Intro

Hi all,

I am a long-time vegetarian who is interested in making the switch to veganism and hoping to gain information about how to clear my hurdles. The two biggies are 1) Feeding the other members of my family, three of whom are vegetarian and one who is pescatarian; and 2) ensuring enough protein without going high-carb. My desire to go vegan is rooted in ethics, not health. Although I believe it is a healthy lifestyle, I think there are many ways to achieve dietary health.

I lift weights 4x/week and do some form of LISS 4-5 times per week.

If it's not ok to be here as a less-than-full vegan, please let me know!

There are many non-vegans in this forum, you are more than welcome, it is a very open-minded group. We are very opinionated though, don't get me wrong haha.

There is a ton of info and people to use as resources here. Feel free to browse the forum and ask everyone tons of questions.

-Dylan

Welcome!

Great to have you here and we're here to help answer those questions for you and address them with success.

One question I have is why avoid high carbs? If you're referring to avoiding processed carbohydrate foods, I understand that, but a high carbohydrate diet from whole foods is the healthiest kind of diet there is. What we want is a diet high fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds, beans and other legumes, etc. I know carbohydrates got a bad name from breads, refined flours and sugars, chips, pasta, etc. but science says carbohydrates from real foods are the best things we could possibly eat.

For your family, I would suggest adding more and more whole plant foods into the diet. The more plant foods there are, the less room for other things. Find themes they like, ethnic foods, or certain styles of foods be it rice and vegetable dishes, various seasonal fruits, heavy foods like beans or lentil stews, etc. Finding the foods they already like, adding more in that category of food from a variety of sources is one way to keep everyone enjoying plant-based whole foods.

All the very best!

Welcome aboard!

-Robert

Thanks for the welcome, Dylan and Robert!

Welcome!

 

Great to have you here and we're here to help answer those questions for you and address them with success.

 

One question I have is why avoid high carbs? If you're referring to avoiding processed carbohydrate foods, I understand that, but a high carbohydrate diet from whole foods is the healthiest kind of diet there is. What we want is a diet high fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds, beans and other legumes, etc. I know carbohydrates got a bad name from breads, refined flours and sugars, chips, pasta, etc. but science says carbohydrates from real foods are the best things we could possibly eat.

I pretty much avoid processed carbs now, so there's no need to make a change on that front. But I seem to get sluggish when my diet skews too heavily toward grains and legumes. I already eat boat-loads of veggies and a reasonable amount of fruit. I'm checking out the Vegaone protein I've seen mentioned here and hope to replace my whey with it. Any suggestions for a tasty substitute for Greek yogurt?

For your family, I would suggest adding more and more whole plant foods into the diet. The more plant foods there are, the less room for other things. Find themes they like, ethnic foods, or certain styles of foods be it rice and vegetable dishes, various seasonal fruits, heavy foods like beans or lentil stews, etc. Finding the foods they already like, adding more in that category of food from a variety of sources is one way to keep everyone enjoying plant-based whole foods.

Thanks for these suggestions. I already do a lot of plant-based cooking since we're all (except one) vegetarian. It's eliminating dairy -- especially cheese and cream sauces -- that may be tricky. I have a copy of Joanne Stepaniak's The Uncheese Cookbook and I need to experiment with it more.

Thanks again!

Welcome.

It would be difficult to be making separate meals for everyone. So for your family you could do like i do .. prepare what you want/need to eat and then offer it up to others if they want. Your family members can add whatever they want to it on their plate. When I was vegetarian (not so long ago), I rarely ate eggs or milk, but I was big on ricotta or cottage cheese - they are low fat protein, so I often had that as a side dish (ie a meat replacement really). Tho not ideal, cheese is easy to add to any dish (soup, chili, pasta) after it is made. I actually found it easy to give up cheese after I heard about caso morphins.

Does anyone else cook in your family? They may be willing to cook some of the vegetarian 'comfort' foods or meals that you are not making for them. Or you could have a vegetarian weekend (ie. vegan 5 days, vegetarian 2). I originally had planned to do that, but once I started vegan... I just couldn't go back.

Sorry I have no advice for low carbs.. I like carbs. I've replaced my 'white' carbs with whole grains which I'm not entirely happy with, but I know it is healthier. I've read the seitan (wheat protien) is higher in protein than tofu, so may be the way to go if you are looking for a higher protein food. I don't think I've tried it yet (unless it is in those 'fake' meats).

Anyway welcome ... hope you find answers to all your questions here.

Welcome, cdnfl! Although you made a point to say you're veg*n for ethical reasons, rather than health reasons, you seem to be pretty healthful nonetheless! Good for you! I know you said you avoid most processed foods, but if you felt like "splurging", there are a number of good and tasty dairy-alternatives available (cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt, etc.). Also, I just this past week learned of an awesome way to make vegan nacho "cheese" out of cashews and nutritional yeast. Yummmm!!! Anyway, I guess the key is to be patient and just do plenty of research (ie: Google searches!) to find new ideas. Also, just give your tastebuds/mind time to readjust. There are lots of ways to veganize your family's favorite meals! Best of luck to you!