Tater Tots, Hashbrowns, and Frites…

This post was written on my third day in France. Thankfully and surprisingly, I didn't gain any weight.

So, I said I would try the vegan diet for 30 days. However, that was shortened to 23 days due to my trip to France. I must say that I did quite well right up until the second leg of my flight when they served croissants for breakfast. Thank heavens for the option on priceline to select a vegetarian/dairy-free meal. Otherwise, I would have been like the vegetarian girl sitting next me picking over her chicken meal to get to the rice and veggies. I’ve been here for two full days and I have yet to eat any meat. I don’t know if I can go back to it. I’ve had plenty of cheese and I’ll be damned if I haven’t eaten an entire baguette (think loaf of French bread not a roll) each day. This is definitely not good for the weight loss plan. I may be starting all over at 173 lbs when I get home. No worries, though I will have read the 4-Diet cover to cover by the time my plane touches down at O’Hare and I’ll start my Induction phase as soon as I can hit a grocery store. But anyway, here’s how the diet went prior to the trip…
Things started off well. A trip to Trader Joe’s and Hyde Park Produce got me off to a good start. I made a bunch of new dishes such as vegan veggie pizza, pasta with Italian “sausage,” veggie taco salad mix, and cooked zucchini and baked cookies from scratch for the first time. In addition to home cooked meals, I picked up pre-packed Soul Vegetarian East meals to make it through my longs days and dined out at Karyn’s Cooked Comfort Gourmet, and found a new love for cucumber rolls. So as long as I was cooking or controlling where I was eating, things went relatively well. If I had a craving for something, I stopped by Whole Foods to see if I could find a vegan alternative. I now have enjoy dark chocolate, LARA Bars, which happen to also be raw, Newman O’s and Purely Decadent soy ice cream.
However, there were a few times when this was a little harder. I finally hit up Salsa Sunday’s at the Cubby Bear with a friend. Something told me to eat before I left but I was lazy and ended up running late. I don’t know what I expected to be on the menu but the only thing that I could eat was tater tots, French fries or a salad. Who really wants to pay all of that money for a bunch of lettuce and tomato and I wasn’t sure they had vegan dressing. So, if you know me, you know I opted for tater tots. No, I don’t care if I look like a 5-year old at the bar. It’s not everyday a girl gets tater tots. I also went out to dinner with my vegetarian friend. I let her pick the restaurant before I told her I was a vegan (for now) and ended up at Uncommon Ground, an earth friendly restaurant, only to find very few vegan OR vegetarian options. I went for the veggie burger and sweet potato fries. It was the most un-burger-like thing I’ve ever eaten. You could still see the veggies in it. I ate it though I wasn’t entirely sure it was vegan. Food life was relatively uneventful until the weekend before my trip. Due to a family emergency, my 14-year old twin cousins were staying with me. I told them up front about what I had at home in the refrigerator and they quickly opted for fast food ALL weekend. So, I had Wendy’s, HAROLD’S, McDonald’s Breakfast, and Panda Express type Chinese food including orange chicken all in my apt for the first time in at least 3 weeks. I was definitely struggling but maintained my cool and ate wholesome vegan dishes while the kids ate heart attacks on a plate. That was until Sunday morning. I was in such a rush that I neglected to eat a wholesome vegan breakfast and the kids wanted McDonald’s breakfast AGAIN so I had them pick me up a hashbrown. I know, the worst possible thing I could have eaten. Now I’m in France and I think the only vegan thing to eat here are frites (French fries). Can some I please get some HEALTHY and fast vegan options?