Vegan

nuzziek

Any fellow vegans out there? Since paying more attention to my macros, I've noticed my diet could use more protein and less carbs. What are your favorite protein sources? Can anyone provide an example of a daily menu that hits all of your vegan nutritional goals?

(PS - I'm a vegan due to ethical / environmental reasons, not as a strategy to lose weight)

kimny72

I'm not vegan, but wanted to get the ball rolling for you!

First I'd suggest not worrying about lowering your carbs. Just focus on increasing your protein, and then once you've got that metric up, see what it's doing to the rest of your numbers. Focusing on one thing is easier, and IMHO focusing on a positive goal is easier than a negative one.

I get a decent amount of protein in lentils, beans, tofu, and tempeh. I also find I get a surprising amount of "incidental" protein in whole grains.

This thread isn't specifically for vegans, but it might help you out too:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also/p1

nuzziek

Thank you very much, kimny! That chart that you linked to is fascinating. Watercress - who knew?!

I appreciate the advice on focusing on a positive - increasing protein - rather than the negative - decreasing carbs! That's a much better way to look at it

I have appreciated so many of your posts throughout the forum - thanks for putting forth your knowledge onto the internet.

kimny72

nuzziek wrote: »

Thank you very much, kimny! That chart that you linked to is fascinating. Watercress - who knew?!

I appreciate the advice on focusing on a positive - increasing protein - rather than the negative - decreasing carbs! That's a much better way to look at it

I have appreciated so many of your posts throughout the forum - thanks for putting forth your knowledge onto the internet.

Aw, thanks Now if only I could be this useful IRL

I know there are a number of vegetarians and a few vegans around here, so hopefully someone can give you more of a "big picture, this is what my diet looks like" view shortly. And I know there have been posts in the past asking this, but the search function here can be a little sketchy so I hesitate to suggest it!

AnnPT77

Not vegan, but vegetarian for 45+ years so far.

Favorite current plant proteins, with some serving ideas:

* Smoked tofu (on vegan pita or tortilla, with mustard, raw sauerkraut, thin-sliced onion, maybe vegan cheese)
* Edamame/soy spaghetti or fettuccine, or tofu noodles (with lots of veggies, and a peanut sauce made with peanut butter powder, chile paste, rice vinegar, seasonings of choice)
* Lentils (thick soup or stew with plenty of veggies, nutritional yeast, seasonings)
* Black beans (in stew or tacos, either one with sweet potatoes and caramelized onions. A tablespoon or so of unsweetend cocoa/cacao powder cooked into the beans is a good add)
* Extra firm tofu (sliced or diced, broiled with a little olive oil spray until lightly brown and a little dried out (watch carefully!), tossed into a veggies/mushrooms stir-fry with a miso-based sauce)

I don't eat a lot of seitan, but it's another good choice.

Chickpea or pea pasta is only moderate protein (about twice as much as regular wheat pasta), but it's more like wheat pasta in taste/texture than soy/edamame pasta (which is kind of chewy). I like the chickpea/pea kind better with Italian-esque sauces (vs. the edamame/soy kind, which I prefer in pseudo-Asian treatments). The chickpea pasta tastes a little flatter to me than wheat pasta, though, so a hearty sauce is good. Try pulverizing some dried mushrooms to powder in a blender/food processor, then mixing that into a tomato/lentil sauce with appropriate seasonings. The combination is a hearty comfort food, with good overall protein.

The thread Kimny suggested is really good. You'll need to scroll past the mostly meaty fishy stuff at the top of the linked spreadsheet, but the plant sources are there, further down.

Don't forget to vary and mix your protein sources, and maybe even target a gram goal on the high side, to have some assurance that you're getting a good mix of essential amino acids (EAA). It's not essential to do formal protein complementarity meal by meal, but you want a good overall amino acid profile over reasonable time horizons, so variety is your friend. In that sense, it's good to think about including some of the EAA-complete plant proteins (soy, quinoa, . . .), learning what some of the major protein complements are as background (not for slavish mathing of the details), and being guided by combinations that are standard in long-term traditional vegetarian subcultures (like some Indian cuisines) or traditional subsistence cuisines from around the world that use less meat (some Mexican, South American, African, Mediterranean . . . .).

kshama2001

I'm not vegan, but made some recipes for my mom recently, and will quote myself from a vegan meal-prep thread:

kshama2001 wrote: »

Here are 120 vegan recipes featuring beans/lentils. https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/search/ ?f[0]=field_special_diet:158786&f[1]=field_recipe_main_ingredient:789

My mom has recently switched to mostly plant-based, and I've been making her dal (Indian lentil stew). One batch lasts her a week. Lentils cook quickly, with no need to presoak.

1. Khitchari (mung bean dal with rice) sorry, no link to recipe.
2. Chana dal adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014366-chana-dal-new-delhi-style this uses split chickpeas, which I had to buy online, but one could use lentils
3. Masoor dal adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7517-masoor-dal-spiced-red-lentils as other reviewers suggested, I added a half can of coconut milk (the thick kind, not the kind you drink) YUM!

In both of the NYT recipes, I reduced the amount of water called for by around half.

In the winter I make an adaptation of Lebanese mujadara (rice and lentils) and have it for breakfasts. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014804-one-pot-mujadara-with-leeks-and-greens

• To save time and money, I use sauteed onion instead of frying leeks.
• I use Ethiopian berbere spice mix instead of the listed spices.

kshama2001 wrote: »

When I lived at an ashram, one of the cooks used to make a great vegan loaf. This could be similar. He used sunflower seeds instead of walnuts.

https://ohsheglows.com/2012/10/05/glazed-lentil-walnut-apple-loaf-revisited/

nuzziek

Thank you SO MUCH to both AnnPT and kshama!! Great ideas!

JenniferM1234

Hey - I’m not a vegetarian or vegan, but I noticed when I put broccoli into MFP it counted as protein. Is the protein in dark green veggies “as good as” the protein I get from chicken and etc?

kshama2001

JenniferM1234 wrote: »

Hey - I’m not a vegetarian or vegan, but I noticed when I put broccoli into MFP it counted as protein. Is the protein in dark green veggies “as good as” the protein I get from chicken and etc?

It's "as good as" as far as protein is concerned, but there is a lot less of it. I had chicken and broccoli last night, both 100 grams. Got 25 g protein from the chicken and 2 g protein from the broccoli.

Think of broccoli as having a little protein bonus, but not as a protein source.

(If you had an equivalent amount of broccoli and see a lot more protein, please let us know the exact entry you used. I got my syntax from the USDA database and used "Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt".)

Also, the chicken will include different micros. I'm an omnivore so don't pay much attention to that, but my understanding is that vegans need to supplement with B12 as there is no plant-based source for that.

https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrients/vitamin-b12/what-every-vegan-should-know-about-vitamin-b12

AnnPT77

JenniferM1234 wrote: »

Hey - I’m not a vegetarian or vegan, but I noticed when I put broccoli into MFP it counted as protein. Is the protein in dark green veggies “as good as” the protein I get from chicken and etc?

Not quite. It is incomplete, in terms of essential amino acids (EAAs). (Over time, you need to get a certain key ("essential") group of amino acids in particular proportions, or any you're short on will limit the total you can utilize. This is not a huge big deal if most of your protein is complete (animal-source foods, soy, quinoa, others). If you're completely plant-based, it's a consideration in how you vary your protein sources over a day or few.)

Broccoli isn't bad, in EAA terms, just a little short on leucine, methionine and cystine

If most of your protein comes from meat (or other complete sources), I think it's fine to count the few grams you get from varied vegetables/fruits/whatever as part of your total, and not worry about it beyond that.

I've found the SelfNutritionData web site really helpful for finding protein complements, if someone wants to be structured about it (needs FlashPlayer enabled, unfortunately). People who get much of their protein from plants can use this information to be more intentional about how they vary their incomplete protein sources, so that they eat some things that are high in particular essential amino acids within a reasonable time horizon of foods that are lower in those EAAs, but high in different ones, to get to better overall ratios of the EAAs. This is called "prothein complementarity".

zusa61

The idea that plant proteins are incomplete is a myth that has been floating around for years. Please see this: https://forksoverknives.com/the-myth-of-complementary-protein/#gs.7arx8l

slbbw

I am a big fan of seitan, which currently gets a bad rap with all of teh gluten free fads going around. I make my own to minimize the sodium and processed nature of it. It is really pretty easy to make a chicken style seitan that can work for patties, strips or crumbles. there are recipes out there for fancier version like steak style and sausage as well.

I also recently discovered soy curls which is the less processed version of TVP. Has a nice chewy texture and is great in soups and stir fries.

AnnPT77

zusa61 wrote: »

The idea that plant proteins are incomplete is a myth that has been floating around for years. Please see this: https://forksoverknives.com/the-myth-of-complementary-protein/#gs.7arx8l

The link is correct, in that it's entirely possible to get enough protein from plant sources (animal foods not required). It is also correct in that one need not get all the EAA at once (as Lappe advocated back in the day). All that's at work here is the idea that there can be a limiting amino acid that makes gram-for-gram protein counting less than ideally accurate. Lysine is usually the EAA of most concern, but it's not that hard to get.

Forks over Knives is an advocacy site. I'd suggest going with a sound evidence-based vegan nutrition site, such as

https://veganhealth.org/

Here's their view on EAAs:

https://veganhealth.org/protein-part-1/#amino-acids

I'm arguing, as they do, for variety over the course of time, for best results. Strict meal-by-meal complementing is unnecessary.

Clairin

AnnPT77 wrote: »

zusa61 wrote: »

The idea that plant proteins are incomplete is a myth that has been floating around for years. Please see this: https://forksoverknives.com/the-myth-of-complementary-protein/#gs.7arx8l

The link is correct, in that it's entirely possible to get enough protein from plant sources (animal foods not required). It is also correct in that one need not get all the EAA at once (as Lappe advocated back in the day). All that's at work here is the idea that there can be a limiting amino acid that makes gram-for-gram protein counting less than ideally accurate. Lysine is usually the EAA of most concern, but it's not that hard to get.

Forks over Knives is an advocacy site. I'd suggest going with a sound evidence-based vegan nutrition site, such as

https://veganhealth.org/

Here's their view on EAAs:

https://veganhealth.org/protein-part-1/#amino-acids

I'm arguing, as they do, for variety over the course of time, for best results. Strict meal-by-meal complementing is unnecessary.

I just wanted to say thanks. It's so great that you and others are here so well informed and willing to share your knowledge. I'm learning a lot from you and the others. Thanks.

acpgee

I am not vegan, but feed vegan friends with seitan which has a great protein to carb ratio. Just slice and use like meat in any asian stir fry recipe. Here's an example:

https://girlandthekitchen.com/pf-changs-vegan-mongolian-beef/

I also like Indonesian tempeh as a lesser known vegan protein source.

WithyWillow1

Been vegan for several years for the same reasons as you. I’m a fat vegan that tends to eat way too much processed crap, so I’m using MFP to try to curb that and eat healthier.

That being said, nearly everything has protein. Lentils, beans, vegetables. Unless someone is eating straight avocados all day and nothing else, they’re going to get enough protein (complete protein) if they are eating enough calories.

I highly recommend checking out Dr. Neil Barnard and Dr. Greger. Both have lots of informative videos that dispel misconceptions about plant based diets and do it with the science to back it up. You can check out their videos on YouTube and Dr. Greger’s website www.nutritionfacts.org as well.

ThatJuJitsuWoman

I’m also an ethical vegan who eats too much junk food! I’m doing better since I started tracking my meals on here.

Most of the suggestions I had were the same as Ann’s so I won’t repeat them. I’ll just add that soya mince is useful for all sorts of meals. I make chilli, bolognese, shepherds pie, lasagna, and mince with onions in gravy (that one might be a particularly British thing!).

I noticed that my protein intake is pretty low so I try to include some sort of protein source in every meal. My intake is still low but so far it’s not stopping me building muscle. If I find that my progress stops I’ll probably start using a protein shake, but at the moment I’d rather get all of my calories from food.

caprihana

I'm vegetarian, aiming for vegan, but I love tasty cheese so it might take a while. I'm about to start a healthy eating regime for 30 days with the help of (amongst other things) vegan protein shakes. I'll let you know how it goes.

FireyChimera

beans, lentils, tofu, cheese, cottage cheese, nuts, bread, and whole grains like oats and wheat

FireyChimera

caprihana wrote: »

I'm vegetarian, aiming for vegan, but I love tasty cheese so it might take a while. I'm about to start a healthy eating regime for 30 days with the help of (amongst other things) vegan protein shakes. I'll let you know how it goes.

Enjoy being a vegetarian

acpgee

I do hope the vegans out there are aware of getting their supplements. Certain vitamins are hard to get enough of on a vegan diet, such as B12.