Varied diet

[xjohnx]

I'm worried that I'm relying too heavily of soy products/that I might have allergies to soy since it's common/that I don't vary my diet enough. I usually have a breakfast of either cream of rice or life cereal with soy milk a lunch of fruit, peta/hummus/sprouts, soy yogurt, and a cliff bar. Dinner is usually lentil/bean and rice mixture, vegan burrito, or high protein pasta. That might sound varied, but that's all I eat. I wouldn't be so skeptical but my skin has been really bad lately and I haven't had pleasant times relieving myself since the switch to veganism (which I find surprising) so I'm concerned I'm not getting a good variety. Any suggestions or feedback?

[ravenfire]

I kind of have a routine as well but try to make sure it's varied. For example, I almost always have a smoothie for breakfast with a banana, a frozen fruit (to make the smoothie icy) and rice milk. I just vary my frozen fruit every day (berry blend, peaches, strawberries, mango, etc). For lunch I have a veggie pita with hummus and vary my veggies every day. I always do a cliff bar as a snack and for dinner I always try to include a type of bean, a whole grain, a green veggie and a fruit (all of which I vary from day to day). If I have pasta for dinner I always include a green salad with it. After dinner sometime I usually have another snack of somekind of nuts/seeds and fruit. I try to limit my soy intake to no more than twice a week since I have hypothyroidism.

[DianeVegan]

Ravefire's diet sounds very varied and balanced.

John, your outbreaks may be more related to hormones than diet. Many 17 year olds have blemishes no matter what they eat.

By "haven't had pleasant times relieving" I assume you mean you are not having pleasant bowel movements. I will assume you are slightly constipated (correct me if I'm wrong). You can change this by eating more fresh (preferably raw) vegetable and whole grains. I can't stress that 8 or more fresh fruits/vegetables is imperative for good health (where did I get that number? I just made it up, like the USDA made up "at least 5 servings"). It would appear that you are getting just 1-2 servings of fruit and 2 servings of vegetables per day. Your whole grain intake and fiber intake seems low as well.

Just because you are eating vegan foods doesn't mean you are eating healthy. You need whole, unprocessed foods and less of the low-bulk foods. But add these things slowly as it may take some time for your digestive tract to adapt to increased fiber. Also increase your fluid intake (water is best) as you increase your fiber intake.

Good luck.:)

[codebug]

I began eating soy substitutes when I stopped eating meat, dairy, and eggs. Ya know, the food guide pyramid I like, http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/pyramids.html, and the vegetarian food guide pyramid, see Wikipedia, shows grains as the foodsource we should eat the most. The next groups are veggies and fruits.

I have begun adding more of these as my previous omnivorous diet basically turned the food guide pyramid upside down, and substituting soy did not change anything.

I am reducing soy in favor of grains, fruits, and veggies.

[Pilaf]

Eat a lot of different fresh fruits and veggies. I have at least seven different types a day and I feel groovy.

[kriz]

I think the easiest way for vegans to get some extra vitamins in their diet is to snack on fruits...they taste good and are easy to grab on the go.:)

[cedarblue]

i normally work within a 2 day framework for making sure i eat a variety of foods. i think of it a bit like feeding a small child - sometimes its incredibly difficult to get into the child what it needs daily but if you work on a 2 day overview then what you dont manage to eat on one day you can make up for on the next.

the only soy product i take regularly daily is soy milk in tea and cereal if i have it. other items like soy yog, ice cream, tofu etc i eat as and when.

[Tigerlily]

Drink good amounts of water to keep things moving too. You can have all the fiber you want but if you aren't drinking enough water to "push it through", it's not every good.