I hope everyone is enjoying their boosted immunity from the first challenge.  I know I’m enjoying not getting sick anymore.  Now it’s time to turn the dial to 11 and launch into a four week plan based challenge!

In Defense of Challenges

In an earlier post I discussed “making incremental steps in the right direction.”  Well, because this is my blog, and I can do whatever I want – I am going to completely contradict myself.  I love challenges.  Challenges and resolutions are great for motivation.  That is why I love New Year’s resolutions.  Even though we all know most people give up by the end of February, that’s still two months out of 12 that you are crushing your goals.  If you make it to the end of February That’s more than 16% of the year that you are living life right.  I love tricking my brain by using arbitrary dates like the beginning of the year, quarter or month, birthdays, or holidays to launch new resolutions or challenges.  So pick a date on the calendar and join me for a four week plant-based challenge!

The Four Week Plant-Based Challenge

The goal of this challenge is to eat a whole-food plant-based diet for four weeks.  The rule are simple:

• Eat whole plant based foods
  That’s right, we’re going to be eating our fruits and veggies
• Do not eat meat, fish, eggs, dairy, or other animal products
  We’re going full vegan
• Avoid processed food
  This includes white bread, white rice, pasta, chips, vegan junk food – I’m not going to give you a full list, you know it when you see it.
• Avoid alcohol
  The jury is in and no amount of alcohol is good for you. We’re going to be avoiding it for this challenge

For a little more detail on what to eat:

• Unlimited
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Beans
  • Nuts
  • Seeds
  • Whole Grains
    • Oatmeal
    • Brown Rice
    • Quinoa, 
  • Water, Coffee and Tea
• Moderate amounts
  • Tofu and other minimally processed soy products
  • Whole grain breads
  • Plant Milk
• Avoid
  • Animal Products: Meat, Eggs, cheese, Milk
  • Vegan Junk Food (you know it when you see it)

If you are looking for recipe ideas I would highly recommend Dr. Greger’s How Not to Die Cookbook.

Getting Your Family on Board

Talk to your family about whether they want to join you on this challenge.  Personally, my family is not nearly as excited about the idea of going plant based as I am.  On top of that I have younger children that are exceptionally picky eaters, and I do not want to add restrictions to what they eat.  If you are not already in charge of food preparation and grocery shopping in your family, I would recommend that you take over these responsibilities for the duration of the challenge and make extra effort to prepare meals that will make you and your family happy, even if you have to prepare different meals for yourself.  If you make your spouse’s life easier and make sure everyone is well fed with the food they like, this challenge is going to go much better for you and will prevent resentment from getting in the way of your health goals.  If tensions rise during this time be sure to talk about why you are doing this, and make darn sure you are cleaning up after yourself in the kitchen!  

Join the Conversation

Join the conversation on the Plant Powered Dads forum and let us know how the challenge is going.  We can help each other meet our goals and trouble shoot issues. I don’t know about you, but I am nearly jumping into the air and punching my fists to the sky with excitement to start this challenge.  Time to head to the grocery store – see you in the forum!

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash