IIFYM - Vegetarian / Vegan

bespatter

I've been doing well with lifting weights and I've made positive progress, but I'm struggling with the nutrition side. I'm an excellent cook but I'm having a hard time maintaining good nutrition. I really like sweets and my diet tends to be higher carb/lower protein. Any tips or open diaries from those that have successfully been meeting their goals? Thank you!

chelsea7162

Vegan here! I think my diary is open but right now I'm doing some partial meal prep for a few days. I'm not the best at nutrition but I'm trying to get it under control. My advice is eat as many green vegetables as you can. Also grilled mushrooms go good with everything. Beans and rice? Now it's beans and rice and grilled mushrooms and broccoli and a little bit of salsa. Whole foods are great, but don't be afraid of some meat substitutes if you like them. I love Yves and Gardein products and they're healthy with a high vegetable diet!

distinctlybeautiful

I'm a vegetarian with a terrible sweet tooth. The protein bars I eat are chocolate, and I mix some chocolate milk powder into my protein shakes. Most of my protein comes from dairy.

Gotchocolate

I'm not an excellent cook... and I also love sweets. I always have a protein bar every day to add a little boost to my protein. I try to have some with everything I eat but always need a little more. I found Raw Rev Glow bars on amazon. And they taste good, have great real and vegan ingredients and are low in sugar. I like the creamy peanut butter sea salt currently, it's got 15 grams protein and only 3 grams sugar also only 170 calories! The dark chocolate peanut butter sea salt is yummy too but only has 11 grams protein. Also they have 30-40 percent of your iron needs for the day. Sorry to go on, I was so excited to find them after eating Pro Bar Base bars with 17 grams of sugar for weeks!

Shayes2006

Good morning, I tried going sugarless, but binge too hard, so now I'm just trying to moderate it. A tspn of jam vs a tbsn, a smoothie vs ice cream, I can have a cookie or two vs three or ten. One muffin vs three - homemade.

I've been doing well until a friend gave me a Seattle Chocolate mint bar, that allergen free baby was started before a meeting and finished off afterward. With that, I know I still have a long way to go.

One thing that has helped me is doing what I make my kids do. The rule is we have to have something healthy before having a sugary treat. We can have carrot, apple, or nuts (for them, seeds for me) before moving into sugar territory.

Vegplotter

I like to start and finish the day with something sweet.
Here are my tips:
1. There is a massive calorie difference between home made and shop bought sweets. So first think of cooking/making your own.
2. Fresh fruit is the lowest calorie sweetener.
3. Some really nice herbs can add a sweet taste, eg mint.
4. Yogurt or milk based sweets are also packed with protein (and lots of nutrition), so will add to your healthy eating. (Milk is naturally sweet tasting)
5. Try not to add sugar, or honey to your desert. Ironically a squeeze of lemon juice can have the same taste effect.

My favourite sweet at the moment is yogurt and fresh raspberries. My version is much lower than the shop bought and I make my yogurt from whole milk. (She brags outrageously)
Good luck!