Breaking the Vegan Streak - A Piece of Cake

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#### After 10 days of hanging out with @yangyanje and 10 days of veganism ( no meat, eggs, cheese, milk or other animal products ), I was forced to break the streak. This morning, when I was about to have my second coffee, my mom offered - or, in fact, handed - me a piece of homemade coconut cake. *She made me an offer I couldn't refuse.* It was just a tiny piece of cake, in Dutch it would be called a 'muizenhapje' ( a little bite for a mouse ), but the cake had been made by my mom with one egg and butter. In other words, tiny or not, it wasn't vegan. Long story short, I felt like eating it and she had already offered it to me the night before, so it was just too much to resist. I don't feel bad about it but it felt like an interesting enough topic for blogging. **The above was written two days ago. After that piece of cake I went back to a vegan diet again. I think I'm doing okay so far. Although cheese tends to tempt me every now and then, I can't say that I really miss meat, fish, eggs or milk.** Kin of miss karnemelk ( buttermilk ) and yoghurt though. My last couple of posts have been focused on health and I don't think that's a coincidence, as I've been hanging out with a guy who has been vegan for about 8 years now and I have been prepping ( mentally ) for having a vegan guest / friend around. At a point in time, @yangyanje shared the story of how he got there ( becoming a vegan ). He ended up in a situation, where somebody asked him to cut a chicken's head off. That person literally put the bird in one of his hands and an ax in the other one, while a group of chickens in the background was going crazy. That and other stories about hunting and killing animals. I surely get it. I can hardly harm a fly ( as Norman Bates character at the end of Alfred Hitchcock's *Psycho* would remark ). Let's say that I have been focused on health for quite some time. And not because I need(ed) to lose weight, in fact I could probably use a couple more kilos. From October last year to June, I tried a so called circadian diet ( [more info about that in this write up](https://steemit.com/health/@vincentnijman/a-book-that-will-change-your-life-and-improve-your-health-the-circadian-code) ) aka intermittent fasting. Long story short, I was only allowed to eat or drink anything besides water, in certain hours. I can't say it made me feel way healthier. It was a nice test though and I discovered that I definitely have a healthy dose of willpower and perseverance. It's now ten months after I started on the circadian diet ( and perhaps two months after and yangyanje has triggered me to make some changes again. After a week of drinking a little too much alcohol ( while eating vegan ) and sleeping late, we made a switch to not drinking, although the bunch of alcohol free IPA's apparently contain less than 0.4 % of alcohol. The switch was made on full moon, as yangyanje told me that's a powerful moment to make changes and let's be honest, it sounds better than January the 1st. For now, I feel that I still need an alcohol free beer, every now and then, as I already drink loads of water during the day and I hardly ever drink soda ( too much sugar and loads of other crap in there ). I'm also drinking enough coffee. Might want to cut down on that a little bit but you can't be a Zen monk from one day on another, right? Talking about alcohol free beer... I had a glass of Heineken 0.0, two nights ago in Amsterdam and it was terrible. I have never been a fan of Heineken but this way way worse. It almost made me vomit. It was the only alcohol free beer in that bar though. I guess I learnt my lesson, haha! Just now, my parents joined me at the / their table, to have lunch, while @yangyanje is prepping a vegan cake to bring to my sister later this afternoon. **Let's see where this health journey is gonna go. I feel I'm doing well enough and it's worth exploring a little further. One thing I could sure work on/ improve, is my sleeping pattern. The irregular sleeping hours and late nights aren't helping me with my attempt to sleep on my back, something I wrote on two weeks ago. Find more about that here: [The Night I Started Sleeping on my Back](https://steemit.com/health/@vincentnijman/the-night-i-started-sleeping-on-my-back-yesterday. A little more meditation - @yangyanje and I missed out on a couple of guided group meditations lately, due to traveling and having other things to do, other priorities ) wouldn't be a bad idea either, I feel. ### What about you? Have you been making changes to improve your health lately? How is it working out so far? Feel free to share your story in the comments**

*The picture above this post was taken by me on the beach of Scheveningen, Den Haag.*
Originally posted here: https://steemit.com/mindfulmonday/@vincentnijman/breaking-the-vegan-streak-a-piece-of-cake