Hey Woodster, I'm almost at my one year mark from the day I switched to a vegan diet.  I wish I could have gotten in this discussion earlier, just to give some of my personal insights.  How has it been for you so far?

 

For fruits, I eat a lot.  I'm a picky eater, and even though I'm vegan, I don't like most vegetables!  But I eat a lot of apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, kiwis, etc.  Getting sugar from fruits is different than getting processed sugar.  The fruits come with a lot of water and fiber, which means your blood sugar won't spike as fast as processed sugars will.  It is possible to go overboard.  But I remember reading about a study where people ate like 20 servings of fruit a day, and didn't have any adverse affects.  Still, I wouldn't suggest going anywhere near that, just keep it to something reasonable and you probably don't have to worry about it.

 

There was a lot of mention of B12 above.  There are a lot of fortified vegan foods that contain B12.  The "milk" I drink has over 100% of the daily recommended B12 in one serving, so that alone means I don't need to supplement.  I also eat a lot of fortified tofu and tempeh (if you haven't tried these or haven't found good recipes, you're missing out!), which also contain B12.  Even the bran flakes I sometimes eat has B12.  Throw in a multi-vitamin, and you'll get plenty of B12.  Just make sure you're getting some of these sources.  If you still really need B12 they make oral spray vitamins.

 

For a protein powder blend, you can go to any mass supplement vendor and get a custom blend of 70% pea protein, and 30% rice protein.  This will have a similar amino profile to whey protein.  If you want a commercial option I think vega sport is also similar to whey in its amino acids.  Of course I agree it's better to get all of your nutrients from real food, so every day eat I eat a variety of vegetables, rice, and soy.

Hey! Good to talk to a fellow Vegan!

 

Lack of food and nutrient knowledge to begin with, plus being limited in what I can eat after becoming a vegan has made it challenging trying to balance preparing my meals with good nutrition, cost efficiency, and the ability to keep me satiated throughout the day.

 

However, recently I decided to keep it simple: 2 cups of overnight oats for breakfast, and a salad with beans and greens for lunch, which has helped me a lot.

 

What is it that you typically prepare for yourself? You should look at the book "Thug Kitchen", it's an awesome cookbook for us vegans.

 

Thank you for the advice - that makes me feel better about eating fruits! I used to get my B12 from coconut milk, similar to what you did, however, now I get my B12 from nutritional yeast. I put it on whatever I can.

 

Understood sir - I used to eat "Garden of Life" and "Sun Warrior" protein powders. However, due to cost, I have stopped buying protein powder altogether. I just try very hard to include oats, peanuts and peanut butter, beans, and foods like quinoa and lentils into my diet to get a decent amount of protein.

I'll look into that cookbook, thanks for the recommendation. I eat a lot of soy and tofu, and stick to the same things that I meal prep each Sunday for the whole week.

 

For breakfast, I like tofu scramble with vegan breakfast sausage thrown in. The sausage does cost a bit, but it makes enough for the whole week and each meal has 44g protein, 16 carbs, 17 fat. I also buy fortified tofu, but you can find regular tofu at any Asian grocery store for half the cost. The chain grocery stores around me only carry organic fortified tofu.

 

For lunch I often do something with tempeh. It's another soy product, but it's pressed soy beans that are fermented with a few other grains. I'll prepare it in just about any way I used to eat chicken. Usually that means dicing it and cooking in a sauce with some vegetables. Buffalo sauce is easy for a buffalo "chicken" sandwich, or cooking it in a Korean bbq sauce with stir fry veggies and eating with a side of quinoa. 1 serving of tempeh is another 20g protein, 16 carbs and 11 fat, and I usually eat a little more than 1 serving at a time. Chickpeas are also very versatile. There's recipes around to make it into a mock tuna salad that actually has a good taste and texture.

 

Unfortunately for dinner it's usually whatever we have or can quickly make. I get home from work and take care of my son while my wife goes to work, and usually it's up to me to make something. Because I'm watching the little guy (he's only 18 months old) it's usually something quick and easy. Typically some sort of a pasta, or a vegan hotdog / burger, nachos, or a wrap or bowl of quinoa, black beans, rice, and vegetables.

That sounds very similiar to what I make for meals. Tofu scramble with nutritional yeast and bread crumbs for breakfast - that's the bomb! Tempeh is probably my new favorite food now, honestly. It tastes good with anything that you put it on. Also, props for meal prepping every sunday! I am not at the stage yet where I can plan my entire week out. I can only think ahead about 4 days in advance.

 

Since you've been Vegan, how hungry are you throughout the day? Because for me, I feel hungry almost all the time. Even when I down peanuts and peanut butter, apples, carrots, sprouted breads, and oats, at the end of the day, I still feel hungry. And, I am not sure if I should listen to my body and eat? Or if my body is tricking me in some manner, or just isn't used to X, Y, or Z part of my diet. I used to eat tons of meat, and having completely switched to vegetables, fruits, and grains, I am wondering if somehow that has to do with it. Or, I am wondering if the stress in my life is playing part in my body "telling me that i'm hungry." What do you think?

I have the opposite problem as you, I'm usually force feeding myself at the end of the day to try and get enough calories. But I've always had a small appetite. I would suggest checking to make sure you're drinking plenty of water throughout the day. If that's still not working for you, caffeine is a good appetite suppressant. Make a pitcher of iced tea and bring it in a bottle, then you don't have to be near a coffee pot or kettle all day.

You are right, knowing my actual macros would help.

 

I already have switched from processed sugars / flours to eating fruit 95% of the time, whenever I want something sweet. For example, apples and peanut butter is my favorite dessert.

 

Now, how much fruit do you eat? How much sugar in fruit do you personally worry about?

 

That all makes a lot of sense.. thank you very much!

You just have to use a calculator to get an estimate as a baseline. Here's Scott's meal plan calculator. Just kind of guess based on how you feel your activity level is. Once you get an estimate you'll have to measure your progress, and make changes as necessary. No calculators are perfect anyways, since metabolism is different for every individual. Also check out this video:

 

I don't eat a lot relative to my calorie intake and what I primarily eay is berries (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries) and some pomegranate. Berries are some of the lowest GI fruit yet dense with micronutrients. Pomegranate is critical for prostate health as well is a fruit full of powerful anti-oxidants. I don't worry about fruit because I rarely eat it alone and I always eat my fruit versus drinking it.

 

John

**Edited to remove some of my original post. I read the rest of the thread and realized I had missed some of the conversation.

 

@Woodster, search for Derek Simnett and John Venus on YouTube - both guys are vegan and jacked (and seemingly healthy). If you want to add me as a friend in MyFitnessPal (I'm just a free member), I'm in there with the same username; I could share my meal diary with you. You can see what I eat and I easily nail as much protein and fat as any goal/ratio would require, and I get plenty Omega 3 and 6 (albeit there's an argument around ALA vs <I forget the first letter>LA).

 

 

 

Here are some quick easy foods that help to pump up a vegan diet to meet a lot of requirements:

 

From Costco (i.e. relatively cheap):

 

- Leanfit vegan protein powder

- Chia seeds (grind them up to keep them from sticking in your teeth)

- Ground flax

- Hemp hearts

- Almond butter (just non-GMO almonds)

- Brocolli, Brussels sprouts, spinnach, asparagus, cauliflower, kale/lettuce/green leafy veggies in general)

- Coconut/olive oil

- Bob's steel cut oats (best deal I have found)

- Berries/Bananas/Apples

- B12 and D3 vitamins

 

From other places, like SuperStore in Canada:

 

- Tofu (non GMO extra firm Sunrise brand is my favorite, and Tofu Xpress press makes it so much even better)

- Nutritional Yeast (is great on Tofu, or mixed with mashed garlic and cauliflower)

- Tempeh (strips or just the block, just frying it is super easy and tastes great but you can add flavors to the plain stuff as desired)

- Country Harvest Protein Bread (I like it, and it's protein number, but I'm not vouching for anything else about this item's contents or healthiness)

- 'Natur' brand crunchy or smooth peanut butter (just non-GMO peanuts)

 

I find nuts add up a little quick on calories so I'm more commonly using chia, hemp hearts, or flax in my oatmeal or on my almond/peanut butter and banana toast (with cinnamon and ground cloves FTW). Costco seems to be the best place to buy nuts in terms of price, and they do actually even have some raw ones, like raw cashews, which are great in stir fry's.

 

Last thing, I know it's processed, but Yves Veggie Cuisine has a lot of meat replacement products that are at least non-GMO (which may or may not actually even matter depending who/what you believe). Gardein is another brand. These things start to climb up in price to the same level as buying meat, so the cost can act as the prohibitor to keep from overdoing it with them. But ground round, in your spaghetti sauce or for taco's, for example, can be a very satisfying treat. Same with italian 'saucage'. Cliff Builder bars (Costco again) are another item in this group.

Dates and Figs are pretty good too for sugary things that are not processed. Forgot to mention those, but they are at Costco in nice big resealable bags. Either one makes any smoothie instantly better:).