reducing animal products

[1moreRep]

hello,

i'm not vegan but i would love to reduce my meat and dairy intake to see if going veggie is "doable".

i dislike the taste and texture of most meat but i need at least 100gms of protein a day as i do a lot of sport. i don't want my calories to shoot up and love chick peas etc

So firstly can i please ask your high protein recipes ? Also what do you pack for lunches etc as i dislike bread

i also hate "fake" meat substitutes and want as little processed food as possible

Also are eggs bad ? is it cruel etc for animals? and the fish industry is that cruel / bad for the environment as i think i could possibly reduce meat and just have fish, or would that be hypocritical?

I do similar. Don't eat meat, do eat some fish (non-farmed, sustainable).
Also have reduced dairy - swapped milk for non-dairy options.
Lunch is often bulgar/couscous, veggies, tinned fish.
I do eat eggs but am aware there's issues with it.

Re. being hypocritical. That only applies if you're making claims that you don't actually apply in practice. You don't need to label yourself. Just make changes that work for you.

Well done in wanting to live more ethically and environmentally vegan living can be really enjoyable and the food can be delicious!

Eggs are “bad” in the sense that male chicks are gassed or ground alive at birth as they’re not required, and females are killed at 18 months as they’re laying less by then- lifespan is up to 8 years. They’ll likely be hooked up hung upside down electrocuted then have their throat slit. Even free range farms have been shown to have horrendous conditions with hens with barely any feathers, half drowned in their own faeces. Chickens are intelligent, friendly and have their own personalities.

Fish feel pain. They are stabbed or suffocated to death. It must be agony. Wild caught fish have a huge amount of bycatch which is fish and birds and other marine life caught accidentally, that dies and is thrown back in. 43% of the plastic in the ocean is fishing equipment. Fish farms create massive amounts of pollution and disease which can be passed on to wild fish.

As for protein how many calories are you having to get 100g of protein?

I’ll post some ideas in a moment.

Grains:

Quinoa- use like rice- 8.1g for 222 calories
Whole wheat pasta- 7g per 174 calories
Wild rice- 6.5g per 165 calories
Oats- 6g per 166 calories
Spelt- 11g per 246 calories

Beans

Chickpeas- 14.5g per 269 calories
Lentils- 18g per 230 calories
Kidney beans- 13.4g per 234 calories
Black beans- 15.2g per 227 calories
Soybeans- 28.6g per 298 calories
Pinto beans- 15.4g per 245 calories
Haricot (baked) beans are similar

Nuts

Peanuts- 6.7g per 160 calories
Pb2 (peanut powder)- 5g per 53.5 calories
Almonds- 6.4g per 155 calories

Not got time to list all the stats but seeds are good too, chia, sunflower, flaxseed, pumpkin seed etc.

Also veg- brocolli, spinach, kale, other leafy greens, peas.

Nutritional yeast also high.

wallflowerkitchen.com/30-high-protein-vegan-meals/

I eat loads of tofu (sporting needs). I particularly like taifuns smoked with almonds and sesame seeds. But I need lots of carbs too so don’t have just protein-y recipes! But I like a salad with tofu, sprouted seeds/pulses (these have tons of protein and not many calories)...but then I wrap it all up in a wrap

I eat a lot of natural soya yoghurt, and like chia pudding too...these have quite a lot of protein. I’ve heard amaranth has lots of protein but have never really used it.

thanks for the ideas! i never knew that about chickens! can i ask a question, if you had your own chickens and made them have a good life would eating eggs be ok? or would the chickens be miserable

calories i have 1800-2300

i like vegan protein powder,

i am considering vegetarianism or veganism as my dds have been asking about meat etc and i just struggled to justify it to them

100 gr of protein a day is a lot. The current recommendation is 0.8g/kg.
How did you come with the 100g/day need?

@1moreRep The thing about chickens is that they still suffer to lay the egg. It’s like us giving birth, but they have been selectively bred to lay an egg every or almost every day.

The calcium in hens bones is depleted to make the egg. Sadly egg laying chickens don’t live as long as they should due to their bodies not coping with the strain of the egg laying every day.

Add to that and, unless they are rescued, most of their brothers were probably killed as chicks as the egg industry has no use for them. It’s actually really sad when you think about it

I recently met some chickens at an animal sanctuary. At that sanctuary they feed the eggs back to the hens to give them some of the calcium they’d depleted.

One day the guy who runs the sanctuary showed us something. He dropped one of the eggs on the courtyard paving stones. It was incredible- those chickens absolutely bolted to eat that egg!

Probably even more important is what we say to society when we use hens for eggs. As long as we keep eating eggs, raising hens for food is seen as acceptable.

I totally understand the question as I wondered this myself when I first went vegan. It was hard to get my head around. I hope this answer helps.

i do crossfit and need it for recovery

i can't believe the reality of eggs! i would google these things but there are so many horrific images (and i have to look at other types of horrific things for work so do not want to be met with horrific images of animals) that i don't just google it

Tofu and tempeh are good sources of protein. If you haven't cooked tofu before here are a couple of recommendations.

First think about the difference between a blank canvas and the Mona Lisa. It is how you season and marinate tofu that will make the difference.
Second, it is all about firmness. Buy the hard tofu, wraps it in Kitchen paper and press it.
Cut your tofu in slices roughly 1 cm thick and place in a food container.
A basic marinate is 1 tablespoon of extravirgin olive oil and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. For a classic size bloc, you will need to double that. If you have miso paste, a s teaspoon to the mix.

Lentils, chickpeas & co are really easy to prepare. I buy mine dry, leave to soak in abundant water overnight and boil in fresh water the next day. I then put single day doses in sandwich bag that i stock flat in my freezer. I like my lentils as they are, with just some lemon juice to increase iron absorption. Chickpeas are delicious with tomatoes, onion, crystal salt, fresh parsley and olive oil.

Black and cannelloni beans are nice in soups such as minestrone minus the pasta.

I also avoid all the fakes and processed foods.

If you are getting serious about plant-based you need to be aware of possible deficiencies and how to avoid them.

Vit B12 is compulsory every day. You will your calcium from almonds and dark green veggies, you might need drop of iodine if you don't add much salt to your food. You will also need to cover your iron need and coffee and teas interfere with absorption, squeezed lemon increases it.
Non dairy milk are another good source of protein. I use soy milk.
You can prepare seeds crackers made only of seeds.

I like to snack on edamame. Buy a frozen packet, add a handful to a pot of boiling water and cook for 5 min. Done.

This website has a lot of information on plant-based diet, recommendations and warnings. Everything is science-based and even video has a long list of medical paper sources.
nutritionfacts.org