vegan lifestyle

all those carbs are complex carbs... They take a lot longer to digest so that means fuller longer and takes more energy to digest. Im a vegetarian so those numbers mean absolutely nothing to me. Also stay away from breads and "almond butter". Stuff probably has tons of sugar in it.

Congrats on starting the new lifestyle! Hope you find it very enjoyable!

I've been vegan now for half a year and I have been asking myself the same question. (I tend to be a carboholic. Not good)

Mostly I try to eat lots of greens and legumes. Quinoa is a really good breakfast, made with cinnamon and almond milk, etc. Also check out Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain bread. Super healthy.

Good luck girl! Happy new year!

I am a vegetarian and try to eat vegan at least half of the week. I also stay away from the fake meat products as they are overly processed. I've found the Vegetarian Times website to be very handy for finding new recipes (www.vegetariantimes.com). I also get the magazine. Runner's World of all places has a recipe for a wonderful Penne Primavera (www.runnersworld.com). Soup with crackers (have to read labels carefully) and hummus is one of my favorite lunches. My protein stapes are beans (I eat a lot of beans, particularly black beans and garbanzo beans), nuts, peanut butter and soy in the form of tofu or edamame as neither are overly processed (edamame is wonderful in stir fry if you aren't already adding it to yours, frozen works just fine). Vegan Planet is a great cookbook; one of my favorite recipes from it is a wonderful breakfast tofu scramble with spinach and tomatoes for breakfast. It is very similar to a frittata, but with tofu rather than eggs as the base. Like you I am challenged at times with getting enough protein and that is partly why I've not converted full-time. I will have eggs and cheese on occasion (eggs more often than cheese).

I prefer to do most of my cooking for the week on Saturday or Sunday so I don't have to spend much time on it during the week when life gets hectic. Many soups and pasta sauces freeze well, so I'll often make a double batch and freeze half to eat in another month or so.

Good luck!

There are tons of options out there...as a vegan for 5 years...it's totally doable. Check out www.vegweb.com for great recipes and a great support system. There are message boards on there where you can ask for advice and help. I'll try to come up with a few ideas for you.

I'm a vegetarian who frequently chooses vegan options. I still eat cheese and eggs, but not as much as I used to, and I substitute a lot of dairy now with vegan alternatives.

If you're going to go vegan, tempeh and seitan will become your new best friends. They're not a mock meat, tempeh is cultured soybeans that have a nice nutty flavor, and seitan is vital wheat gluten. Also, get buddy-buddy with tofu. Those 3 things will let you prepare a LOT of dishes that normally have meat or "need" meat to turn out decent and make them vegan.

Try getting the Skinny ***** Ultimate Everyday Cookbook, and the Skinny ***** in the Kitch cookbook...have you read the book Skinny *****? It's one of the reasons I am vegetarian. Anyway, they are Vegan, the authors, and I am sure you can get lot's of ideas from them. BTW, organic almond butter is great and their are plenty of brands with no added sugar.

Be careful with the Skinny B*tch book. There is some misinformation in it and the authors are by no means doctors, or nutritionists.

I've been a vegetarian my whole life and tried strictly eating vegan for a little while, but decided to go back to eating cheese in moderation. There are tons of things that you can go for, I know someone else said Amy's breakfast stuff but really anything by Amy is really good and she makes some lunch/dinner burrito's and meals that are vegan. Fresh vegetables/fruit are always a good thing. Good luck!