Vegans!!

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  • runamym
    runamym Posts: 83 Member
    I was vegetarian for several months ... and my husband is vegetarian/usually vegan for about 2 yrs now. So I make a lot of veg dinners for us.
    People eat things for different reasons.... my husband has cheese sometimes if it's still on a veg pizza, for instance, but if he goes to Chipotle - he specifically orders veg ingredients and no cheese. He really doesn't eat eggs -- but might order it at a restaurant that serves great egg white veggie tacos. (me too!)
    Anyway, point being ... there are all types of levels of vegans. Some don't eat honey because they say it over produces bees. Well, my husband LOVES honey and doesn't see it harming bees in anyway. If a mosquito is coming near him, yes he will swat it and kill it. LOL. anyway, just wanted to make that point that there are no harsh rules one way or that way... just being that you don't eat animal products.
    As far as harmful effects to the body at first - no we didn't experience anything like that -- in fact, our digestion improved tremendously with a fiber rich diet of veggies, fruits, legumes and whole grains. You might experience upset tummy on your "cheat day" when you start back eating lots of meats/animal products. Your body will start to get used to digesting things quickly with all the veg/fruits/legumes/whole grains. When it takes in meat products, those are slower to digest/harder to digest and so that will probably cause you some tummy problems on those cheat days. If you have cheat days, I suggest you cheat lightly with eggs/cheese and/or little serving sizes of lean protein meats.

    Be careful not to fill your plate with too much pastas or potatoes. Many people go veg and instead have lots of potatoes and pastas instead the healthy legumes/whole grains (quinoa, brown rice), whole foods (fresh vegetables and fruits). When I went vegetarian, I did this and gained weight. So hence why I'm not anymore although I have many meals that are veg just not every day, all meals. I discovered lean meat proteins worked for me, but small serving sizes of it.

    Anyway, don't know if you know about it already, but check out The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn....
    http://www.amazon.com/Engine-Diet-Firefighters-Save-Your-Life-Cholesterol/dp/0446506699/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319938588&sr=1-1
    Very informative book for eating a plant-based diet w/easy recipes.. not complicated. He got all the firefighters he works with to try this diet and they all had great success - weight loss and lowered cholesterol and blood pressure.
  • runamym
    runamym Posts: 83 Member
    Btw, i LOVE unsweetened almond milk, but hubs loves Silk Soy vanilla Light. He says that one has more vitamins in it especially B12, which many vegans need to supplement their diet. Not sure if B12 is in the almond milk... but I love the unsweetened kind -- only 35/40 calories for a cup!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    A word of caution re: almond milk. It is not a good source of protein, so I wouldn't consider it a replacement for dairy milk.

    But it is a good source as an alternative to soy juice, as I don't recognize processed soy liquid being passed off as "milk."
    But you recognize processed almond liquid as milk? It's pretty much the exact same process.
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