Barkadion wrote:Hi, mate.
It would be highly appreciated if you can share your vegan story. Pros/cons/perks/disappointments..
WhoDey wrote:
I second Barkadion's sentiment of being interested in learning more of your dietary approach. Barkadion ... I'd like to hear your thoughts as well!
Thanks for the interest! I'll have to do this in a few parts, but to start off, as I said I originally went vegan for ethical reasons when I got involved in anti-poaching operations. Health and fitness weren't priorities, and suffice it to say, it's totally possible to be an unhealthy, junk food vegan. It's only been in the last year and half or so when I started really considering the health aspects, due in no small part to an injury that left me barely mobile for about 5 months in mid-2015. I started absorbing documentaries like
Forks Over Knives,
Cowspiracy, and
Vegucated, and those led me to the work of researchers like Dr Michael Greger, Dr John McDougall, and Dr Joel Fuhrman. I started experimenting with different whole food, plant based approaches, and ultimately found that I do really well on a high carb, low fat diet. I'm not big on counting calories, but I do track my protein to make sure I get a minimum of 150g/day. Beyond that, I listen to my body, and make sure to get everything listed on Dr Greger's Daily Dozen:
https://veganuary.com/wp-content/upload ... cklist.pdf
WhoDey wrote:
As fate would have it, as I was working my way through this maze, I suffered a heart attack in January, 2016. If I was on the fence prior, there was now no doubt that I had to make changes to my diet and not neglect cardio.
First off, I'm really glad to hear you're still with us and have been able to take positive steps to fix your health. I highly, highly recommend Dr Greger's book
How Not to Die. It takes an academic, well researched and sourced approach to plant based nutrition, specifically in the context of different ailments. His site
https://nutritionfacts.org is also an amazing resource for the latest health and nutrition research.
My staple foods are ]beans/lentils, tempeh/seitan (occasionally tofu), some whole grains (rice, oats, quinoa), potatoes (white and sweet), and all the (mostly raw) vegetables and leafy greens I can fit. I snack on fruit if I need something sweet, and (mostly) avoid refined oils, opting to get my healthy fats from nuts, seeds, avocado, olives, and things like flax and chia. The only missing nutrient is vitamin B12, so I take a supplement a couple of times a week, and also make liberal use of B12 fortified nutritional yeast as both an ingredient and a condiment. I do eat a fair amount of Field Roast veggie sausage; they include a small amount of refined oil, but are otherwise basically just seitan (wheat gluten), veggies, and spices, with 26g of protein each. I make my own cheeses and dairy substitutes out of nuts (this can be as easy as throwing everything in the Vitamix for a few minutes).
Important to note that this is how I eat at home, but when I go out I don't worry about oil or staying strictly healthy. As I said, vegan food can be junk, and I'm carrying around probably 20 extra lbs as a result of my love of pizza, french fries, and other comfort foods. I've started actively working to shed this, and will be limiting myself to one cheat meal a week. I'm not a big drinker, but I do like a nice single malt or craft beer from time to time.
It's getting late, but I hope this answers some questions. I'll write up an average day of meals tomorrow, and please do keep asking away!