Want Chocolate, Have Kale

So for the last couple of weeks, I have been hoisting myself back up on the vegan bandwagon. I’ve also slashed my caffeine intake by 75% (I’m guessing).  I’m feeling so much better already. I feel less bloated, and I’m down about 5 pounds. I gained some weight when I was living in the extended stay and eating a lot of processed food and dairy. Those pounds came off fast once I switched over to mostly vegan.

When I started making the transition, I went back and read a lot of my old blog posts from last year’s vegan challenge. I learned a lot by reading those posts. First, I found some vegan recipes that I could quickly get back on board with. Second, I learned that I went through a lot of possible detoxing. I broke out all over my face, I had massive food cravings, and there was a time when my yoga classes generally stunk.

And guess what? It’s not really that different this time around.

I have already had a massive breakout down one side of my face.

Classes have gotten awful. Just truly awful. The other day, I set up in the swamp portion of the studio next to a yoga buddy who is doing a 30-day challenge. I was there to support her, but I think she ended up supporting me! I had one of those classes where I was sweating buckets and no one else seemed to be sweating at all. Yuck.

I Love Cheese. Cheese Loves Me.

Finally, the food cravings have kicked in. Last time around I craved cheese. And I will be honest here, I do not miss meat at all but on a vegan diet I miss the heck out of cheese. I’m not talking about craving it (which happens) but truly missing it. Cheese and I are in serious love. I do feel better when I let it go, but I will always, always love it.

This time around though it’s not cheese I crave. Though the cheese cravings have popped up once or twice, they are minimal and easy to handle. Maybe because I went through that tunnel already. I know it’s not a big deal and the cravings will pass.

You know what I want in massive quantities this time as I transition back in to vegan? Chocolate. Massive, massive amounts of chocolate in any form. But, because I am good when I go to the store, I often have zero amounts of chocolate in my house. The other day I experienced a major chocolate attack. I had no chocolate. Know what I had?

Kale.

Are you serious? KALE?????? I need chocolate and all I have is kale? I suck at grocery shopping.

Not really. Ok kinda.

It was late, and the weather was awful. The nearest chocolate source was about three miles down the road. I was too lazy to travel three miles in the cold for chocolate. So I busted out the kale.

For whatever reason, I had recently done an impulse buy of Zesty Nacho Kale Chips from Rhythm Superfood. My impulse buys are clearly not normal. I will work on that.

But these kale chips? Seriously delicious. It took me a couple to get used to them. But seeing as how I paid about 4.00 for the bag, there was no way I wasn’t going to be eating those chips. They are vegan, they have a bit of a cheesy taste to them, and I eventually forgot all about the chocolate. I do recommend them if you see them in the store. Maybe they can be a planned purchase for you and then you can use your impulse buy to get chocolate which you can then send to me. Trust me, I’ll still want it.