Vegan Diet & Nutrition

Pls be careful. I am a nurse, and 99% of vegans are not healthy. They take forever to heal from surgeries, and often have problems with their iron levels. Also the best "toxin flush" is called water (in adequate amounts, not copious amounts). Your kidney and liver remove "toxins" from your body very effectively, no special diet or powder/pill required. "detox" formulas are a sham. Pls don't waste your hard earned money on that stuff.

I'm not a nurse, but I was vegan for over a decade and know tons of healthy ones. Not only do I heal fast when injured, I never get sick. I haven't even had a cold. Please don't pull numbers like 99% out of thin air, that's just as made up as if I gave you a %. I'm actually moving back towards being vegan now, because I feel much healthier/zoned in both mentally and physically vegan than not.

Check out a blog called FatFree Vegan Kitchen. She has awesome recipes with nutritional values. My son's girlfriend is vegan and I use this website to help me create meals that the whole family will love when they come over. My son's girlfriend is a long distance outdoor swimmer so she is very conscious of her nutrition and has always been very pleased with what I've made for her.

It really is a good idea to calculate the calories and especially the sugar in your juice. It sounds like the juice you are making is really high in sugar. If your goal is only 46 g of sugar daily, your juice exceeds that. I looked it up and 1/2 pineapple has 8 g, 4 small green apples has 44 g of sugar. That is 52 g of sugar and I haven't added in the veggies, which do have a little sugar. You might want to steer clear from juicing fruits with a high glycemic index like pineapple and really reduce the amount of fruit in your juice. Maybe just add only one green apple.

I would say move your juices to snacks and have a meal for breakfast and lunch. Invest in a couple of vegan cookbooks. I just got appetite for reduction and it has all the nutritional info for the recipes and they aren't hard to find processed ingredients. Also consider a protein shakes, yes Its sonetimes gross If you dribk it plaib but the trick is to mix it with fruit or something. I add a banana and sometimes pb2 powder or blueberries and spinach. I use a soy one, but there are many vegan ones also free of soy like vega and raw meal. I didn't see any muscle or strength gains until I upped ly protein to over 80. I used to eat as much protein you do now.

How is something 495 calories but has no carbs, fat, or protein? What's it made of?

Quorn is not vegan!

I too struggle to hit protein macros. What I have done is have a protein shake for breakfast which gives a decent hit. I also try and eat a lot of homemade seitan , it is ridiculously easy to make and is very high protein for the calories.

If you're going to be doing p90x check out Brendan Brazier's "Thrive Diet" and "Whole Foods to Thrive." He's an ultra marathoner and vegan. Also check out Rich Roll another ultra-endurance athlete and vegan. They've got great tips for everyone, but will also be good for you with your exercise level.

First off, you look like you're doing okay, except I would eat those extra calories you have left over at breakfast and skip the coffee. Coffee is bad for you. Try green tea if you want something hot. It would be much healthier.

I know most people will disagree, but you don't need a ton of protein. I know the cooked broccoli you have might belie the truth, but broccoli is about 50% protein (ie, 50% of calories come from protein). So what do you do with the long stems of your broccoli? Do you toss them? If so, stop wasting them and juice them. Try adding more greens to your juices. Spinach, kale, and even alfalfa are very high in protein (calorically speaking). I mean, where do gorillas get their protein??? Greens! So do elephants.

I'm not exactly sure how to track the macros in juice. The juice of one carrot is going to be different than the carrot itself. I mean, there's no fiber in the carrot. I imagine the fat and protein would be the same, so maybe it's the same throughout, minus the fiber. Of course, fiber doesn't digest anyway and even though it is counted toward total calories, it is basically neutral. I'm sure you've got some protein in that juice (and for the record, I don't think it's silly either--I just watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" yesterday--anyone who thinks juicing is silly needs to see it!). In fact, I won't do more than a glass of fresh veggie juice now and then, because I do NOT want to detox while nursing!

I did P90X, a little over half way through. I did add a protein shake, but I think I could have done without it. If I were you, I'd look up vegan sources of protein, and if you have a juicer, juice some of the best ones and drink that after your workout. Or a glass of soymilk or whatever.

Also, be sure you are eating enough. If your performance suffers, you need to eat more. 'Nuff said.

Quorn has/is releasing some vegan products in some locations.

this is true, but in most regions it's definitely not.

in fact, even vegetarians should read labels of all fake meats, because there are a ton of 'vegetarian' products that use eggs.

i think that started because they were trying to get a certain texture and they could get away with it, because labeling for that sort of stuff is so lax. (though vegan labels are strict like kosher labels are).

but vegan (and vegetarian) food products have improved drastically in the past ten years and can now get great texture without, but many brands simply don't change their ingredients and keep egg in there (like many quorn products).

i'm a self-admitted fake meat addict. love the stuff. love trying new ones. get the wonkiest ones at asian supermarkets (as in 'they seriously make this???'... my wife just shakes her head. there are a ton of absolutely fantastic fake meats out there for the having, if you don't mind adding some processed food to your diet (in moderation). it also helps if you haven't had meat for awhile; while i've seen some fakes trick meat eaters, most won't.

that said, some of my favorite 'fake meats' are home made. my wife makes an amazing field roast (and ups the ante for thanksgiving, making something even the turkey eaters at the table have seconds of), and and amazing gluten based loaf. i think she got the gluten loaf recipe off of vegandad and did some alterations.

ok, this is making me hungry.