Vegeterians/Vegans

oo ooo oo! I'm a vegan! Here I am!

hmmm... if you don't eat a lot of soy, beans, nuts, fruits or vegetables, what do you normally eat?

You can get some great meal and snack ideas/recipes in the 28 day meal plan plublished here: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/vegbootcamp

each meal averages 16 g protein and each snack about 6.5 g protein.

As I write this, I'm eating curried lentils for dinner tonight with steamed broccoli and squash: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10689?section

easy and delicious!

I made the switch from vegetarian to vegan about three weeks ago and I haven't had any issues getting my protein. First of all, I don't think you need to have quite as much protein as MFP recommends. But also, keep in mind that vegetables, fruits, grains and beans all have protein. If you are eating lots of healthy whole foods in a plant-based diet, you won't have to worry about nutrients. Feel free to check out my food diary.

Watch the movie "Forks Over Knives". It's available for pre-order on DVD at www.forksoverknives.com
It is a real eye-opener.

I'm mostly vegetarian. I eat a piece of meat maybe once every 2 months.

When I began looking at my nutrient charts, I realized I was probably never going to meet requirements on some of the stuff, especially iron, without help. And I've been slightly anemic at some past blood draws. So, I began taking a simple one-a-day Whole Foods adult multivitamin with 100% iron supplementation every morning and now I meet most of my needs for vitamins and minerals.

Otherwise, I try to eat at least one or two pieces of fruit a day not only for vitamins, but to cut cravings for refined sugar and for dietary fiber and I try to pick up some steamed or roasted veggies as part of my lunch.

As for calorie restriction, I stay under what MFP suggests for me 95% of the time and I've lost 20lb (22 if you count the 2 I lost the week prior to joining). I am not going to be a 1000-calorie-a-day eater. I like food too much! My plan from the beginning was to aim for what would give me the greatest chance of lifelong weight loss and to me, I believe that is slow, steady loss and not alot of restriction. So, I aim to lose 1lb a week and I'm a little ahead without trying right now. In terms of raw intake, I usually eat around 2000 calories/day. I take some off with exercise and end up around my goal of 1810. Some days I come in way below that. Sometimes I go to a picnic or drink too much and blow the roof off of it. But day to day, I'm almost religious about staying under at least slightly.

I'm not a vegan or vegetarian (although sometimes I eat tempeh instead of chicken in my stir-fries, if I'm cooking for a vegetarian friend), but since I've been keeping my food diary on here I've noticed how much protein whole grains contain. Switching to whole wheat bread and brown rice should help a lot. And if you're not vegan, you could always stick an egg in your brown rice for fried rice.

Nut butters help too, I make my own walnut butter for sandwiches.

Hiya!

Just off to bed now but please feel free to look at my food diary and friend me if you want! :bigsmile:

Thanks:)

I noticed you eat a lot of fruits and vegatables - something I struggle with usually

It's second nature to me, really! All of my recipes contain a shedload of veg too, so even when it looks like I've not eaten many veggies, I will definitely have had them! I probably don't eat as much fruit as I should though. I've been vegetarian for most of my life, was hardcore vegan for around two years, then went back to vegetarian. Now I sometimes eat shellfish too (so pescatarian then!), although the majority of my diet is veggie. My partner is the same - has been veggie since he was 17 - and is always delighted to eat what I eat!

Sorry for being in such a hurry last night when I posted, I was completely worn out but really wanted to respond to your post!

I'm vegetarian, and have been for years. I find I eat the limit of calories and carbohydrates, but struggle to get near the protein or fibre levels recommended. It doesn't help that i don't like quorn or tofu.
MFP has been really helpful to try and counteract that... but I still find it difficult.

VEGAN Haha, honestly I adjusted my protein goals here because I usually get around 40-50 a day and my doctor said it is perfectly fine, but only because I really load up on fruits and on dark leafy greens and grains like quinoa which are full of amino acids. I also load up on nuts! Beans reallyyy mess with my stomach so I only have those about 4 times a week. I've been working out 6 days a week now for an hour, so I'm thinking of investing in some hemp protein powder to make some almond milk shakes post workout because I do think if you are active as I am you do need to up the protein a few grams.

Also should mention that I eat completely clean, NOTHING processed, which means no boca burgers, no tofu, etc. I think if you have the money for it that's awesome I guess but I personally am a college student and buying only nuts, fruits, veggies, grains, and dried beans (more work, but so much cheaper) realllllly is so incredibly cheap when you think about it because it's all you're buying. I only splurge on random things like raw cacao, stevia, raw tahini, spirulina, etc but these are one-time buys and they last forever.