New member. What do you think?

[Pamela]

I am not trying to bulk up. I am actually trying to slim down. I am proud to be vegan but sometimes it's a challenge getting quick meals. I know muscle builds protein. Do you all take protein shakes? I never eat white bread, only whole grain and that's rarely. I am not god at cooking tofu any way but grilled or fried. I do need some nutritional help.

Thanks
Pamela

[Cuguacuarana]

To offer you sound advice, I would need a better sense of what you eat in a given day, and how much activity you get in a given week. Protein is important, but I only take a protein shake when I workout, or when I feel like I really haven't had enough protein in a day. Personally I don't think the average person needs a protein supplement if they are concious to get enough protein in their regular meals. If you aren't good at cooking tofu, try different beans. I love black beans and lentils. Aside from protein make sure you get enough carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables and whole grains like brown rice and oats. In addition to white bread avoid eating pasta most of the time, and other processed carbohydrates, especially sugar (except from fruit.) Finally, avoid excess fat, though you need some. The best kinds come from vegetables nuts and seeds. Try to eat several small meals throughout the day to avoid getting hungry and to keep your metabolism going, bu you probably don't have to go overboard four or five meals is probably fine, but it doesn;t have to be extensive. A piece of fruit and some nuts is fine for a snack. If you are not active, I highly reccommend working out at least a couple times a week doing some cardio and some weights. It doesn't have to be anything fancy thirty minutes of weights and twenty on a treadmill or something like that. Even two hours of exercise a week can go a long way. If you need advice on an exercise program, you can get lots of it here. I hope this helps.

Austin

[funfetus]

If you're not trying to build muscle, then you probably don't need to worry much about protein at all, as long as you're eating healthy, whole foods. Most vegetables and grains get about 20% of their calories from protein, and most beans are around 40%. As long as this sort of stuff makes up the bulk of your diet, you should be fine.

[J]

I'm pretty sure the protein percentages don't go quite that high. Beans are usually 25% protein with lentils and daal going slightly higher but still less then 30%.

Personally I'm lifting heavy weights and trying to get 200 grams of protein a day and for me this means 120 grams a day from protein shakes. I've recently found that rice protein with strawberries or bananas and oat milk or almond milk and almond butter taste pretty damm good.

Outside of that I get my main protein sources currently from lentils and daal in a vegetable stew and chickpeas mixed with couscous and sprouted bread with hummus or peanut butter and jelly.

[Mary]

Best advice I had on diet was to eat a small amount about six times a day - it stops your body from craving stupidly big meals later on, and over doing it. I would make sure you have fruit, little cracker snacks, etc. Also, if you eat a bit of protein with each meal it stops you from getting period problems. I soak a small handful of nuts and eat them with an oat cracker, or a little bit of leafy salad.

Good luck.

[funfetus]

I'm pretty sure the protein percentages don't go quite that high. Beans are usually 25% protein with lentils and daal going slightly higher but still less then 30%.

I just checked a couple of bags of dried beans in my cupboard. The white beans are 8g protein per 70 calorie serving, and the 17-bean soup mix is 8g protein per 80 calories. 4 cal per g of protein gives us 45.7% and 40% protein respectively.

[JP]

you guys are probably both right - one looking at the percentage of protein from the weight of the product, one looking percentage of protein from the overall calories.

Overall calorie wise things like spinach are high in protein, but low from the total weight content because they have so much water in them.

For us the crunch of it all is to get certain amount of protein per day - and then certain amount of calories per day, so both ways of counting have their uses IMO.

[J]

Daal 8 grams protein with 19 carbs (29.6%)
Lentils 8 gras protein with 19 carbs (29.6%)
Black beans 9 pro w/ 23 carb (28.1%)
Kidney 9 pro w/ 22 carb (29%)
15 bean soup 8 pro w/20 carb (28.6%)
Can of chickpeas 6 pro w/22 carbs (21.4%)
Can Bushs baked beans 6 pro w/24 carbs (20%)
Can kidney beans 7 pro w/ 20 carbs (25.9%)

But the daal says it has 70 calories per serving. Unfortunately 8 grams of protein plus 19 grams of carbs is 108 calories so they've made a mistake somewhere in their calculations. I assume the mistake is in the number of calories. I've also noticed that the soy milk I used to drink also made an addition mistake in adding up the calories from fat, carbs and protein.

Trust me, I'm a scientist.

[funfetus]

Could it be that a portion of the carbs are dietary fiber, which isn't digested, so it doesn't contribute to the total caloric intake? The math seems to work out if you look at it like that.

[J]

The first 4, the daal, lentils, black and kidney have 2, 9, 15 and 14 grams of fiber yet they all say they have 70 calories. Removing the fiber only gets the lentils close to 70 calories.

The last four add up right if you count the fiber.

[ess]

i am so unbelievably happy i have found this site, and all you beautiful fellow vegans. you all are so inspiriring (though i'd tell you now that I CANT SPELL to save my self). i have just been skimming over some of the issues and replys posted in this forum, and it makes me feel proud to be vegan./
i come from a very "meat" orientated family, my father is the biggest carnivor you could possibly ever meet, and it has been difficult to find support for my vegan lifestyle. but now i feel comfort in that i am not unusual or stupied in the fact that i believe animals are not here for our consumption or explotation, but for their own devine porpuse.
i have been vego for 2 years, and have only just moved on to becoming vegan in the last 5 months, and (now after reading through this site) i am so proud i made the transition.
my life is now free from guilt, or almost (i do drive a VW bettle, old). and with the help of this inspiring site i will continue to play my part in the plight against the demise of our planet., tanks

[Mary]

It is so good to have you here! To have become vegan with no support from friends and family speaks absolute volumes for your strength of character, compassion and commitment. The world needs more people like you in it. Well done! You have just made my day.

[ess]

thankyou mary for that warm howdyho.
with words like that, i shall never fault or hesitate n my plight for equality through out the species,
have a unbelievably beautiful day
don't forget to open your eyes, life is every where, capture it.