How Did This Come About?
It all started while I was dining with a group of friends at Olive Garden. While going to town on Never-Ending Pasta Bowls, we were discussing the film Supersize Me, a 2004 documentary where filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonalds for 30 days and suffered all sorts of ill health effects. I made the point that the experiment wasn't a fair indictment of fast food, since Spurlock had been eating a mostly vegan diet prior to filming and suddenly ratcheted up to 5000 calories of fast food a day. I joked that if someone put me on a vegan diet I'd probably suffer through all sorts of health issues as well.
My friend Raazi Imam proposed a $1000, six week vegan challenge. Everyone laughed at that notion, saying there was no way I could possibly go without meat for six weeks, let alone go vegan. Not one to back down from a challenge, I defended myself, and wagering ensued.
The Bet
After a lengthy negotiation we collectively decided that the odds of me completing this challenge is 10-3 against. So people betting against me risk $10 to get back $3. My friends have all wagered against me, risking a total (so far) of $1270. Since the odds are against me, I only have to pony up $381 if I lose. I'm still accepting bets up through the first week of the challenge, so just send me an email if you want in.
The Rules
This only applies to food and beverage, I'm not going to avoid sitting on my leather couch for six weeks.
I need to make a "reasonable" effort to ensure there are no animal products in my food. That means researching fast food fries on the internet to make sure they're not cooked in animal fat, checking the ingredient list of everything I buy at the grocery store, and quizzing waiters to make sure that things I order are vegan-friendly.
If I accidentally eat an animal product but had no reasonable way of knowing, I don't lose the bet. This rule is to prevent Greg from slipping parmesan into my salad when I'm not looking. If it comes out in five years that Trader Joes is putting pork extract in their vegan pizzas, I'm not reimbursing anyone.
Why Doesn't Anyone Think I Can Do It?
I'm infamous among my friends for being a great lover of "bad food". All of my favorite foods involve either meat, eggs, cheese, or all three. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and don't do much snacking, but when I sit down to eat it's generally a large portion of pizza, BBQ, breakfast burritos, burgers, et cetera. Going on a vegan diet will eliminate virtually everything I currently enjoy eating.
I also enjoy food more than most people. Going to a tasty restaurant with good friends is pretty much my favorite activity. This is going to be a significant blow to my social life.
Lastly, I'm known as a man of low willpower. I'm a big procrastinator, and have a lot of trouble motivating myself to eat healthy, exercise, floss my teeth, go to work, clean my apartment, and other things I don't like to do. Sometimes I'll be out driving and my car will drive itself to the Jack in the Box drive-thru without any input from me. It's weird.
My Thoughts on Fast Food, Organic Food, Vegetarianism, and Veganism
I consider myself fairly knowledgable about food production and nutrition issues. As this project progresses I'm going to be doing more research as I learn how "the other half" lives. I'll be posting some of my thoughts on food as the project goes.
In a nutshell, I'm fairly skeptical of the many claims of the vegetarian community and the organic food industry. At the same time, I do believe there are some serious health and environmental problems posed by the meat and fast food industries. I think it's important to separate what we know to be unhealthy from what seems unhealthy, and to actually quantify the known dangers of what we eat and how it finds its way to our plates. I also strongly believe in the principle of "moderation in all things" - even the Ultimate Sirloin Ciabatta Bacon Cheeseburger can have a place in a healthy lifestyle.