big part of that experience for them is eating the local cuisine and that kind of thing, they're pretty big foodies. But my mom has now started saying that after the 30 days are over she's planning on going pescetarian with no dairy, so just eating fish and eggs, which is a big improvement! And my dad will probably eat mostly vegan at home but eat some animal products when he's traveling or at a restaurant with no options.)

Anyway I'd love some suggestions for how I can make the 30 days the best experience possible for them so that they are inspired to continue it for as long as possible!!! They both are pretty healthy eaters, they already like having Buddha bowls and salads a lot of the time, and they love it when I make them smoothie bowls. So I'm more looking for that kind of thing than for Gardein chicken strips or whatever--as delicious as those are! My mom also can't eat a lot of fat because of some health issues, so avocado/coconut/peanut butter type dishes have be pretty minimal quantities. I bought them Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals as another present, and I think that his approach and writing style will really appeal to them. I'm also hoping to convince them to watch Earthlings or a similar film as a family movie night! Any other ideas? I'm going to be packing them lunch most days so I'd love suggestions for that.

TL;DR: My parents are doing a 30 day vegan challenge and I'm doing all the cooking! I'd love any suggestions you have, from healthy meal ideas to movies to books to activities.

Submitted December 31, 2016 at 10:32AM by TheBardsBabe http://ift.tt/2iACQ1G