Philosophical Vegan Forum

I apologize for the extremely delayed response.
I went onto cronometer as suggested, and plugged in the foods I thought would work. I am deficient for some nutrients and would appreciate any advice regarding what to add, replace, or remove. Thank you, and sorry for the inconvenience.

I managed to take out milk from my particular life style and introduced soya milk of various types..even if its more expensive i took it at about 3 per week.

I am feeling great.

Cirion Spellbinder wrote: I went onto cronometer as suggested, and plugged in the foods I thought would work. I am deficient for some nutrients and would appreciate any advice regarding what to add, replace, or remove. Thank you, and sorry for the inconvenience.

You should eat more in general to take care of the high caloric deficit and some of the nutrients that are close to 100% (unless you're trying to lose weight?).
You could add a cup of cooked mushrooms, it will add a lot to the B3, B5, Potassium and Selenium that you're having trouble with. Some nutritional yeast would help too. And more beans/lentils to help with the lacking amino acids.

inator wrote: You should eat more in general to take care of the high caloric deficit and some of the nutrients that are close to 100% (unless you're trying to lose weight?).
You could add a cup of cooked mushrooms, it will add a lot to the B3, B5, Potassium and Selenium that you're having trouble with. Some nutritional yeast would help too. And more beans/lentils to help with the lacking amino acids.

Thank you very much! This plan has sufficient quantities for all requirements! Should I worry about having more than the maximum for water, thiamine, cobalamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin A, manganese, and sodium?

Also, I was under the impression that cobalamin (B12) was not acquireable in a vegan diet, but it seems that it is present in the nutritional yeast and unsweetened soy milk. Is the milk fortified even though I did not specify? Should I stop taking my B12 supplement under this dietary plan?

Cirion Spellbinder wrote: Thank you very much! This plan has sufficient quantities for all requirements! Should I worry about having more than the maximum for water, thiamine, cobalamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin A, manganese, and sodium?

Excess B vitamins (including folate) are excreted in the urine.

I wouldn't worry about vitamin A since it's beta-carotene (from plants) and the body converts it into retinol (from animals) when it needs to. All vitamin A toxicity issues apply to retinol intake (from animals), not beta-carotene. And even retinol seems to only pose a real risk at levels way over Cronometer's recommended maximum.

Manganese in food isn't easily absorbed, so toxicity doesn't occur with amounts found in the diet. I think that long-term iron deficiency could maybe cause an increase in manganese absorption, so just make sure to eat some vitamin C rich foods at meals so that iron is absorbed instead of manganese.

Maybe try to eat less sodium? You could get dry beans instead of canned ones.

Cirion Spellbinder wrote: Also, I was under the impression that cobalamin (B12) was not acquireable in a vegan diet, but it seems that it is present in the nutritional yeast and unsweetened soy milk. Is the milk fortified even though I did not specify? Should I stop taking my B12 supplement under this dietary plan?

Not naturally, only if they're fortified, which they usually are.
If you're going to eat fortified nutritional yeast every day, then you can probably give up the B12 supplement. You can also take it just to be safe.
But make sure to check your blood levels from time to time.

Go to nutritiondata.self.com and search for any nutrient you're low in. You can add additional filters like vegetables, grains etc. You have 4 cups of soymilk a day?

garrethdsouza wrote:Go to nutritiondata.self.com and search for any nutrient you're low in. You can add additional filters like vegetables, grains etc.

I just solved the deficient problem, but thank you!

garrethdsouza wrote:You have 4 cups of soymilk a day?

Is this problematic?

inator wrote:Maybe try to eat less sodium? You could get dry beans instead of canned ones.

Sure, I'll purchase dry. Do they take longer to cook?

Cirion Spellbinder wrote:Is this problematic?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osAJOlSFdEo

3-5 servings are probably fine (one cup of soy milk is one serving). You can try other veg milks too if you want to stay under 4 servings.

Cirion Spellbinder wrote:Sure, I'll purchase dry. Do they take longer to cook?

Yeah, you have to soak them and then boil them. Lentils are the easiest, especially the red ones - you don't need to soak them and they're ready in like 15 minutes.
But you can make a large pot of beans once and that'll last you many days. You can also freeze them and eat them later. Much cheaper, less sodium and less waste.

I'll remove one of the cups of soy. I don't really want to drink that much anyways.

Cooking a lot of beans looks really easy. I can't wait to try it out!

Also, thank you for the help!

Keep taking B-12 even if it says you're getting enough from diet; it's a good habit, and fortified foods may not be a very reliable source.

If you roll over the bar for each vitamin, it will tell you where you're getting most of it from, then roll over on calories or compare to the calorie listing above, and you can compare % vitamin/mineral vs. calories to find your best sources in your diet.

I don't recommend mushrooms, but only because they're expensive. If you like them and can afford them, go for it.

When you start soaking and cooking your own beans, I'd say just eat more of those, and that should fill the rest of your needs (and increase total calories a little).
The main concern is Lysine and B5. A few more beans will cover lysine. You're good on methionine, you have plenty of cystine and you don't want high methionine anyway.

For potassium, I recommend buying lite salt: