Thank you for Reading + One Day Vegan Challenge

Hello everyone!  I have a lot of pieces on the way: vegan gelato in Florence, where to find the health food stores here, healthy travel food, etc.  But I have been pretty busy lately and I wanted to take a second to thank everyone for either beginning to read or continuing to read my blog.

Google Blogger gives me pretty limited information about who reads my blogs; there is no subscription necessary, which makes it more easily-accessible but more difficult to keep track of audiences.  One thing it does show me, though, is the location (by country) of people who access my blog.  On the left, you'll see that people have been reading (or at least opening the link and then becoming immediately disinterested) from all over the world, and that's awesome!

I know that there are people from all walks of life who at least occasionally read, but I would like to know more so that I can continue to be helpful to my audience.  If there is anything you would like to see more of, or if you have any questions to ask me, please let me know.  You can comment below (you do not need a Google+ account to comment), or contact me elsewhere.  I would love to know what you think!

In order to avoid making a blog that is totally pointless, I have one health proposition for you: use one of your weekends or even your vacation days to be really healthy.  Whatever that means to you is fine.  Take one day to give yourself no excuses, and live in a way that will give you optimal health.

Easier said than done, I know.  But I thought I would just plant the seed in your heads so that you can eventually try it out.  You'll find that many of the excuses you gave yourself are not as valid as you thought.  I initially committed to a short-term experiment with veganism and I realized that it was much easier than I thought it would be, and I think the same will be true for you.

So if my compelling charm was enough to get you to agree to this, you can try my very own Vegan for a Day Challenge.  Does that sound catchy enough? It'll have to do for now.

Vegan for a Day Challenge:

1. Pick your favorite breakfast with no meat, dairy, or eggs.  Lacking inspiration?  Try one of these.  When you eat the right things, you can and should eat until you're full.  
2. If the weather's good, head outside for at least 45 minutes in the morning.  Our body makes vitamin D from the sun.  Don't you think that is so cool?  No, just me? okay well I think it's cool and this is my challenge so just do it.  Exercising would be great at this time, but we can go simpler than that.  Eat your breakfast on the porch, take your dog for a walk, do something.  Even if you're literally laying on the ground for 45 minutes.  I don't care if you drag your flat screen to you living room window to watch whatever awful thing is on TV from outside, just do it. 
3. Eat a wonderful and delicious plant-based lunch.  If you're looking for a real challenge, go low-fat, too!  Whoever decided that deli meats were a requirement for sandwiches did not have enough appreciation for the avocado sandwich.  Whole grain bread, vegan spread of whatever kind, avocado, tomato: amazing.  If that doesn't just get you going, you can also try one of these.  And again, eat as much as you want.
4. Use all that extra plant-based energy to get a project done or do something really, really fun.  If you want to be healthy, you have to be happy.  If it's going to please you to be productive, you should do that.  But I'm not forgetting that it's your vacation day, so you don't have to.  As long as you're consciously choosing to do something because it is fun, I'd say that's still productive. 
5. For a snack, eat some raw fruits and veggies.  You can even put them on whole grain (or gluten-free if you're really going crazy) bread.  This can be repeated as many times as you want.  You shouldn't be hungry for a minute of this day.
6. Go back outside, but this time, you really should exercise.  Not in a "wow... you really could use a jog" kind of way.  But in a "I'm telling you what to do to be healthy so just listen to me and stop looking for reasons to be offended," kind of way.  You know? Swim, jog, walk, run, whatever.  Just do something. 
7. For dinner, try something new.  Keep it plant based, of course.  Like one of these.  There may be some weirdo ingredients that you don't have, but try it anyways.  You'll see that vegan diets don't have to be bland or boring.  Eat until you are full.
8. Treat yourself to an awesome vegan dessert.  There are so many that are amazing.  These are just some examples of the choices that are out there, so pick your favorite.  Share it with some family and friends, but don't tell them it's vegan until after they eat it... it's more fun that way. 
9. When you feel like you're done with food for the day, head over to cronometer.com and input all the food you ate.  Set some health goals for the day, and see if you've met your expectations. 
10. Spend an hour before bed away from your phone and your computer.  The next step up would be away from the TV, too, but I still like to watch a good movie before bed sometimes. 

Weeeeoooooeeeeooooo you've completed the one day vegan challenge.  Imagine flashing lights and confetti.  Was that so bad? No.

So, half of you are reading this and saying, "This is cute, Katherine, but I don't have time or energy or motivation for this."  I know the feeling.  But it's just one day, so you can handle it.  I mean, I can't motivate you to do something, but I can tell you that it's easier and more fun than you think.  To make it easier, get a friend or family member to do it with you.  Also, the more research you do ahead of time, the easier it will be.  Take ten minutes out of each weekday to pick out recipes and track down ingredients.  Then, the healthy things will be at your disposal.  You really can do this, and you should!  Even if you feel good about your health now, it's good to be challenged every once in a while. 

The other half of you are saying, "Are you even a real vegan?  You should be suggesting low fat and non GMO and organic and way more exercise and less fun"  (Okay, I may be exaggerating with the less fun thing).  I agree.  Simply being vegan is not the point of optimal health - there are a lot of unhealthy vegans, and I wouldn't want to suggest otherwise.  But this challenge is for people who think being vegan alone is too difficult or too extreme to handle.  I'm just trying to show everyone that it's not. 

Let me know what you think of the challenge!  I'm thinking of making this the first in a series of challenges that will include longer durations and stricter, more specific diets, etc.  But not if this is a really lame idea and I just don't realize it because I'm from Generation Y and I assume I'm destined for great things.  I'd also love to hear about your results.  Keep me updated.