The Beginning - why would I want to do this?!

When I get an idea in my head I tend to just go with it. Not so much with the planning and the thinking parts, I like to dive right in and see what something is all about. I like experiences and I like to experiment.

Food has always been an interest/obsession of mine and the more I learn about it the more intriguing it becomes. Everyone knows (I hope) that fruits and vegetables are good for you and that french fries and pizza are not. This knowledge of what is and isn't nutritious is enough for the majority of people who are busy living their lives and no doubt making what they see as the best decisions and choices that their circumstances allow at any given moment. One of the nice things about living in the free world is that we get to eat what we want whenever we want, but at what cost to our health?

My aim for this mini project is to basically 'flirt' with veganism for 30 days. The reason I use the word 'flirt' is because I am diving into the project with limited information. Yes, I could do my research and spend a couple of weeks planning how this is going to go but I already explained the part about that's not how I do things.
So anyway, my goals:

• To learn as much about the vegan way of life as I can in 30 days
• To eat like a vegan
  
• Not spend more than I would on 'normal' food
• Not supplement my diet with pills other than my daily multivitamin
• To cook more meals and learn some nutritious and tasty recipes
• To hopefully gain some of the wonderful health benefits vegans attribute to their lifestyle (energy, vitality, great skin and hair, effortless weight management, inner peace etc.)

So what do I know about being a vegan? Not much at the moment. I have talked to a few vegans and I am reading some (3) books on the topic and I regularly visit WWW.chooseveg.com. I know that veganism is not just about food it is a way of life. It is a respect of everything on the earth and about living in balance and harmony. No, I am not about to start hugging any trees right now; I am focusing on the food part and if my reading influences me to take on the challenges of the other elements then so be it but for now it's the food.

We really have no idea what we are eating anymore. Genetically modified produce, additives, colorings, preservatives, growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides all concern me. But I can control and limit my exposure to them.
A particular situation that alarms me is the premature onset of puberty in young girls. I'm talking about the ones who are 12 but look 20. Now that is worrying in itself but look a little further. If the body is developing faster, doesn't it stand to reason that it will also decay faster? I thought that type 2 diabetes (formally 'adult-onset' but now just type 2 due to the alarming number of children diagnosed) and childhood obesity, shortening the life expectancy of fat and unhealthy children was bad enough but how about the ones who are eating their grilled chicken and their veggies but will sadly live a shorter life because of the crap in their food?
The food industry (corn) is more about money and profits than the health of the average American. Monsanto, upon realizing that the weedkiller 'Round-up' that was being used by their farmers on the corn crops was killing the corn as well as the weeds. So did they stop using the Round-up? Nah, they developed a new seed of corn that was resistant to the weed killing chemicals and insisted that their farmers use the new seed. So much for nature and eating off the land.

The more I learn about how our hormones react to chemicals and how we are readily pouring this poison into our bodies the more concerned I become. What we eat in our hectic, convenience-orientated society is very easy to dismiss but I don't believe your health (or the extra taxes I have to pay to support societies unhealthy habits when it gets sick) should be. I am by no means a saint in the eating department and I doubt I ever will be so please don't take any of this as me being on my high horse telling people how they should live their lives. It is simply me exploring a different way of living. And eating.