Vegetarians/vegans what do you generally eat per day?

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Just going to throw this out there out of the random.. Has anybody had Fast Food Resteraunt Veggie burgers?

A couple of places here have them and they're just Boca burgers, which I could buy and cook myself.

I went to one place in Montreal that made their own. Frite Alor! http://www.fritealors.com/en/indexb_a.html

If you ever get to travel that way, Le Commensal is an excellent vegetarian buffet style restaurant.
http://www.commensal.com/en/default.idigit

ChuChai is a Thai restaurant that is also good.

Okay, now I'm starving and missing Montreal

Vegetarian for 9 years now.

I rarely take supplements--if I eat healthy I don't believe I need them. I have had protein powder, when I was weight-lifting more, and occasionally take the Flintstones children's vitamins. I prefer the children's vitamins because the doses are smaller--it's more of a supplement whereas a lot of adult vitamins have 100%+ of your daily recommended value, which can be hard on your kidneys/liver. But in reality that isn't worth worrying about.

In my opinion, the key to being a healthy vegetarian is to eat a varied and healthy diet. Also, eating beans; 2-3 servings a day is good. They're a cheap way to get a lot of amino acids and are healthy. A lot of beans are high in iron as well, and if you have iron problems, eat lots of lentils, or even cook in cast-iron cookware.

I've heard of some vegetarians having problems gaining weight from eating too much fruit/drinking too much juice. Fruit is good and healthy and all--in moderation. Generally it's high in simple sugars.

And unhealthy foods.... Beer. Potato chips, cashews, [Cheese, I do occasionally eat dairy] chocolate... There's a lot of unhealthy vegetarian foods out there.

I eat a lot of food, but I exercise a lot. Another important thing is to base your diet off your needs. A lot of high fiber/whole grain stuff is really healthy and fills you up, but if you need those calories and energy, white rice and potatoes and bread are good.

Even bring up a vegetarian food pyramid and work from there.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions!

My advice: find the actual ethnic recipes used for various dishes. Most Chinese, Japanese*, Indian, and Mexican food, for instance, uses little or no meat or dairy products. It's very different than what you may think if you've only seen the American version of it.

vegetarian Indian dishes: http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/

* However, they can and will throw meat and fish into any and every dish. In principle, few dishes require it. Meat will be added for no other reason than to add meat.

One reason a lot of ethnic recipes don't use meat is because only the well-off can afford it. That's not much of an issue in first world countries, and we eat way more than we need in general, because we can.
Thanks for the link!

Thanks for the concern, all.

I just have a shockingly-slow metabolism, and always have.

I long-ago learned that half the calories most people would eat in a day would cause me to balloon up rapidly,
a quarter, gaining still,
let alone maintenance.
So to lose weight I have to eat pretty much nothing and also take prescriptions, which I'm doing now.

I have no idea if I have malnutrition to be honest, since I've eaten very very little since I was 12 or so-
it's very likely (though I'll contest that it has anything to do with veganism).

Thank you for the comments.

Last edited by Bethie on 02 Apr 2011, 9:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Absolutely. Westerners eat an absolutely absurd amount of meat and dairy.

I've even read that we smell weird to many Asian people, because dairy just isn't a part of their food culture, or at least it's very limited.



I like fruit a lot- what shocks me is I see so many people (and parents!! !) buying these "fruit juice" drinks that are absolutely LOADED with sugar and little to no fruit, and thinking they're feeding their families healthy stuff!

"Being vegan in a non-vegan world" really makes you realize how few people actually read the labels on the things they eat.

^^^ IIRC in the U.S. a beverage has to contain at least ten percent or more of a fruit juice to be called "juice." Anything under that is called a "drink."

I know there are nutrition calculators such as the Sodexo calculator and SparkRecipe's, but I don't know how useful they would be in actually organizing one's diet around them.

You know what would be really useful? An iPhone app connected to the Mechanical Turk wherein you take a picture of the food you wish to eat, and the people in the Turk give you a best estimate for its nutritional content. Or something similar. Even better would be if it kept track of daily nutritional intake, and showed you exactly how far you are from meeting expected daily values.

Etc.

I'm sure someone has already created something like this.

ETA: I just found this list of 100 iPhone apps for diet and nutrition. I bet somewhere in there is an app which would allow one to track daily intake as well as offer suggestions for how to meet the %DV.

Darn. It seems an iPhone is required.

^^^ Here's a better idea: befriend an aspie whose special interest is nutrition.

You will never eat poorly again! And the cost could be as low as sharing the food.

A phone of some sort may still be required.

An ex of mine would make fantastic vegan food,
and would make this really spicy, low calorie soup stuff that I liked.


Those were the days.

Hey Bethie:

I'm a bit concerned with malnutrition and possibly some deficiencies with your dieting--eating so little can be really hard on your body. Given your doctor will know more and will be far better assessed to help you out than I am.

Have you considered talking to a dietitian, nutritionist, or even getting a personal trainer?

Another idea [Again you've probably heard this before and I probably should never given ANYONE health advice!] would be to make goals based on exercise instead of weight. For example, make a goal of running half a marathon at the end of the summer. It'd be a lot of work, but I'm sure it'd be worth it.

I started running a year or so ago and it worked wonders for me--helped with my insomnia/depression, I started to look a lot better, and a lot of other tertiary health problems were minimized.

Lastly, Vegan Hippies in non-vegan areas are awesome!

I actually had someone ask me after I told them I was a vegetarian, "So you eat lettuce then?"

Good luck!

--David

500 kcal/day is below a starvation diet. It shouldn't be done except with a doctor's supervision, and then only in very dire circumstances.

My baseline caloric need is 1400kcal (more depending on how much I exercise), and that's just to let me maintain homeostasis and move around and work. It's very low for someone my height and weight, and my normal body temperature is ~96 degrees, so I have a slow metabolism compared to average.

vegetarian dishes:
stir fry
polenta
whole-grain hot cereal
yogurt
oatmilk is great for coffee!
curry
hummus
couscous

mmmmm gonna go eat dinner now. My mouth is watering.

I'm sorry this will be rather long but this will be the easiest (and by far most beneficial to you) way to illustrate my experiences.

DRY—avoid or reduce raw foods, dry climates, alcohol, eat oily foods—cook with oil, add ghee to breads not toasted, add oil to salads, etc; daily oil massage makes the skin softer and helps strengthen yet soften it—sesame is antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antineoplastic (colon cancer and melanoma); oil in other orifices is also a good idea for similar reasons; most soaps/determents are drying / harsh to skin—use soaps (not detergents) such as castile soap; essential fatty acids are important for the maintenance of the cell membrane’s liquidity, flexibility

LIGHT—avoid windy areas/weather, high altitudes; light foods should be reduced (they lack oiliness or protein-like components); substitute heavy bedding / clothing for light bedding / clothing—heavy things help ground vata; alcohol is light and should be avoided; the color green is good for reducing vata (green is nourishing and probably heavy in this context), while black is to be avoided; day sleep may be an important behavioral modification for those struggling with light body weight; at times sleep in the night will be light for this group of people, in which case herbal strategies might include nutmeg, valerian, skullcap, etc.

COLD—avoid situations which promote, provoke, increase or otherwise bring your attention to depression, attachment, worry, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, insecurity, helplessness; avoid cold food, drink & weather / air conditioning, cold dairy, sweets, yogurt (and especially in evening), aged cheeses, cucumbers; to promote and increase digestive function affected by this attribute eat pungent foods and spices such as chilies, black pepper, ginger, cayenne, cumin, ajvain, hing (asafetida), mustard seeds, drink copper water (water stored overnight in pure copper container); favor hot / moist saunas, hot, moist living climates; meditate daily to stimulate mental fire, use mustard oil in cooking or externally for its heating property (when oil is not contraindicated); wear warm clothing, scarves, hats, to prevent chilling in cool, windy weather, etc.; despite the above advice to walk barefoot for grounding avoid walking on cold surfaces

ROUGH—avoid eating raw foods, which are rough in their nature; rough surfaces irritate vata sensibilities; many cleansers are rough to skin so avoid them by using gloves, etc.; the feature is implied in uneven sleeping surfaces—avoid them; avoid experiencing sentiments that are harsh, cruel, crass, rough

SUBTLE—those sensory, mental, emotional experiences which are strong and create impressions on the person should be avoided; alcohol is subtle and should be minimized/avoided; stimulants generally should be avoided

MOBILE / ERRATIC—avoid excessive physical or mental activity; avoid physical activity that is stop-and-go in its quality; avoid vigorous physical activity during the vata time 2-6 PM; daily routine should be regular to help control this vata quality; grounding activities help slow down vata—walking on the earth in bare feet or working in the soil (gardening) with bare hands; gazing at the mountains helps ground vata movement; creating bonds with groups and things helps build roots—e.g. owning pets and joining affinity or support groups; swaying, swinging, agitated movements of limbs is a sign of deficient/defective rest, which suggests that one should stop the nervous motion and expand and improve the quantity/quality of rest

CLEAR—clear quality accompanies light and rough things or foods, especially air, alcohol and such; one should reduce exposure to these; take more oily/heavy food (cloudy foods are opposite to clear—these include milk products); viewing colored materials—colored light, colors in nature, etc. in the green, red, orange, and yellow spectra helps balance this feature of vata (while other colors are strictly speaking opposite to clear these are not balancing to vata); alcohol is clear and should be avoided

BITTER—bitter taste in the mouth is indication of high vata; avoid or reduce bitter tasting foods such as mustard, collard greens, etc.; bitterness in emotions produces separation / isolation--situations which provoke it should be avoided; isolation in life also leads to increased bitterness and suggest a balance of social interaction for a healthy/happy life

ASTRINGENT—avoid or reduce astringent foods as they are drying—these include mainly beans, but also apples, pears, pomegranates, etc.; wind is drying unless especially humid and should be reduced;

RAJAS—this feature of the mind, common to vata, promotes the active / dynamic aspects of life, addictive behavior, self-centered behavior—these features should be avoided as much as possible

The Big Picture for Vata

1. Remove the causes of the imbalance by direct behavioral avoidance: give particular attention to the attributes of the imbalance as detailed above. This attention requires daily meditation for awareness.

2. Remove excess vata by elimination therapies — pancha karma (Ayurvedic cleansing-rejuvenation):
• Do therapeutic herbal – oil enemas (Dashamula or Bala tea basti with sesame oil) as indicated
• Do nasal administration as indicated – Super Nasya Oil or Brahmi Ghee nose drops (www.Ayurveda.com)
• Do heating, oleating, nourishing therapies as indicated with jasmine, lavender, patchouli, rosemary, tulsi

3. Balance vata (space and air): Decrease dry, light, cold, rough, hard, subtle, hyperactive, astringent, bitter, dry spicy, and thin qualities.
• Avoid vata’s attributes in food, forms, feelings and emotions, thinking, activities, lifestyle, relationships, and consciousness – this takes daily meditation in order to develop mindfulness, awareness or samadhi.
• Control metabolism and nervous system with dietary, lifestyle, and activity changes to promote moisture, oiliness, heaviness, warmth, softness, substantiality, groundedness, and calmness (relax, don’t worry, be happy)

4. Balance / strengthen digestion: Decrease hyperactivity, dryness and cold (vishama agni – irregular metabolism) and increase moist heat in metabolism.
• Increase sour and salty foods in diet especially when dry, cold, light and hyper qualities are in excess.
• Increase fire component in food, lifestyle via gentle warm cooking spice (not hot dry cayenne)

5. Eliminate mental and body tissue toxicity: Herbal and dietary strategies that help eliminate heavy metals, petrochemicals etc. Also avoid suppression of needs-urges – but balance them with proper 1. Eat less Food, 2. Sleep more, 3. Balanced exercise and less sex: Vata soothing foods at 8 AM, 12 Noon, 6 PM; sleep on left side at 9-10 PM – wake up between 6 and 7 AM; no more than one orgasm each month in order prevent weakening of liver and kidneys in order to build ojas and give energy. To detoxify and bring warmth, chant 21x Great Compassion Sun Mani Mantra 8 (32): “Shr fwo la ye. Nan. Sa wa he”. Chant “Namo Shurangama Tu She Fa” to bring deep restful dream-free sleep. To improve memory, chant the Jeweled Sutra Hasta Mantra 37 (53-56): “Syi two ye. Swo pe he. Mwo he syi two ye. Swo pe he. Nan. Sa wa he” or simply recite “Bwo na ni, Fa la ni” (for wisdom). To dispel fear and anxiety, and “for all situations where there is fear and unrest, use the Bestowing Fearlessness Sarva Abhaya Hasta Mantra” 7 (72): “Nwo la jin chr pan chye la ye. Nan.”

I seem to go through phases with my meals...for a while I was having oatmeal with dates,spices and berries for breakfast.Now I'm on to fresh fruit smoothies with coconut water,berries,papaya,orange,sometimes pear, I need to have coconut h2o to rehydrate after running.
For lunch, for A LONG time I was obsessively consuming steamed vegetables with nutty pesto and quinoa.Sometimes I will have a grain (like quinoa,millet),sometimes bean (lentils,hummus) with more vegetables.I try to eat most around lunch,when digestion is best,according to Ayurveda.Sometimes it doesn't go as planned though! I LOVE steamed carrots...for dinner I often have a soup with salad. I don't get much variety though,and am always looking at recipes but don't really end up trying any (except dessert ones )
I just found out my blood type,O, so that helps.oh have been liking seitan lately as well.Spaghetti,wheat flour and flour containing foods are pretty much forbidden territory for me..when I do have them,like today and yesterday,feel "off",clogged up,gain weight right away and succumb to sugary cravings.No good !
my favorite snack is usually unsweetened chocolate almond milk blended with an apple banana,cinnamon and sometimes raw cacao.MM!

Today i had home made gluten free crumpets for breakfast with CWA plum jam.
Morning tea- Honey pipitas
Lunch - Garden Salad with balsamic dressing and a soft poached egg
Afternoon tea - A homemade muesli bar
Tea - Cabbage stir fry.
Desert - coconut milk ice cream.