Advice needed -from vegetarians and vegans-

I think you're in the UK. I'm in the US, so I don't know if you have all the same products that we do, but I find that the Silk and So Delicious brand creamers don't ever curdle in my coffee. Califia Farms makes my favorite -- a coconut-based half and half (but they're a newer brand so I'm pretty sure they aren't overseas yet).

I am vegan and I eat just about everything that's vegan. Some of my staple foods are cabbage, beans, rice, pasta, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, carrots, apples, avocado, coconut, peppers, greens, seitan, tofu, tempeh, oats, olives, mushrooms, and cauliflower. Nuts and kale are great, but they don't have anything that you can't get from other foods. The two of them, in and of themselves, won't create a balanced diet. But they can certainly be part of a balanced diet.

For supplements, I take B12, iodine, iron (due to having low test for iron in the past and because I'm a regular blood donor), a vegan DHA, and vitamin D.

janejellyroll wrote: »

AliceDark wrote: »

The biggest thing I've seen new vegetarians and vegans do wrong is confusing "this replaces the function of meat in the meal" and "this replaces the nutrition that meat would give me." (Now that I think about it, it's not only new veggies; it's nearly every person who has ever tried to make a vegetarian meal for me as well). A good example I use a lot is replacing a hamburger with a portobello mushroom -- the mushroom replaces the function of meat, but not the macros. For that reason, I think it's really important for new vegetarians and vegans to carefully watch their protein intake, as well as keeping an eye on things like iron and B vitamins, to make sure they're not missing out on important nutrients.

I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, so I rely heavily on things like greek yogurt, cottage cheese, beans, eggs and whey protein to get enough protein. I don't tend to like meat substitutes as much so I don't eat them regularly, although there's nothing wrong with them and I used to eat them more frequently when I first stopped eating meat.

Wow, this is expressed really well. It's so true (at least in my experience as a newer vegan and doing mentoring of newer vegans). You can also see it with dairy -- things like plant milk, cheese, and yogurt often don't have the protein that a non-vegan might expect to find in them. If I have coconut yogurt with granola for breakfast, it's going to have much less protein than the equivalent non-vegan meal (which is fine, as long as you know to plan for it).

It took me a LONG time to figure this out for myself. I ate in a very unbalanced way when I first stopped eating meat, and I really wish I would've had a better grasp of nutrition because I would've saved myself from feeling terrible a lot of the time. Now that I'm aware of it, I see it in a lot of people and I (perhaps unnecessarily at times) try to give everyone the same information I wish I would've had.

AliceDark wrote: »

The biggest thing I've seen new vegetarians and vegans do wrong is confusing "this replaces the function of meat in the meal" and "this replaces the nutrition that meat would give me." (Now that I think about it, it's not only new veggies; it's nearly every person who has ever tried to make a vegetarian meal for me as well). A good example I use a lot is replacing a hamburger with a portobello mushroom -- the mushroom replaces the function of meat, but not the macros. For that reason, I think it's really important for new vegetarians and vegans to carefully watch their protein intake, as well as keeping an eye on things like iron and B vitamins, to make sure they're not missing out on important nutrients.

I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, so I rely heavily on things like greek yogurt, cottage cheese, beans, eggs and whey protein to get enough protein. I don't tend to like meat substitutes as much so I don't eat them regularly, although there's nothing wrong with them and I used to eat them more frequently when I first stopped eating meat.

That is so true. Like @janejellyroll said, I've always noted it with the non-dairy "milks". When I'm talking about the nutritional properties of those (to someone who is genuinely interested!), I always say they're only substitutes for milk in terms of taste, texture and making cakes and coffee. Nutritionally, they should be viewed as mineral-fortified fruit juice (and fruit juice is an ingredient sometimes!). You don't expect to get more than negligible protein or fats in apple juice, so don't expect it from rice milk. The only exception to this in my experience is soya milk, which does have roughly the same quantity of protein per 100ml as dairy milk.

Oh, P.S. just remembered. I got more calcium tablets last week, and I bought them from Tesco, because they have an offer on. Or at least they do on the mainland.

These are the tablets. Osteocare, https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258232284 and the multi-vits I use are actually the vegetarian antenatal tablets by the same company!

Yeah, something i generally recommend people do when they're setting up their diet plan as a vegan or vegetarian is to list out their favorite foods and what they want to eat on their diet. then plug it into cron-o-meter. then plan a couple test days (or better yet, make a weekly menu). does it meet your nutritional needs? calories, macro, and micronutrients?

From there you can adjust everything accordingly.

Like some others said it's pretty easy to assume these products will be playing the same role as meat or dairy products and they simply don't. They're just different. Especially plant milks which often lack any real source of vitamin d, calcium, fats, or even calories.

As for the best in coffee... i'm a tried and true vanilla soy milk fan myself. it can be steamed and made into capuccino and acts very very similarly to milk. depending on the brand some may be fortified with nutrients and contain a pretty good level of protein too.

Do you have Quorn in your area? I know the US brands (morningstar farms, tofurkey, boca, gardein, etc.) usually aren't available overseas but I can get Quorn in denmark so maybe you can get it in ireland. Anyways, if you can i highly recommend it since it's made of mycoprotein (mushroom) instead of soy. Soy is totally safe up to a certain level but it's not really a good idea to be consuming more than 10 servings of it a day which can be easy to do when first going vegan/veggie.

Hi OP, the Provamil nut milks that are available in H&B and Waitrose hold up much better in hot drinks than the standard ones like Alpro. This is because they are not watered down so much and contain less additives, they are more expensive but they taste so much better (IMO).
The Linda McCartney range is great, especially the sausages! Unfortunately anything with pastry, like the cheese and leek parcels, will be high in fat so I tend to avoid those. I would recommend the Quorn southern fried nuggets they are insane and available in tesco. However, these are foods I only eat occasionally as they are very processed.

I think you just need to play around with what you do and don't like and try to eat as many natural foods as possible. My own personal diet doesn't really fit neatly in to a category... I eat vegetarian/vegan most the week and have fish once a week.