Philosophical Vegan Forum

I'm already average/fit, but for a long time, I've been wanting to build muscle to look more attractive and exercise to have more energy.

The problem is I suck and eating and need help knowing what to buy. I have no understanding of nutrition (I try to take my b12 because I was told that by vegans I trust).

My food requirements are as follows:
Under $10/day
Vegan
3 meals a day (is that important?)
Saves time
1. Quick and easy to prepare (if it lasts for several meals it can take a bit longer)
2. Doesn't take forever to eat (sorry, no buckets of lettuce)
3. Lasts over a week (I only want to shop once a week).
Healthy
1. Gets all the nutrients I need (I'd rather take a supplement than put a bit of random ingredients in my meal)
2. Will allow me to have the energy I need to exercise
3. Will give my body what it needs to build muscle as I work out


Information about me:
Vegan for 10 months because of Cowspiracy.
60%+ of my meals are re-fried pinto beans and tortillas.
I don't eat enough so I've been pretty sedentary and low energy (this has been going on before I was vegan).
I don't enjoy cooking.
I don't like thinking of what to buy.
I don't mind eating the same thing everyday (can't stress this enough).
25 years old
165lbs
6' tall
Male

I recommend you eat tons of beans lentils and flax seed. Essential veggies include kale, broccoli, spinach and purple cabbage. You should also include black berries if these are affordable where you live. All this can be rolled into delicious tortillas which you should make yourself with besan or wholemeal flour if time allows. Commercial tortillas are usually not very healthful. Blend the veggies with a bit of water and drink them to save time. Include cacao and cinnamon in the smoothies for great taste and tons of antioxidants. For snacking choose your favorite nut and mix with raisins and iodized salt. This should cover all your nutritional and muscle gain needs.

This is a great question. Your budget of $10 a day is substantial, although you'll need to eat quite a bit of food to make gains unless you have some pretty lucky genetics.

wilsonwjesse wrote: My food requirements are as follows:
Under $10/day
Vegan
3 meals a day (is that important?)
Saves time
1. Quick and easy to prepare (if it lasts for several meals it can take a bit longer)
2. Doesn't take forever to eat (sorry, no buckets of lettuce)
3. Lasts over a week (I only want to shop once a week).
Healthy
1. Gets all the nutrients I need (I'd rather take a supplement than put a bit of random ingredients in my meal)
2. Will allow me to have the energy I need to exercise
3. Will give my body what it needs to build muscle as I work out

You'll probably want to make your own protein shake mix. If you mix it up ahead of time (after confirming the formulation is palatable), that could be pretty cheap and quick.

Mostly soy protein, cocoa powder, Splenda. You can probably find a recipe, or I can recommend a ratio.

You need 0.8 grams per pound of body weight, so 132 grams of protein for the day (in all your food). The trick is that your body will probably absorb it better from more/smaller meals. So, if you don't want to eat more than three meals, you can incorporate a few shakes into your day to boost your intake and calories.

You're already doing pretty well with your current food:

wilsonwjesse wrote: 60%+ of my meals are re-fried pinto beans and tortillas.

What are the rest of your meals, typically? Do you take a multivitamin?

wilsonwjesse wrote: I don't eat enough so I've been pretty sedentary and low energy (this has been going on before I was vegan).
I don't enjoy cooking.

Nuts can be a good way to get in more calories without cooking, and you can eat them through the day.

I assume you can do something like toast or peanut butter sandwiches? Get a good whole wheat bread, and that will help you quite a bit.

Thanks for the tips, really appreciate it. The other is bananas, spaghetti and I eat out a lot (want to reduce eating out). I'll get subway veggie delights and vegan burgers from various places. I used to eat a lot of PB&J, but the vegan bread at my local grocery stores is expensive and goes bad if I don't eat it quickly so I'm not sure if I'll get back into that, maybe I'll put some peanut butter in a shake.

I don't take multivitamins. Do multivitamins get absorbed? Would you recommend any in particular?

Now that I think about it, I really only get greens when I go out. The protein shake appeals to me. I'd love to hear some recipes or find a link. In the past, whenever I added leafy greens to a smoothie, it tasted terrible (I thought I could handle it, but it was too much). Though, putting veggies in a blender is the only way I'll eat enough of them because you can't get more than a couple leaves in a burrito. So a tasty protein shake that incorporates greens with the soy protein would be ideal.

Jebus, probably not gonna make my own tortillas, but I'll see if I can find a whole wheat/grain option. I'll try to get those veggies in a protein shake.

Opt for whole wheat pasta, and you can probably skip the bread. Tomato sauce is pretty good, in terms of nutrients. Maybe mix in some TVP, and you have a pretty good meal.

Don't eat too many bananas. I'd suggest limiting to about two a day.

You don't really need vegetables if it's trouble (if you don't like them in smoothies, it's not necessary). A mix of seeds and beans and nuts and whole grains will give you what you need.
I would recommend some carrots for Vitamin A and extra fiber, but that's probably all you need (not necessarily in smoothies).
Use cronometer to plot out some of your food, and if you're short on anything we can give you suggestions on what to add:
https://cronometer.com/

For example, chia seeds may be a good source of vitamin K.

Multivitamins are partially absorbed and then excreted; unless you need the vitamin in them. It's not essential, but it's cheap and it can be a good safety net. DEVA makes a one a day multi.
https://www.amazon.com/Deva-Vegan-Vitamins-Multivitamin-Supplement/dp/B001GAOHVG

Thanks I was actually just using cronometer after I sent this. Writing this post made me remember it from Mic. the Vegan on YouTube.

So I'm getting way too much manganese, folate, and "energy."
This is from spaghetti and beans, but if I lower it, then I don't have enough B6, E, Calcium, Zinc or calories.


I drink Silk Soymilk so that actually covers my b12.

I'm not getting enough Vitamin B3, C, D. K.
I'm not getting enough Fat, Omega 3, Omega 6.

wilsonwjesse wrote: So I'm getting way too much manganese, folate,

That's fine, as long as it's from food and not supplements.

wilsonwjesse wrote: and "energy."

That's calories, You need those to work out. You can input your workout into cronometer too. How many total calories are you getting?

What's your total protein?

wilsonwjesse wrote:This is from spaghetti and beans, but if I lower it, then I don't have enough B6, E, Calcium, Zinc or calories.

You probably don't need to lower it.

wilsonwjesse wrote:I drink Silk Soymilk so that actually covers my b12.

That's OK to drink, and it'll give you calcium (I would avoid drinking with a meal, since calcium inhibits absorption of other minerals), but don't rely on it for B-12. It only has a tiny bit in it. I know it says 100%, but that's based on a very low RDI. You may still be deficient in B-12 if you rely on that.

You should take a supplement for B-12, and try to get at least 100 mcg a day, or 1,000 mcg twice a week.

The DEVA supplement is made for vegans, so it has much more B-12 in it.

This page is very useful: http://veganhealth.org/articles/dailyrecs

wilsonwjesse wrote:I'm not getting enough Vitamin B3, C, D. K.

B3: multivitamin will cover this.
If you want it from whole foods: Do you like mushrooms? Have you tried nutritional yeast? Those are pretty good for B vitamins.

C: Multivitamin will cover this in preventing scurvy or anything like that.
To get more from food, you can buy frozen concentrated orange juice and prepare that. Vitamin C helps your body absorb iron and Zinc from food.

D: The multi will give you a little bit of that. D mainly comes from sun exposure, not from food. The only source in food is supplemental. It's probably in your soy milk, but if you don't get sun exposure every day, then you may want to buy a vitamin D supplement.

K: This comes from vegetables and some seeds. About a half cup of broccoli, for example. Or, if you like basil, that's a great source. Put three tablespoons of dried basil into cronometer and see what that does to your vitamin K levels.
Chia seeds are supposedly good too, but I've seen some conflicting claims that they don't have any (without evidence), so I'd be slightly wary of that.

wilsonwjesse wrote:I'm not getting enough Fat, Omega 3, Omega 6.

Chia seeds, Walnuts, Hemp seeds. Go for the high Omega 3 seeds and nuts. It's healthy to get a lot of your calories from nuts and seeds, and they're also very rich in minerals.

Don't forget to show RAE in cronometer:
http://philosophicalvegan.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2054

The basil took care of the K, but so does broccoli.
Walnuts took care of fat and omega 3 & 6.
Total protein is 19% and 145g.

So why is it red on Folate and Manganese if it doesn't matter?

I had already entered in my exercise and my calories are under what it says I burn, yet energy is still red. Just curious how to fix that.

Thanks for your help. You've saved me a TON of time if I could even find this out on my own. I think I'm gonna get the multivitamins because I take b12 anyway and it takes care of vitamins too.

Just make sure to eat a little something with vitamin K every day, whether that's basil (make your own pesto? Three tablespoons might be a lot, unless you really like it) or a tiny bit of broccoli or kale. It doesn't take much. Scallions also have quite a bit of vitamin K in them. Then other fruits and veggies randomly have small amounts, but hard to reach 100% with (like tomato products). Natto is another option if you really don't want to eat anything green.

wilsonwjesse wrote: So why is it red on Folate and Manganese if it doesn't matter?

I don't know. Some kind of default setting maybe. There are only a few things you need to worry about going over with, regarding food. Selenium is one, but hard to get too much of unless you eat a lot of Brazil nuts.

wilsonwjesse wrote: I had already entered in my exercise and my calories are under what it says I burn, yet energy is still red. Just curious how to fix that.

Do more exercise, and you'll burn off the extra.
Or you can eat fewer carbs. A little less spaghetti would be an easy fix. You're probably fine on the other vitamins and minerals. If you end up low on selenium, you can eat a single Brazil nut each day (selenium is one of the things wheat is high in that's harder to get from other things).

Let me know if you're low on anything when you reduce the pasta.

wilsonwjesse wrote: Thanks for your help. You've saved me a TON of time if I could even find this out on my own.

No problem.

@brimstoneSalad: The dude is 6' tall, 165lbs, and wants to build muscle. Please don't tell him to eat less calories!

@wilsonwjesse: I won't touch the nutrition advice because I think others have covered it well. However, if you wanna build muscle, you're gonna have to do two things: (1) lift heavy on a structured, proven program and (2) eat more than you burn.

I'll assume you've got (1) taken care of, but if you want tips, just ask.

To elaborate on (2), in order to build muscle you are almost certainly going to need to gain weight. Later, once you've gained some muscle, you can reduce your calories to lose any fat you may gain in the process, but if you train hard and focus on eating lots of healthy foods, you probably will not gain much fat at all, especially considering that you're young, male, and skinny. In the end, you'll weigh more but you'll probably like how you look much better - for example, before I started lifting weights I was 135lbs and a dress size 8, now I'm 150lbs and a size 4.

If you have trouble eating enough, definitely consider drinking your calories. I like this smoothie: ~1000 healthy calories, tastes like a (vegan) reese's cup, full of omega-3s, other healthy fats, no refined sugar, and 50g of protein. You could probably throw a handful of greens in there as long as you picked something mild like spinach, kale, or broccoli.

1 scoop protein powder
1-1.5 bananas, preferably frozen
2-3 TBSP peanut butter or other nut butter
1-1.5 cups chocolate soy milk
1/4 - 1/2 avocado, preferably frozen
2 TBSP flax seeds or chia seeds

Oh and don't listen to anyone who tells you you can't be vegan and build muscle. Kendrick Farris is the only male weightlifter the US sent to the Olympics, and he's vegan.