Dear Veg Coach…

I would like to change to a vegetarian diet however I have some significant food allergies and am concerned that by eliminating those foods as well as the meat, poultry and fish that I will not have a healthy diet. I am allergic to dairy, gluten, soy and corn. What do you advise?

Barbara

Barbara

A veg lifestyle can seem daunting when there are so many restrictions in addition to the choice not to consume animal products!

However, I know a number of gluten, soy and dairy free veg folk, so I know that it’s do-able!

I’m not a trained nutritionist, so please don’t take this as gospel, but here’s my advice for having a healthy, balanced veg diet, taking into account your allergies.

Vegan Soy Free Style

You’ve said that you’re allergic to soy, but you haven’t mentioned any other legumes or nuts, so you’re in a great situation as far as that goes!! Legumes such as lentils, chickpeas, pinto beans, black beans, black eyed beans, cannellini beans, great northern beans, butter beans and the rest of the cornucopia of legumes provide protein, calcium and iron in an easy to break down way – as well as having no cholesterol, being full of roughage and having minimal fat!! You can buy them canned or go the whole hog and buy them dried and cook them yourself. And if you’re looking for something that you can make with them – the easiest first step is vegetarian Indian food, which is focussed on legumes, vegetables and rice. Lentils and other beans also appear a lot in Italian food (brown lentils are a great mince substitute in bolognese), so that’s another cuisine to explore.

Nuts and seeds provide complex fats and protein and, like anything, in moderation are very good for you – walnuts and linseeds (flaxseeds) especially are a great source of Omega 3s (which you would currently be getting from fish). You can use nuts as a protein source but also as a creamy addition to meals where dairy would go – or as a milk replacement entirely!! These days there are so many different types of non-dairy milks and whilst soy milk dominates, you can also get rice milk, almond milk, hazelnut milk and others! These are a little more expensive than soy milk but are definitely tasty and good for you. You could also use coconut milk – normal or light – as a dairy replacement. My mother is transitioning to an animal-free diet and her favourite non-dairy milk is almond milk! A lot of non-dairy milks are calcium fortified, so look for those if you’re concerned about maintaining calcium.

Grains

Grains-wise, even without wheat and corn, you’ve still got rice (brown, white, basmati, jasmine, arborio, wild…), millet and quinoa and amaranth (which aren’t technically grains but can be used as such). Create a meal of rice and beans and vegetables and you have a perfectly balanced meal. The joy of quinoa is that it is a complete protein, including the amino acids, all on its own – it’s great to use as a replacement for rice or if you can get the rolled flakes, you can make porridge with it, or use it to replace breadcrumbs.

Veggies

Obviously, lots of fruit and vegetables are the basis of a healthy veg diet – and man are they packed with goodness!! My favourite bit of vegetable trivia is about broccoli – did you know that broccoli has some of the highest protein of all vegetables (about 4.2g for every 100g)? It’s also a green leafy vegetable, so it’s chock full of calcium and iron. Mushrooms of all varieties are known as “meat for vegetarians” for a reason – full of protein and iron, and tasty as well! As long as you eat a variety of fruit and vegetables – and ensure that you’re eating them alongside protein sources and acid (which helps your body break down food into its component minerals and vitamins for easier absorption) you’ll be sitting pretty!

Omega 3

It’s important to have some oils (healthy fats) in your diet, and olive oil, almond oil, macadamia oil and flaxseed oil are all high in omega 3s. The last three can really only be used cold, but olive oil’s nutritive benefits last even when heated.

Gluten Free Flours

There are a great many gluten free corn free flours out there, easily found in most health food stores and even a number of supermarkets! They can be a little more temperamental than wheat flour but practicing with them can bring about great healthy breads, cakes and bikkies!! There’s buckwheat flour (great for pancakes), chickpea flour, rice flour, coconut flour, arrowroot flour, tapioca flour, millet flour… Often more nutritionally dense than processed white flour, these can be used in the right combination as a one to one replacement of wheat flour.

There are a huge range of gluten free breads and pastas on the market now – for you the main thing would be to ensure that they don’t have corn or soy in them. I think that it’s important when you have lots of allergies to make sure that you make as much food as possible from scratch, as there are huge numbers of additives in processed food that are derived from dairy, gluten, soy and corn.

Resources

Here are some resources of gluten and soy free veg*ns and the way they manage their lifestyle:

http://cupcakekitteh.blogspot.com.au/
http://glutenfreesoyfreevegan.blogspot.com.au/

And some fun gluten free, soy free, corn free & dairy free recipes to try!

http://veganguineapig.blogspot.com.au/2009/03/soy-free-gluten-free-vegan-mac-cheese.html
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/02/beetballs-a-vegan-gluten-free-soy-free-sausage-recipe.html
http://www.peasoupeats.com/2011/05/28/gluten-free-soy-free-chocolate-cupcakes-with-vanilla-frosting/

B12

On the topic of B12, whilst vegetable foods can provide B vitamins, including B12, and often processed vegetable foods are fortified with B12, it’s always good to take a supplement of all of the B vitamins, and explore adding nutritional yeast to your diet. Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast that has a cheesy flavour and can be used in place of parmesan or other such cheeses in dishes. It can take a bit of getting used to and can be difficult to source, so look into getting a good supplement first!

As stated above, I am not a nutritionist, so if you have any concerns, it’s best to contact a trained nutritionist. However, I hope this has helped you to feel more confident in going veg, even with your many allergies, and knowing that you can have a full, tasty, healthy and nutritious life!

Dear Veg Coach…

I am trying to loose weight but have found myself filling up on a lot of carbs since going vegan, I have know in fact GAINED weight!

Going back to a high protein meat eating diet is out of the question!!

What can I eat for weight loss.

I have also found since going vegan my high blood sugar has gotten worse, what are some good vegan foods to keep this under control?

It’s great that going back to meat is not an option, because diets high in animal protein only lead to future health problems like cardiovascular disease. Check out Atkins Diet Alert to feel extra good about your choice to stay vegan and work things out.

Lots of people report losing weight on a vegan diet, due to better digestion, more fibre and less saturated fat and cholesterol in their diet. But it’s not guaranteed to happen, especially if you’re replacing meat with high calorie foods such as rice or chips. Especially if you find yourself suppressing cravings for your old food habits with unhealthy but comforting plant “foods” like potato chips or soft drinks.

If you’re picking the right foods your health will defiantly improve and for many people this means losing weight.

Instead of meat, the best source of protein and iron is wholegrain legumes (lentils, chickpeas etc) or beans (navy, broad beans, white beans, soybeans). These foods contain little carbohydrate and sugar but hare high in protein and minerals, and also actively keep cholesterol and blood sugar in healthy balance.

Substitue wholegrain foods wherever you can, such as brown rice instead of white, wholegrain pasta. These foods universally have a lower GI than their processed counterparts, as well as providing much more vitamins and minerals.

Carbs are fine, but the time you them is important. High energy foods like fats, starches (potatoes) and carbohydrates (rice, noodles), are better for breakfast or lunch than for dinner. This is because you don’t need energy to rest and sleep.  Your body will store the it as fat instead. You want to be eating high energy foods as lead ups to period of high energy expenditure. Legumes and vegetables make a better dinner.

You can eat fruit at any time, but generally not together with heavier foods because they need to digest faster. Defiantly not with high protein foods. This way you will feel more satisfied by what you eat, and not feel like eating more.

Think of your change to vegan as change to wholefoods vegan. You’ll see the benefits faster and stop any health conditions that may be developing in their tracks.

Try these links:

• Meet a Vegan Low-carber
• Achieving and Maintaining a Healthy Weight (PCRM)

“Veganism is indeed profoundly unsatisfying, but only if you don’t invest a bit of time up front to explore the diet and figure out which new foods might please you.” 

Read the whole thing @ How Not to Go Vegan.

Or is that “healthy eating rules!”

Personally, I struggle with both rules and eating healthily (that’s right, vegans can get lazy with food too sometimes), so this free book might just be good for me.

Christianna has kindly made her recent book freely downloadable as a PDF file. It’s got everything you might want to know between its digital covers and is a great starting place if you want a dietician’s perspective on being vegan.

Seriously though this book follows on from my ‘how to become vegan’ post perfectly as it expands on many of the points and adds some of those I missed, such as balancing fatty acids omega 3 and 6, going strong on whole foods, light on fake meats and totally plant-based.

Download Healthy Eating Rules from  The Elegant Simple Life. 

What I’ve Learned From a Month of Being a Vegetarian

I think the underlying lesson that I learned from this month is the truthfulness of the overused cliche, “Don’t knock it until you try it.” I used to think vegetarians were pretty weird, irrational, and uncannily disciplined. Then, I tried it for myself and found out that I don’t think I’m any weirder than I used to be, I feel MORE rational than I ever have now that I’ve thought about the implications of my diet, and that making this change has required less self-discipline than many other changes I’ve made or need to make in my life.

Strictly speaking, you become a vegan by not consuming products from animals. It’s not difficult, but can seem daunting from the outset.

But what do you buy instead of meat and diary?

The short answer, believe it or not, is nothing. If you eat a typical Australian or American diet, you’ll do fine by simply removing animal products from your diet and consuming more fruit and veg.

But if you’ve convinced yourself it can’t be that simple, read on.

Eat a variety of real food

This is sound nutritional advice no matter whether you eat meat or not.

Real food means unprocessed foods made from primary produce such as vegetables and grains. For example:

• baked potatoes with rosemary and balsamic vinegar instead of salt and vinegar potato chips
• freshly brewed coffee with steamed soy milk instead of instant, sache or machine coffee

The advantage of real food is that it costs less in terms of money, medicine and environmental impact. It also tastes way better and is more fun and social.

Going organic on top will bring you even greater health. It can be expensive, but it is worth the investment.

Be aware of food groups

There’s a lot to understand about food and your personal relationship to it. By departing from traditional ways of eating, you’re taking responsibility for your own nutrition back onto yourself. That’s a good thing. Very good.

Knowing the dietary purpose of various foods is really important. It’s surprising how little many people know about foods and what they do. A large amount of carbohydrate (mashed potato!) and sugar (ice cream!) for dinner is useless for the body, unless your goal is to become obese. Heavy protein (bacon and eggs!) is useless in the morning, when the body has no tissue to repair.

There are many voices out there in the world of nutrition and it can be a bit hectic gathering information. Many GPs are also ill-informed and not adequately trained to offer sound nutritional advice. Seeing a dedicated nutritionist (better yet, a vegan nutritionist, there are plenty around) is a good idea.

Try new things

Use Wikipedia to read up on unfamiliar vegetables and fruits in your local shops. There’s a surprising amount of good information there, including what nutritious role foods play and what they are traditionally used for.

Know your food habits and needs

Watch what you eat, when you eat it, and why you eat it. What do you eat because you’re hungry? What do you eat because you’re bored? Try swapping fruits for heavier foods for breakfast. Note how being hungover feeds the need for grease. Things like that. Just watch and learn.

A word about protein

Let me say this first: the ultimate easy vegan protein is tofu. It’s easy to digest and has a complete profile of amino acids. It has a bad wrap for being tasteless, but that’s the chef’s fault, trust me. You can do a lot with it and it can help out many recipes.

When I went vegetarian (note: I had not even gone vegan yet!) in 2001, a lot of people asked me where I got my protein. But even now as a vegan, I would have to make a concerted effort to keep protein out of my diet.

You do not need to go crazy replacing protein in your diet. Most vegans never experience symptoms of protein deficiency because their diet provides plenty of high quality, highly bio-available protein.

Still, heavy eaters will likely crave it, simply because they’ve been eating that way all along. There are plenty of tasty vegan mock meats that can be added to meals in place of meat pieces (veggie mince, soy-chicken chunks, nutmeat, diced tofu, etc.), or even served on their own (sausages, marinated and fried tofu, etc.).

If you’ve been eating sausages every night for the past 30 years, I wouldn’t recommend simply replacing them with vegan sausages from the supermarket, no matter how delicious they are (they mostly are). While a better choice for other animals, you can do much better for yourself.

Meat substitutes are a great transition food, but you’ll feel much better eating real food like Indian dal, nuts, beans (great in veggie salads), sprouts (in a salad mix with PLENTY of tasty dressing).

Whole, unprocessed sources of protein are much better for you, because the body understands and utilises them better.

If you’re going to stick to ready-made meat substitutes, the least processed and most soy-based ones will be better. Gluten based products are harder to digest and cause reactions in many people, sometimes so slight as to not be attributed to the food.

Again, if all else fails, tofu. Tofu tofu tofu.

Stock up

I know this runs counter to the advice given above, but it won’t help to have an emergency supply of vegan versions of food you life, like bacon rashes, sausages, mince.

Keep a small stock of vegan craving food as well. Don’t make a habit out of it though

Eat food from anywhere

Just because you weren’t born in Thailand doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be addicted to Pad Thai. You can be if you want to be.

Food is food. Nothing is off limits unless you decide so. When we open our eyes to the amount of awesome vegan food that already exists in traditional recipes from around the world, the vegan experience becomes much more colourful and interesting.

Have fun

As said above, try new things. Enjoy the change by getting creative in the kitchen. It’s all in the mindset. Are you depriving yourself? Or are you healing yourself, your world and learning to understand and love real food? Take your pick, or make up your own.

Make it social

Food is a great catalyst for great company and that doesn’t need to change. Invite friends around not just to eat, but to chat over cooking. Real food has a heartwarming appeal that makes the rest of life seem more real too.

Choose to see your adventure in a positive light. See it as creative self expression, and self-determination to take care of your own body, your fellow beings and your world. Be shameless in sharing your food discoveries with others.

Be aware of others’ feelings

One word of warning: some people are threatened when others make different choices for themselves. It often surprises new vegans when friends and family react in this way.

Be compassionate with others’ feelings. There’s a fine line beween being confident and being condescending, a line that many new vegans jump over without even knowing. Think more about the feelings of the people you’re with than what you think is good.

Would you rather be right or have friends? Don’t let the question keep you from inviting friends over to prepare and eat vegan meals together. Tell them you’re vegan and want to prepare a vegan meal. But keep smiling if they bring something else anyway.

The last word

Just to recap… here’s my advice for anyone considering going vegan.

Don’t panic. Embrace change. Have fun. Substitute. Adopt all cultures. Be social. Be proud. Be empathetic.

Be vegan.

If youre new to green smoothies, the idea of taking inherently bitter, sometimes fibrous and stringy greens, and pureeing them into a drink might be weird if not downright disgusting!  But, what you will soon discover, is that when you blend greens like spinach, kale, or chard with sweet fruits like bananas, apples, mangoes, oranges, and/or pineapples, you truly dont notice the taste of the greens. The sweetness of the fruit predominates.  Its smoothie magic!

Thanks Dreena: eat, drink & be vegan: How To Make A Green Smoothie.

A worthwhile bookmark here. Thanks Evelyn.

Vegan Alternatives for Animal-Based Foods | Become a Healthier You.