Going VEGAN, please help!

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  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
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    I ate vegan for a month a few years ago to drop cholesterol numbers for a life insurance blood test. My staples were rice, beans, peas, nuts, vegetables, fruit, nuts, cereals and bread...
  • kricard86
    kricard86 Posts: 50 Member
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    I need to stock up on nuts...
    J72FIT wrote: »
    I ate vegan for a month a few years ago to drop cholesterol numbers for a life insurance blood test. My staples were rice, beans, peas, nuts, vegetables, fruit, nuts, cereals and bread...

  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
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    kricard86 wrote: »
    I need to stock up on nuts...
    J72FIT wrote: »
    I ate vegan for a month a few years ago to drop cholesterol numbers for a life insurance blood test. My staples were rice, beans, peas, nuts, vegetables, fruit, nuts, cereals and bread...

    For me, peas were a go to for protein...
  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
    edited August 2017
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    A vegan diet and adequate protein intake aren't incompatible, I assure you.

    You don't need to treat protein as the sole preserve of people who include meat in their diet, you really don't.

    As a starting point, I recommend peas, tofu, lentils, beans and soya milk. You can bump up your daily total by adding a tablespoonful/15g chia seeds to servings of vegan yogurt-alternative or to a vegan alternative to ice-cream and including mushrooms and broccoli in your cooking.
  • KeepRunningFatboy
    KeepRunningFatboy Posts: 3,055 Member
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    Staples: Veggies, especially kale and broccoli. Oatmeal. Fruits, especially apples, bananas, blueberries. Potatoes. To a lesser degree would include lentils, quinoa. I eat lots of salads and soups and oatmeal.
  • bowyer2017
    bowyer2017 Posts: 6 Member
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    Vegan for 28 years with two healthy vegan sons, one who is very into exercise and both nutrition. The second pregnancy I was vegan. One put me on to this app as medication I take for an unrelated condition has increased my weight and food amounts. I am back eating more thoughtfully and curbing cereal too. Better to make smoothies with non animal milks. Depending on what you are using the app for (gain,remain,bulk up) should determine your protein requirements.
    The Vegan Society U.K. has a range of info and local groups so you can get first hand experiences of diet and often have meals together.
    Yesterday I had soya, tempeh and quorn nuggets for my protein. Lentils in dahl is a favourite and tahini or tofu.
    My goodness direct is a good online source and your local health food shop should have ideas of products.
    I wish you well.
  • Sunshine_And_Sand
    Sunshine_And_Sand Posts: 1,320 Member
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    I'm not vegan. I don't think there's anything wrong with being vegan, but I do think making the decision to be vegan based on a movie might not be the best idea...
    But to answer your question about vegan recipes, any chili recipe you find could easily be made vegan. Just sub the meat for an extra can of beans or some chickpeas, use the same amount of water or vegetable broth for anything calling for beef broth.
    Look up the "spicy taco chili" recipe on publix apron's site and just make it without the meat. Super easy, lots of flavor, low calorie, and no need to give up protein.
    One of my favorite chili recipes is my sweet potato/black Bean recipe
    You can also sub some of the tomato sauce for a can of pumpkin purée for a little bit creamier texture
  • KickboxFanatic
    KickboxFanatic Posts: 184 Member
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    kricard86 wrote: »
    My co-workers just told me to keep quinoa handy... I absolutely hate it but will try again :neutral:

    I cook my quinoa in vegetable broth (the College Inn Garden Vegetable Broth is my favorite) to give it a bit of nice flavor.

    I also used this recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/06/20/high-protein-quinoa-almond-berry-salad/ when first trying to like quinoa.

  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
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    kricard86 wrote: »
    JaxxieKat wrote: »
    Anti- What the Health vegan checking in. Everyone else covered the tomfoolery of the documentary, so I'll answer your question. My staples are tofu, frozen veggies, canned beans (without pork fat), sourdough bread, avocados, potatoes, and nutritional yeast. I rarely buy organic. I save my pennies for vegan ice cream.

    The only vegan cookbook I recommend is Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. For recipes online visit Oh She Glows and Hot For Food.

    Thanks! It seems I have been grocery shopping a million times this week. Slowly but surely I am getting my pantry in order. I appreciate your help. My co-workers just told me to keep quinoa handy... I absolutely hate it but will try again :neutral:

    I'm not vegan but I am gluten-free, and don't care for quinoa either. No reason to make yourself eat it, life's too short! There are plenty of other pseudo-grain choices out there to explore (buckwheat and wild rice for instance) :)
  • zingeber
    zingeber Posts: 124 Member
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    Hi! I'm transitioning to vegan (slowly; I've been mostly vegetarian for years) and I have an open diary. So far my "staples" are oatmeal for breakfast. Still figuring the rest of it out. Feel fee to add me!
  • mercury451a
    mercury451a Posts: 1 Member
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    JaxxieKat wrote: »
    Anti- What the Health vegan checking in. Everyone else covered the tomfoolery of the documentary, so I'll answer your question. My staples are tofu, frozen veggies, canned beans (without pork fat), sourdough bread, avocados, potatoes, and nutritional yeast. I rarely buy organic. I save my pennies for vegan ice cream.

    The only vegan cookbook I recommend is Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. For recipes online visit Oh She Glows and Hot For Food.

    I checked out the website. It looks like it has a lot of good recipes. I am trying to count calories also to loose weight. How do I figure the calorie count on these or any recipe? Thanks.
  • RedSierra
    RedSierra Posts: 253 Member
    edited September 2017
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    JustRobby1 wrote: »
    Changing your diet for legitimate health reasons is a great and positive transition, but deciding to do so based upon a propaganda piece is, in a word, naive. Not trying to be too critical, but there is little other way to describe it.

    So many people are criticizing the OP without reading her comments. She has a right to her feelings.

    She clearly said this: "I didn't buy into many things in the documentary. It was the animals that bothered me. BTW, I am from the hog plant area in North Carolina so I grew up smelling pigs and watching chickens head to the slaughter (all my friends work at those plants). I can't change how it made me feel."

  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
    edited September 2017
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    I went vegan in the new year after trying Veganuary and loving how it made me feel, so I kept on with it :)

    First of all you will not have a lack of protein, if you eat enough quality food. I'm a powerlifter, don't take protein supps and manage just fine.
    My main staples / food choices are pretty much the same as before, but with adjustments made to switch animal products to non animal sources.

    My main staples are, plant milk & spread, cereals/porridge, bread, peanut butter, jam, pasta, rice, dried red lentils, canned green lentils, black beans, chickpeas, canned tomatoes, baked beans, marmite, cashew nuts, frozen veg like peas and sweetcorn, veggie burgers, tonnes of herbs/spices (I like cooking) and lots of fresh fruit veg.

    I like meals such as pasta bolognese, all types of curries/dhals, lasagne, buddha bowls (so easy when you just have random foods in) veggie burgers, mac and cheese, pizza, nut roasts, sausage casserole, tagines, pasta salads, fajitas.. I like most things.

    If you liked dairy cheese prior to going vegan, learning how to make vegan cheese or cheese based sauces IMO help a lot, and you then can turn most veggie recipes into vegan. Cashew nuts are a main staple for this, plus a few other ingredients based on the recipe, it's really simple though :)

    For recipe ideas I mostly just go online, there is far more choice than in a recipe book. However, I do really like "Vegan Food & Living" magazine (I'm in the UK, not sure where else it's available) and a few vegan cookbooks that I have are;
    Thug Kitchen
    Keep it Vegan
    This Cheese is Nuts (vegan cheese making)
    Seitan and Beyond (making "meat" out of wheat gluten)

    I also have the following which are vegetarian books, but easily adaptable;
    500 Ways to Cook Vegetarian
    200 Veggie Feasts

    Hope this helps :)
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    Vegans DO eat fruit
    Whey powders are not vegan (Plantfusion is the best I've tried)
    Many bars mentioned above are not vegan (Vega are the best I've tried)