An Attempted Five-Day Vegan Diet with Forking Clean
Okay, maybe not vegan diet – more like, vegan lunch and dinner meals. Heheheh… (Michelle don’t kill me!).
Last week Forking Clean offered us to try its week-long vegan catering, which includes lunch and dinner meals. This proposition intrigued me because, looking at its Instagram page (@forkingclean), the meals look great! Plus, I had never tried doing a vegan diet and was (supposedly) dieting at the time. So the offer was something I could not refuse.
The Sun & the Sea Salad
The thought of actually doing a vegan diet did not scare me, because I honestly thought that Forking Clean’s food seemed interesting and filling. On top of that, about six to seven years ago, I was a pescatarian for about 1.5 months (I legitimately felt sorry for land animals, until it became inconvenient for me, and somehow I didn’t feel so sorry anymore), so having to avoid certain food was not something completely new. Besides, with lunch and dinner already prepared, all I had to do was eat and keep busy from snacking non-vegan. Simple.
Chickpea shwarma in pita bread
On my first day of attempted veganism, I had a full day of work and a flu. With the entire day being super busy, I thought the pre-prepped meals came in super handy (the health part was an added bonus). I also needed a lot of energy to deal with many people, so I really needed food that could help me stay active. The rice-based meal I got for the day really help me with that and made the food also filling. I was even quite full and found it difficult to finish the entire thing. Although I did not find the usual meat protein I got during a normal diet, the taste of the food was still flavourful. All the ingredients were also super fresh.
Darjeeling Express - Indian style Buddha bowl with okra and onions, pepper zunka and dal bukhara.
The second day came in like a breeze. I got chickpeas and rice meals, which I ate and finished gladly. I did not experience any sort of hunger or cravings for meat throughout the day and temptations were not crazy.
Vegan sushi rolls
When third day came around, work wasn’t as busy, so there wasn’t that could distract me from eating, and my mom made chocolate cupcakes at home. Fuck. I wanted milk and eggs so bad. And so I cheated. Oh well. I killed an unborn baby chick and consumed what could have been the food of a baby calf. But the lunch and dinner meals continued on!
Again, the actual meals were great, and I never actually felt un-satiated from the meals, but having to avoid desserts (which are usually milk/eggs/sugar based) was the most difficult part. Alas, midday on the fourth day I kind of just gave in and ate milk and egg-containing food. So what, I became a vegetarian instead of a vegan.
A Forking Powerful Salad
And then, dinner came about. I had the dinner meal and I thought I wanted something more to munch on. I saw that my maid made some side veggies for the house dinner, and so I took a small portion and eat it. As I was chewing, I tasted something rather salty and fishy. I looked and I saw some tiny anchovies lying with the greens I was eating. At the end of the fourth day I became a pescatarian. Oops.
Vegan Mac N’ Cheez
Then fifth day. The last day. At this point I thought, at least I tried. The attempt was there. I went from a vegan to a pescatarian within days, but it’s the thought that counts. I still ate the meals though. For the last day I got pasta-based dishes, so they were very filling. Other than the Darjeeling Express (the dinner I got on the third day), the Mac N’ Cheez was definitely one of my favourites! The cheese was obviously vegan, but tastes just like normal cheese. I added a few drops of white truffle oil after I heated mine, and it tasted just like a gourmet dish.
At the end of the week, I did a scale; I lost about 0.7 kgs (I also only worked out twice that week, unlike the usual four times, due to the flu). Not bad. I think if I did the diet full-on I could have easily lost at least 1.5 kgs.
Fusilli Lentil Mushroom Bolognese
Overall, the experience was good. I didn’t lose energy from lack of meat. I ate meals that I actually liked. I didn’t feel hungry, though temptations to snack were always there. I lost almost one kg, which is always great. Would I do it again? Definitely!
Forking clean costs IDR 850k for a full five-day catering (lunch and dinner) and IDR 500k for five-day lunch only.
Indita
Forking Clean
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