My sister is transitioning to vegan and is ALWAYS hungry...

[jakkrabbit]

My 16 yr old sister is huge into animal rights and wants to become a vegan. Whereas I became vegan cold turkey in literally one day, I told her it might be a little smarter for her to do it gradually to allow her body time to adjust. I thought we could just follow a progression of flexitarian to ovo to lacto-ovo to vegan, and then to raw if she wants. So basically cut out red meat first, then poultry and fish, then eggs, then dairy products.

 

She naturally eats a lot of raw fruits and vegetables because she just likes them. We've been working on making suppers that use healthier carbs like quinoa or whole wheat pasta, and instead of using milk/cheese sauce, use olive oil with herbs and spices, and replace meat with chopped nuts or crumbled tofu for protein, and then of course add tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, cucumber, bell pepper, etc. So I'm trying to help her incorporate at least one vegetarian or completely vegan meal into her day.

 

The problem is, she's finding that she's constantly hungry, even though we're making sure to include lots of fiber, protein, and good fats. She'll eat something and feel satisfied and ten minutes later be ravenous again. She's super hungry at night too and it annoys her because she's constantly having to get up to make herself more to eat.

 

So today she broke down and had sliced steak in her pasta because she finds steak more satisfying to her hunger. She doesn't know what to do because she wants to become vegan but without meat she's hungry all the time no matter how much she eats. I don't know how much she's ACTUALLY eating; maybe it's just not really enough. Maybe we need to keep a food log. I also told her she needs to look at incorporating beans into her diet, whether in the form of bean stews or beans and rice or hummus or whatever, because I know they can help make things more filling.

 

But does anyone have any tips? I'm not sure what we're doing wrong - it's not like she's just eating carrot sticks and lettuce leaves. She's eating raw veggies, fruits, cooked grains, cereals, and starches, nuts, tofu, and since she's just transitioning at this point, she's still incorporating dairy in the form of milk and plain yogurt. Why is she so hungry without meat?

[HawaiiDolphin]

If you say each meal has lots of fiber and protein and some fat, which are usually the biggest contributors to satiation, I would look at overall calories. She may be eating less than she normally is without realizing it, especially if you subbed, for example, tofu:steak 1:1 .

[Lyric]

I was the same way, actually. It took about a week or two for my body to adjust and stop getting "painful hungry" When I needed food, i would get SUPER hungry SUPER fast. It went away, though.

[beforewisdom]

Suggest to your sister that she eat more food with higher concentrations of protein, fat and fiber.

 

Also suggest to her that she read a few short things about vegan nutrition so she feels her best and decides to STAY vegan:

 

http://beforewisdom.com/blog/?page_id=462