I’ve decided to add a new challenge to the 2014 goals list; I’ll be participating in the Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge and blogging about the journey along the way. A Whole Foods Plant Based diet is a diet based on whole or minimally processed plants, primarily fruits, vegetables, whole grains, tubers, and legumes. It excludes or minimizes animal-based foods such as meat (including poultry and fish), dairy, and eggs, as well as refined foods like bleached flour, refined sugar, and oil.
The 28-day Challenge has two participation levels, Fire Cadet for those completely new to the WFPB world and Firefighter for those further along. The Fire Cadet challenge eases participants into the challenge – Week 1: no dairy, refined sugars or processed foods; Week 2: add-on no meat, fish, or eggs; Week 3: add-on no oils; Week 4: continue on for a strong finish. The Firefighter challenge starts off full-in. On the Challenge website you can download the free e-books, which contain meal plans, recipes and other info.
As I approach my two year anniversary of living vegetarian, mostly vegan, mostly plant-based I’ll go straight for the Firefighter challenge. My meals have been nearly complete WFPB, but I tend to stray when it comes to snacks (particularly finding oil free snacks). The challenge for me will be to get to 100% WFPB meals, develop healthier WFPB snacking options, and (at least for the challenge) give up my dinner glass of wine. I won’t be giving up my morning coffee though! I have one 16 oz cup of black coffee a day and it stays, non-negotiable; I’ll give up my occasional diet Coke and my glass of wine, and limit to my one cup of coffee.
If you’re starting to sway from your resolutions, want to dip a toe in the vegetarian world, are inspired by Beyonce, or just generally up for a diet re-start give the E2 Challenge a try! The community atmosphere will probably make it easier to start out and you’ll be surprised how much your cravings and palate changes once you get past the first week. When I started on this diet two years ago it was meant to be a vegetarian experiment timed to Lent, but I realized that I had more energy, felt generally better and was enjoying trying new things and turned the diet into a lifestyle.
The Engine 2 Challenge is 3 February through 3 March with many local Whole Foods Markets participating as well.
Dandelion Wishes 
What is your name?
Laura
I’m doing this too. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.
Just a personal coffee experience for you. We have been WFPB for about a year now & like you felt we would not give up our morning coffee but about 2 months ago after watching so many of Dr. Gregor’s videos on the benefits of tea, we decided we would give Chai Tea a try (without the milk & sugar). We liked it pretty well, drank it for about 5 or 6 days & decided we would have coffee the next day. About 3 drinks into the coffee my stomach was cramping so badly that I stopped drinking mine & went & made tea for myself. My husband did finish his but the next day we went back to the tea. Fast forward to a week or so ago & I was out of town (having my chai tea every morning) so my husband decided he would have coffee the last morning before I returned. He could not drink it, dumped it out & had tea.
Thanks, interesting. I do like teas. I usually put an herbal tea bag in my water (Tazo Passion or Refresh)to add some interest and drink a cup of green tea in the afternoons (Tazo Zen). I go for the Chai tea in winter time (and actually love to make oatmeal with Chai Tea instead of water – the spice adds so much flavor you don’t need much sweetener). I love the taste of coffee and since I don’t add anything to it don’t see the harm. Maybe I’ll experiment in the final week 🙂
I’m doing this too, but so far it has been really tough for me! It’d be great if you could do some posts on what you eat 🙂
I think it’s a bit trial and error to discover what works for you. For me it’s all about planning but I do better creating my own plans than following someone else’s meal plan. I prep almost all my food for the week over the weekend – 2 different dinner options to alternate between and (at least in winter) a soup to have for lunches with either a side salad or sandwich. Within a week there’s not a lot of variety but from one week to the next there is. I find the happy herbivore books good inspiration (abroad is my favorite), and currently, Isa Chandra’s latest. I had posted a blog with resources around thanksgiving and will be sure to mention it in my next post. I’ve list power in an ice storm so this weeks good intentions fell apart a bit as I cannot reheat the food is prepared and will have to discard a lot 😦
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