by jpowell » Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:41 am
My suggestion? Why not, if there's an adequate range and quantity of foods in the daily meal plan? On the other hand, sticking to it religiously seems to make life pointlessly more difficult. If you have allergies or whatever, then that's another story. Obviously, avoid whatever you're allergic to and get appropriate medical help.
If you're concerned about nutritional details:
1. Go to cronometer.com or any other similar nutritional calculator
2. (Preferable if time) Adjust nominal "calories" in line with what experience says you actually need/use, or don't over-stress about this field.
3. (Critical) Adjust micronutrient targets in line with being vegan and with your activity levels and performance goals:
a) Vitamin C increase to at least 250-500mg, preferably plus, not including, any supplements (mainly to help with iron absorption as a vegan, but it's a good antioxidant to the extent your body can absorb it, and arguably absorption of this is much better from foods than typical single form supplements)
b) Iron 2-3x RDI (same reason).
c) Calcium: at least 1-2x RDI to be on the safe side
d) Magnesium: at least 3-5x RDI for optimal performance and health (HARDEST?)
e) Potassium: 2-3x RDI if you are active, for performance
f) Sodium: no adjustment really necessary, but try to consume it ideally when exercising rather than at other times
g) Zinc: at least 2-3x RDI if you are active or on a high energy diet, for performance and health (immunity and hormone optimization)
h) Protein: in line with your experience of your needs, probably 1-2g per kg bodyweight
i) Lysine: 5-10% of your protein requirement (I would suggest in the higher end of this range if you do very intense exercise or exercise to complete exhaustion)
j) B Vitamins: 1-3x RDI (but not much higher for health reasons)
k) Vitamin E: preferably at least 2-3x RDI
4. Put in roughly the foods you would plan to eat.
5. Tinker with it a bit if you're off base on some of your nutritional targets. This is where you might find it helps to add some nutrient dense foods like seaweed, kale, chard, mushrooms. In my view, it's strongly preferable (but not critical) to get very close to your personal targets from naturally occurring foods (as opposed to fortified foods, which are essentially supplements in disguise, and often, as processed foods, lower in key nutrients other than the ones they are fortified with). With B Vitamins, I don't think there is a naturally occurring concentrated vegan source, however by eating more veges and mushrooms so the quantities add up, or by including fortified foods/supplements, you shouldn't have a problem.
6. Other points to watch (possibly manually):
a) Omega6 to Omega3 ratio in polyunsaturated fats (they will give you the numbers, but only do the division for you in the paid version... mental arithmetic is not that hard though?). Ideally go for less than 5:1 and absolute max 10:1 (RDI)
b) Carbohydrate type: avoid a very high fructose diet, i.e. most of the carbs should NOT come from apple juice, agave, "sugar" (sucrose) or most fruits. In practice, unless you deliberately use high fructose products like apple concentrate, have a high added sugar diet (e.g. many processed foods) or decide to try an 80/10/10 high fruit raw diet, this probably won't be a problem. Possibly, depending on your needs, how much you eat, and how often, you may also want to watch the glycaemic index, or roughly how much sugars, maltodextrin and white rice/bread/mashed potatoes you consume (diabetics need to be very careful with these, many athletes actually try to consume MORE, possibly for some people it doesn't matter much at all).
c) Iron: get it without too much oxalates, i.e. don't purely rely on spinach/chard, and at eat some meals without those foods. Not that hard. Brassicas, legumes, wheat germ and seaweed are all good sources of iron. Also, ideally make sure you're consuming some vitamin C (e.g. citrus fruit) and lysine containing protein (e.g. legumes or wheat germ) at the same time.
7. Fill any remaining gaps with supplements as/if required (e.g. B12, Vitamin D, ZMA, Calcium fortified soymilk, DHA)
Doing the above daily is an almost impossible chore, hence having some things similar in your diet on a regular basis makes it a lot easier to plan a good one.
Alternatively, pay to see a good dietitian, who SHOULD be able to do at least the equivalent of all of the above for you and probably more, if you follow his/her advice and trust them to get you good advice for your situation/lifestyle/needs and as a vegan.
Or just eat reasonably healthy, care less, hope for the best, and probably get "good enough" out of life.
