Trying on Veganism - seeing if it fits.

Been vegan since December 28. Down 37 pounds so far and feel great!
12 weeks into this I had a blood draw and blood pressure test. Had only lost 13 pounds at that point but had dramatic improvements in cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

Protein: Beans are your friend. They come in quite an amazing variety. Soybeans are the kings of protein. I don't eat a lot of whole grains though they have decent protein. Keeping the calorie count down while getting a minimum of 60 grams of protein per day doesn't leave much room for the calories from grains. I eat so many more vegetables now and can't believe how great everything tastes - I seriously believe my taste has changed, though it took a couple of months. Now I eat low sodium beans with not hing added often just to savor the subtle flavors. Salad greens and broccoli with balsamic vinegar. I make a killer banana chia seed pudding with no added sugar! Chia seeds, nuts, and nut butters are good protein sources too.
Personally I avoid fake meat products. I will eat a boca burger when eating out, but don't buy fake meat stuff at the store - I concentrate on whole plant foods.

Agree that lentils are terrific! I've been making them in the microwave using vegetable broth and adding some onions, carrots, peppers, whatever.

Please don't call it veganism if you are still using leather and other animal products.
You are on a plant-based diet.
Congrats on your progress.

Recently encountered someone who was a vegan "except for fish".
That's not veganism. You can't say you're a vegan. What?

Okay, on the subject of protein sources, I've been anemic since forever, and have been having trouble getting enough iron as a vegetarian. I hope to someday transition to full veganism, but right now I'm not ready. Any tips for plant-based sources of iron?

Web MD: http://www.webmd.com/diet/iron-rich-foods

Iron in plant foods such as lentils, beans, and spinach is nonheme iron. This is the form of iron added to iron-enriched and iron-fortified foods. Our bodies are less efficient at absorbing nonheme iron, but most dietary iron is nonheme iron.

Very good sources of nonheme iron, with 3.5 milligrams or more per serving, include:

Breakfast cereals enriched with iron
One cup of cooked beans
One-half cup of tofu
1 ounce of pumpkin, sesame, or squash seeds
Good sources of nonheme iron, with 2.1 milligrams or more per serving, include:

One-half cup of canned lima beans, red kidney beans, chickpeas, or split peas
One cup of dried apricots
One medium baked potato
One medium stalk of broccoli
One cup of cooked enriched egg noodles
One-fourth cup of wheat germ
Other sources of nonheme iron, with 0.7 milligrams or more, include:

1 ounce of peanuts, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, roasted almonds, roasted cashews, or sunflower seeds
One-half cup of dried seedless raisins, peaches, or prunes
One cup of spinach
One medium green pepper
One cup of pasta
One slice of bread, pumpernickel bagel, or bran muffin
One cup of rice


I get plenty of iron without really trying. Of course, if I'm feeling like feeding my sugar habit, blackstrap molasses have a ton of iron per tablespoon.

My unsulphered brand has %20 of daily requirements for iron, %20 for calcium, and %17 for potassium. All for less than 50 calories.

Real vegans get a little miffed when people appropriate the term as a dietary thing. To them, vegan isn't how you eat, it's how you live. It's a morality-based choice. I'm so not one and wouldn't even consider it, but i admire their spirit and determination and try to support them in their efforts. If you say you "eat vegan" instead of "I am vegan", it will go a long way. They may prefer "plant-based diet" but most of them know people aren't going to say that.

I love post-cardiac patients. They're the funnest and funniest. Mostly people who ate stuff that was bad for them, got the wake-up call and are now eating healthy food and hating every minute of it. "I eat what food eats," lol.

Most people who have heart attacks make radical changes. It's a frightening experience and one they know they'll repeat if they don't make changes. A lot stop around 2 months in. I think it's the post-heart attack depression combines with the "This food sucks!" thing and craving for red meat. You're also told that you can have a small treat every six to eight weeks, so you have a little piece of cake or a tablespoon of peanut butter and that's enough to say, "I want more!", especially if you had and eating disorder like Compulsive Overeating or Binge Eating Disorder, which most people don't even know they have.

A small treat every now and then is a great thing if you can handle it. A lot of people circle the date on their calendars "Woo-Hoo! Peanut butter on my rice cake!", lol...or they hold off to have cake at a birthday party or whatever. But if you find it's more trouble than it's worth, just skip it.

Hang in there. The people who love you want you to stick around!

If you decide to go back to meat, visit a butcher. Any halfway decent butcher will have heard, "I had a heart attack and..." Many times before and will know which chicken and turkey to cut for you. It's not a big deal, they do it all the time!

Mrs. Dash. If you haven't tried it yet, try her out. She knows what she's doing, lol. I learned about Mrs. Dash from my patients. When you hear enough old people say, "This is good," you listen. Because when it's not, they don't hold back! Her "Table Blend" is great instead of salt, but there are so many good ones!

If the depression gets to you, tell the doctors. It's so common that not getting it is really the exception.

Remember that even though you're probably over the worst parts of cravings, they will still hit and when they do, they hit hard. Keep in mind that you're about to go through the hardest part. This is when people get weeded out and start going back to bad habits. Be strong!

Stick with it!

Good for you!

(I love what I do now, but I kinda miss old people grumbling at me from their beds. "How the hell am I supposed to eat this $4!£? It's rabbit food!" and "I don't know what he's thinking. People can't live on this. Honey, can you bring me something...just a little (burger/candy/whatever), I'll pay you for it," and the ever-popular, "I want a steak." New cardiac patients are the funnest.)

Nothing is going to work for you, regardless of what you choose to eat, unless you determine the correct caloric deficit for your lifestyle. People can argue about it all they want but it is impossible to loose weight if a person is eating more calories than they expend. Another common error is overestimating calories expended during exercise.

My point is 3000 calories of asparagus is still 3000 calories.

Good luck on your journey.

The point is you wouldn't be able to eat 3000 calories of asparagus. I can't even imagine how pad your pee would smell if you could. One cup of asparagus = about 27 calories. Even if you ate 20C of asparagus (go for it, I dare you) you would only be taking in about 550 calories.