Anyone here Vegan!?
 

Just looking for some like-minded bloggers!

I've been vegan for about 4 years.
I lost 100+ pounds on LC/HF being non-vegan, my journals still remain here.
I prefer to be LC but find it to be a struggle as a vegan.

Any support/thoughts would be invited.
Just looking for some like minded folks that may want to share ideas/frustrations etc...

Thanks in advance!

The veg/vegan forum here is pretty quiet.
I was a high carb vegan for 4 years, and my first 7 yrs of low carb I was veg then pescatarian. For the next 5 years I have continued LC but now eat small amounts of white meat (4-5 servings per week, or occasional pork- maybe once a month).
I would steer you toward the south beach or semi low carb forums, which are much more active than this one.
Even though there might not be another vegan, you can adjust from this plans- for example, you can include beans and tempeh and fruit and nuts with those plans.

Sample menu ideas:
Breakfast-
1. Granola made of toasted coconut flakes, pumpkin seed kernels, halved pecans, almond slices, etc.... In cashew milk with berries.
2. Hot cereal made from flax meal with nut milk, cinnamon, and a few apple or peach slices.

Lunch-
1. A snack bag of
Crackers made from flax meal (flackers) with almond butter
Cut up bell peppers, cucumber, carrot sticks, etc with hummus or baba gnoiush. Guac is another great dip for veggies.
A piece of fruit- can save the nut butter to spread on here instead of crackers if you want an apple or pear.
A baggy of mixed nuts or seeds- try dry roasted edamame to switch things up
Those to go packs of olives or pickles
Dry roasted seaweed crisps or kale chips

2. A big salad with whatever veg you enjoy, tofu, avocado, olives, etc.... Can add scoop of hummus as well, plus dressing. Nuts and seeds are also perfect.

3. Google hot to make "bread" from tempeh slices, then make a sandwich with sprouts, tomato slices, avo, roasted bell peppers......
You could also do pb and j with almond butter and sliced strawberries.

Dinner:
1. Asian stirfry with broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, baby corn, mushrooms, etc plus soy sauce, sesame oil, and tofu
I love using pre bagged coleslaw for a mooshu type dish. Search crack slaw on this site- just swap the meat for tofu. There are endless variations as it is a favorite recipe around here.

2. Spaghetti squash with homemade dairy free pesto and nutritional yeast. Cam add spinach or sautéed mushrooms, too.

3. Zoodles with Asian peanut sauce (pb, unsweetened seasoned rice vinegar, sweetener, soy sauce and crushed red pepper). Add whatever other veggies or tofu you want. Can also top with a few crushed peanuts.

4. A chilled edamame salad with roasted peppers, dressing, pickled ginger, etc....

Dessert:
1. Coconut milk ice cream made with non caloric sweetener- Splenda, stevia, whatever....
The brand so delicious makes an unsweetened variety. I love it!

2. Frozen berries in coconut milk with sweetener
Or blend froZen berries in milk for a smoothie

3. An apple or banana with almond butter

4. Use an avo to make chocolate mousse

Basically, I think you can do a moderate low carb diet, but you need to plan carefully and supplement b12.

And you will find more support is semi low carb or so forums ;)

Not vegan here but I'm considering eating the minimum amount of animal parts to maintain health. I don't overindulge in meat but I think the difficult thing will be to get the right kind of fats from vegetables. I do have palm and coconut oil that I use that are highly saturated tho. I believe FAT has been the key for me getting my metabolism tuned up.

I will be interested to follow this thread. Thanks Samantha.

Hey guys!
Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm always packing olives and homemade hummus and carrots, fruit etc..

Fats are indeed tough but honestly I find that in order to lose weight, I need to restrict calories (For the first time ever)....so I usually get my fat from things like olives/avocado/nuts instead of oils because they just don't fill me up.

I'll definitely check out some of the other forums. I always gravitate back here, I've been on this forum for probably 10 years. Crazy how fast time goes.

I also use a meal delivery service to break things up in regard to my extensive meal prep. I find that it helps with variety and at the end of a 16 hour day, it's just nice to have something that I don't have to cook or "re-heat".

Funny thing is that I struggle to eat salad these days as I really haven't found a good combo I like. "Cheeseburger salad" used to be a staple before ditching animal products, there really isn't anything like ranch dressing!

What kinds of foods do you like? Maybe we can reinvent them.

For ranch, I know there are some vegan brands like
Organicville that make ranch. Not sure on how healthy the ingredients are, but I bet you can make a healthy vegan "ranch."

I also think you should branch out and create new favorites instead of trying to mimic old.

For example, what about grilling romaine and topping with roasted beets, sunflower seeds, roasted Brussels and bell peppers and topping with olive oil, sea salt and a scoop of hummus?

For a Mexican salad- chopped romaine, sautéed onions and peppers/portobello cap/ zucchini, etc.... Plus salsa and avo and guac. You could also add some black beans.

For a burger salad, make up ranch dressing. Chop greens and top with roasted bell pepper slices, sautéed mushrooms and onions, chopped dill pickle, chopped tomato, and a veg burger on top?
Personally I prefer making a giant lettuce bun for a veggies burger with my toppings, but it's just my preference.
On the side, I love to make jicama "French fries" and dip them in sf catsup!

How about a BLT salad with spinach, smokey tempeh strips, tomato slices, avocado and making an aioli with vegan mayo and garlic?

I love this thread already!

I'm also now following a (mostly) vegan diet, after LCing 10 years. I'd like to make it more LC, because I think that would be healthier for me, being diabetic. I'm already feeling inspired by the posts above.

I had forgotten about coconut chip cereal. I've never tried the flax seed kind.

I have a favorite salad: a baby greens mix, topped with walnuts, avocado, sundried tomato strips (in oil, from Trader Joe's). I dress it with Trader Joe's Balsamic Vinaigrette - something I didn't allow myself on LC, but that I do now. You should try it! I also use that same dressing on a big bowl of chopped raw veggies - doesn't have to have lettuce to be a 'salad'. My favorite is chopped broccoli/chopped zucchini/cherry tomatoes.

There's a bottled Vegan Ranch, but it is pricey. My son's vegan GF says it is delicious, but at $6.99 a bottle, I may never find out. lol. I have this recipe saved to my Vegan Pinterest board (haven't tried it though):

Vegan Ranch Dressing
1 cup vegan mayonnaise
½ cup unsweetened soy milk + 2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp white or yellow onion, minced
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp chives, finely sliced
2 tbsp baby dill, finely chopped
pinch garlic powder
pinch paprika
pinch salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

I'm not a big breakfast eater; my first meal is usually salad (or salad-like). For example:
-an avocado tossed with halved cherry tomatoes, splashed with balsamic vinegar, and a few LC-ish crackers. (Mary's Super Seed, RyeVita Sesame Crackers, or Lentil Crackers).
-a tofu "egg salad" and fill a romaine leaf.
-an open-faced BLT on sourdough using "Fakin'Bacon" tempeh from Sprouts (fry it crispy first).

I use Veganaise instead of mayonaise. It's delish!

I :rheart: peanut butter on apples or bananas. OH and Trader Joe's has Olive Hummus!! It is TDF - I put it on persian cucumbers.

I ate ALL of the starchy foods at Thanksgiving and for 2 days after. I'm up 5 lbs. from the few I gained by stress eating the last 2 months. This has to stop. This morning I weighed 162, and I had been holding steady around 151-152 for several months. Booooo.

So, yes I'm interested in following this and seeing if we can help each other out. I haven't done much posting here (I do lurk though) because, well, I eat fruit, bread, ice cream, etc. To a stupid excess though, lately. It just takes the edge right off stress for me.

Adding...
Me, too. I had to reduce calories the last couple of times I LC'd for weight loss.

i just ate lunch(1st meal):

Sautéed riced cauliflower and shredded zucchini in avocado oil over high heat. (A giant amount - almost covered a large dinner plate when done) Sprinkled broken cashews over the top and stirred in until hot.

Tossed with nutritional yeast, and sprinkled with Bragg's aminos.

Cauliflower loses heat quickly, so I heated the plate in the microwave.

With the tablespoon of oil, it comes to 294 calories.

here's a link to another thread that Jey100 started. It's got some good links in it too...

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=468164

Gonwtwindo- I'm a type 1 diabetic :wave:
Your go to salad sounds great. I haven't bought sun dried tomatoes in awhile. It is definitely the season. Will have to add those to the list.
That brand of tempeh "bacon" is what I get, too. I wish it had a different name, though. Because I think most people would see it and think of super processed stuff like boca or light life.....instead of just marinated tempeh.

And your cauliflower sounds great. I love making cauli fried rice or paella. Either could be made vegan!

For crackers, I buy the overpriced flackers- I only use a bag every 1-2 weeks, so it is worth a splurge for me), but I know you can bake them fairly easily I hear. They are great with hummus or baba gnoiush. In fact, that was my first thing I ate from lunch today :)

And yay! Thud is here- there is a reason his recipes are so popular in this forum :thup:

I really like the "Follow your heart" brand vegan ranch and cesar, they are expensive but oh so worth it!!!

Robin120-I like "Mary's gone crackers" flax crackers too, man they're YUMMY!

Samantha- the brand I buy is dr in the kitchen. They are made without any type of flour- just the flax and spices. Pre serving, they are only one net carb and 6g fiber :thup:
But they definitely need a dip or spread or they are pretty blah.
Having some Rosemary ones today with baba gnoiush.

Last night I ended up throwing together a soup that was vegan except the chicken bouillon, but using veg bouillon would have worked just fine.

I sautéed a ton of celery and onion on stove, then added garlic, bouillon, cashew milk (about 2 cups). I added 3oz tofutti cream cheese and stirred until everything was melted. Then I topped with parsley. It was great if you are looking for a creamy soup.

vegan and starting LC
 

Hi, there:

I was an active member here for quite a long time, fell off the wagon HARD, and have been bouncing between different diets for a long time.

April will be 3 years since I've been vegan. It's definitely the right WOE for me but, now that I'm looking at going back to LC, I can see that there will be challenges.

It's a good thing that veganism has been getting popular as there are more protein options out there for us now more than ever. I can have 'chicken' with salad for a tasty, filling, LC meal ;)

Tips and tricks would be appreciated as I'm planning to start LC this week (need to work a few night shifts then go grocery shopping!).

Nicole