Eating - Vegan style

[chons]

Hi all :)

(It's long... many sorrys)

Let me start by saying I do not share all of the Vegan beliefs - I am posting this thread purely based on my interest in eating a healthier diet with no meat & animal products and thought no body would know better than you guys here. :)

Today I found a copy of the book 'you are what you eat' by Dr Gillian McKeith on my coffee table - Another purchase of my mum's. I thought I'd have a flick through even though I think all diet books are a waste of money and are just a flyer for the authors own range of brand of products & suppliments... Anyway enough of the rant.

I actually found it a great read and learnt lots of stuff that I should really know but I didn't until now. She didn't mention anything about Veganism in her book but she did say how you can get all the good stuff your body needs from eating Seeds, Vegs, Fruit and Nuts.

I thought after reading the book that I might do a short detox but now I'm thinking about going the whole way and altering my diet for the sake of the body I abuse... and because I'm so bored of my current diet.

Now for my current diet (The part that'll make you cringe but I feel you should know in order to answer a couple of my questions.).

Breakfast - The same everyday - Crackers smoothered in butter with a couple of mugs of tea.
Snacks - I snack as much as I want throughout the entire day. I eat one bag of crisps and one chocolate bar a day at least. Sometimes I'll pick on salad if I want a snack or I'll have some fruit. I snack on nuts rarely.
Lunch - I'll have white bread just buttered or if I'm at uni chips or a packed lunch (Crisps, Fruit, Youghart).
Dinner - I don't really vary far from... pizza, or chips with bacon or sausage or turkey drummers or eggs(fried), or pot noodle. I occasionally have a huge roast dinner or a beef casserole. I like salad but I rarely have it with meals.
Dessert - Fruit, Icecream or cake.
Drinks - I have about 6 cups of tea a day. I drink fruit juice, water but mostly fizzy drinks. I do not drink alcohol.
Smoking & Drugs - I do not smoke or take any kind of drugs (Except for my perscribed Transexamic acid). I am not overweight (shock). I do excersize.

MY BODY IS DESPERATE FOR HELP!

I am Anaemic (Suprised?) - which I am currently taking suppliments for & Transexamic acid because of. I suffer from Insomnia, lack of concentration, major moodswings. The caffiene I guess is the largest contributor to the last three.

As the only animal derived food procucts I eat are completely rubbish for my body I want to cut them out - and send the other crap I eat out with it! I know if I carry on eating the way I do I'm going to suffer from the effects somewhere along the line so I need to make a change now and for good.

I really enjoy eating Fruits, Vegs, Nuts & Seeds but I never eat enough.

I want to start the diet as soon as I go shopping for food next but I was wondering what you all think about changing my diet permantly in an instant considering how bad it is currently. I understand I might feel like rubbish for a while but can the effects be anymore dramatic?

I would also like to know wheter it would be possible to live on a diet of raw, uncooked vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruits. I know uncooked they have higher nutrional value and to be honest I prefer they their taste this way.

Another question is are there any suppliments I should take if I am to keep this diet permenatly like I wish to?

One last question - Is anybody able to list some foods high in Iron? I really don't like taking any form of medication or suppliments unless it is completely nesscecary and this tablets are the only thing my Dr mentioned (and they contain E numbers). I am taking the equivilant of 130mg Ferrous Iron each day.

Thanks in advance. I look foward to finally treating my body with the respect it deserves.

[Glen]

Quick answers:

Some people don't feel any bad effects from the big change. However you may feel low while your body gets used to not having crap thrown at it, and you will probably get a lot of wind as you digestive system starts to work a little better! I changed my diet from one similar to yours to full on Vegan within a week and I was perfectly fine.

A diet of raw foods is possible, we tend to call people who do this 'Raw Foodists'. I don't do it because I like cooked things and variety, but it is very possible to thrive on such a diet.

As for suppliments, you may need to look into Vitamin B12. This is the 'crux' of a Vegan diet. There are foods that have it added (fortified), such as corn flakes and other cereals, soya milk, energy drinks, nutritional yeast etc. A little look in the B12 section will give you some idea. I don't take a suppliment, just eat foods as above, and I am fine :) .

Iron: You will be wanting plenty of dark, leafy vegetables, like spinach and kale.

Hope that helps

[tails4wagging]

HI, first change your bread to wholegrain, have soya marg.

cereal try porridge. It will fill you up till lunch.

Lunch. try something like cheatin ham (from Holland and Barratt) and salad with a few walnuts, kidney beans (from tins) and a few grapes thrown on. If this is not enough add a small jacket potato with hummus.

Dinner.. for convenience you could have a deep country pie (Linda macs) potato and green veg. or try chunky strips stir fried with a choice of veg add soya sauce to it and put on a bed of rice.

A few suggestions hope they are ok??.

[chons]

Thanks for you replies they were very helpful :)

I think I'm going to start by doing a detox next shop and if I have no bad side effect I will continue. If I do feel very bad I will most likely introduce my new eating scheme gradually.

I'm so looking forward to a change from chips and pizza :D

[harpy]

Some more vegetable sources of iron are listed here

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/iron.php

and here (not 100% vegan)
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/iron.html

You are bound to feel better on your new diet, I would think. The only thing to watch out for is that suddenly increasing fibre can have a bit of a dramatic effect, so you might want to tackle that aspect a bit gradually :D

[chons]

Some great info on those links. Thanks for your advice harpy.

[Plunder Bunnie]

I think a great way to know what your putting in your body is to make it yourself. for example, i LOVE pizza, but always felt guilty eating it because its fatty. So i went on www.fatfree.com, and found an awesme fat-free pizza dough, and eat that with sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, red and green peppers, and white mushrooms, not to mention garlic, parsley and oregeno, and i love it. I barely ever put soy cheese on it, because i like it the way it is and try not to eat soy cheese to much because its fatty and im parinoid! but anyways, always remember to treat yourself SOMETIMES. I think id go insane if every now and then i couldn't have a cookie or a slice of cake!

[chons]

Wow! I love pizza bases with just tomatoe puree or garlic on.

Looks like I have a new favourite food (That I won't over eat this time)

Thanks for your help guys... this is more fun than it sounds. I'll update you on my progress soon :)

[LucyB]

I myself have recently switched from a high junk food omni diet to vegan (6 days ago) and I am feeling fantastic :) I do suffer from a bit of wind but that is settling down as my body learns to cope with the extra bulk in the food. I feel much lighter in myself as a whole and am definitely noticing my waistband getting loose - bonus!

I am not throwing myself into cooking from scratch just yet as it's not something I do often (at least, til now!) but I am putting together meals with things I have always eaten and making sure they are vegan. Like, avocado & salsa & kidney beans in a tortilla wrap - yummy! And, I made spag bol with soya mince which is lovely and means I can still eat easily with my family (just requires 2 different sauces). Toast and vegan marg for breakfast, or cereal with soya milk. I'm eating more fruit and veg but again, I'm not rushing into new territory, I will do but I need time to mentally digest the changes (I literally watched both episodes of the Dispatches 'supermarket' program that I'd recorded and didn't eat meat or animal products from that moment on) - so I'm eating apples, pears and bananas this week while I try out tofu, and next week I will buy more varied fruit.

I'm also taking a supplement from Holland & Barrett, a multi vitamin suitable for vegans. I hope in time I will have confidence in my diet that I'm getting enough nutrients and won't keep taking them, but I don't want to fail in the first week because I missed something vital out and ended up feeling terrible.

Good luck!

[rujoon]

One last question - Is anybody able to list some foods high in Iron? I really don't like taking any form of medication or suppliments unless it is completely nesscecary and this tablets are the only thing my Dr mentioned (and they contain E numbers). I am taking the equivilant of 130mg Ferrous Iron each day.Eat lots of citrus fruits, they are high in vitamin C. Vitamin C is important for iron absorption.

Besides knowing what increase ur iron absorption its important to know which foods decrease iron uptake.
1) tannin-containing beverages
black tea, oriental green tea, coffee. Most herbal teas have no tannin.
2)milk and cheese
3)oxalates
iron in spinach bound to oxalates, making it largely unavailable. Also found in rhubarb, swiss chard, chocolate.
brocolli, kale, oriental greens (e.g bok choy) provide abundant FREE iron.
4)phytates
5)soy products

Try to decrease 1 - 5 when u eat meals high in iron, to prevent less iron being absorbed. Eat more fruits and veggies, and a wide variety of them too.

Some Iron containing foods:
Blackstrap molasses
Potato with skin
Wax beans (canned or cooked)
tahini
hijiki seaweed
prunes
apricot
peas
Quinoa
almond butter
and more....


I want to start the diet as soon as I go shopping for food next but I was wondering what you all think about changing my diet permantly in an instant considering how bad it is currently. I understand I might feel like rubbish for a while but can the effects be anymore dramatic?Just be patient with ur body while it adapts to the new diet. I went veg the gradual way, and I still do feel hungry at 1st when I drop the meat completely. But i find veg diet good, cuz i personally experience it b4. When I was in college, I always used to fail my 2.4km run, I went for extra physical education lessons, and the best I always got was a bronze timing. My school wants everyone to get at least a silver so we had to do extra lessons. I went vegetarian for 49days, and after that period we are suppose to do a 2.4km run again, and guess what? I got a silver! And after that I eventually got Gold for it. So I do believe a veg diet plays a part in it:) .

[Roxy]

try something like cheatin ham (from Holland and Barratt)

Dinner.. for convenience you could have a deep country pie (Linda macs) potato and green veg. or try chunky strips stir fried with a choice of veg add soya sauce to it and put on a bed of rice.



Tails has some good suggestions and you might find that the "fake" meats will help your transition to a vegan diet.

After a year and a half of being vegan, I still use "fake" meats in my diet. These include "chicken" strips, "fake" hams and bologna and Tofurkey on sandwiches and soy jerky is very nice too.

[DoveInGreyClothing]

For high ironcontent, try, green leafy veg(try it in a salad. it's nicer raw and retains more irom too),, dried fruit like dates, oh, and best of all, high cocoa content dark chocolate! Aloso, Have plenty vitamin C(from fruit n veg) as it helps you absorb the iron better.

[Kiran]

One last question - Is anybody able to list some foods high in Iron?

You live in the UK, so you can buy plenty of those giant red Cabbages.. It looks kinda black from the outside. Man I tell you it is full of iron. As someone mentioned before even Spinach. Go for the red ones. red!! :)

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-001-02s01ty.html

Hope that helps..

[Kam]

Red spinach???

Thanks for all the above, I am newish to veganism too, seem to be managing really well, had minor tummy rumblings the first few days, but nothing painful, may not even have been connected. I now feel great, and am looking forward to the rewards of a long-term vegan diet. Am getting more and more clued up about what's healthiest to eat, I really think vegans are doing the right thing, we have all done lots of research into what foods are high in certain nutrients, I think it puts the former me, and other meateaters, to shame.