I realized that part of the problem was me, because I hadn't done any grocery shopping to fit my new lifestyle. Knowing I was totally out of my depth, one of my bosses (a vegan) enlisted the help of a vegan mentor of sorts named Renee. As an employee of PETA and a vegan veteran, she was tasked with taking me grocery shopping.

As we walked through Trader Joe's, I was shopping in a way that I had never shopped before. I actually went to the fruit and vegetable section first, and got foods like strawberries, spinach, and bananas, all of which I hadn't eaten in a very long time.

There were so many things that I could eat that I didn't even realize were vegan. I found some amazing vegan Mandarin chicken that didn't look at all vegan, but actually was. At the end, my grocery cart was full of a number of delicious options that I happily consumed in the next few days.

I also starting googling all types of food to see if they contained animal products before I bought them. This extended to restaurants, as I had to check menus to make sure they had vegan food options. I was inadvertently becoming more and more informed about food.

One of the harder parts about this week was dealing with temptation. I had a dinner in Santa Monica where the only vegan options were quinoa tacos. While the tacos were delicious, I was super jealous of my friend across from me who was eating a 16-ounce steak. And there was another instance where I was at a deep-dish pizza place and it took every fiber of my being not to jump over the table and eat that beautiful, melting cheese and meat mess at the table next to me.

I'd also like to clear the air about tofu: I didn't like it, and I will never like it. It looks and tastes gross to me. The fact that I had to "press" the juices out of it didn't add to its appeal. It's almost as if the flesh-colored gelatinous mass was sweating. It just isn't my thing and probably never will be.

I was really adjusting this week, and although I felt like I was getting hit with a lot of information, it was getting to be more digestible.