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Thread: Am I eating enough?

  1. #1
    Cornish
    Guest

    Default Am I eating enough?

    I have been a vegan for just over a week now and last night I was incredibly sick after going for a gentle run, in fact this has happed for the past three nights when I have been out 'jogging' (I tire easy so I spend the majority of my time walking), having been physically sick twice but having returned very tired and shacking with intense stomach pains all three times.

    Although I do not feel as if I have been eating especially less than usual lately as I do not eat much anyway (crumpets for breakfast/lunch and a main curry-eque meal, the odd snack) but I find being sick quite hard as there is nothing to really be sick with.

    I really need some advice, do you think that I might be feeling like this due to not having eaten enough during the day (although the only thing I am doing differently is drinking tea instead of eating chocolates all day)?

    If I do been to eat more I cannot think of anything else that I could possibly eat during the day, a sandwich perhaps?

    What does everyone else here usually have to eat during the day?

  2. #2
    Herbivore
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Am I eating enough?

    It's a shame no one has replied before now, I hope you haven't been discouraged.

    I do think you're not eating enough, but I'm not a nutritionist so I couldn't tell you exactly how much more you need to eat but as a vegan I can give you my experiential knowledge.

    What I do is just eat. A lot. I eat three meals a day and snack usually two times a day. I don't worry about gaining weight (I'm a happy 115 lbs) because I know what I'm eating has no cholesterol and healthy fats. I always think about what I haven't had yet and try to incorporate that food into what I eat next.

    Just to give you an idea of my typical day I'll list my food choices. I always have my house stocked with all of these things.

    So for breakfast I have:
    a spoon of black strap molasses (lots of iron and calcium) or a spoon of peanut butter
    orange/grapefruit juice or chocolate soy milk
    wholegrain cereal and soy milk or plain oatmeal or waffles/pancakes that I make or toast
    a fruit such as a banana, apple, strawberries or raspberries

    For lunch and dinner I have:
    one or two of the following (so in total I have at least 3 items from this group daily): veggie soup with lentils or stir fry or vegan soy/wheat based meat or vegan grilled cheese or salad with dressing made out of avocado or vegan cheese pizza or falafel or eggplant and sprout wrap and the list goes on as I'm sure you can imagine.
    Side dish of some sort of vegetable which can be sweet potato, kale, broccoli, brussel sprout, carrots, corn and so forth.

    For snacks some of the things I have 2-5 of the following things daily:
    almonds or mixed nuts
    carrot juice
    corn chips
    date bars
    vegan baked good such as cookies or pie
    more fruit
    hummus and pitas
    bok choy
    and so forth.

    You also could have an issue not at all related to veganism. I used to get sick when I went jogging (and in my non-vegan days when I went horse back riding) and I was diagnosed with bronchitis. I'm not sure if I was properly diagnosed but I've had it for... about 6 years now? I had similar symptoms to you and I was told it was a lung/breathing issue, not a food issue. It doesn't hurt though to make sure you're eating enough.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
    Posts
    772

    Default Re: Am I eating enough?

    As always, GO SEE A DOCTOR.

    Do not trust a bunch of strangers on an internet forum to tell you what is good for you, who do not know you and are not nutritionists or doctors.

    That said, what you might do as well, is log on to a site like www.nutridiary.com and start logging the things you eat in a day.
    That should give you some visibility on what you are consuming, and whether it is sufficient.

    HOWEVER, you might look up a vegan-friendly (or at least vegan-neutral) doctor (yes, there are those. Ask your local vegan society to provide you with name lists) in order to avoid an uninformed doctor telling you something like 'You HAVE to eat MEAT, otherwise you are going to die etc. etc.' based on the 30 minutes of nutrition information he/she had back in 1962 during medical studies...

    Best regards,
    Andy

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Montreal, Canada
    Posts
    280

    Default Re: Am I eating enough?

    Somehow I missed your post, otherwise I would have replied earlier. I hope you are feeling a bit better by now. I don't really have any answers for you, but it sounds like you were going through a rough patch. I agree with what Reve is saying that maybe there's an underlying factor here.

    If you just started with jogging it can also be just that. Some years ago when I started jogging for the first time in my life to become more fit I really noticed how unfit I was. It was terrible. I was exhausted after a few minutes of running then had to hold on to someone's fence to not fall when everything turned black in front of my eyes for about 20 seconds and I felt sick to my stomach. I had a gentle walk home that day and the rest of the afternoon I was sick to my stomach and fell asleep in the middle of the day for a few hours which is unusual for me. Anyway, I'm just saying if you're not used to a particular exercise it can make you that sick! After this I built up my jogging routine very slowly with advice from a friend who ran as well. The first weeks were very challenging for me and I felt a bit sick every now and then, that just told me I did too much too soon and I should just take it a bit easier.

    Also if you cut out a lot of sugar in your diet from one day to the next I can imagine this would have an impact as well. Sugar is a very addictive substance, it also has major impact on your energy levels. When I started eating healthier and more balanced I didn't get the spikes of energy after eating certain foods and after this a depression in my energy. The only thing that helped was having more bad foods, was a bit of a bad cycle. Eating healthier leveled my energy for the day and I actually have a lot more energy. I also cut all caffeined drinks, apart from green or white tea.

    In terms of what i eat is a bit like what Reve has. I probably have more bread and bread products. Lately I'm very much into making tortilla's, so I make wraps and toasties with that for a quick bite. I snack on nuts and seeds (not every day), dried fruits (dried by myself mostly), fresh fruits, I have a small bit of dark chocolate every day after dinner, crackers plain or with something on there like a homemade spread of some sort or a bit of humus.

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