Groceries for the diet are manageable. The first trip to whole foods was pretty expensive but that's because I had to load up on non-gluten flours and other pantry items that a non-vegan household wouldn't normally have.

bi-weekly groceries are about $100-$125, but mostly because produce is expensive.

Why I started - A couple of reasons
1) My exercise regimen has been together for months now... I run 3 miles no less than 3-4 days a week, work out with a personal trainer weekly, take a couple of fitness classes... but even being in the gym that often, I was seeing more definition but not really seeing the scale move. I knew my diet was shitty and I wanted to change it. My PCP gave me a nutritionist to see, but I figured I'd try this before I make that leap.

2) i'm lactose intolerant and I have had a suspicion for a while that I'm gluten sensitive. My GI once put me on a low-fob diet but it was too damn restrictive of the different fruits and vegetables you could have so I couldn't deal with it. I figured going vegan and then slowly introducing gluten and lactose and meat back into my diet will allow me to discover who the offenders to my digestive track are.

3) colon cancer runs in my family. Mom had it. Grandfather had it twice. A vegetarian diet has been linked to lowering colon cancer risk. I still get my colonoscopies, but whatever I can do to prolong the lifespan of this body is a good thing.

4) I read some reviews of bloggers who tried the 22 day diet and they talked about the same factors I'm experiencing: high energy, quick weight-loss, fewer GI problems, etc... and I figured 22-days isn't a long time.

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The Green Mile is a movie where the magical black man wrongly dies and the white man who let it happen lives forever.