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Joflakes
Nov 21st, 2012, 09:52 AM
Hi all!

I don't post here all that often, but I was wondering something.

Since I became vegan about 7 months ago, I get hungry a lot quicker. I think I eat a lot, and I try to eat every 2-3 hours or I am ravenous! I wake up each morning starving.

Example (yesterday's food):

Breakfast (9am): Mushrooms and broccoli stalks fried in olive oil with garlic, on one toast
Lunch (12pm): Large slice home-made bread with Vitalite and marmalade
Lunch 2 (2pm): Two vegan sausage rolls with ketchup
Snack: (5pm): Some peanuts
Dinner (6pm): Bowl of pasta with avocado/tofu/nutritional yeast creamy sauce, with mushrooms and kale
Snack (7.30pm): 2 x Moo Free chocolate bars
Snack (midnight): Peanut butter and jam on toast

I guess I'm worried I'm not eating enough! I don't usually eat so much chocolate, haha.

Any ideas?

Thanks!
Jo

Blueberries
Nov 22nd, 2012, 07:31 AM
Heya JoFlakes, if you ever see my posts on the 'what did you eat today' thread you'll see that I eat alot. I'm like you, I eat every couple of hours otherwise I'm hungry. I think as long as your diet is balanced and your portions aren't massive eating frequently isn't a problem.

harpy
Nov 22nd, 2012, 09:25 AM
Things like bread and marmalade and chocolate have a high glycaemic load - they tend to get burned up fast leaving you feeling hungry soon afterwards. Same may apply to the sausage rolls especially if they are made of white flour. If you look up "glycaemic load" and "glycemic load" you'll find some explanations of how this works and lists of foods that burn up more slowly.

Joflakes
Nov 22nd, 2012, 10:13 AM
Thanks!

I know about low GI type foods, that day wasn't a particularly great food day! I usually try to eat brown/seeded breads, brown pasta/rice/noodles...however I'l try to eat less of the high GI foods because being hungry a lot isn't too fun!

Blueberries - yeah I had noticed! I don't ever eat until I'm stuffed, just until I'm not hungry anymore. I try not to snack unless I am actually hungry, too.

I'm gonna keep an eye on it. This morning I'm going to make quinoa porridge I think!

harpy
Nov 22nd, 2012, 11:02 AM
As I understand it the high GI ones are OKish if you combine them with something low GI. So if I have chocolate as a snack I try to remember to have a few nuts with it as they burn up more slowly. I suppose you could have nut butter with the marmalade, not sure how nice it would be though :p Porridgy things should be good from that point of view.

Joflakes
Nov 22nd, 2012, 11:05 AM
I could just have a peanut butter and jam sandwich?! :D

Quinoa porridge was okay, I didn't cook it long enough though, grr! Slightly crunchy is not great.

Blueberries
Nov 22nd, 2012, 10:42 PM
Quinoa porridge was okay, I didn't cook it long enough though, grr! Slightly crunchy is not great.

If you wanted a smoother quinoa porridge you could use quinoa flakes instead of the grain itself. I like quinoa but I find it a bit light on its own so I usually add it to rice. I have added quinoa to regular oat porridge too, don't do it often though because if I make porridge it's microwave porridge so I'd have to have pre-cooked quinoa on hand.

veggiegirl3
Dec 4th, 2012, 04:53 PM
I felt really hungry when I went vegan too. I felt like I was eating a lot and still getting really hungry at night. I think my body got used to eating vegan after awhile, because I stopped being super hungry.

Wraithling
Dec 4th, 2012, 05:38 PM
This might be a case of mind over matter, but I often find that meals largely consisting of carbs with little protein tend not to fill me up, low-GI or high-GI. Nowadays when I make, say, penne arabiatta I sprinkle some nuts and/or seeds over the top to provide a bit more substance (though it may be the fat in the seeds that actually does the job there, come to think of it...).

However, I think that what really sorted this problem out for me was, weirdly, switching to a less sedentary lifestyle. Working in an office, I'd be ravenous by about half-past 10. Now that I do a lot more walking about to get to things in town (I live right on the edge of Durham), I find that I don't feel the urge to snack between meals so much (at least not more than a few dates or an orange or something).

BellaTanie
Dec 4th, 2012, 10:42 PM
Try adding more protein to your meals, that helped me (:

Andy_T
Dec 5th, 2012, 09:11 AM
Always have some fresh fruits ready as a snack :-)

Best regards,
Andy

Barry
Dec 5th, 2012, 10:45 AM
Try adding more protein to your meals, that helped me (:

Yeah, me too. I find that if I eat a meal without a significant source of protein in it, I'm hungry again within two hours.

Robinwomb
Dec 5th, 2012, 11:25 AM
I'm actually having the opposite problem with the exercise. I normally exercise intensively at least an hour a day, and have done this without fail for years, but due to a hip injury I have not been able to work out for the last week and a half with a minor exception. I have actually lost my appetite and have been less hungry and eating way less this last week for the first time in ages, go figure. I think it might be some depression setting in though with being so limited in what I can do. But I am guessing my metabolism is slowing down a bit too from lack of activity.