How many vegans on board?

savvy

bobhawke wrote: »

Thread on his forums, with sample meal plans, from one of his team members who is vegan:
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/showthread.php?t=9824

Ah those meal plans are great, and I'm glad to see the Thrive Diet mentioned :T:T The book is awesome imo!!!

brokeinwales

Thanks savvy and bobhawke - I'm just about to check all that out (so I guess I'll report back in a few hours!)

IamJen

re: nutritional advice, you might try PCRM (http://www.pcrm.org/). They are pro-vegan, but it's not from an AR approach like the Vegan Society, etc. They have really good info there.

Some things to consider with regard to your vitamin deficiencies....How long have you been vegan? It's really, really unlikely that a B12 deficiency would result from a short spell of veganism, as B12 is stored in your gut. B12 deficiency because of absorption issues is a fairly common problem even amongst omnivores though, especially as we age. My husband and I, both vegan, take a B12 supplement that's absorbed under the tongue. It gets into your bloodstream quickly this way and bypasses some stomach/digestive issues that some may have.

Also, females often have much lower iron stores/ferritin levels compared to males. I had a bit battle with iron levels, in my pre-vegan days, because of some girly problems. Now, my levels often appear on the low end of the scale, but I feel absolutely fine. This is the key, not just according to me, but to the doctors who've attended to me. If you feel okay, then don't sweat a slightly low hematocrit. It's worth knowing too, what the actual numbers are, as then you can compare, down the road. A vegan diet doesn't cause heavy periods, but if you have certain conditions (like PCOS), you may need to adjust what you eat somewhat. Finding the root cause of the problem is key.

You might also try a site like FitDay or SparkPeople or something where you can analyze your diet/nutrition by plugging in what you eat each day.

Some ideas for food on the fly that work for us. I'm assuming that if you're near an M&S, you must be in a decent sized city/town:

- samosas/bhajis from a local indian place or a deli (you have to ask about ghee, but generally these are vegan) Also, M&S has some cheap things in the deli - samosas, falafel and these little bean burrito things, and loads of small salads

- If you have a Sainsbury, their salads are cheaper (some only £1) and just as yummy

- Bugsy or other Cranks sandwiches from Boots. You can get the meal deal for £3, which isn't good for everyday but not bad

- falafel..we have a couple of places where you can get a big sandwich with salad and veg for £2.50. Definitely enough for a lunch. Add some oj to wash it down.

- There's a chain called Eat that has a vegan sandwich, but also usually one vegan soup each day (that's cheaper than that sandwich).

Sorry to make such a long post, but I don't want people to give up on veganism because they feel they're lacking some nutrients. I don't think it's negative to say you might have to pay attention to your diet more than omnivores, but there's absolutely no reason you can be happy and healthy as a vegan.

IamJen

Ooh, and that article...I just posted it on my FB page yesterday. It infuriates me when the media attributes the death of children like this to veganism. The kid was nearly a year old and wasn't being fed any solid food. If non-vegan parents did this, the article wouldn't say that the parents "adhered to an omnivorous diet". It's not about veganism in these cases, it's about stupidity.

Murrell

brokeinwales wrote: »

One thing i did wonder - I'd be interested in finding some nutritional info/ advice on vegan diets from a neutral point of view. A lot of the stuff you find online that's written about vegan nutrition comes from either obviously pro-vegan sources (like the vegan society, vegan forums etc), or very anti-vegan sources. I'm not saying the information is necessarily inaccurate but I would find it interesting and reassuring to read something that comes from a scientific POV that doesn't have any moral or personal stake in the issue. so if anyone knows of anything I'd love to know!

Hiah,
I think Plant based nutrition and health by Stephen Walsh is a very good book and he works closely with the vegan society and has they have this booklet which is a sort of sumary.
http://www.vegansociety.com/downloads/PBN.pdf

I have read it a couple of time and as he doesn't make it sound as easy as some sites do. His phd isn't in nutrition, but he has used his research skills to look over nutritonal information, scientific journals etc over a course of a few years. He explains all the pitfalls and how essential it is to have B12 etc, 2 brazil nuts a day for selium, vit c with iron rich foods etc which I know might be quite common knowledge, but he also covers all the difficulties and what sort of weight of carrots, brocolli you need a day and not to have over so much weight in soya and what problems you can encounter. Certainly worth a read, you library might have it if you don't want to buy it. Easily available from the vegan society or amazon. Hope your health improves. I have been vegan for about 17 years and I still find it difficult to follow all the advice he gives, especially having enough omega 3's a day, as I find having ground flax seed with some meals quite impossible and because the daily requirement is so much, I like to sprinkle it over my porridge, vegetable based meal and salad, but sometimes I am grabbing chips or a sandwich that it just doesn't go with. I have analized the nutrition of our diet after thinking it was good with having a lot of fruit and veg a day but find I am still short on some nutrients so have to keep making changes to add in more zinc or whatever. So do read this if you can, make any changes you think necessary and then keep looking at your nutrition and see if you are getting enough or too much of anything. Sometime too much of one thing can prevent absorbtion of something else.
Sandra

Murrell

brokeinwales wrote: »

I do find "food on the run" a problem though. When I was caught short in town, it used to be easy to just grab a sandwich or a pasta salad - now I have to think about it far more as most places don't do vegan sarnies. I try to take stuff with me as much as possible, but I'm carp at planning ahead - and when stuff has been carted around in your handbag all day it's not always that appetising. M & S do some vegan stuff but it's not terribly MSE...
!

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1rct3/VivalifemagazineSpri/resources/index.htm

This issue of viva life magazine has a article at the back on whats available to eat out at some chain stores

Sandra

Murrell

Murrell wrote: »

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1rct3/VivalifemagazineSpri/resources/index.htm

This issue of viva life magazine has a article at the back on whats available to eat out at some chain stores

Sandra

This site might also help

http://www.eatoutveganwales.org/

Sandra

IamJen

Reported the troll.

brokeinwales

Murrell wrote: »

Hiah,
I think Plant based nutrition and health by Stephen Walsh is a very good book and he works closely with the vegan society and has they have this booklet which is a sort of sumary.
http://www.vegansociety.com/downloads/PBN.pdf

I have read it a couple of time and as he doesn't make it sound as easy as some sites do. His phd isn't in nutrition, but he has used his research skills to look over nutritonal information, scientific journals etc over a course of a few years. He explains all the pitfalls and how essential it is to have B12 etc, 2 brazil nuts a day for selium, vit c with iron rich foods etc which I know might be quite common knowledge, but he also covers all the difficulties and what sort of weight of carrots, brocolli you need a day and not to have over so much weight in soya and what problems you can encounter. Certainly worth a read, you library might have it if you don't want to buy it. Easily available from the vegan society or amazon. Hope your health improves. I have been vegan for about 17 years and I still find it difficult to follow all the advice he gives, especially having enough omega 3's a day, as I find having ground flax seed with some meals quite impossible and because the daily requirement is so much, I like to sprinkle it over my porridge, vegetable based meal and salad, but sometimes I am grabbing chips or a sandwich that it just doesn't go with. I have analized the nutrition of our diet after thinking it was good with having a lot of fruit and veg a day but find I am still short on some nutrients so have to keep making changes to add in more zinc or whatever. So do read this if you can, make any changes you think necessary and then keep looking at your nutrition and see if you are getting enough or too much of anything. Sometime too much of one thing can prevent absorbtion of something else.
Sandra

Ah - I have the free pamphlet version of this book, hoping to get the full version at some point.

Has anyone tried those VEG1 supplements that the vegan society sell?

I was thinking myself that it was odd to show up a B12 deficiency after only being vegan a few months, so wonder if there could be something else at play here. I'm due to talk to my doctor about results of second blood test later today!

Thanks for the advice/suggestions/ reading material by the way. It's funny but I feel because I know so many people are skeptical about the healthiness of vegan diets I almost feel a certain determination to convince the world that I can be super-healthy without eating animal produce, so I find it a bit depressing that I've started to have problems. Hopefully i can get myself sorted...:)

grahamc2003

bobhawke wrote: »

IEnsure that 25-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (e.g. animal fat),

So you agree that a half of your fat intake should be saturated (eg animal fat)?

Looks like you must eat a lot of avocados to be both vegan and agree with Berardi's advice. Or are there many sources of saturated fats in fruit and veg (sufficient to get 1/2 of your daily fat intake from)?