Carbs carbs carbs

[Nouveaunew]

I’m just putting on weight from all the carbs I eat! How to be a healthy (& full!) vegan?

More crap than carb. You are probably eating a lot of processed vegan food, frankenfood such as vegan burger, sausages, ice cream, snacks and so on.
I doubt the carbs from lentils, kale and rolled oats are responsible for your weight gain.
Opt for whole food and remember that VEGan start with VEGetables.

Thanks. I do need to increase my veg intake. I don’t eat vegan substitutes but I eat a lot of bread, pasta, rice etc. Vegetables don’t fill me. But maybe I need to put more time into planning meals …

I'm not sure vegan and convenience make great bed fellows.

Does anyone have any advice?

What sort of foods do you like? Pasta dishes for example can be bulked up with veg- I like adding courgette, aubergines etc to pasta bakes, they taste good but also have a more substantial texture than other veg so more filling. Adding baked beans to toast, baked potatoes etc helps make them more filling- I dislike veg just on the side of the plate and plain, but enjoy it in dishes.

Pulses
And fibre-y veg

I’m not vegan but these are good for filling you up, and good for you. Hugh F-W has a couple good vegan cookbooks which I’d highly recommend

Thanks. I’ll check out Hugh’s cookbooks

Have a look at the Forks Over Knives site for recipe ideas.

I try to have green leafy veg along with the carbs - so instead of a portion of rice with curry, I have half rice half greens with curry.

Unfortunately I then have two helpings

I like shredding ore washed spinach and adding it to anything. A rice dish. A pasta dish. If you stir it through the hot food, it'll wilt a bit but retain the goodness.

Avocados are a great vegan convenience food.

Plenty of pulses. Tinned puy lentils are great and red lentils take no time to cook either. Chickpeas can make loads of great recipes. Chickpea curry, Spanish chickpeas, stews etc.

It's not about eating the same and replacing animal products, it's about thinking differently about your approach to building a meal.

Not a vegan but pulses beans are great I often do a bean chilli or lentil bake or chickpea and butternut curry. Or some tofu. Definitely stay away from processed vegan food it not healthy

Do you eat any protein?
What protein do you eat?

Thanks. I eat tofu, nuts, nut butters. I’ll admit I don’t eat lentils very often so thanks for reminding me about them. I was never much of a meat eater so when I do eat junk, it’s not vegan replacement but more like crisps & sweet things. I’m definitely not eating enough protein … I like the idea of snacking on avocado(on crackers? There I go with the carbs… can’t get enough of them). I’d like to just get healthier . Hadn’t heard of forks over knives. I’ll check it out

Olives, oil, nuts, seeds.
Fat is satiating.

I had satay sauce for the first time in ages on Friday and I'd forgotten how good that can be.

Oh yeah satay sauce is bloody lovely … nice with tofu

You need to understand that all plants are carbs.Saying carbs are bad and make me fat is like saying all plants are bad and if you are a vegan, the bulk of your diet will be carbs. It is not the carbs that made you gain weight, but specific foods and your avoidance of the wider plant choices.
Vegetables can be very filling.

• Pumpkin roasted in the oven with garlic and rosemary,
• green beans salad with red onion, tomatoes, olives and fried cappers,
• a poke bowl with a base of cabbage, with edamame, grated carrots , avocado, marinated tofu and hemp seeds,
• a chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber salad
• a French ratatouille with some polenta fingers
• a French onion soup, an Italian minestrone and bean soup, and every soup you can think of
• falafel with a butter lettuce and chopped parsley
• a mushroom-bean patty with sweet potatoes cooked in the oven

and I could go on and on and on. And I haven't even started on the Indian, Thai or Japanese dishes.

Think vegetables first, and whole grains seconds. Leave industrial refined products out. Try black or red rice, buckwheat, wholewheat bread or even better make your own spelt bread.
Careful with the sauces in jars, they will have sugar and additives. Try to make your own. read labels, anything with more than 5 gr of sugars/100 gr, leave on the shelf.

Focus on what you want to eat and not the food you are avoiding. Aim to try 3 new vegetables every week and 2 new recipes per week as well.

I would recommend you visit your local library and borrow some books, vegans but also Middle Eastern. A lot of Lebanese recipes are plant dominant and if they suggest an animal product you can make substitution.

Nuts and nuts butter are very fattening. Nuts are part of a vegan diet , but not the roasted salty one or worse sugared. You need 1 Brazilian nut per day and then decide if you want 25gr circa of nuts or 1 table spoons of nut butter. It is very easy to overeat nuts.

It is you daily calories that will make you gain weight , not a specific macros.
Have fun, be adventurous and experiment in the kitchen.

Are you taking your supplements (vit D, B12, Omega 3, iodine if you don't eat seaweed) ?

Thanks so much @Cormoran what a helpful post. I’m going to save it and refer back.

I take vitamin D. I also take vitamin A and antioxidants for my skin (I had adult acne). I take iron periodically and a multivitamin periodically.

@Nouveaunew If you are vegan you MUST take b12. The amount in a multivitamin is not going to be near enough. I take 1000ug (microgram) on alternating days.

You should also consider an EPA-DHA from algae.
I eat 35 gr of flaxseeds every single day and then some days, on top of that, walnuts, chia seeds, .... but all these will give you ALA, and when I tested my Omega 3s , they were dangerously low. I now take EPA-DHA every day. If you don't eat seaweeds and your multivitamin doesn't include it, you need iodine as well.
Vegans are also low in selenium, but just 1 Brazil nut per day, will cover you for that.

Both b12 and EPA-DHA are crucial for cognition. You don't want to be demented in your old years . Yes, some foods are fortified with them, but fortified just means, the supplement is added to the food. What is the difference between adding a supplement to a food or to you directly? Especially if you plan on eating less boxed/industrial food?

Since you probably have white rice in the house, don't ditch it but when you cook it, add a generous handful of dry lentils at the same time you add rice to water - and if feeling it, add another handful of frozen peas - and after draining it, add a teaspoon of chiaseeds. You will add fibre and flavours to your rice.

My advice would be to do a cupboard cleanup, donate everything that has added sugar, or is processed. You deserve good food, and food that is good for you. If you have skin issues, one more reason to ditch all the industrial, ... and the crisps..... and sweet stuff.

Go for beetroots, great for skin and stamina! I just wash them , don't peel them, and let them boil for an hour, then store whole in fridge and use one at the time. I don't peel them, just cut into 1 cm cubes, add tomatoes in 1 cm cubes, the green bits of fresh spring onions, chopped parsley, extra virgin olive oil, a bit of vinegar, a squeeze of lemon. Delicious

I love fresh carrot juice (from a juicer) . It is amazing for the skin.

Think about microbiome and gut health for skin. Your gut loves prebiotics, so load on onions, leeks, asparagus, endives, ...Cooked onion don't give bad breath. I made roasted onions yesterday: boil peeled onion whole for at least 20 min, let cool down , cut in half, place in roasting dish. In a bowl, mix chopped coriander, breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, smoked paprika or whichever spice you like. Add a spoonful on top of each onion half, a few drops of olive oil on top and in the oven for half and hour or more. It will be crunchy. Or try the sweet and sour onions.

Try going highly processed food free for 1 month, and see what it does to your body and skin. No processed grain, refined oil, fried food, added sugar, additives.

Yes, cooking fresh vegetables takes time, no doubt, but honestly it takes less time than social media. I usually have the kids doing homework, chatting or helping me, and if alone, I watch a series or listen to a podcast.

Don't focus on weight or carbs, think fresh food, and the issues will solved themselves.

I really recommend the Nutracheck app. I use it to both lose weight and also to check I’m eating enough fibre and protein on a daily basis. It was a real eye opener for me when I started using it.

I always add lentils to dishes like cottage pie / spag bol plus additional veggies to up the protein and veg.

Cronometer.com is free.

There is a YouTube channel called Pick up Limes that has a ton of great vegan ideas for protein full meals, healthy snacks, quick meals, breakfast etc

Protein is your friend.if you don’t like lentils try adding tofu and seitan to more of your dishes.when I increased my protein it made a big difference to my hunger levels.

Adding more protein, and healthy fats in moderation, should help you feel fuller. Reducing refined carbohydrates, and eating prebiotics (eg onions, asparagus) and probiotics (eg vegan kimchi, natto if you can tolerate it, probiotic vegan unsweetened kefir) can also affect how your microbiome works and can in turn reduce hunger and cravings.

As far as substitutes like vegan cheese go, the majority of the time these will have the same calories as dairy cheese, but vastly less protein. That’s aside from the question of level of processing.

Look into tempeh as well as tofu, but also read up on phytic acid in both (there are positives and negatives).

You could also always consider a protein powder to add to shakes eg sunflower, pea, spirulina.

There are some pea, chickpea and lentil based pastas you could try. People often seem to find they need less of them to feel full, but not everyone finds them convincing enough as pasta.

A can of chickpeas or lentil stirred into soup will make it more satisfying.

Thank you @Cormoran Lots of great ideas and information there. I never thought of cooking rice & lentils together. I’ll definitely do that. A Brazil nut a day from now on (do the chocolate covered ones count? )

Thanks @HarryBlaster is that app different to My Fitness Pal?

I must get back eating lentils as I do like a Dahl