New to eating vegan...HELP?!?

Question

My husband and I are just starting to go vegan, ill admit its been really difficult, ive struggled more than him but we are trying our best to eat better. My husband is a picky eater so I have been having a difficult time thinking of meals and stuff for us so we (at least I) have been pretty hungry. My husband could eat fruit and veggies for a meal, but me on the other hand wouldnt be filled up by that. We want to try new things but are turned off by alot...like tofu and that kind of stuff we dont like, I could prolly stomach beans and stuff (like beans and rice or beans, tomatoe, lettuce rolled in a tortilla shell) but my husband doesnt like beans and stuff, so if anyone can help me with some ideas or recipes (that arent too wierd or diffcult to make) we would grealty appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

I cant live off of noodles, i need variety!!

We dont like mushrooms either, sorry!

That has been our struggle, we barely like anything vegans eat haha, pretty sad considering were trying to go vegan right? We dont like any of the fake meat. Oh goodness, were going to starve to death. Ive been so frusterated over this that ive accually shed tears, I just dont know what to do.

Answer 1

A good cookbook with easy to follow recipes for someone like you would be by Lindsay Wagner and a co-author. That's right the bionic woman from back in the seventies. It has easy to follow recipes for things like lasagne and other common foods. I found it irreplaceable while I was going vegan.

It is called "High Road to Health"

Good luck!!!

Answer 2

well i don't know all of the rules about the vegan diet, but i am on the raw foods diet, which, i live in snow country and once a day eat a cooked meal. I find that fruit is best for breakfast, snack, and dessert, but as far as lunch, well i have salads, put sun flower seeds, maybe wheatgerm, those will fill you up. I have baked potatoes with broccilli on them, or veggie fajitas, with onions, green peppers, lettuce, tomato, olives, and any other veggie i can find. I don't eat meat unless i am feeling moody, then i need protein, and so i eat a small piece of fish. Otherwise, i find recipes on www.allrecipes.com, the martha stewart website, the rachael ray website, and they use spices so that you don't feel like your food has no taste. I think the first week was the hardest, so you will be okay hang in there.

Answer 3

All I can say is you must have been a VERY unhealthy eater before. All you ever ate was meat?

What did you eat before?

Going vegan does not mean simply removing meat and dairy from your diet. It means a complete overhaul.

There is a lot more you can do with beans other than roll it up in a tortilla.

Get some books. Learn how to cook. You should never be hungry. If you are then EAT!

I love Sarah Kramer's cook books. They're easy to follow and simple to make.

Pasta, nuts, hummus, potato.

Baked potato and spinach with sundried tomato and pine nuts.

Veggie lasagne.

Veggi chili with tempeh

Polenta with grilled squash

Eggplant marinara.

gosh i'm getting hungry

Answer 4

I confess that I am not an expert, but I do know that it is very difficult to eat vegan and do it right. Variety, as you mentioned, is key, not just for flavor and interest but to have a nutritionally complete and balanced meal. Humans, like other animals, can make some amino acids (the building blocks of protein) in their body, but some are 'essential amino acids', meaning that we cannot manufacture them in our bodies but instead we must get them from what we eat. The easiest way to get all the amino acids our bodies need is to eat meat or other animal products.
When you prefer to avoid all animal products, you must make sure that you eat a combination of vegetable products that will provide all those amino acids on a daily basis. Beans, peas, peanuts, and other legumes are an excellent source of a variety of amino acids, so hopefully your husband will learn to enjoy them!
Fatty acids are another dietary component that you must be sure to get the proper kind and amount of each day.
I am skeptical of much I read on the internet, so be careful. Ideally, consult your doctor or a nutritionist to be sure that your new way of life will sustain your body properly.
Sorry I couldn't offer more specific advice, but I thought you might want to know how and especially why you need to choose your meals carefully.
Good luck to you!

Answer 5

I would definitely recommend a cookbook. "How It All Vegan" is beginner vegan cookbook. It has filling recipe, none of the "just veggies" routine. As for fake meat, you just gotta keep trying. I really like Gimme Lean (the sausage is so good), Yves Veggie Ground works awesome for Sloppy Joes to Tacos. Also, you can get Boca Burgers, fake hamburger patties. They're not like Garden burgers, where you can tell it's veggies. It's just..good. www.veganessentials.com has lots of fake meat on their website, plus the added bonus of peoples opinion on the stuff!

Answer 6

im sorry your so frustrated
try different types of beans, kidney, pinto, lentils, soy, peas, chickpeas, black beans etc. Try edamame (green soybeans), soy in forms of miso, tempeh and more. Try different kinds of fake meat, their alot like maybe tofurky. There is soy yogurt which you can also eat. For meals you can also eat vegetable, beans or pea soup, pasta, tofu stirfry alot of stuff. Add maybe protein powder too if your still concerned about that. Eat spinach for protein, and a multivitamin just in case.
A good idea is making eggplant and canned pea fried rice, which was good. Or noodles with soybeans in it. Maybe ask a nutritionist.

Answer 7

Go Mushrooms!!! Buy the big portabella ones and grill them up and eat on a bun like you would a burger.
Slice them up and saute in olive oil and your favorite seasonings and put them on a tortilla, you could even add fajita seasonings to them.
Saute mushrooms up with some garlic and put that on noodles or rice.

Wow. You're making this hard! How can you not like Mushrooms????
Have you tried to "fake" burger/meat type stuff?

Answer 8

wow, you have a task in front of you!! Protien is hard to find as a vegan and beans and legumes are one of the better sources... try some different things that aren't as "beany" like quinoa, wheat berries, or flax is good too. Soy is good, so using soy flour to make things will help too. Just be careful... I like someone else I saw here became very anemic and just plain sick when I went veggie at first because I ignored getting protien and lived off noodles and potatoes...

Answer 9

I dont eat the fake meats either, and don't need them. I eat things like bean and cheese tacos, rice pastas, zuchini, bell pepper or tomato stuffed with stir fry rice, twice baked potato, grilled veggie kababs (thread potato, mushrooms, pearl onions, zuchini, peppers, etc on wooden skewers, brush with olive oil and grill) I make pirogi with rice pasta jumbo shells (you could use regular wheat, I am allergic) which I precook, then stuff with seasoned mashed potato and saute in butter. You could try a vegetarian fondue, using tomato sauce as the base, and dunkers like steamed rosemary potatoes, tater tots, breaded okra and mushrooms, garlic bread, etc (you can get fondue pots cheaply at most thrift stores) I have recently learned to make yummy refrigerator pickles, and it is my new hobby. Super easy, lots of variety, and keeps it interesting. Try veggies you have never had before, like rutabegga (makes great oven fries) or stuffed artichoke, turnips, swiss chard, etc. Hope this gives you a few ideas Feel free to email if I can help

Answer 10

vegans crazy ppl lol, spinach, broccoli things like that r low GI so should help u stay fuller for longer. lots of bean dishes out there, soya beans r good cos they r high in protein and good fats. pasta is good too n brown rice, some thing diff palenta is nice Italian food made from corn add herbs n spices for flavour. hope this helps if it doesnt go have a nice steak ;) lol