Vegans (or plant based), are you all healthy and slim

[Barenecessities1]

I see various posts on FB about veganism or plant based lifestyle and literally everyone looks slim, healthy and has amazing glowing skin. I know plant based/vegan does not necessarily mean healthy, as people choose this life style for different reasons, what is your experience with plant based/vegan life style?

Again, I just shove bits in the instant pot (no frying or anything) and put it on manual for 4 mins 😊 usually
water
veg stock
tablespoon or so or curry paste (my fav is red Thai)
coconut sugar
salt
juice of a lime or two
corriander
keffir lime leaves (bought frozen on Amazon and have been in the freezer for eons)
mushrooms
carrots
any other veg about to grow legs and run off lol
spring onions
bit of chopped ginger
grated garlic

then when it’s beeped quick release and either a slosh of coconut milk (not the tins, the stuff you use for drinks) or a bit of light coconut milk from a tin and some brown rice noodles that have been soaking in hot water.

The last few weeks, DH has bought me some fancy mushrooms when he does the shop and I’ve been in broth heaven 😊❤️

I hope you try it - I’m making myself hungry lol

@BarbaraofSeville
*I don't think you're going to get many posts from the vegans who 'don't like vegetables so live on vegan sausages, chip butties, crisps and oreos' (all vegan) but they probably do exist.

It's like everything else, it's what you eat overall, not what label you put on your dietary choices.*

Guilty as charged ⬆️

Sadly this was me as a vegan- I would eat veg as I love it, but sadly I discovered the vegan junk food (vegan ice cream is the best!).

Currently a vegetarian but slowly working towards having a healthy and balanced plant based diet. Hoping to lose weight as incredibly overweight and unhappy about it.

@Barenecessities1 @luciatrope
I have a booklet from the Bristol based charity Viva! Which is about nutrition for babies and children, that's pretty good.

I also have used a lovely paediatric dietician (who is vegan herself) and works for the NHS. You can find her on Instagram the.vegan.dietician
I've been lucky enough to have a consultation in person with her, she was very helpful.

Sorry, that should read
the.vegan.dietitian
Her name is Sam Gould and I highly recommend her.

Since I've had covid (six months ago now) I haven't been able to eat meat and very limited dairy. I'm slim but definitely not healthy! If anything my skin and hair have got more greasy and gross and have less energy. Sorry if that's not the answer you're looking for!

@knitknack thanks so much for typing that out. We’re having thai broth tonight.

So happy - me too! 😊

What do you guys mean when you say you don’t eat meat alternatives? Because in the next sentence you would say you eat things like Tofu… which is a meat substitute???

what do you eat as a protein source? Nuts and such?

I think they mean fake meat alternatives. Tofu is a protein source in its own right and has been eaten in parts of Asia for hundreds of years.

@Tropicaliyes I suspect they mean they don't eat things like quorn or vegan sausages or fake bacon / chicken / ham products.

Yeah I understand but for the main part these “fake meats” are made using soy, wheat, mushroom, pea or in the case of quorn.. mycoprotein and similar… all, if not most of these things can be found in our diets anyway just not processed (or in the case of tofu.. processed).

I was asking what the protein base of those that said they don’t eat these things listed above?

Sorry @Tropicaliyes I should have re-read your post. Nuts and pulses basically.

You can make a myriad of tasty dishes using various types of lentils, beans and peas. Soaked cashew nuts blended with water makes a brilliant alternative to cream in cooking. It's ideal in a Korma especially if you are lactose intolerant.

Lifelong vegetarian, vegan for about 10 years. I am healthy and a size 8. I am over 60 and can easily walk 20 miles or run 10. I am very conscious of my health and work at it, without it being a chore. I don't know why anyone wouldn't to be honest.

When I had a routine health check last year the nurse, who said she was 22 years younger than me, was asking me for advice.

@RampantIvy you see that is the thing, a lot of the meat substitutes are in fact the things you have listed.. I mean depending on what you get many fake meats are using all of the listed vegan proteins.

I bought veggie haggis once and it was pulses.. it was a meat substitute.
cashews are used to add the creaminess milk usually gives so anything that requires creaminess can benefit from those.
get a nut burger and it is of course nuts.. can also be considered a meat sub

I could understand if the people who didn’t eat meat substitutes said they didn’t eat processed meat subs because then it would cancel out the store bought fake meats, however many vegans make their own stuff at home, so if it’s sausages, Burgers, bacon etc, it’s home made but using essentially the same proteins as the store bought but without it being processed.

I recently bought pea protein “chunks” and “mince”, both of which are considered a meat sub, except it is just dehydrated pea protein used as a base to make up a fake meat meal.. many fake meats also use these bases except I cut out the middle man and done it myself..

If I done that all the time I wouldn’t say I don’t eat meat subs, but I could say I don’t eat processed meat subs. See my confusion?

@FourChimneys I wish I could say the same. I have always been slim, at some points underweight to the point of needing a feeding tube just to many different illnesses.. At the moment I am no longer underweight but am indeed a healthy weight and now I have fat in places I never did I feel uncomfortable in my own skin so trying to work out consciously… It is by no means a breeze and is quite difficult as I’m coming from someone that has never worked out regardless of my slim frame.

many would look at my frame now and before I became underweight and say I looked “healthy” and how did I do it etc. but little did they know I was the complete opposite of healthy, plagued with many chronic conditions and spent most my life in hospital so the comments are not taken easily as anyone can just look and assume.

I had overactive thyroids as a child so regardless of what I ate or how active or sedentary I was, I could never gain weight. This reflected badly on my sister who was the complete opposite and in fact more sedentary and overweight. She would need to do so much more than me to loose weight regardless if we done the same thing and ate the same so it’s more than what it appears on the outside.

See, I would say I am a healthy (but a bit fat) vegan who loves all the frankensteiny breaded fake meats and carbs and can't be arsed cooking with lentils. I'm sure if I did, I would be a slim one though :) But I don't do it for health reasons anyway.

I'm 95% vegan, otherwise vegetarian (but no eggs) and have been vegetarian for almost 40 years (now 54). I have never smoked or drank alcohol. I would easily pass for early 40s, still run and work out, have lots of energy when I'm not dealing with getting up at 5.10am and an 80 mile commute. However, since I turned 50 I have really struggled with my weight. I managed to get down to 9st last summer but put 1.5st on to reach my heaviest ever weight. I'm now on keto and it's coming off - 8lbs in just over two weeks so far.

I think what we eat really matters but my blooming hormones have a mind of their own.

I am veggie and have been for most of my life. I don't eat any meat alternatives or fake meat. I eat lentils, eggs, dairy, nuts and paneer for protein.

In answer to the OP, I was very slim until I was 45, about a size 8. I am now 50 and have put on weight in the last few years, but I put that down to the menopause rather than my diet. I don't have any other health conditions though. Skin normal not glowing :)

@JaneFondue thank you for that, that makes so much more sense because you literally have no meat substitutes. That’s exactly what I would expect of a response except the others have mentioned things that are meat substitutes in essences.