The month of May is now upon us and this means my vegan experiment is officially over. Here’s my take on things:

1. After choosing this diet for a full month, it has become quite easy to follow, as long as I continue to cook at home (which I generally do).  I think I’d be willing to institute vegan weekday dinners permanently.
2. I definitely noticed a difference in my weight and how I digest foods by eliminating hard cheeses.  I have now decided that cheese is for weekends only and if I’m going to eat cheese, it will be organic, vegetarian and higher quality.
3. I’m going to introduce yogurt back into my diet, as I do feel that it was a void during my experiment.  Again, organic, local dairies will be my priority.
4. I was never really a fan of milk and have decided that I don’t really need it in my diet.  I’m not against it, but there are much tastier sources of calcium (greens, broccoli, etc) and Vitamin D.  I read somewhere that most of the Vitamin D added back to milk is synthetic anyways – I might as well count on my multi-vitamin for this source.  Also, most egg free desserts are better when made using a vegan recipe, and for that I can continue to use almond or soy milk.
5. I was recently telling someone about being vegetarian and they asked if I was a healthy vegetarian – I proudly responded that I was and I will continue to be.  There’s always a time and place for some Gardein, or some “meatballs”, but I’d rather choose a diet that includes a lot of fresh vegetables, legumes and grains.
6. I still have a lot of recipes that I wanted to try during my experiment but just didn’t get around to – I’m especially determined to master a vegan cheese recipe at home, since the fake, store-bought options were not edible in my opinion.