It’s the end of day three and I’m more than halfway through my vegan journey. I opted to start my morning with instant oatmeal with raisins instead of cereal and soy milk.

Image Courtesy Canva

Every morning, I take a multivitamin with breakfast to make sure I’m filling in any nutritional gaps. Animal products are high in most vitamins and minerals; therefore, vegans need to consume their vitamins elsewhere.

Vegans are especially at risk to be deficient in vitamin B12 because it’s mainly found in animal products. Taking a multivitamin or B12 to supplement a vegan diet is helpful.

To combat vitamin deficiency, someone on a vegan diet can also choose fortified foods, which means extra nutrients and vitamins have been added back into the product. The soy milk I bought contains added calcium and vitamins A, D, B2 and B12.

For lunch, I prepared a quesadilla with a tortilla and vegan cheese. This is where I unknowingly broke away from my vegan diet. I assumed that the tortillas sitting in my fridge would be vegan (why wouldn’t they be?), but after going back and typing out the ingredients, I discovered El Milagro brand tortillas use milk.

For anyone looking to go vegan, there will inevitably be a moment where you accidentally buy something that contains dairy or eggs. It’s a learning curve, so give yourself some grace and don’t waste money by throwing out the food.

Other tortilla brands, like Mission, are vegan. The overall taste of the meal remains the same; it’s just a matter of paying closer attention to the list of ingredients.

I’m not a huge fan of cheese, so I actually prefer the taste of melted vegan cheese actually to regular cheese. The plain shredded cheese does have stiff, rubbery texture, but the taste isn’t dissimilar from cheese.

My last meal of the day was not only vegan, but it was also organic and gluten-free. The packaging on the veggie bowl was explicit about the health benefits.

I added Gardein “chicken” nuggets to the bowl. Gardein is a brand that sells a variety of frozen meat alternatives from chicken to beef to meatballs.

My chocolate craving was pacified with Oreos, which also happen to be vegan and allergy friendly. After my veggie bowl, I’m feeling healthy and ready to tackle the last two days of eating vegan!

via GIPHY