fables1991 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:23 am
Wow, thank you for the great response!
I'll start with the animal foods I was going back too - typically, it was eggs, milk, and sometimes cheese. It wasn't so much because of cravings, but I began to eat eggs again after moving back briefly to my mums place. She would make a brunch type meal every Sunday with eggs and hash browns, and they just kind of crept back into my diet. For a long time, up until very recently, I did believe the typical Canadian food pyramid guidelines of eggs and dairy and such being healthy foods, and particularly with dairy such as milk being the best way to get calcium. I did feel like if I was getting my milk and eggs from as organic/small operation a source as I could, and doing all the cooking myself, that it was 'natural' and therefore healthy. I've definitely changed my thinking on that - and on the idea that 'small operation' or 'free range' means it is in any way better for the animals involved.
So far, I haven't experienced any cravings. I've been feeling really good about committing myself to veganism, and encouraged by the fact that I am having a more positive impact on the world in my own very small way, that it's been making the transition considerably easier than I remember it being the first time I attempted being vegan. However, any tips from you or other's on a decent way to replace eggs in recipes that use it mostly for binding would be helpful for the future.
I don't really make much that would have egg substitutes in them. But my Mom was telling me about chickpea flour and chickpea liquid being some different egg substitutes, but afaik those are for baking, and not for other types of meals which may include egg. At a local vegan restaurant they have this tofu scramble which is really good, though. I rarely ate scrambled eggs before going vegan, so I can't really compare, but it was thoroughly enjoyable, the texture is really good, and in the restaurant's version it's nice and spicy, so I would recommend looking up tofu scramble recipes online if that's one of the egg dishes you found yourself going back to.
Afaik all the vegan cheese substitutes are pretty expensive, but stuff like hummus has found a place for me in satisfying that savory flavour craving without going to cheese substitutes. If you like spicy food, you should try making a harissa hummus. Boston Pizza has a vegetarian hummus/veggie platter with flatbread that can be turned vegan by asking them to hold the parmesan and butter that normally goes on the flatbread, which is where I discovered that awesome spicy harissa hummus.
Also, glad to hear you haven't had any bad cravings. Knowing what you're doing is worthwhile is a good motivator, so I'm happy you see things that way.
fables1991 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:23 amNow, my budget is 'really' small - I try to keep it between 40 and 50 a week. I've been pretty successful sticking to that and being satisfied after most of my meals. I just recently discovered cronometer, and it's very interesting to see how my meals shake out nutritionally. I've been able to get a good percentage of my vitamins and minerals in over the last few days, but my protein seems really low - it's only about six percent of my total for each day. I'm going to buy more beans - I've been eating a lot of lentils but they don't seem to add much protein - and tofu, see how that improves things. What is the percentage of protein I should be angling for?
iirc the number of calories protein gave me the last time I used cronometer was around 8-15%, I'm not a dietician so take my word with a grain of salt, but afaik most people don't get more than 20% of their calories from protein. Carbs and fat normally make up the bulk of it. What's more important afaik is seeing that you're meeting 100% of the requirements for all of your amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.
6% does seem a little low though, so eating more beans in different types of dishes could help you quite a lot. Lentils afaik have a similar amount of protein to beans per gram, so don't give up on them. One thing I found after going vegan was that I needed to eat more than I used to on a healthy mostly whole foods diet compared to my previous processed food diet, so make sure you're eating enough too. Foods like cucumber and celery may be fine in small amounts to add some texture or whatever to a dish, but they're more filling and nutritionally lacking, so if you find that you're struggling to eat enough, maybe avoid those low nutrient filling foods, and focus on having some nutrient rich vegetables like dark leafy greens in a dish along with nutrient packed bean/lentil type stuff.
I personally try to get about at least 50-60 gram of protein from bean products each day, that means about two cans of beans if you buy canned. Though if you drank soy milk or a pea protein enriched milk, then you wouldn't have to eat as much. Also, depending on your size your requirements could be lesser or greater, when I was really active in the past I aimed for about 100 to 120 grams of protein overall each day. iirc if you aren't doing serious exercise 0.3 grams of protein for each pound of body mass should be the minimum that you get. iirc my dietician recommended 0.5 or 0.6 grams per pound of body mass, so that may be a better number to go by, but that's just my memory, which may be incorrect, since it was a while ago, but it wouldn't hurt to get that much if you're a person without any unusual health issues.
fables1991 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:23 amWould you recommend soy milk over something like Almond Breeze? I found the taste of soy milk to be a little strange, and almond milk is basically tasteless so I've been using that in smoothies - but is the soy milk nutritionally a better option?
The main benefit of soy milk is higher protein content, often having 7 to 8 grams as opposed to 1 to 2 grams per cup for almond/nut milk, so since protein is somewhat of an issue for you, I would recommend it over almond milk. Afaik the only thing almond milk has that most soy milks don't is some vitamin E, but even then almond milk isn't a great source of it, sunflower seeds are one of if not the best vegan source, though some nuts and nut butters are also decent.
I've found some brands of soy milk to be pretty bad and others are so much better. It also depends if you buy it sweetened or unsweetened. Silk unsweetened is by far my favourite soy milk. And yeah, I too found almond milk more palatable at first, but Silk unsweetened was pretty easy to get used to. I couldn't stand drinking this other brand which I can't remember, and imagine I could never get used to it, so just know that some brands do vary wildly in terms of flavour. The thing I remember most of that bad brand was a strong bitter and weird taste, lol. Silk unsweetened is perfect for me now, though.
fables1991 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:23 amAnd yeah, the family thing is just what it is. One of my sister's was vegetarian for 12 years, and only started eating chicken again about two years ago, so I find her animosity a little strange, but what can I do. I don't want to get baited into arguments and then be labeled as an angry vegan, because I feel that just makes me and veganism easier for them to dismiss.
If talking at all about veganism turns into arguments where your family members shut down and don't really listen, then yeah, it's probably best not to talk much to them about it unless necessary for yourself like making sure you're accommodated at a get together or whatever.
One reason why your sister might be more defensive or even offensive towards the subject is due to cognitive dissonance. There may be embarrassment for trying something different that didn't work out, or guilt in her habits going against her ethical views underpinned beneath her current behaviour and persona towards veganism which she uses as a sort of shield against those conflicting feelings. It may be more difficult to get her to accept your veganism than other family members because of this because it reminds her of her personal conflict. So don't take what she says in regards to your veganism too personally, and try to be sensitive of her feelings if you ever need to talk about something to do with veganism with her.
fables1991 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:23 amMusic! Oh, man. I listen to a lot of different genres. I just recently discovered Glass Animals and I've been enjoying them. An all time favorite since high school is Modest Mouse. Timber Timbre is my other all time favorite. I also really like Patsy Cline, Dion, Weylon Jennings. Leon Bridges. Kendrick Lamar. Childish Gambino/Donald Glover. Alt-J's cover of House of the Rising Sun is incredible. I'm a big fan of unusual covers - like bands covering a song from a genre totally outside of their own. Bastille's cover of Scrubs, featuring Ella, is fantastic as well - it's intercut with sound clips from the original Pyscho, which sounds odd but it works. I spend a lot of time in between school work perusing YouTube for music. What kind do you listen to?
Thanks again for the welcome!
I like Modest Mouse's song Float On, though I've heard from some friends that they have many better songs than that, what would you recommend? What are some songs you're currently digging by Glass Animals? Also, I haven't discovered any rap or hip-hop yet that really interests me, but I would be open to checking out some artists there. I've heard from friends that Kendrick Lamar is really good, but I haven't asked which songs to check out first yet.
The genre that I'm the biggest into is metal, actually. But I also like a bit of folk, jazz, classical, and electronic music, and a sizable amount of various types of rock like punk, classic rock, alternative, and a bit of post-rock.
My favourite band during highschool was Blind Guardian. They're a more accessible band, you should try their songs "Another Stranger Me", and "Nightfall", as well as their cover of the song "To France" originally done by Mike Oldfield iirc.
Blind Guardian is kinda still my favourite, but I've also really been loving Amorphis over the past year. Some of their stuff is probably too extreme for you, but they have a fair amount of variety in their discography. You should try their song "Divinity" from the album Tuonela, as well as two new songs by them, "Wrong Direction", and "Amongst Stars". Those later two songs have
some harsh vocals, but not much as most of it is sung melodically.