vegan/vegetarian diet?

Question

I have recently been looking into going on such a diet, but I was unsure of the differences between both. This is for health purposes so I am not going to be rigid strict with it, as in, I know I'll still have yogurt. I'm just looking to completely remodel the way I eat, I already keep in very good physical shape by running track as a full time sport, but I finally realized that I am never going to get the lean body I want if I don't do something about my eating habits. I was just looking for tips on how to transition into this diet. Mostly I want to know what I would eat for my main meals, I don't exactly want to be eating pasta for every meal. I also want to make sure I get all the nutrients I need to be healthy. Any tips would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

Vegans don't eat anything of animal product. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, honey, etc. They don't eat anything artificial or refined sugars. It's very complicated being a vegan.

I myself am a strict vegetarian. I don't eat any type of animal only eggs and honey. Dairy isn't the best thing to have in a diet either. They do so much to dairy now it's crazy and it can slow your energy down. Try soy milk, the brand "8th Continent" is really good!!

You can find great soup recipes, get creative with salads, pita sandwiches, etc. Try epicurous.com and type in vegetarian, you'll pull up some good recipies there. Or go to a book store and find some vegetarian books, they usually have some pretty good ones on sale.

Answer 2

Hi, if you want to know more about going vegan, check out the Vegan Society's website - http://www.vegansociety.com/html/

I am a vegan and have found it a very healthy diet - but there is vegan junk food too so avoid that.

You might want to do some weights if you want to alter your body shape. But it could simply be your body type doesn't match what you would like it to be - so just accept it and your good health.

You can have soya yoghurt instead of dairy.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Well, you can eat stir-fries, salads, roasted vegetables, tofu, tempeh, seitan, stews, sandwiches. Check out www.vegweb.com for recipe ideas and other resources for vegetarians.

Go to www.cok.net to get a starter guide (and you can also get a mini recipe booklet).

"Skinny B!tch" by Kim Barnouin and Rory Friedman also has a week's worth of vegan meals--maybe one of those sample menus will work for you. It's a truly incredible book! Next month, they have a book of recipes coming out called "Skinny B!tch in the Kitch."

And there is vegan yogurt available from a company called Whole Soy & Company.

Answer 4

pasta is good. Do you like things like tofu and temph? Tofu stir fry or a temph reuben. hearty vegetarian minestrone or lentil soup w/ pasta. vegetarian chili(using those veggie meat crumbles) bean burritos, black bean salad...I could go on and on. Try googling vegetarian recipes or get a good vegetarian cookbook.

Answer 5

I'm with you on the Pasta statement, so boring.

Why not look at a few vegetarian resturant menus for ideas. We do this all the time and its suprising how good some can be, take http://www.lancrigg.co.uk for example, look at resturant/sample menu.

For veggie food facts, maybe start with http://www.vegsoc.org/info this covers many of the nutrients, proteins, iron etc that veggies need. It shows why we need them and where we get them from.

There recipe page is good too, although i would say there is no substitute for going to decent veggie resturant to see just how great it can be:
http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/index.html

Answer 6

Yogurt is a dairy product. As vegans do not eat meat, eggs, dairy products, or anything containing animal products, such as casein, gelatin, or whey, you would not be vegan if you continued to eat yogurt.

Answer 7

You can also have mushroom dishes, muesli, cereal, sallads, vegetarian pizza, sandwiches...