Being Vegan (so far)

[DJKB]

I make most of my food for the week on Sunday and basically eat the same thing all week (something different for lunch and dinner but each day is the same).
I "think" differently about food now.

[gwynedd1]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I work part-time, 2 days home and 2 days at the office. The office days have an advantage in that the boss has an assortment of fruit delivered for the employees, and the job is in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, which means a lot of vegetarian food choices because of the separation of meat and dairy. They eat differently--for example, they will get scrambled eggs with a side of Israeli chopped salad for breakfast. I just got this great vegetable soup from a Yemeni Jewish parve deli (sells neither meat nor dairy but does sell fish and eggs since they are considered neither), a potato bureka, and some mixed nuts. They make a kickass hummus there, too.

I think I am better off as a grazer, as I am rarely not hungry--which is the weight-loss problem. It is so hard to ignore the hunger pangs. I am always thinking of what I can eat next and when. I wish I could stop that.

I think you can. A ravenous appetite comes from blood sugar issues. Those come from insulin spikes. A potato bureka, and some mixed nuts would do it.

Some one asked me about peer reviewed studies.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10856515

The relationship between dietary fat and glucose metabolism has been recognized for at least 60 years.

...

Epidemiological data in humans suggest that subjects with higher intakes of fat are more prone to develop disturbances in glucose metabolism, type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance, than subjects with lower intakes of fat

If you graze just realize that you will chronically keep insulin in the blood. Any fat in the diet cannot be used as energy. If I am running with no insulin, fat stores and dietary fat can be converted for immediate energy. One slice of bread shuts it all down and you run on glucose. If you have dietary fat with it , it will even suppress your carbs. Your body may frequently think its starving. You'll over eat , and then insulin levels may climb quite high later on.

If you grazed only on carbs, the blood sugar would normalize sooner, stopping you from eating more, and then not cause as much of insulin to linger later on causing you to be ravenously hungry. If its honey you'd stop more quickly . The density doesn't matter of its high glycemic. Oatmeal doesn't have the density so.... The carbs you eat will be available for immediate use, aka energy levels will rise. Apples will only last so long, but at 75 calories you could have one per waking hour and not hit 1500 calories.

Naturally a salad with chicken just does not have the same rise in insulin. That is to say you can also stop hunger with high fats and low carbs.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I haven't really missed meat except a couple of months ago when I had been feeling tired for a few weeks. I had a dream that I was eating a steak, medium rare, the way I used to eat them. In the dream, the steak had no flavor, but eating it made me feel stronger. I went out that day and bought some iron supplements that I took for a,few days. I am sure this was all psychological as I am post-menopausal and therefore don't need iron, but it seemed to have helped. The meat craving or dream did not return.

I get meat cravings when low in iron. Black beans really solve this for me.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Luckyd609

I decided to try going vegan, not so much for weight loss, but because I am increasingly becoming disgusted with animals and the treatment they go through in factory farming and the impact it has on our earth. It was an experiment to last 4 weeks and then I would evaluate. I am a firm believer in not omitting food groups for dietary reasons having done Atkins and then experimenting with going lower carb because I was believing all the hype. Both times I was miserable, not to mention totally disgusted with all the meat and fat I was eating.

I have been doing vegan for 6 weeks now. I would say I am about 97% vegan at this point.
So far it has been nothing but positive.
1. My energy is through the roof and my workouts are great.
2. I am not missing any kind of animal protein (I thought I would).
3. I have lost 7 pounds
4. My skin and hair have never been healthier.
5. I am regular for the first time in YEARS!
6. My conscience is clear!

I will continue to eat this way because so far it has been nothing but benefits, but I may not follow it strictly. I will be happy if I can be at least 90% Vegan.

I noted No 2, (highlighted). I was a meat eater, and I preferred red meat such as beef and lamb to chicken. I ate pork, also. When I decided to go vegetarian for good about 18 months ago, I feared that I would miss eating meat, and it has been a complete surprise that I don't. At Easter, my mother made the usual leg of lamb as well as some chicken, and I had no desire whatsoever to eat it, and lamb used to be one of my favorite meats (and the first one that started to bother me as it became harder to disconnect the meat from the animal it had been.)

My first real test after becoming vegetarian was that I was invited to dinner at the house of friend of Cuban descent. I knew she would make a pork roast with the Cuban seasonings, which I used to love. I brought a pasta with vegetables to share, and there was rice and beans and salad and potatoes. But I was truly afraid I would be tempted to eat the pork.

I took one look at it as she was slicing the meat in the kitchen and the thought that went through my mind was, "OH MY GOD, IT'S A PIG LEG!" Sounds funny, but it really hit me that day, and I was not tempted to eat meat whatsoever.