Vegan diet starting 3/12/09

Ok, so this is my personal experiment... Please don't be too critical! I'm looking for tips on how to ease into the vegan lifestyle. I'm doing this to purely control my food quality intake. I currently eat like a typical American (fast food, over sized portions, etc.) Meat isn't a staple in my current diet, but I do eat a lot of dairy, bread, and sweets. My stomach is fairly sensitive and I'm hoping this diet will help. Keep in mind I don't typically post pictures of myself in underwear online. I'm well aware of being chubby. No need to point it out

Background:

Starting weight - 191.00

Height - 5'10

Current Activities - Running, Jiu-Jitsu, occasional kickboxing

Personal thoughts:

I will have to transition into this lifestyle. Over the first week or so I'm planning on eating at least two vegan meals a day. While allowing myself one "free" meal a day. This will be my way to keep the convenience factor there while making the transition. Hopefully, this will be a temporary solution until I get a better idea on how to prepare vegan meals. I'm going to post weekly pictures and hopefully a daily diet log. Again, I think a vegetarian diet might not be quite the stretch for me. But I'm looking to really critique what is going in my body and want to give this a try.

My workout plan:

Monday - Jiu Jitsu

Tuesday - Jiu Jitsu / Run

Wednesday - Kick boxing / Jiu Jitsu

Thursday - Jiu Jitsu / Run

Friday - Jiu Jitsu

Saturday - Jiu Jitsu

Sunday - Long Run

-I'll be trying to do a little weight lifting as soon as some shoulder pain subsides.

Goals:

-Drop 24 LBS

-Jiu-Jitsu tournament in April

-North Face Endurance Challenge - Ultra Marathon - 50 Miles in Washington DC - September (Already signed up)

What I would like from everyone:

-Any vegan diet tips

--What I should keep on hand

--Meal Ideas

--QUICK meal ideas - This is going to be the hardest part for me. I have a fairly busy schedule and need some meals that I can prepare quickly.

-Any vitamin tips

--I currently take a fiber, fish oil, and glucosamine supplement

Thanks for reading!

Congratulations on your decision mate.

You will find it isn't so difficult, particularly as you get more used to food preparation.

I think if you find a few different protein sources you can prepare meals around them, adding in vegetables, some sort of wholegrains which are not going to be too rough on your stomach, etc.

I personally use tempeh and lentils as my main protein sources, but do use some veggie burgers, seitan and a whole variety of legumes regularly.

Because your exercise regime is mostly cardio based it is probably most important you get enough carbohydrates, so eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and legumes will ensure you get enough carbohydrates to give you energy without needing sweets.

Quick meals would be fruits, salad based wraps, maybe with some hummus or tahini for extra protein, nuts, some sort of bar, like raw food bar or a Lara bar or Vega bar, carry around a shaker with some protein powder and add water when you need it. If I think of anymore I'll post them.

As for vitamins, I think start just with a multivitamin/multimineral, just to try and reduce any deficiency you may have. I think instead of the fish oil use flax sprouts or hemp seed, something which will also give you some fibre so you don't need a fiber supplement-fruits and vegetables will also reduce the need for that too.

I'm guessing you take the glucosamine to deal with joint pain?

There are vegan friendly forms of it which you may still want to take but you may find that cutting out the dairy may make your joints feel a lot 'smoother'.

Apart from the vitamin/mineral I don't think you need anything else, just make sure your diet is varied and as fresh as possible.

Good luck