Juice Cleanse.

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Yep! That's right, along with thousands, probably even millions, of other Americans, I have started 2013 with a change in diet. Unlike most Americans, I perceive, I am not changing my diet for weight-loss reasons. 1/1/2013 marked my first days as becoming a vegan. Why vegan? I want to ensure that I live my life in a way that I get the most enjoyment with at little cost/imprint on the environment. My intentions about writing about this experience is document the benefits and struggles that an average, young-American woman endures in trying to eat a plant-based diet. My experience is by no means to be political or am I trying to debate the virtues of one life-style over the other.

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The purpose of this juice cleanse includes the following - taste and experience fruits and vegetales in their raw, unchanged state with an emphasis on their flavors and to purge my body of any toxins and processed junk that I am currently storing. I decided to do my own juice cleanse with fresh fruits and vegetables instead of buying into a system. In my opinion, pre-made juice cleanses don't achieve my overall goal, which is to get a better understanding of the fruit and vegetable. Also, those pre-made juices produce a lot in terms of packaging. Yes, the packaging can be recycled, but making juices at home reducing the overall impact significantly.

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All seriousness aside, this is rough stuff. The morning are not that bad at all, as I am not a big morning eater. However, mid-afternoon and evening, whoa! It also doesn't help living with a meat eater who made what looked like a delicious sandwich yesterday. However, I am determined to take one day at a time. I am only "juicing" for seven days, which I think is manageable. 

As a side note, for NYE, I went out like a bang in terms of what I ate as my last non-vegan meals. 

• Lunch: Foot-long, Chicago-style hot dog with onion rings
• Dinner: (Homemade) Brown-butter risotto with Lobster and white-wine butter sauce with grilled asparagus. For dessert, coffee with caramel cream (which will be my last coffee for the month) and Italian cookies. Writing about this meal makes me want to cave!