Are any of you vegan?

[amanda6035]

If so, I need your help.

I'm starting the Daniel Fast on Monday, and I'm trying to put together my meal plan so that I can stay successful on it. At the same time, Hubby isn't doing it with me. I mean, he'll eat what I fix for him for dinner, but we generally do our own thing for breakfast and lunch... I want to make sure that whatever dinners I fix is going to be something he will enjoy.

I know that the Daniel Fast is closely aligned with the vegan lifestyle, although more restrictive. I'm hoping to one day go completely vegan, so this is a good starting point for me. That being said, I'm also a clean eating junkie, so I want to make sure that whatever I eat follows those guidelines. I'm concerned about some of the vegan alternative foods that are available out there. I've been reading the ingredients on the packages, and they are things I've never heard of before, or can't pronounce, and in the eat clean world, they say if you cannot pronounce it, it's probably not clean. I don't want to automatically disregard it just because I don't know what it is.

For example, I found a Vegan Mac N Cheese recipe that I want to try, but it calls for vegan cream cheese and vegan cheddar cheese. When I looked up the ingredients on these items.... there are terms I've never heard of before. I don't know if they follow eat clean guidelines or not.

Any clean eating vegans out there that can help me out? I know better than to assume that vegan alternative = healthy, but do any of you have any guidelines to understanding what some of those weird products on the labels are? Thank you!

[SigKapSweetie]

Most days, I flip-flop between vegetarian and vegan eating. You may find Happy Cow helpful, and they also have a ton of recipes:
http://www.happycow.net/health-veg_ingredients.html

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by amanda6035

If so, I need your help.

I'm starting the Daniel Fast on Monday, and I'm trying to put together my meal plan so that I can stay successful on it. At the same time, Hubby isn't doing it with me. I mean, he'll eat what I fix for him for dinner, but we generally do our own thing for breakfast and lunch... I want to make sure that whatever dinners I fix is going to be something he will enjoy.

I know that the Daniel Fast is closely aligned with the vegan lifestyle, although more restrictive. I'm hoping to one day go completely vegan, so this is a good starting point for me. That being said, I'm also a clean eating junkie, so I want to make sure that whatever I eat follows those guidelines. I'm concerned about some of the vegan alternative foods that are available out there. I've been reading the ingredients on the packages, and they are things I've never heard of before, or can't pronounce, and in the eat clean world, they say if you cannot pronounce it, it's probably not clean. I don't want to automatically disregard it just because I don't know what it is.

For example, I found a Vegan Mac N Cheese recipe that I want to try, but it calls for vegan cream cheese and vegan cheddar cheese. When I looked up the ingredients on these items.... there are terms I've never heard of before. I don't know if they follow eat clean guidelines or not.

Any clean eating vegans out there that can help me out? I know better than to assume that vegan alternative = healthy, but do any of you have any guidelines to understanding what some of those weird products on the labels are? Thank you!

I'm not vegan, but one of my serious boyfriends was so I ended up cooking/eating a lot of vegan stuff. He was one of those junky vegans so sometimes the only vegetables and grains he got were when I was cooking. Even now, I don't necessarily need to have animal products every meal or even every day.

I've learned that MOST, but clearly not all, vegan dairy alternatives are ultra-processed, with a lot of chemicals to mimic the texture and taste of dairy.

My question is, if the whole purpose of the diet is to eat like Daniel, doesn't eating something that deliberately mimics a "forbidden food" defeat the purpose?

Quinoa is your friend. Quinoa is inexpensive, full of iron and protein, and can be dressed up any way you'd dress up rice. It's a superfood, and a great foundation for a vegan or clean-food diet.

Good luck! I've always noticed that when I eat clean, I need less sleep and perform better in all aspects of my life.

[amanda6035]

Yeah, I know about the benefits of Quinoa, but I havent quite yet found the right recipes, or figured out how to cook it properly because it always tastes funny to me. I have some in my pantry... I've just been too lazy to cook it recently since the previous times have been disasterous!

The mac n cheese thing was really just an example. I don't really want it right now, I'm looking ahead towards when the fast is over, for the things that I'll be able to eat if I choose to try to continue on doing the vegan thing. You confirmed my fear though - that those vegan alternative products are just a bunch of processed garbage. Looks like noodles with EVOO, garlic and grated up macadamia or brazil nuts (to mimic parmesan cheese) is in my pasta future.

Thank for your responses

[DubaiSis]

When I was following a really strict allergy diet (not vegan at all, but absolutely no dairy even down to the long unpronouncables at the end of the list of ingredients), I personally preferred foods that were what they were supposed to be and not supposed to be like something else foods. Gluten free pasta, for instance, grosses me out. I'd rather do without. Use this time to go with a more whole foods kind of diet (if you can't tell what the food looks like in real life, don't eat it) and with some adjustment you'll be fine.

The thing with quinoa is it isn't like anything else. Start out using it in salads in small amounts and build up from there. You'll adjust and like it more and more. But while you're trying to tell yourself it's rice you're only going to be disappointed. Because then all you're getting is weird texture rice that appears to have gone bad

[ADPi95]

Originally Posted by amanda6035

If so, I need your help.

I'm starting the Daniel Fast on Monday, and I'm trying to put together my meal plan so that I can stay successful on it.

That being said, I'm also a clean eating junkie, so I want to make sure that whatever I eat follows those guidelines. I'm concerned about some of the vegan alternative foods that are available out there. I've been reading the ingredients on the packages, and they are things I've never heard of before, or can't pronounce, and in the eat clean world, they say if you cannot pronounce it, it's probably not clean. I don't want to automatically disregard it just because I don't know what it is.

For example, I found a Vegan Mac N Cheese recipe that I want to try, but it calls for vegan cream cheese and vegan cheddar cheese. When I looked up the ingredients on these items.... there are terms I've never heard of before. I don't know if they follow eat clean guidelines or not.

From looking at the Daniel Fast website, they outline what you can/can't eat pretty simply. I think this rules out anything that has "ingredients," which includes Vegan Mac N Cheese or substitutes. It's a very primal fast (without the red meat).

[SigmaChiCard]

I just finished 20 days of the master cleanse and while not going full vegan, i'm looking to incorporate non-meat foods much much more significantly into my diet...