Diet: Vegan Lifestyle

[DavidCH]

Dr Esselstyn reversing heart disease with a plant based diet

Thanks Lee for posting Dr Esselstyn's presentation. Being in Spain... yep... There is great Olive Oil. Much better than what you get in the bottle in the UK and cheaper too. But what a revelation... "No OIL" and Dr Esselstyn must have repeated that about 10 times. And it was interesting listening to Durianrider Donging on about the carbo bananas too. When I get down to my target weight I will add the nice carbo bananas back into my diet.

My diet comprises of eggs , fish and mostly vegetarian but I don't eat meat so my cooking skills have to be creative. I try to get down to 50g of carbs a day as I have found that is the best way for me to lose up to a kilo a week. After those presentations... I might steam the vegitables instead of stir frying them. LOL

 

[castlerobber]

Lee,
I see you over on the low-carb thread occasionally, but there hasn't been much content added here lately. How is the vegan lifestyle going?

Breakfast is typically two smoothies, which will be a mix of half a large bag of spinach with some kale, 8-9 bananas, four tablespoons of whole oats, a tablespoon of flax seeds.

Lunch will be a large bowl of white rice

Dinner will be the same as breakfast.

During the day at work, I'll usually have 2-3 four banana smoothies.

Are you still pleased with the composition of your meals, or have you modified this since April? It seems a very restricted menu, with a heavy emphasis on bananas.

It didn't occur to me until just now that you were drinking most of your nutrition instead of eating it, and that even the white rice doesn't require much chewing. Any particular reason, or did it just work out that way?

The amount of fiber in the above diet means no spike in blood sugar.

Since we do a lot of n=1 experimentation around here, I'm curious: Have you verified this on yourself by taking blood sugar readings before each meal, and 1 and 2 hours after? Had an A1C done recently?

My current weight is 77kg and my FTP is 330w, am looking to maintain this power but get down to about 65kg by the end of June.

Should be easy to do on this lifestyle.

Were you able to hit the weight goal you were looking for, as easily as you expected? How did it affect power?

 

[LMT]

Lee,
I see you over on the low-carb thread occasionally, but there hasn't been much content added here lately. How is the vegan lifestyle going?


Are you still pleased with the composition of your meals, or have you modified this since April? It seems a very restricted menu, with a heavy emphasis on bananas.

It didn't occur to me until just now that you were drinking most of your nutrition instead of eating it, and that even the white rice doesn't require much chewing. Any particular reason, or did it just work out that way?


Since we do a lot of n=1 experimentation around here, I'm curious: Have you verified this on yourself by taking blood sugar readings before each meal, and 1 and 2 hours after? Had an A1C done recently?


Were you able to hit the weight goal you were looking for, as easily as you expected? How did it affect power?

I've been adding nothing, because there is nothing imo to say TBH, the reason I add more to the paleo thread is because imo it is a fad diet with some misrepresentations, to answer your points:-

Vegan lifestyle is going well, it's cheap, sustainable and good for the planet.

I've modified since April, I add more nuts, seeds and fortified soy milk. Soy milk for vit b12 and vit d, and the nuts and seeds for essential fats and protein. The ones I use are chia seeds, brazil nuts, ground flak seeds and some porridge oats. Also I no longer eat white rice, I now eat brown rice with a dash of salt, for me less refined means healthier. It just worked out that way, I am by no means a culinary expert and am not one for spending time preparing and cooking food. The rice is very easy to cook, and the blends enable me to take on a load of nutrients with minimal time.

No I have not verified this, I'm going purely on having no peaks and crashes regarding energy levels throughout the day, it's just about the right level of energy that does not really change.

I can't give an answer to that as I fractured my hip in June which threw out the training plan that I had lined up. I've lost some of my fitness and my FTP has come down to about 270w according to trainer road on the recumbent, 330w referred to above was what the Wattbike gave. However I am looking to get back into training for LEL next week and fully intend to lose weight that I wanted to lose. I'll update this thread as and when with my progress. As part of the trainer road programme you have to do a FTP test at the start of each new block of training so next update will be in about 6-8 weeks.

 

[DavidCH]

can't give an answer to that as I fractured my hip in June which threw out the training plan that I had lined up

Hey Lee, pleased your on the road to recovery ... If you add a tablespoon of coconut oil to the rice when boiling it somehow reduces the carbs.

 

[castlerobber]

the reason I add more to the paleo thread is because imo it is a fad diet with some misrepresentations,

There are some weird diets out there. The cabbage soup diet, the "military" diet, the 30 Bananas a Day diet...yes, there are people who think eating thirty or more bananas a day, every day, is healthy! Talk about a fad diet, there's one for you.

No I have not verified this, I'm going purely on having no peaks and crashes regarding energy levels throughout the day

It sounds like you're drinking those smoothies almost constantly--breakfast, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, dinner, interrupted only by the brown rice at lunch. Could that be helping keep the energy level steady? Or do you go for three or four hours between meals or snacks?

I am looking to get back into training for LEL next week and fully intend to lose weight that I wanted to lose.

So you weren't able to lose weight on a vegan diet while not being able to exercise? How hard was it to maintain the weight loss you had the first few months?

I fractured my hip in June

Sorry to hear that, but glad you're healing and will soon be able to get back to training. I have a coworker who last month slid out on her road bike turning a corner at 15 mph, when she hit a deep patch of dry grass in the road. Pelvic fractures left, right, and center; multiple fractures of the ball of the humerus, that required a plate and screws; and even a fractured jaw. It'll likely be three or four months before she can get back on a bike at all.

 

[LMT]

There are some weird diets out there. The cabbage soup diet, the "military" diet, the 30 Bananas a Day diet...yes, there are people who think eating thirty or more bananas a day, every day, is healthy! Talk about a fad diet, there's one for you.


It sounds like you're drinking those smoothies almost constantly--breakfast, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, dinner, interrupted only by the brown rice at lunch. Could that be helping keep the energy level steady? Or do you go for three or four hours between meals or snacks?


So you weren't able to lose weight on a vegan diet while not being able to exercise? How hard was it to maintain the weight loss you had the first few months?


Sorry to hear that, but glad you're healing and will soon be able to get back to training. I have a coworker who last month slid out on her road bike turning a corner at 15 mph, when she hit a deep patch of dry grass in the road. Pelvic fractures left, right, and center; multiple fractures of the ball of the humerus, that required a plate and screws; and even a fractured jaw. It'll likely be three or four months before she can get back on a bike at all.

Agreed, 30 bananas can be classified as a fad diet, but would still have better health benefits than paleo.

Nope, I find having the soy milk in the morning keeps me full till lunch.

I was able to lose weight and it was easy to maintain. It's just being injured throws these things out of kilt.

Thanks, I was back riding a static recumbent bike after two and a half weeks and back on the df bike commuting after 4 weeks.

 

[LMT]

Went to the Vegfest today in London, very good fun. Good to see other vegans, sat in on some lectures to do with a plant based diet and earlier on in the day saw Kate Strong, a vegan who went on to break the world record for longest distance covered on a static bike in 24 hours - respect.

https://twitter.com/strongkate1/status/790237633003806720

 

[cranky cyclist]

I no longer eat Vegan but I did for awhile. I lost weight pretty fast but my family wanted meat. So I started eating meat and increased my simple carbs. I put the weight back on faster than it went off. Then I went to the ER with chest pain. I went through a big workup and they found a blockage of a corona artery greater then 50%. So I started eating Vegan in the morning and for lunch. Meat with dinner and no sweets, potatoes or bread. Lost 18 pounds in 3months and cholesterol numbers are down.