vegimator

Great numbers! I can't believe you had an 89.5 vitamin d score last year. I guess you are in Alabama, but still, that's really impressively high. Nice improvement in your cholesterol and thyroid.

It doesn't mean you're allergic. The phytoestrogens in soy are known goitrogens (endocrine disruptors).Make sure you get enough iodine to protect your thyroid if you eat a fair amount of soy. My thyroid number was a little high when I was tested and I went back after taking 200 mg of iodine a day for 3 months and my number was back to normal. Other great sources of protein are seeds like hemp and pumpkin seeds (which can be used to make your own tofu - viewtopic.php?f=6&t=23351&view=previous), chia seeds (expensive though), flax seeds (don't overdo it because of the small amount of cyanide though), and sunflower seeds (though they're a little short on lysine). Nuts generally aren't ideal sources of protein because they're low in certain amino acids (lysine, methionine and/or cystine usually), but they're good to have for a bit of extra protein. Pistachios are actually a complete protein but they're only 13% protein (about the same as quinoa). Legumes are of course great sources of protein, particularly lentils, black eyed peas, great northern beans, lupins, chickpeas, white beans, and winged beans. Sprouting them (of course only some beans can be eaten sprouted. Kidney beans can't for instance) will result in slightly fewer carbs and total calories, and a reduction in phytates and protease inhibitors making the protein more accessible. You can even make your own tofu or tempeh with other beans if you have time and patience. Peanut/peanut butter is an easy protein source but it is deficient in several essential amino acids so it's best not to make it your primary protein source. Grains are inherently lower in protein quantity compared to legumes but they can be a passable protein source. The best ones for protein quality and quantity are quinoa, oats, amaranth and buckwheat. Then of course there are protein powders. I order from trueprotein.com and custom mix a 70/30 pea/rice protein mix. They also offer hemp protein. eta, you can also make smart choices with your "non-protein" food choices for better protein intake. Avocados, kiwi fruit, spinach and broccoli are all decent sources of complete protein.

It's possible you're low on iron. Eat lots of pumpkin seeds and/or legumes.

Does it take into account added sugar as a negative factor? I find it hard to believe that a clif builder bar is healthier to eat than broccoli.

Good luck! The only scores I've seen are for soy, wheat gluten, chickpeas, black beans, hemp and a few others. If you search pubmed.gov for a specific food that might have been assessed nutritionally (like quinoa) it's likely that there's a study out there that tested the amino acids.

Looks like we're going to be based in Santa Monica. There's a couple of Real Food Daily outlets in Santa Monica so looks like they might be an option. Nice! I've eaten there with non-vegans before and they enjoyed it so maybe your coworkers would be cool with it. The club sandwich is great.

Goob's giving good advice in my opinion. You clearly have very low body fat.

Check out quarrygirl.com. She travels quite a bit so not all of the food reviews are for LA, but that's where she lives so a lot of it is. They have an all vegan pizza place called Cruiser (sp?). I lived in LA but only for a few months and without a car so my experience is limited but I liked real food daily. There's a tiny vegan shack on the venice beach boardwalk that has all kinds of fast food options (burgers, fries, shakes, etc). You get some kind of free food I believe (or maybe it was just a discount?) if you do like 10-15 pull ups on the bar they have outside the shop. Doomie's home cooking in Hollywood is supposed to be quite good. Oh, and it's really out of the way, but if you can get there before Madeline Bistro closes, you should go there if you want a high end meal. I've never been but I've seen pictures and friends tell me it's completely amazing.

Sprouts are a great low calorie source of bioavailable protein. http://sproutpeople.org/sprouts/nutrition/science.html

Yeah, same here. Call me if Ellen Degeneres gives up and starts bashing veganism.

I'm no expert, but I imagine most people here would tell you that your food plan sounds fine unless you find that you're not gaining with that (in which case, up the calories). You don't need to get mired in these kinds of details though. Just eat a lot and make sure there's at least a fair amount of protein and that should be fine for where you are now.

Bah I was confusing EPA with DPA. However, EPA doesn't seem to convert to DHA that well. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19269799 "With no other changes in diet, improvement of blood DHA status can be achieved with dietary supplements of preformed DHA, but not with supplementation of ALA, EPA, or other precursors." I'm sure this study wasn't on vegans eating a low PUFA diet though, which is what you practice right FH? So you might have a better conversion rate, but still, I'm sticking with DHA.

EPA does not convert up to DHA but DHA can retroconvert to EPA (at about 9-10% typically).

He's a trainer at Gold's Gym if I'm not mistaken.

That's 1 gram per pound of ideal body weight. Which means your actual intake wouldn't have to be as high since you have a high bmi. Also, other people recommend less than that (1 gram per kg). I'd recommend lentils, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, tofu, tempeh, seitan (the amino acid quality of seitan is terrible but it's all protein and delicious, especially homemade), and peanuts (and/or that reduced fat peanut flour at trader joe's) as well as protein powders as your main protein sources. Beans, especially sprouted are good protein sources too and have their place but relying them on as your main protein source is probably going to mean a lot of gas (especially if you're using canned beans instead of properly prepared home cooked). You should invest in veganomicon for delicious ways to cook these things if you don't already have it. Appetite for reduction might be good for weight loss too though the strategy in that book is more high volume/low calorie foods to increase satiety and the recipes aren't especially good for high protein percentages.

Someone needs to be put in charge of this thread now that cubby's gone.

There are different strains of hemp with vastly different amounts of protein and fat. Even within certain strains, some batches will be quite different from others. This is true of all foods but most food packaging relies on the USDA nutrition values (in the US that is). The USDA hasn't tested hemp because of the weird legal limbo we have on hemp products here. As a result, these companies are hiring outside firms to do their own testing or just taking the numbers from third party testing they've found.

Welcome! I just got back from 8 days on Oahu (in Kailua)! Congrats on the changes you've made in your lifestyle.

That may be true but VeganEssentials and Devil's Plaything have more success with high fat, lower carb diets for fat loss. I think both approaches can work. Try one approach and if you have trouble sticking to it or don't have much success, try the other. I prefer higher fat, lower carb myself.

Welcome back medman! You can almost feel the increase in sanity permeating the board with your return.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/planet32.htm "Di-Indolin is a substance believed to be an active cruciferous substance (broccoli, cauliflower, kale) for promoting beneficial estrogen metabolism. Di-Indolin helps increase, by 75%, the "good" 2 hydroxy estrogens, which have an affinity to bind blood proteins (SHBG). The effect of this is to leave greater levels of free testosterone."

Almonds and especially walnuts are not great protein sources. They're low in several essential amino acids and low in protein generally. Probably the best nut for protein is pistachios. They're the only mainstream nut with a "complete" protein.

Welcome! Congrats on giving up meat and having a great body to start from!

Most whole foods make their own vegan doughnuts now and they're not bad.

You're going to find a variety of responses but for me personally, I know I do better with more fat than that.