Going Vegan

Help I need some tips and recipes to try out. I am going from eating almost what ever to trying a Vegan diet for a week at first but may continue longer depending on the results I get after the week. Are there any good VEGAN resources out there??
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Replies

  • solomonjon245
    solomonjon245 Posts: 9 Member
    Also how much protein should I consume daily to still get weight loss results? What are some good sources of protein beside tofu? I am slowly trying to add some of that to meals. I seem to be falling behind with the daily requirement for protein.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited February 2021
    I have seen one or two well know vegans on this site offer this website as a resource for getting proper nutrition:
    https://www.veganhealth.org
  • srk369
    srk369 Posts: 256 Member
    I'm not vegan, but I get a lot of plant based recipes from these sites...

    https://thevegan8.com
    https://www.badmanners.com
    https://cookieandkate.com
    https://ohsheglows.com
    and on youtube I know there is a ton of info, but I enjoy watching https://www.youtube.com/c/RainbowPlantLife/featured


  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    What results would you anticipate after a week? What do you think would generate those results?

    The above-mentioned veganhealth.org is a great resource for nutritional information. I've gotten a lot of good recipes from Pinterest.

    If you currently don't eat many fruits, vegetables, and legumes and you're switching to eating a lot more, you may notice some changes. That's not what veganism is though (although many vegans do eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, and legumes).

    High protein foods from plants include tofu, but also tempeh, seitan, and legumes. There are also some newer products based on things like pea protein. Vegans will supplement the protein from these sources with the protein that's already in foods like grains and vegetables.
  • solomonjon245
    solomonjon245 Posts: 9 Member
    I watched a movie on Netflix ?The game changers" about athletes switching to a Vegan lifestyle and how that improved their health, energy and some experienced weight loss. I know I wont see results instantly or even within a week but I wanted to start with a small amount of time to just try eating Vegan.

    I am using the Vegan diet to simply try to increase my veggies and fruit intake with also trying to eliminate the extra calories that I eat with in my daily routine.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I watched a movie on Netflix ?The game changers" about athletes switching to a Vegan lifestyle and how that improved their health, energy and some experienced weight loss. I know I wont see results instantly or even within a week but I wanted to start with a small amount of time to just try eating Vegan.

    I am using the Vegan diet to simply try to increase my veggies and fruit intake with also trying to eliminate the extra calories that I eat with in my daily routine.

    "Game Changers" is an advocacy piece, not an actual impartial, balanced documentary. Read (or watch) some of the critiques by exercise science folks or registered dietitians, before believing every word of "Game Changers". Here are a couple of examples:

    https://dieteticallyspeaking.com/an-evidence-based-review-of-the-game-changers/
    https://www.biolayne.com/articles/research/the-game-changers-review-a-scientific-analysis/

    Google will show you lots more.

    Frankly, I find things like "Game Changers" really irritating: That kind of bias and misrepresentation makes all of us vegetarians and vegans look like science-misinterpreting idiots. Plant based eating is absolutely compatible with athletic achievement. I've been athletically active myself, including competing, while vegetarian. But there is no valid, balanced evidence that it's superior.

    Really, what are the odds that the best performance from the human body can be achieved by eating in a way that's different from the omnivorous conditions under which natural selection has influenced humans for centuries? There are lots of good reasons to reduce animal-food intake, or even to eliminate it entirely, but improved athletic performance doesn't loom large among them.

    If veganism were scientifically proven to improve performance, every trainer and coach of elite athletes would be pushing it, because it's their job to stay up on the science, and bring forward anything that will (at an elite level) trigger even small percentages of improvement. I've seen the eating guidelines for national team athletes in my sport, and even known some of those athletes. "Be vegan" is not on the list. (Some elites are vegetarian or vegan, and that's fine; but it's not specifically advocated by the trainers/dietitians/coaches for improvement purposes.)

    If you eat relatively minimal amounts of plant foods now, it will make sense to eat more plants. That can include some fully plant-based meals, but it can also include plant-forward meals with some meat as a protein source.

    Either way, I'd encourage you to make a gradual transition. That's not only a practical approach (because you need to learn about new foods and how to combine them for good well-rounded nutrition), it will also be more . . . comfortable.

    Someone who eats minimal plant foods, and goes straight to bunches of whole plant food all day every day, is likely to experience some form of digestive discomfort or distress. Your system is adapted to your current diet. Your gut microbiome is adapted to your current diet. If you suddenly eat very different foods, and muchMuch more fiber, it's very likely that you'll experience gassiness, possibly constipation, possibly diarrhea, etc. Gradual changes, really.

    Yes, it's beyond frustrating to have veganism associated with this type of manipulative and misleading advocacy.

    OP, the above about potential digestive distress is real. Since some non-vegans don't consume as much fiber/plants as some vegans, it is a relatively common experience for some newer vegans to experience bloating, flatulence, or discomfort as a result of the switch. This doesn't mean your body can't digest more fiber or plants, it's just a sign that you'll want to increase your fiber intake more gradually.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    For protein, I eat a lot of hummus, beans and lentils. I like to eat beans and lentils oover julienned cabbage instead of rice or noodles, but I also love to mash them and make salad dressing out of them. Mashed red beans and bit of flavored basalmic vinegar makes a great protein-boist dressing; or leftover curried lentils, a bit of mango chutney and a some lime juice
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    I watched a movie on Netflix ?The game changers" about athletes switching to a Vegan lifestyle and how that improved their health, energy and some experienced weight loss. I know I wont see results instantly or even within a week but I wanted to start with a small amount of time to just try eating Vegan.

    I am using the Vegan diet to simply try to increase my veggies and fruit intake with also trying to eliminate the extra calories that I eat with in my daily routine.

    What Ann and Jane said.

    To add to this, even if you want to become a 100% plant-based eater (the health claims are really about WFPB diets, not veganism, which can be WFPB, but is simply an ethical position that goes beyond food choices, and can be a healthy or not healthy way to eat depending on how the person chooses to eat, as with non vegan diets), you will likely be more successful if you make the changes more gradual and sustainable.

    I personally believe that the benefits of the WFPB diet is not excluding meat, eggs, and dairy (although that can be an admirable ethical choice, and I respect those who see it as ethically necessary), but the fact that one eats a lot of nutrient-dense whole foods, especially vegetables, lots of fiber, some healthy sources of fat, and the diet is much more balanced than one overloaded with added sugar and added fat, as many US diets are.

    But what I would recommend as a start is take stock of what you are eating now and of ways to reduce cals easily and add more vegetables and fruit and other missing nutrients, perhaps.

    If you aren't used to meals based around vegetarian sources of protein, I'd practice with that too. If you post some current typical breakfast/lunch/dinners or snacks (if you have them and want to continue), we could probably suggest some ways to make them more nutrient dense and reduce the animal products in your overall day.

    If your dinners tend to be based around meat, explore other options.

    There are tons of vegan websites with good recipes, and even reputable youtubers (a lot of vegan youtube channels are questionable in the advice given, but not all). I enjoy watching people cook on youtube (I get inspiration), and some good vegan ones are Pick Up Limes, Cheap Lazy Vegan, avantgardevegan, and the Happy Pear. There are also tons of great vegan cookbooks which one can try out by getting them from a library, and Matt Frazier at Nomeatathlete has a bunch of beginning resources and even a "going plant-based gradually" plan, I believe.

    But that aside, I do want to stress that it's simply not true that one can only be healthy or energetic with a WFPB way of eating (as suggested by The Game Changers) or that it will magically cause amazing health effects to cut out meat.

    Eating a better and more plant-based diet is a great choice, IMO, however.
  • DezYaoified
    DezYaoified Posts: 143 Member
    Help I need some tips and recipes to try out. I am going from eating almost what ever to trying a Vegan diet for a week at first but may continue longer depending on the results I get after the week. Are there any good VEGAN resources out there??

    My best friend went vegetarian for medical reasons. Since she was a kid she wasn’t able to digest red meat, then in her late teens/early twenties she started having problems with poultry.

    She did lose weight, but she also did IF at the same time so I’m not sure which was the biggest factor.

    I know frozen meals have a bad reputation on here but Amy’s has some good tasting options. Especially if you want to start going vegan or vegetarian one or two days a week to build up. She prefers the Garden brand over Morning Star. And I think it’s Birdseye has the cauliflower buffalo wings, so yummy.

    I tried it for 2 months, just to support her, but not only was I not getting the protein I needed, I also wasn’t getting enough iron. It just wasn’t something I was able to keep up, and not something I wanted to. I do still eat several vegetarian meals.

    May not be the advise you were looking for, but I figured a little support wouldn’t hurt considering how aggressive some people get on this topic.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    nomeatathlete.com
    veganliftz.com
    greatveganathletes.com

    There are many more if you're gearing it toward wondering how vegan athletes do it. I'm not vegan, but I know some world class athletes that are. I also know some that eat tons of meat.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited February 2021
    I like minimalist baker (blog) and rainbow plant life (youtube and blog). I eat mostly plant based. I eat lots of beans and grains like rice, quinoa and farro. Obviously lots of veg. I tend to just throw *kitten* together and call it a salad which I eat every day for lunch because I'm boring (my husband makes fun of me for it.) but salads are a good and easy way to throw whatever you like in there to make it a filling and balanced meal. I just make sure to add a grain and protein. Lots of meals you can make vegan... stir fry, fried rice, lots of soups, chili, tacos/nachos/quesadillas, curries...
  • Xierrax
    Xierrax Posts: 48 Member
    Heyy!

    I'm not a vegan although would like to be some day. Like you, I've seen vegan/plant-based documentaries and read books and think it's a great way to live and without being an expert, I've read a number of papers in which a balanced vegan diet seems to be healthier in the long term. As such I wish you all the best with your journey! There's no harm in trying!

    If you are on Reddit /r/veganrecipes and /veganfoodporn have provided me with countless amazing recipes. I don't follow a specific blog per se though.

    My current go-to is bean tacos with chickpea guacamole - literally just cooked black beans (w/ salt, cumin, turmeric or whatever spices you like) in a heated and folded tortilla and vegan cheese. For the guacamole I just mix an avocado with a few chickpeas and season it with salt and lime.

    I also like to cook a lot of Chinese food in which I substitute the meat either for tofu or mushrooms, there is vegan soy sauce/oyster sauce out there if that helps too!
  • nytrifisoul
    nytrifisoul Posts: 500 Member
    I wouldn't go straight to vegan. I would start taking out some proteins like beef, pork, poultry. Keep healthier proteins like Fish in your diet. Then eventually work your way to Vegetarian, then Vegan. But take my advice with a grain of salt. I am a huge carnivore. There's proteins out there i would eat if they were legal...