Veganuary 2018

[lurchermummy]

Myself and DD aged 16 are going to try a vegan diet for January. DD is already vegetarian and I was vegetarian for many years although recently not. I really want to try a lighter healthier plant based way of eating, feel blurgh after all the rich food of Christmas, and am really keen to see if it helps my psoriasis. If we like it we may well continue but I signed up for Veganuary to give us a focus. DD2 is a fussy eater and not a big fan of vegetables so that may be tricky, DH is happy to eat vegetarian but vegan may be a step too far for him. Would really welcome any tips for adaptable family meals eg. sausage and mash, I can do vegan sausages for us and meat for them. I'm actually really looking forward to it now!

I was given the new Hugh Fernly-Whitingston book "Much more veg" for Xmas. It's totally vegan and there are lots of interesting and not too complicated recipes.

Me and DH have been vegetarian for over 30 years. I have been thinking about becoming vegan for a couple of years now.

I don't like milk. I use almond or soya milk in tea and find it absolutely fine. Mind you I use so little as I like my tea really strong that it is almost impossible to taste it. I also use one of those for porridge.

I don't like cheese that much and don't think I will struggle not eating it. The one thing I will struggle with though is eggs. I love them and probably eat about 6 a week.

I am going to try January with no eggs and see how I go.

I'm in (again)

I did Veganuary last year and have remained Vaguean since. Relinquishing fine cheese is very difficult for me and I have indulged over the festive period

I'm also having a dry January so hoping for a fresh-faced, thinner glow fairly soon!

jen there’s a free January yoga thing running if you want do mind, body and (give up) spirit.

I think eggs are the thing I’ll miss the most. I’ve stuck to vegan food today but I just started a cold so cooking didn’t really happen. Oven chips are vegetables aren’t they?!

I love 'vaguean' I think that has been me since about August 😁

Im giving it a go after skirting around veganism for a few years now. Breakfast today was linda McCartney sausage sandwich and tea. I like coconut milk in coffee but somehow it tastes too coconutty in tea if that makes sense

Lunch was linda mccartney pie with sprouts swede mashed potatoes roast parsnips.and some ben and jerrys chunky monkey dairy free ice cream. Its lovely but expensive so I wont be eating it often.

I had a frys chocolate cream and crisps as well. Well fed on day one. Back to work tomorrow but I have a supply of hummus and salad in the fridge so im good to go

@PurpleDaisies what's the yoga thingy? I'm partial to a good stretch.

Does anyone use the daily dozen app? And find it unbelievably hard to manage more than 10/24?

@Mysteriouscurle do you like oat milk? I really struggled until I discovered it and now start the day with an oat milk latte, it's good in tea too.

I think dairy is the thing I'll miss the most. I do love a good cashew milk and oat milk though, but replacement cheese will be difficult.

I'll absolutely join you on the yoga - sounds perfect for what I'm trying to achieve. I'd just love to be a bit healthier; physically and mentally.

Jen - I haven't seen the app, I will take a look. ☺

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/yoga/3123697-Yoga-with-Adriene-True?pg=1&order=

It’s a free daily yoga workout which is going to be on YouTube. The thread above is discussing it. It starts tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve done a bit of yoga in the past but am very rusty.

Mysterious how was the pie? Lunch sounds delicious.

@jen I might try oat milk thanks for the recommendation

If you want to go vegan in the long term, top tip is to attempt to train your palate to enjoy the taste of vegan food on its own merit, without mimicking the texture and flavours of meat. Try to be adventurous and explore Indian, Mexican and Middle Eastern cuisines which have a wealth of vegan dishes.

Also helpful is stocking up on supplies of vegan staples such as pulses, beans, chickpeas, nuts, nut butter, oat milk, almond milk and tofu so that you can, at times, come up with impromptu vegan dishes, without extensive meal planning and grocery shopping.

@woolfrai. Lovely, I cleared my plate in record time

Back to work today

Today's plan:

Breakfast: porridge made with water, and sultanas
Lunch: grilled veg and butter bean soup with a pitta bread
Dinner: bean chilli with rice and guacamole

I am doing veganuary! I am not veggie but barely drink Milk, fish and eggs will be my issue.

I just had muesli and its milk for breakfast, don't usually have breakfast but thought I would give it a try.

Lunch at work will be a peanut and avocado burger I bunged in the oven last night, humous, mange tout and tomato.
Not sure what dinner will be, I have a couple of portions a sort if sweet potato and lentil cottage pie thing I made last night which I can heat up if DH does something for him and DC that isn't suitable for me.

This week is a great week for me to try new stuff-dh is back at work but I’m not until next Monday so if anyone makes anything good, I’d love some links.

The meal plan so far is olive bread toast and houmous for breakfast, my favourite soup ever (spicy sweet corn made with jalapeño peppers) and something with cauliflower for dinner. Maybe a biryani. Next plan is to do some recipe hunting.

Oh yeah talking of recipes, it’s worth joining the vegan society for the pdf magazine each month (starts from £2 a month I think) fantastic recipes in their own right whatever your longer term way of eating:

www.vegansociety.com/get-involved/membership

Went veggi about 30 years ago, cannot stand Linda Mcartnies sausages, to me they look and taste like meat, yuck! if you deside to go vegan, anyone make sure you do your homework, to get the correct nutrients,minerals, its quite staggering what your body actually needs to remain healthy.

Wonderful to see so many trying veganuary :)

Eating out recommendations:
Zizzi, pizza express and las iguanas already mentioned

Pizza Hut in store (not delivery) now has vegan cheese

Wetherspoons has super salad and veggie curry

Wagamama has new vegan menu

Nandos has a few burgers that are or can be made vegan

Harvester and Toby Carvery both surprisingly have good vegan menus

You can actually get the veggie deluxe or spicy veggie deluxe with no mayo from McDonald’s, in UK chips also vegan

Most Indian restaurants have options

There will probably be smaller local places with options, try google first

If you have to go somewhere and google doesn’t tell you there are options phone them- so far at least 4 places I have been to have had full vegan menus that weren’t advertised anywhere, you had to ask!

Protein:

My husband went vegan in August, he weight grains so has I think 150g per day. For breakfast he has 2 bagels and sausages with vbites bacon or Linda mac sausages, gherkins, beetroot, ketchup or barbecue sauce, then dinner he has has tofu made with iodised salt with leafy green veg (high in protein, vitamins and minerals) beans, light dressing and sriracha mayo. Then he has ice cream (Ben and Jerry’s) and a protein shake. He’s cutting just now and on very low calories so he prefers to have 2 meals and ice cream but you could easily split his food into 3 meals and have more without ice cream.

If you’re on slightly higher calories you can do things like get pb2 (peanut powder, naturally high in protein) and make up porridge with that and protein shakes. Nutritional yeast is also high in protein. I make a high protein low calorie broccoli, spinach, garlic and nutritional yeast soup. Seitan and soya mince are also good and versatile. Dees pea protein sausages have great macros and vegan quorn is also good, the fillets are nice made into “hunters chicken” and the pieces in curries and stir fry’s.

All of the above only applies if you’re weight training- if you just have normal activity levels you’ll be able to get plenty of protein from vegetables, pulses, nuts seeds and grains.

Oh how lovely to see so many people getting involved, I did it two years ago and have been vegan ever since. Gonna lurk around though because I always need new inspiration.

I'm giving it a go too and started a bit early. I am normally an Omni but had been doing only high welfare meat at weekends for a while. So far really enjoying soya milk and lots of healthy homemade dinners but struggling with breakfast that doesn't involve just roast!

Toast not roast!

If you were eating roast for breakfast, it’s definitely time to cut down on meat scores.

My sweetcorn soup didn’t happen after I looked in the freezer and found no sweetcorn. Doh! I’ve had a random mix of avocado, wild rice and mixed grains (microwave pouch!), spring onion, coriander, houmous and harissa. I really need to get more organised.

Really good quality wholemeal bread with either baked beans or peanut butter is almost perfect protein, apparently. So that might work for breakfasts @Vetinari

Porridge with alt milk, scrambled tofu and mushrooms/tomatoes, cereal with alt milk, smoothie, overnight oats