Vegans please help me

[junkfoodheaven]

Today i watched eat yourself alive and ive been reading the china study.
Its an eye opener for sure.
I dont really eat meat anyway.
But i want to stop all dairy like milk as i have it in my tea is it soya milk you use for your tea?
Can i still have sugar in my tea?
I dont eat cheese or chocolate not done in years.
I do like bread what is vegan bread?
Whole foods is what i want but i only know the basics like fruit veg salads.
Im not doing it for weight loss although that is welcome im doing it for better health.
Did it improve your health?
Im all new to this and i want to get it right.

Plus if you're wanting to avoid dairy for health reasons and are not looking to be vegan for ethical reasons, you could still eat eggs, which of course are an excellent source of protein and other nutrients.

I really don't see why this would be harder for vegans.

As for being healthier or feeling different. I used to get horrible indigestion, it mostly vanished overnight when moving to a plant based diet. I also used to suffer from daily headaches. They mostly went. I'm not the best picture of health or the worst.

I've found it a lot harder - almost all substitutes for dairy products and meat have huge amounts of emulsifiers, gums and thickeners in to keep them in their meat/dairy-like state, along with preservatives.

Everything also contains seed oils (inflammatory/UPF) to replace the natural fats in meat and dairy .

So most plant milks, mayos, stocks, non-dairy yoghurts and creams, vegan cheese are really filled with crap, and meat substitutes are even worse,
It means everything has to be researched and thought about before you even begin on the cooking - whereas if you eat meat and dairy, I think it's much easier to cook basic stuff from scratch without any UPFs at all. Meat and two veg, eggs, cheese, latte etc - all non-processed.

Really the only way to do it is to cook food which is 'meant' to be vegan - curries, some mexican, some chinese/korean. I've had to learn to cook completely differently from the bog-standard 'British mediterranean' family cooking style I've spent 20 years perfecting!

Plus I've got young people who do their best but definitely miss our 'normal' family food - lasagna, pies etc. So I've spent a lot of time trying to recreate some of those things without either meat or UPF and I can tell you it's a massive farking faff !

And fucking expensive, I should have added.

Just to share the knowledge a bit - Rude Health organic is the best oat milk imo : still has rapeseed oil but it's cold-pressed so less intrinsically processed/inflammatory.

Wraps are generally terrible in terms of UPFs and Crosta and Mollica wraps are the only ones I've found without that crap and also no seed oils.

Bread can be called 'sourdough' even if it uses the Chorleywood method and contains emulsifiers /fatty acids. It shouldn't have added yeast in it really but deffo look at the ingredients- ideally just starter dough, salt, flour, water and possibly olive oil.

Don't use rapeseed or sunflower oil. Olive oil is heat-processed which loses most of its benefits - use EVOO (Lidl/Aldi is cheapest). For high-heat cooking can still use EVOO unless it's smoking - if it smokes use cold-pressed rapeseed next time (cheapest is Lidl).

You can use silken tofu as a sub for dairy (Clearspring has the least 'tofu' taste) as long as there are other strong flavours in it. So can make a cheesy or bechamel sauce with garlic and nutritional yeast. Can combine with soaked cashews blitzed in high-speed blender (Definitely need one of these I think).

Bosh nutritional yeast is imo the best in terms of cheesiness for sprinkling on top of things that would normally have cheese, and also for things like pesto.

Clearspring TVP soya mince is good and quite cheap. It doesn't really sub for mince in things like spag bol and lasagna etc but if you bump up the other flavourings - wine, garlic, mushrooms/mushroom stock, - it's fine. It's even better with strong flavoured dishes like Korean bulgogi mince.

Will add more as I cook them!

Before you commit to a vegan diet, watch this.

Oh and also should have added that the reason most of this is difficult is the constant search for protein. There are loads of easy and quick side dishes that I could live off easily, but I wouldn't be getting enough protein.

Also getting enough 'complete' amino acids is quite hard - quinoa and soy is good for this, but also you can combine beans and rice and together they make a complete one.

I don't know about it being easier if you eat meat and dairy. I see vegetarians that get totally stuck in a rut in what they eat. Cheese everything etc. Not that they have to. Unless you are using unadulterated cuts of meat, and so on, you'll get just as much crap in read meals etc. When I scan ingredients these days, they look a hell of a lot better than they did 20 years back! Stuff like shop bought dips always tastes of vomit to me compared with home made stuff. Bread, cakes, burgers are so easy to make. If there are lots of mouths to feed and they want milks, I'd consider making my own. Soya milk is easy to make, it just can be messy. I quite like soya milk, but it gives a lingering aftertaste, nothing as bad as butter and dairy. I had some dairy chocolate by accident and it was absolutely horrendous.

This is a very good thread,. thanks OP and posters. I used to be vegan 20 odd years ago and then stopped. Meaning to go back to it.

On the sugar issue- (although i might be teaching posters to suck vegan eggs here) I believe that in the US sugar is sometimes refined with bone char hence the OPs query. I don't believe that is the case in the UK but may be wrong.

FWIW vegetarian DH is quite committed to milk and cheese and he has now switched to Oatly for his tea and swears it is the best.

My biggest piece of advice is to learn how to cook.

And then cook everything from scratch, even for just a few months, so that you can get the hang of it. I include Bread in that.

So choose a few things, say a curry, a chilli, a few different vegetable pasta dishes and learn how to cook and season them properly. Cook them over and over, week after week until you learn how to bulk them out with different vegetables and beans and pulses and it will serve you well. Try different recipes and investigate different vegan cooks to try their suggestions. I particularly like Yeong Man Cooking, he also gives ideas for some great sauces that add flavour to almost every meal.

This is by no means healthy but one of my biggest tips I like to give people for going vegan is google accidentally vegan junk food.

I think a lot of people are surprised by just how much every day normal food is vegan. For instance lots of biscuits are vegan like jammie dodgers and most bourbons. Lots of supermarket bakery doughnuts are vegan e.g Co-op custard doughnuts and jam doughnuts. Beef and tomato pot noodles are vegan.

The main reason why I suggest looking up accidentally vegan foods is because I feel like a lot of people try to go vegan or cater to vegans and end up over complicating things. In the UK pretty much all bread and pasta is vegan but that doesn’t stop some people flapping their gums about having to buy ‘special vegan’ pasta and bread .

All sugar in the UK is vegan. If you Google it you will most likely get results saying that it isn’t because of being filtered through bone char but this is only in the US.

I think I'd focus on food groups rather than food stuff / how to replace protein etc.
I do use supplements and I eat a lot of vegetables rather than substitute meats. I'm intolerant to quorn so never use that. I do use fake meat slices every so often to add texture.
I love cereal and oat milk, my cuppa in milk, and a handful of red lentils in anything I'm cooking.

Centre your diet around beans, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fruit and vegetables.

Supplement B12 and vitamin D.

Forget meat and dairy substitutes and learn to cook in a different way. I.e, don't think in terms of a big hunk of meat and some sides around it. Think loads of plants!
Deliciously Ella is great. I got the app when I went 100% plant based and just picked a new thing to try everyday.
The Happy Pear are also fab. As is Dr Gregor's Daily Dozen app if you really want to max out your health! (And can eat a lot in a day, haha!)

Big exciting thing! - all plants contain all essential amino acids! They contain them in varying amounts so all you need to do is eat lots of variety and plenty of it. (But then that happens naturally doesn't it, no one just eats cauliflower for example)

If you eat mainly (90%) whole foods plant based you can stuff your face and not be over weight. I have never been so full and satisfied in my life and I never put on weight. It's truly liberating!
This is because plants and whole grains, beans etc are full of fibre and water so are filling but also low calorie.
Plus they also come pack with tonnes of nutrients.

I made the change over night and yes I was very bloated! This is just because it takes a while for the microbes in your gut to multiply enough to digest the increased amounts of fibre. Increase slowly if you'd rather not have this.

Have my bloods done regularly and all tip top shape! Nutrients, blood pressure, cholesterol all better than normal/average.

Update 3 days in to being a vegan woke with a migraine again for the second day.
I suffer with migraines but not like this.
Two days of meh feeling.
I hate soy and oat milk in my tea so went back to my normal red top milk this morning. (it was heaven )
I was not given a warning about the wind my god im pleased i live alone im so gusty.
Fresh fruit and veg dont stay fresh for long.
The vegan subs are yuk.
I will stay vegetarian as i dont like meat but can not do vegan.
And i found it cost me more money.
Yes its only been 3 days but its not for me.

Not vegan, but my DS is allergic to dairy and eggs so we do eat quite a lot of vegan meals.
I just wanted to say that whilst getting sufficient calcium without dairy definitely requires more thought I wouldn't say it is very hard. Dairy is more convenient for sure, and we are used to it as the main calcium source in the Western diet, so if you can't or don't want to consume it you need to make a conscious effort to include non dairy calcium sources in your diet that you might not otherwise eat eg linseed. But it can be done. And you can always take a supplement if you're concerned, it's not the end of the world.

Gorilla's have incisors, they're vegetarian...

I'm yet to be deficient in anything, I fact my iron is better since being vegan, I used to have migraines, aching joints and awful perimenopause symptoms. All gone since being vegan.
My meat eating mother is anaemic and has to have B12 injections.

Yes, we are naturally omnivores, which means we CAN eat both meat and plants. Doesn't mean we have to.

Yes, some of the programs are biased, doesn't change the fact something has to be killed for meat or that cows have babies to give us milk or that male chick's are "useless" and disposed of...

My meat eating mother is anaemic and has to have B12 injections.

Some people can't process vitamin B. Also, some can't process non haem iron.

There is no one size fits all as far as diet is concerned in terms of omnivore, vegetarian or vegan, as long as we eat a healthy diet

True. i have the same (Pernicious anaemia). It's an auto immune disease and means you lack a particular enzyme. I eat meat. (I first mistyped that as 'I eat eat' which is also true. )

I also really do believe that no diet is one size fits all. We have to figure what suits us best. I am not sure I have figured it out yet! DH eats very lightly. Just fruits and salads. Otherwise he becomes quite ill. I get very sick when i try and emulate him- (he is thin, I am not) and my blood sugars go bananas.

I use oatly barista for hot drinks, it doesn’t curdle and tastes lovely. Sugar is fine, as long as you’re not in America where bone char is sometimes used in its production. Most breads in the U.K. are vegan.

Often for quick meals I’ll use beans and rice as the ‘base’, add sauces/herbs to make different dishes. Beans and lentils are great for protein and iron. If I’m stuck for ideas, I’ll google ‘easy/quick vegan meals’ and be spoilt for choice!

You’ll need to take a b12 supplement, it’s the only thing a vegan diet lacks. I like the better you b12 spray, but there’s loads out there!

Personally I felt healthier when I went vegan, but I was eating a lot of cheese before, so no wonder! I find that I get less mucus-y now that I’ve cut dairy out, and maybe tmi but I sure am regular bowel-wise!

My post should have said B12, not B.