What foods to eat when changing from meat to vegetarian to vegan?

Question

So let me explain the process that me and my family went for about 5 years and now we are ready to go to 100% vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

5 years ago we were meat eaters. Basically every day. After seeing documentation about this and even videos (eg: Garry Yourofsky, Mark Hyman) we started lowering the amount of meat. First every day, then every week, then a month. This gradually happened during the 5 years and now in 2017 I have not eaten anything meat or dairy related. Obviously the effect is I have totally removed several issues I had with my back, my skin and other parts.

Currently my wife also wants to make the move. So my question is, what are some of the best recommendations from leaving meat and moving to a vegetarian / vegan lifestyle?

Shouldn't she just try to basically do what you do? It's obviously in budget, she knows what you have been eating very closely, etc. — djechlin, Feb 06 '17 at 22:56
Reopen... too important of a question to close for broadness for this site. — djechlin, Feb 08 '17 at 14:03
You've already personally eliminated meat and dairy from your diet, and presumably your wife has significantly reduced her intake as well. Can you be more specific about what foods you/she still regularly eat that you're trying to eliminate? — Erica, Feb 08 '17 at 17:54
@erica what I am eating is not related to the question but what should be eaten which was effectively answered below. — Luis Alvarado, Feb 08 '17 at 18:42
But that doesn't have anything to do with "leaving meat" -- just what do vegans eat ;) — Erica, Feb 08 '17 at 18:44
"best recommendations" for what? For diet changes? Can you align question title with your last statement or vice versa? Can you add more details to the actual question part? Seems like a vague question to me since you say you already quit meat. — , Feb 08 '17 at 23:36

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 06 '17 at 22:52

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First and foremost, it might be needless to say that you must eat vegetables.. all of them, any kind. If you do that, you're probably just fine. I have a friend who tried to go veg, but she didn't like any vegetables at all. Of course, she gave up in a matter of days.

Other than that, you should have a look at:

Indian
Arab
Japanese

All of these have very nice vegan options, and is usually what I go for. Some meat recipes can be adapted, but I'm under the impression that originally vegan recipes are usually better.

Breakfast is still my greatest challenge. I don't know what your cultural habits for breakfast are, but here, in Brazil, it usually boils down to: bread and butter (or cheese), cheese bread, milk, coffee. For me, lots of fruits, soy-milk as a replacement for milk, and Hummus/Baba Ghanoush/Guacamole as a replacement for butter is working fine. Jam is nice too, but I just can't give up on a salty option.

edited Feb 06 '17 at 22:52

Ramon Melo

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answered Feb 06 '17 at 19:04

GabrielF

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_Geleia_ (fruit spread?) may just be jelly/jam. – Erica Feb 06 '17 at 20:32
@Erica _Geleia_ can be either jelly or jam. – Ramon Melo Feb 06 '17 at 22:50
Sounds like a recipe for starvation. – djechlin Feb 06 '17 at 22:54
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Gabriel, look for _tapioca_, it's a starchy, gluten-free flour that has been increasingly replacing white flour. You can use basically anything for stuffing, and it gets ready in just a couple minutes heating on a stove. – Ramon Melo Feb 06 '17 at 22:55
@djechlin I'm definitely not starving.. – GabrielF Feb 08 '17 at 10:51
That's because I think you're doing something much subtler than "just eat all the vegetables." You're probably not going a day on bell peppers, celery and radishes. "Vegetables" is usually not used to refer to grains or beans, maybe with the except of green beans, even if all plant-based food is literally a vegetable (I'm not even sure if this is true). But someone who reads "eat every vegetable" is likely to miss rice, for instance. – djechlin Feb 08 '17 at 14:02
@djechlin I miss where did I advise to not eat grains or beans or to "**just** eat all vegetables" (read again, I never said that). I'm also trusting asker's wife is alive, so she probably isn't "**just** eating all meats": therefore, it's needless to say she must continue to eat whatever else she already eats that's vegan. But I get it... you're a programmer, everything has to be so explicit. Nice job posting a more elaborate answer, though (although less useful, in my opinion: pointing to specific cuisines would be a plus since no one eats raw, uncooked grains, for instance). – GabrielF Feb 08 '17 at 15:56

djechlin · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-06T23:09:13.973

A typical balanced meal is a bean, a grain and a vegetable.

Grains are carb-heavy and if whole grain the protein complements beans. (Research is ambiguous on whether this is important). Quinoa stands out as a protein-rich grain that has a complete complement on its own.

Beans are protein-heavy, especially soy.

Dark leafy green vegetables taste good and include micronutrients.

Consider high-protein vegan foods instead of beans.

Most are soy: tofu, tempeh, and other artificial processed soy products.

The other high-protein food is seitan, which is wheat gluten, which is protein. This is often a meat substitute.

Root vegetables and squashes have lots of carbs.

They substitute, or complement, grains in a meal.

Beans are culinarily diverse.

There are: black beans, red beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), edamame (soy beans), lima beans, black-eyed beans, pink beans lentils, and many more. There are recipes to cook these in a huge variety of culinary traditions.

Vegan diets tend to be high fat.

Olive oil or coconut oil is used in cooking. Coconut milk is used in curries (Indian or Thai cuisine) and is very high saturated fat. Nuts are frequently cooked with and make a snack on their own. They are very high fat (e.g. peanut butter).

Dark leafy greens are high in micronutrients, but otherwise less essential than you would think.

If you are a lazy bachelor trying to get by on 15 minutes of cooking a day, you can skip the vegetable most of the time if you are meeting your micronutrient needs. You probably want to take a vegan multivitamin anyway since B12 and D are essential.