Philosophical Vegan Forum

im interested in this topic as I too have had some issues with lowering my BMI. Im 193cm and 240lbs, however I do carry around quite a bit of muscle. I go to the gym every second day and work out on all muscle groups with compound excerises and free weights.
My weight gain started a few years back when I injured a few of my hip and leg muscles, which caused me as a result to be less active. Im much better today, however even now I cannot run or walk super quickly as I will re-injure some of my hip and leg muscles.

A few questions come up from reading the responses above.
What are your thoughts on the following foods I eat on a daily basis (keeping in mind that I do want to continue to build strength at the gym, but want to loose body fat).

Breakfast:
On gym days (blended shake) (I make twice the portion and have one for breakfast and one for an evening snake after dinner):
- frozen blueberries
- fresh strawberries
- banana
- vegan protein powder (mixture of rice/pea/hemp and soy protein)
- mango (sometimes added)
- nectarines (sometimes added)
- raw lacianto kale (sometimes added)
- blackberries (sometimes added)

On off days:
- Oatmeal (rolled oats)
- banana
-strawberries
- frozen blueberries
- unsweetened almond milk
- blackberries (sometimes added)

Lunch:
- 1/2 avocado
- bread ( this in particular: http://www.foodforlife.com/about_us/genesis-129 )
- Gardein mock meats ( http://gardein.com/products/seven-grain ... tenders-2/ )
Mixed green salad
- slice of dill pickel
- olives
- tomato
- hummus
- carrot
- green onions
- radish
- sprinkling of iodized salt

Dinner (a lot of variety during the week):
- rice dishes with mixed veggies and some form of protein (sometimes beans, sometimes vegan mock meats, sometimes tofu)
- whole wheat pasta with vegetable stew sauce (same variety of protein as above)
- tofu scramble (daiya cheese, veggies)
- sweet potatoes from the oven and mix veggies
- Plus much much more to list.

Snacks:
- some fruit (usually bananas, nectarines, or mango)

Any suggestions of what I should remove or include?

TheVeganAtheist wrote:What are your thoughts on the following foods I eat on a daily basis

Your diet looks solid. Is there any type of cardio, such as swimming or cycling, you can perform without risking further injury? Have you tried going higher reps in the gym? I once changed to 20-25 reps light-weight and found that helped me rip up.

cronometer.com is very good, you have to list out your daily food intake and it'll tell you if your RDA for each nutrient has been met or not, from that you'll get the hang of what nutrients you may be lacking in and what you need to improve in your diet. You might overeat random foods generally if your needs aren't being properly met but with this site you'll know what you are lacking in and try to eat foods rich in those nutrients.

to find out which food is rich in a particular nutrient you can go to whfoods.com and search for that nutrient and it will show you a list of such foods which you can now incorporate in your diet. Generally after a few days using cronometer you'll get the hang of what your routine diet should include.

Other suggestions:
I would suggest avoiding rice especially white rice and switching to wheat which has a much more favourable nutritional profile.

The best source of omega3 is flaxseeds and a single teaspoon a day is generally almost completely sufficient, you can also add walnuts for this so you'll have a whole grain and nut added to your diet which is very good.

For protein, Lentils and beans are rich sources though don't overdo it on the protein as too much is bad for you. https://scholar.google.co.in/scholar?cl ... 4&as_vis=1

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-muc ... -too-much/
You could have soymilk for breakfast if available so that way you'd already start of your day with a legume and soy is also very good. http://nutritionfacts.org/video/brca-br ... s-and-soy/

Having fruit in your diet is very important and is the most important lowering risk factor as far as mortality is concerned
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-to- ... with-diet/
Too much fruit on the other hand is not a bad thing, it can even be beneficial
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-muc ... -too-much/
I wonder if you'd have access to the fruit amla aka indian gooseberries which is the world's richest source of antioxidants orders of magnitude higher than most other sources. http://nutritionfacts.org/video/better- ... i-berries/
Also nuts .http://nutritionfacts.org/video/nuts-an ... -evidence/

'lo, first post here.

Vegan Atheist, your diet seems overall very solid. I don't know if you buy hummus from the store or make it yourself. Hummus from stores tends to have high amounts of oil and sodium. Sometimes 50%+ of its cals will come from oil, so I prefer to just make it myself. If I did the math right, the mock meat you linked to also gets more than 33% of its cals from fat. I don't know how much salt you consume, but that's also something to watch out for since it will cause water retention in your body and make it look like you're carrying excess fat when you really aren't.

TheVeganAtheist wrote: Any suggestions of what I should remove or include?

You haven't mentioned spices .. You could add turmeric+peppercorn, cloves which are great antioxidants, purple cabbage is also very good antioxidant source.
Flaxseeds for omega3 and they're great for a lot else too
Lemons, amla
You could check these in nutritionfacts.org, most of them are recommended there. And cronometer.com whether your diet is meeting the individual nutrient rda.

Jebus wrote: Your diet looks solid. Is there any type of cardio, such as swimming or cycling, you can perform without risking further injury? Have you tried going higher reps in the gym? I once changed to 20-25 reps light-weight and found that helped me rip up.

The only cardio like activity I used to do was long walks on the treadmill. I can so around 2.6mph comfortably, but faster is likely to cause re-injury. I haven't gone swimming in the last few years, however the last time I did (on vacation) my hip muscles were very activated and my injuries inflamed. Same with cycling. Right now Im trying to gain more strength so Im doing less reps and more weight, but I will shortly change routines to do less weight and more reps and sets.

You haven't mentioned spices .. You could add turmeric+peppercorn, cloves which are great antioxidants, purple cabbage is also very good antioxidant source.
Flaxseeds for omega3 and they're great for a lot else too
Lemons, amla
You could check these in nutritionfacts.org, most of them are recommended there. And cronometer.com whether your diet is meeting the individual nutrient rda.

I do consume a lot of spices in my meals. I also add hot spice to almost all my dinner meals (Louisiana hot sauce). I put in a tablespoon of flax with my oatmeal and in my shakes. I cant have any citrus fruits as I get a reaction.

Vegan Atheist, your diet seems overall very solid. I don't know if you buy hummus from the store or make it yourself. Hummus from stores tends to have high amounts of oil and sodium. Sometimes 50%+ of its cals will come from oil, so I prefer to just make it myself. If I did the math right, the mock meat you linked to also gets more than 33% of its cals from fat. I don't know how much salt you consume, but that's also something to watch out for since it will cause water retention in your body and make it look like you're carrying excess fat when you really aren't.

I do buy hummus from the store, but I think I will start making my own.

I would say the vast majority of those things would be nos.


Breakfast:
NO - frozen blueberries
NO - fresh strawberries
Double NO - banana
NO - vegan protein powder (mixture of rice/pea/hemp and soy protein)
Double NO - mango (sometimes added)
Double NO - nectarines (sometimes added)
YES - raw lacianto kale (sometimes added)
YES - blackberries (sometimes added)

On off days:
YES- Oatmeal (rolled oats)
Double NO- banana
NO-strawberries
NO- frozen blueberries
SoSo- unsweetened almond milk
YES- blackberries (sometimes added)

Lunch:
NO- 1/2 avocado
YES- bread ( this in particular: http://www.foodforlife.com/about_us/genesis-129 )
SoSo- Gardein mock meats ( http://gardein.com/products/seven-grain ... tenders-2/ )
Maybe (dark greens) Mixed green salad
Sure (doesn't matter)- slice of dill pickel
- olives
YES- tomato
YES if home made and light on tahini or oil- hummus
Acceptable - carrot
YES- green onions
Yes (I think)- radish
No problem- sprinkling of iodized salt

Dinner (a lot of variety during the week):
NO Rice (except wild and black, maybe red) Beans are good.- rice dishes with mixed veggies and some form of protein (sometimes beans, sometimes vegan mock meats, sometimes tofu)
YES- whole wheat pasta with vegetable stew sauce (same variety of protein as above)
YES, but go easy on the fake cheese- tofu scramble (daiya cheese, veggies)
Sounds OK- sweet potatoes from the oven and mix veggies
- Plus much much more to list.

Snacks:
NO- some fruit (usually bananas, nectarines, or mango)
Eats nuts. Walnuts in particular.

brimstoneSalad wrote:I would say the vast majority of those things would be nos.


Breakfast:
NO - frozen blueberries
NO - fresh strawberries
Double NO - banana
NO - vegan protein powder (mixture of rice/pea/hemp and soy protein)
Double NO - mango (sometimes added)
Double NO - nectarines (sometimes added)
YES - raw lacianto kale (sometimes added)
YES - blackberries (sometimes added)

On off days:
YES- Oatmeal (rolled oats)
Double NO- banana
NO-strawberries
NO- frozen blueberries
SoSo- unsweetened almond milk
YES- blackberries (sometimes added)

Lunch:
NO- 1/2 avocado
YES- bread ( this in particular: http://www.foodforlife.com/about_us/genesis-129 )
SoSo- Gardein mock meats ( http://gardein.com/products/seven-grain ... tenders-2/ )
Maybe (dark greens) Mixed green salad
Sure (doesn't matter)- slice of dill pickel
- olives
YES- tomato
YES if home made and light on tahini or oil- hummus
Acceptable - carrot
YES- green onions
Yes (I think)- radish
No problem- sprinkling of iodized salt

Dinner (a lot of variety during the week):
NO Rice (except wild and black, maybe red) Beans are good.- rice dishes with mixed veggies and some form of protein (sometimes beans, sometimes vegan mock meats, sometimes tofu)
YES- whole wheat pasta with vegetable stew sauce (same variety of protein as above)
YES, but go easy on the fake cheese- tofu scramble (daiya cheese, veggies)
Sounds OK- sweet potatoes from the oven and mix veggies
- Plus much much more to list.

Snacks:
NO- some fruit (usually bananas, nectarines, or mango)
Eats nuts. Walnuts in particular.

Why is it that you're apparently opposed to fruit? Is this intuition or else What scientific studies is this based on? Berries are a great source of antioxidants too http://nutritionfacts.org/video/best-fr ... revention/
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/which-f ... er-better/
Tomatoes are a fruit too but you're treating it apparently as a vegetable.
going by greggers videos fruits are a great thing and you can't overdo on them, unlike foods which are high in protein.

- Having fruit in your diet is very important and is the most important lowering risk factor as far as mortality is concerned
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-to- ... with-diet/
- having even a ridiculous excess of fruit is not a bad thing, it can even be beneficial
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-muc ... -too-much/
- fructose in isolation is bad but even with regards to bodyweight in whole fruit it is actually beneficial http://nutritionfacts.org/video/if-fruc ... out-fruit/


- unlike having too many beans/legumes
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-muc ... -too-much/
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/too-muc ... -benefits/

Also red rice is better than black rice by some metrics, not the other way around:
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/brown-r ... lack-rice/

garrethdsouza wrote:- unlike having too many beans/legumes

Those are about soy in particular, not legumes as a whole.
The first was all about how much soy per day is safe to consume, and Dr. Greger distinguished between soy and other legumes at the end.

Dr Greger wrote:The bottom line is that legumes should be a part of everyone's daily diet, which means lentils, peas, and/or beans, ideally with each of our meals, of which soy is an excellent choice, but I recommend that we should stick to no more than 3-5 servings a day.

(3-5 of soy, because that is what is safe according to the studies about soy he was talking about)

Quote from the second:

Dr. Greger wrote:Soy however, is one of those rare plants that mimics the chemical profile of meat.

And, the people in the study were eating 7-18 servings of soy a day. It takes a lot of soy for it to become problematic.

TheVeganAtheist wrote:Im 193cm and 240lbs,

Interesting way of mixing the metric system and the empirical system. Are Canadians still using lbs?