One small step for (wo)man, one giant leap for me!

While I am  not walking on the moon, today embarks a journey I never dreamed of taking ever before. Today marks day one of my 28-day challenge to eating a plant-powered diet with mostly fruits and vegetables along with whole grains, legumes, nuts an seeds. The diet is called the Engine 2 diet created by firefighter and professional athlete Rip Esselstyn. I will meet up with my fellow challengers once a week at Whole Foods to share our experience along the way and learn new cookies techniques.

Now, while I may be acting slightly dramatic comparing this to the first time a human stepped on the moon, this is a big deal for me because I loooooove animal products. So what exactly does “no animal bi-products” mean?

Here is what I can’t eat:

• No dairy products – milk, cheese, butter, cream, yogurt or cottage cheese
• No animal bi-products – red meat, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, or eggs, Anything that has a face or a mother is off-limits.
• No oils – olive, canola, or corn.

• Milk substitutes – soy, rice, almond, multi-grain and oat milk. I can also use applesauce, prunes, smashed bananas, fresh fruit, fruit juice or coffee in place of milk, oil, butter and eggs for cooking.
• Meat substitutes – tofu, tempeh, wheat gluten, seitan, and veggie burgers
• Oil substitutes – cooking spray (0 fat) water, juice, vegetable broth, beer or wine (Whew, at least I can have my wine!)

We had our kick-off dinner last night at the Whole Foods Market in Lincoln Park where all the bloggers got to meet each other, we got to meet Rip, we got to try out some vegan food and go home with some awesome goodies!

All of the participants

Rip and I are besties!

28 Day Challenge