Veganuary anyone?

[mnpeasantry]

So, never had a lot of luck with launching popular threads but wondered if anyone was game for a bit of vegan January?

My plan is to eat a plant based diet and cut out booze for all except 3 pre planned events in January.

I've put together a list of meals that sound good to me and not too arduous to put together on top of working and caring for two under 3.

Meals include:

Chips
Quinoa and sweet potato cakes
Avocado
Guacamole and tortilla chips
Veg chilli
Lentil soup
Brocolli and cashew stir fry
Spicy coconut noodles
Onion bhaji
Aubergine curry
Hummus
Sweet potato and white bean chilli
Curried coconut veg noodles
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/veggie-noodles-with-curried-coconut-sauce/
Sweet potato chickpea curry
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/sweet-potato-chickpea-amp-spinach-curry/
Pumpkin, chickpeas and coconut curry
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/pumpkin-chickpea-coconut-curry/
Vegan shepherds pie
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/vegan-shepherd-s-pie/
Best vegan burger
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/the-best-vegan-burger/

Why? Feeling a bit fat after Christmas and still need to lose a bit of baby weight. I feel that I have become a bit meat based in my meal planning lately and would like to diversify a bit. I'm aware of environmental and ethical issues surrounding the consumption of meat and I feel like I'm starting to believe that dairy doesn't really agree with me and triggers a number of allergies in my family.

So, is anybody with me? Let's (hopefully) improve our health and fitness, complexions, environment, digestion, etc! Feeling hopeful.

Top, have you tried soy milk?

Klingy, I'm finding I want much less sugar which is great. are you eating fruit? Mangoes are dealing wth my sweet tooth at the mo.

Actually, now you mention it Lorelei, we pretty much ran out of fruit this morning and I was hitting the Oreos by this afternoon! Must be that I missed the fruit!

I'm really determined to cut out palm oil as well now, which will eliminate a few snacks for me. We didn't get round to baking today but maybe I'll do some banana pancakes instead of the cookies tomorrow as they only have banana and no refined sugar.

It's definitely a learning curve! I love this thread. It's really useful and motivating.

psycho that looks yum!

This also YUM - Lidl Christmas biscuit spread (vegan but palm oil)

For a milk substitute in coffee I like Oatly Barrista milk, it's one you can heat (and I then froth) and tastes lovely.

I'm getting fed up with waking up hungry 😞 not sure what I'm doing wrong as I'm eating good food and plenty of it! Going to try to do something different today. Grr

I've started the day the past few days with half a punnet of blueberries and a whole 500g tub of Alpro plain with almond/coconut whatever. Sometimes follow up with a banana an hour or two later, would prefer porridge but have run out. Isn't it a good thing to wake up hungry though?

I guess it is!! I've just finished off a coconut yoghurt and banana smoothie from last night and had two cups of espresso - possibly not ideal 😀 day off today so am going to really think about menus for the next few days.

I'm disappointed by how little energy I have, did a marathon almost 8 weeks ago (and have another in 14 weeks) but I'm struggling to run at all and everyone is blaming my diet. I thought the emphasis on carbs would be a big big help but not so far 😩

It might just be winter, I'm shockingly useless in the cold grey dampness.

i hate waking up hungry because it usually means that I will be ravenous all day. What I'm finding with this is I slightly undereat compared to usual, then end up having a bed time snack of some sort, which I prefer to waking up hungry.

I haven't weighed myself because I don't like to do that often, but I have measured my waist which is an inch less since just before Xmas. (I don't do Xmas so that doesn't count really, although I did have a big blow out day for New Year).

Winter is really really hard for me so I'm hoping that this kind of progress in winter is a good thing.

I seem to have got the world's biggest bag of sweet potatoes. Not sure what to do with them all....it's just me here....!! They were reduced and it worked out cheaper than buying the smaller bag. How long will they keep, I wonder? Maybe just eat one a day and when it starts turning, make a soup?

psycho, just thought, are you taking B12? isn't that meant to be the one thing that's really hard to obtain from this diet?

I always forget the b vitamins! Thanks for reminder!

psycho If you're running marathons then you might need a little more protein. Have you ever tried making seitan? It's wheat gluten - which sounds awful! - but is basically a foodstuff made of protein, low carb and low fat. Vegan bodybuilders and athletes love it.

It's surprisingly easy to make, I made a stuffed version for xmas dinner which was nice enough, but the real success was "doner kebab" seitan which was amazing.

It's really tasty, you can choose the spices or herbs you put into it, and it's very filling so str4nge you might like it too!

I don't bother with B12 supplements as I get plenty in fortified plant milks, cereals, marmite, nooch and yoghurt.

psycho I also take Vitamin D in winter. nothing to do with diet, just meant to help with SAD. I am not sure if it does but like to cover all bases as I have really bad SAD so like to feel I'm doing everything I can to combat it.

Oh that sounds interesting lorelei! I'll look up a recipe.

Menu for today is:

B: porridge with blueberries and banana
L: peanut butter sandwich, cup of tea and some fruit for afters
T: either lentil bolognese or else tofu with stir fried rice noodles and veg

I woke up hungry today too for some reason.

Oh sorry, not lorelei, I should have said laura!

Not that what you said wasn't interesting lorelei, just "looking up a recipe" must have sounded strange ! I was talking about the seitan.

Klingy, for a minute there I thought you were digging out a recipe for tons of sweet potatoes!!

Well blow me down! Just had Linda Mcartney sausages and they were bloody lovely! I did them with falafel, mashed potatoes, cabbage, broccoli and gravy and the kids hoovered the lot up as did dh! I filled it with an alpro blackcurrant yoghurt which was delicious too. I also made some sweet potatoes crisps as a snack earlier. Feeling very Delia at the moment 😂

Finished it not filled it! Duh

Second the PPs on waking up hungry. I guess it's a good sign in terms of digestion. I'm now starting to feel that it's hard and starting to miss meat for the first time but almost halfway through.

On the other hand, I feel that my mood is better. Things that would normally annoy me have made me laugh but could be down to lots of things.

I did a half half pizza tonight for the DC so nibbled on the vegan half and had one of M&S's new vegan range for lunch which was pretty tasty too.

I don't miss meat really to be honest - cheese on the other hand 😢😢

Strange, I hear you! Putting the mozzarella out on the cheesy side of the pizza I had to talk my impulses down a few times to avoid cheese ending up in my mouth 🧀

I haven't read the thread yet but I just wanted to share this recipe, it was really delicious!

wallflowerkitchen.com/creamy-mushroom-risotto-vegan-gf/

Yes the LM sausages are good
I miss cheese but only a bit. Don't think meat or fish will get back on my menu.

What have people got planned for the long term? I'm not sure if most posters plan to stay vegan.

I spent almost two decades vegetarian and a few years vegan. I equate that time with being quite unhappy and suffering eating disorders. This feels quite hard to share but I want to answer @lorelei.

I mostly started this because my youngest has a dairy allergy and I wanted to support her even though she's 9 months and doesn't get the concept of support. I guess I don't definitely want to sign up to it because of my past experiences but do want to be more mindful and conscious from an ecological and health perspective and change elements of how we eat.