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Can I build a large amount of muscle being vegan?


valgal123
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Hi, I'm not new to a vegan lifestyle. I was raised vegetarian and from the ages of 11-17 I was on a string of diets to avoid supposed food intolerance. By the way, I'm almost 21, female, 5', and 98lb.

 

After many years of suffering, my family and I found out that the symptoms we thought were associated with food are actually caused from stress and anxiety. After hospital doctors giving this info I then proceeded to eat a normal healthy vegetarian diet (I love produce) while continuing to feel burdened by my symptoms. At the age of 18 I went on another diet to avoid foods from the advice of a naturopath (I no longer work with this person) and then still feeling sick I decided to go on a 100% raw food diet. I thought that was it for me, I thought raw foods would save me. Wrong! I then became very, very ill and after 6 months of constant digestive upset my body was giving me every sign of candida. You name it, I had it. I then went on a candida diet for 1 year. I also went to another naturopath and he told me that I don't have candida, my body is just giving me all the signs with no candida present. Weird huh? What caused this to happen? Anxiety and stress, which I have much of in my short life and I'm currently taking care of it.

 

So, up until a few months ago my diet would consist of lots of vegetables, some gluten grains, whole grains, legumes, fruit, healthy fat, occasional egg and little nuts. I was happy with this, except I was maintaining my weight of 94lb at 5', and very unhappy with my appearance.

 

I have been lifting weights since the age of 13 and I finally decided to take bodybuilding seriously. It has been a dream of mine since the age of 5 to build as much muscle as I can and to compete.

 

A few months ago I drastically increased my protein intake to 100+ a day, when before it was probably only a low 10 grams.

I managed this by consuming brown rice protein (sun warrior and I HATE THE STUFF), dairy, eggs, cheese, and some salmon (never would have imagined that I would resort to eating dead flesh of a living thing, just so I can have muscle).

 

I really do not enjoy consuming these new foods I have introduced into my diet. Yes they taste good, but I believe that in the end it will cause disease and cancer.

 

MAIN QUESTION

I would love to eliminate these foods from my diet, but if it means that I don't get to build large amounts of muscle then you can forget it. Right now I'm considering to choose having muscle over health and this doesn't sit well with me. Also, I do not want to look like a thin fitness model, I am looking for something like Jamie Easons look. I DO NOT WANT TO EAT ANY SOY!

I do not want to look like this. Though it is beautiful, it is not what I'm after.

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I would like to look like this or maybe even more muscle (I know that with my genes/frame that I may never look like this)

 

 

Thank you for your time, its greatly appreciated! I apologize for this being so long!

jamie-eason-1.jpg.a8c8fd2cff5735e24dfb3b0a0eaf0164.jpg

Edited by valgal123
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Carbs. Raw tofu in salads is bomb as f*ck.

Fofurky which is tofu turkey. 5 slices is 16g of protein

Tofu is 76 grams of protein for a 6 serving. which is the whole block of tofu.

Diya cheese which is good for making grilled cheese. melts perfect.

chowmein, can be found at whole foods, mix it with chopped tofu.

 

Just gotta look at the back of the box, look for carbohydrates and protein. Right now im pretty much on tofu and grilled cheese and salad diet. been about 2 weeks, i put on about 4 pounds.

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I would second adding legumes to your diet: lentils, beans, chickpeas, etc. There's quite a bit of protein in legumes. You can put them in salads, make stews/soups, Mexican food, Indian food, hummus, it goes on and on.

 

It is more difficult without soy, but it can be done.

 

Daiya is delicious, but it is pretty expensive (and pretty processed) so I don't buy it all that often, I use it more as a treat. Have you ever used nutritional yeast? It adds a nice 'cheesy' flavour to things, you can make cheese-like sauces out of it or just sprinkle it on things. It takes a bit of getting used to but now I love it.

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Many seeds are a great source of complete protein. Hemp, pumpkin and flax seeds are especially good (though make sure you grind flax seeds before eating to get the full nutritional benefits). Try buying or making hemp or pumpkin seed milk. Making it yourself will be cheaper, higher protein, lower sugar and less processed than retail stuff (which often contains carrageenan). Look into making your own nut cheeses/cheese sauces too. Good luck with your goals!

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I do eat a lot of legumes and ate only that for 4 years, lunch and dinner, every day.

 

That cheese is really expensive where I live.

 

I used to make my own nut/seed milks all the time when I was raw and occasionally now. I really do not like them.

 

I see that if I want to be a soy free vegan I would need to consume a lot of protein powders, and I can't stand the taste. And it would mean that I would be having shakes 3-4 times a day. With the whey I have now I can just mix it with a little pb and it tastes ok, not so with Sun Warrior.

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Maybe it's possible you will have to make some sacrifices in your diet, to achieve what you want with your body in the way that you want to do it. You can't necessarily have the foods you'd most like to have. Getting into shape is hard work, and a lot of it is the diet. Yeah it would be nice if everything that leads to a healthy and strong body tasted great and was satisfying, but it's not always the way, especially if you are limited in other ways. It would be a shame to stop being vegetarian because you find animal products more pleasing, but it depends on your reasons for being vegetarian in the first place, and what your ultimate goal and/or philosophy is.

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Hi,

I never tasted Sun Warrior, but I agree that rice protein tastes the worst. Hemp protein doesn't taste great either but I got used to it, although it is much better the flavoured one. Try Organic Dark Chocolate Hemp-Force Protein Powder - If you want tasty protein powder, it is the best one I have ever tasted, even with just water. But with chocolate Hemp Bliss milk and a banana it is delicious. It is a cold-milled, raw protein. I recently tried pumpkin seed protein powder and it is almost tasteless, so you can try that, very cheap too, cheaper than soy protein. I've put some in bread, cake recipes to replace some of the flour.

 

But, why do you think you must eat so much protein? Don't forget, quality over quantity. If you eat fruits, vegetables, and especially sprouts like fenugreek, alfafa, etc are amazing good source of high quality protein with raw amino acids. Higher protein quality than cooked animal products and even more protein if you compare the amount of calories.

 

Avocado and pumpkin seed have more perfect amino acid profile than most animal products.

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I do eat some nuts and seeds. I think that if I were to follow a vegan diet and try to consume 100+ grams of protein a day that I would end up consuming 2,000 calories or more and I can't have that. I wish it was produce instead of protein that feeds muscle growth, then everything would be perfect. Can't have everything. Eating healthy is much different than eating to be lean.

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100+ grams of protein a day for someone 98 lb and five foot tall is almost certainly more than is necessary even if you're trying to put on a lot of muscle. If you're avoiding carbs, find ways to use those seeds I mentioned earlier. If you need ideas for using hemp check out this cookbook - http://www.amazon.com/Hemp-Nut-Cookbook-Ancient-Millennium/dp/1570671427 .

 

Why is it that you're so adverse to soy?

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