Vegean Diet?(Carole)

L

lorihart

Cathlete
Carole, I think you were on this diet? I read in the running thread.
Over the last couple of days I have heard a bit about this diet? Can someone fill me in on it? Is is pretty basic or more then meets the eye..like reading the book or something? Is this the diet that you only eat what God made?
I was with a friend yesterday and she was telling me that a friend of hers is on this diet and she as lost lots of weight.
Is it do able?
Could carole (or anyone else) give me a day in the life plan?
Lori:)
 
Hi Lori...yes I am on a Vegan diet. I think there are a few of us here. I read a book called "Eat to Live" by Dr Joel Fuhrman. I found the book very interesting and although at first my DH and I were just going to slowly cut out animal protein we ended up cutting it out all together. I'd say for some it can be very strict. I know other vegetarians (lacto and ovo) that do eat cheese and eggs as cutting both of those out to be Vegan can be difficult for some. I am sure you will get other replies but this is typically what I eat in a day:

Coffee and half a genisoy protein bar before my workout
B: fruit smoothie with 2 cups fruit, 3/4 cup soymilk, 1 T ground flaxseed and 1 scoop soy vanilla protein powder
S: fruit and some walnuts
L: Amy's non dairy burrito, soy yogurt and sometimes a small salad
S: fruit
D: Tofu chow mein, a good sized salad with spinach, romaine, onions, mushrooms, tomato or any other veggie I want to use.
After dinner sometimes my DH and I split another fruit smoothie

A website I really like for info is www.vegsource.com.. ...:)...Carole
 
Hi Carole,
Thanks for the info.I am just scanning through the website you mentioned.It must be so much easier for you when you have a DH who is involved.My DH is a big meat eater.
How do you manage with outings? Do you still have a social drink everyone once in a while? When you go to family gathers do you bring your own food? I was just wondering how much effort it takes.I know when I did the low-fat thing (that worked great for me) it was quit easy.Probably b/c I didn't stress over it and I wasn't trying to make up excuses.I would always order a nice healthy salad and I even had people comment on how healthy I ate. I would limit alcoholic beverages and this was during a time when we drank a fair bit (early 20's) After a while I did stress about it to much and I would almost be in a panic attack if I knew we were going to the in-laws for dinner and they were having hamburgers.There was no way I could eat that! Thats when I decided to let lose a little and now I have completely gone the other way.I would really like to shed the 8 lbs I have gained since then.Things just slowly started creeping back into my diet;(
How are your energy levels? Do you eat bread? Im just wondering how restictive this is.I would like to buy the book but we don't have any good book stores around here so I would have to order it on-line.
Lori:)
 
A Vegan diet does tend to be rather restrictive. Being a Vegetarian means to not eat ANY animal meat (be it fish, cow, chicken, pig, etc). There are plenty of Vegetarians that do eat dairy and eggs, but no meat. A Vegan diet is to eat NO animal meat OR animal by-products -meaning no eggs, dairy, meat, lard, whey, etc. So most breads, protein bars/shakes, jello, soups, salad dressings, processed foods, etc would be excluded from this diet. You would eat fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, and legumes. There are some companies that do make processed foods that are Vegan, but they tend to be expensive and hard to find, see www.veganstore.com
 
I've been a vegan for 12 years (and a vegetarian since 1876). I don't consider it a "plan," or a "weight loss diet," but a lifestyle. Vegan usually means avoiding all animal products in food, but also in other products (leather, silk, fur, wool, etc.) You can, however, just be a vegan in diet. It definitely seems hard and radical at first, but it becomes second nature after a while, especially if your motivation is strong.

There are actually quite a few processed foods that are vegan, you just have to know what to look for. I'm a whole fooder anyway, so most "processed foods" don't appeal to me for that reason (white flour, white sugar). The other day, I found several types of breads that are vegan in the regular grocery store. However, they either were whole grain, or they contained high fructose corn syrup (which is vegan, but not nutritious), so they didn't interest me.

An excellent book that is full of nutritional information, inspiration and resources is "Becoming Vegan." I forget the authors' names, but you can find it at one of the stores below, or at www.veganstore. com that someone else mentioned.

Some online sources of vegan products (where you can pick up this book as well) are : www.veganessentials.com (my favorite: I order online on Sunday, and get my package on Tuesday! They also have vegan Earth shoes) www.adifferentdaisy.com (very slow shipping: I think one person runs the business, but they carry a line of supplements that Vegan essentials doesn't). Both these stores have very reasonable shipping. VE ships for either $5.95 or $6.95 (there may be a more expensive shipping tier, but I've never hit it, and I've sometimes ordered $300 worth of shoes, supplements and food at once. They carry vegan Ear5th shoes, for less than the price at the Earth Shoe site).

Veganessentials just recently got some more vegan glucosamine products, including a joint support power with flax, glucosamine and other nutrients.
 
I would also suggest the following two books - "Eat More, Weigh Less" by Dean Ornish and "The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss" by John McDougall. Both give specifics on foods, quantities, sample menus and recipes.
 
Yes Lori, it is alot easier that my DH wants to eat this way too. Just cook something else for uorsefl and let your DH eat the meat. He has slipped a few times and usually it makes him sick to his stomach eating animal protein such as meat. Like Kathyrn said it does become second nature when you want it to. Outings....I haven't been to many as in a large group. I have been to family gatherings and they all know we are Vegan and in the beginning we didn't get much family support but it does slowly change. When I know they are cooking chicken or steak I usually take Boca Burgers. At Thanksgiving and X-mas I made Tofu dishes for me and my DH and I made a vegan Green bean Casserole that was awesome. I mostly drink water but occasionally I have an Ultra beer (kinda like water) and don't really worry about it. I think it can take some extra effort in the beginning. There will be things you really don't like. For me what helped was getting a few different cookbooks and forcing myself to try something new every week. I felt like I have found all this new food that I never had eaten but had been around for centuries!!

My energy is good. I had also gained a bit of weight and was determined to loose it. I was on the Zone diet for about 5 years before going vegan so its still hard sometimes for me to eat bread and pasta as those were no,no's on the Zone. I have cut my protein consumption down from about 120 grams a day to 60-75 grams and still got results with weightlifting. My running was affected the first two weeks as my body was probably detoxifying...:)...but I have currently been trainin and have run about 46-50 weekly miles for the last 2 months. Weight loss can always make you feel better. But seriously I feel better than I have in a long time and for me Vegan is fun...:)...Carole
 
At Thanksgiving and X-mas I made
>Tofu dishes for me and my DH and I made a vegan Green bean
>Casserole that was awesome.

Carole, could you post that green bean casserole recipe? I'm in the mood for a green bean casserole!
 
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