Training & Nutrition - Vegan riders, whats your diet like?

I know there have been other threads on this, and they have all devolved into immature vegan attacks. I'm not here to flaunt my values, I just want a discussion with like minded people. What I want to know, is what does your daily food intake consist of. It doesn't matter if you race or not, I don't either I'm not a hardcore roadie or anything I just got into this and only own a fixed gear. But It would be nice to see what people who are in excellent shape eat. I'm not completely vegan, but I'm in the transitioning phase. I could afford to eat healthier myself, but I'm on the go a lot, so I want to see if anyone has any good dietary advice for cycling or just all round healthiness. So with that said what are your daily meals like? (please no carnivorous meals)

why don't you join http://www.veganfitness.net? asking for vegan advice on a forum where the majority of people are omnivorous is like asking for a fight.

oh thanks a lot actually I dunno how I missed that, I was just more curious to see in bike culture if anyones vegan and see how they get on, but I'll deff check that before anything escalates...

morning: rolled or steel cut oatmeal with 2 or 3 pieces of fruit
snack: a couple pieces of fruit, maybe a fruit bowl, maybe a bagel
lunch: big salad with homemade orange juice/soy sauce/ginger/agave nectar dressing
snack: fruits
dinner: depends on what they've got at the veg bar in our cafeteria (if it's something with vegetables, i'll usually go for it). if nothing good, it's usually a fake burger patty between two pieces of toast.

i respect the crap out of vegans and vegetarians. i've tried being vegetarian and just cant hang. so congrats on your transition to being vegan. it's an awesome life decision.

Another vegan rider here. This is not a strict diet, but just a typical type of day (when I'm home...if I'm traveling it's just what I can get).

Breakfast: Oatmeal with berries, flaxseed, soymilk
Snack: Fruit
Lunch: Lentil soup or rice/beans or big salad
Snack: Fruit
Dinner: Raw veggies with hummus, maybe a baked sweet potato or some quinoa

BTW we had a pretty good discussion going here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=438679) too. :)

Another vegan rider here. This is not a strict diet, but just a typical type of day (when I'm home...if I'm traveling it's just what I can get).

Breakfast: Oatmeal with berries, flaxseed, soymilk
Snack: Fruit
Lunch: Lentil soup or rice/beans or big salad
Snack: Fruit
Dinner: Raw veggies with hummus, maybe a baked sweet potato or some quinoa

BTW we had a pretty good discussion going here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=438679) too. :)


+1000........I eat like this only 10X the quantity I expect. I also eat tons of nuts, dried fruit, beans......
Ground flaxseed and Quinoa (incidentally the only "grain" which is a complete protein)

and thanks for the veganfitness website: I sent it to my dtr who is a newbie vegan.......

Hm, lunch is my real problem cos I'm really busy with school, so I unfortunately skip it sometimes. Usually though it consists of vegan burritos, fruit, veggie soup or lentil soup, weird peanut butter and vegetable or fruit sandwich concatenations I come up with. But alas, I'm drinking a ton of coffee and not eating as much as I should, ah being a design student keeps you busy. Once the semester ends I'll prob try to get in a good eating routine. I won't be riding much though unfortunately its gonna get real cold real soon.

I'm vegan and race road, mountain, and 'cross. I do fairly well and don't feel my diet limits me. Things I eat include:

Sprouted wheat bread product (bagels, loafs, cereals, whathaveyou).
Avocados, peanut butter, hummus on said bread product.
Oatmeal, with flax seeds and raisins/cranberries.
Soymilk. Usually I get about 16oz/day just through adding it to my multiple cups of coffee.
Vegan chili, pea soup, lentil soups.
Burritos after hard rides, usually with black beans, brown rice, lettuce, salsa, and guacamole.
Indian food when I can get it.

I also take a vegan dietary supplement to be safe. My diet works well for me. Might not work well for others.

I know there have been other threads on this, and they have all devolved into immature vegan attacks. I'm not here to flaunt my values, I just want a discussion with like minded people. What I want to know, is what does your daily food intake consist of. It doesn't matter if you race or not, I don't either I'm not a hardcore roadie or anything I just got into this and only own a fixed gear. But It would be nice to see what people who are in excellent shape eat. I'm not completely vegan, but I'm in the transitioning phase. I could afford to eat healthier myself, but I'm on the go a lot, so I want to see if anyone has any good dietary advice for cycling or just all round healthiness. So with that said what are your daily meals like? (please no carnivorous meals)

I'm basically a flexitarian, which as I understand it is a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat, etc. I refer to my self as a “social carnivore” (like a “social drinker”; usually I only eat meat when we go to finer restaurants, or when visiting Mom). Most of my day-to-day eating though, follows the principles of my self-proclaimed “Dr. Perfect Diet”: low fat, low glycemic, vegetarian, in the Zone, with special attention to omega-3-fatty acids. My meals are then chosen with those principles in mind.

The Zone Diet of Dr. Barry Sears recommends that proteins, carbs and fats be eaten together in a certain proportion (protein in the size of a deck of playing cards, a plateful of carbs, and a little fat, as I recall). The Glycemic Index of foods refers to the rate at which the food elevates the blood sugar; tables of the GI are readily available usually on a scale of up to 100. For example, apples are considered low, at about 40, whereas watermelon is up around 70, dates are 100. Protein and fat content are on the labels of most processed food or readily obtained from tables.

My exception for omega-3 fatty acids is satisfied by nuts, particularly walnuts (high in fats) and fish, particularly salmon (not vegetarian), though supplements are available. I do include non-fat dairy for protein, but this is easily replaced by soy products or other vegan protein sources. I've gotten to like solid tofu with the right preparation, and even can take some flavored soy milks.

IMO this is a pretty simple way to make good food decisions and incorporates many aspects of various popular diets. I find I can eat satisfying meals and portions, feel energized but not feel stuffed. One important thing is to keep these foods readily on hand whenever hunger strikes. For example an apple and some walnuts are a compact and easily stored snack.

I eat like a vegan most of the time, however I am not 100% all of the time. I do prefer to have a high amount of raw foods in my diet, so I find myself eating a lot of fruit and salads, nuts, and veggies.

Oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfasts, and if I'm not working out, I often go for a nice salad or miso soup for lunch. Dinner can be anything from a creative raw dish, to baked squash, to a thai curry. I try to eat a variety of foods, for the most part.

I love the Vega meal replacement formulated by Brendan Brazier. There are better tasting meal replacements to be sure but none that will make you feel as energized as Vega.I also enjoyed reading his book The Thrive Diet.

http://sequelnaturals.com/en/vega/products/whole-food-health-optimizer/features-benefits

Last spring I went vegan because of a vegan co-worker and loved it. I'm trying to get back into the lifestyle but it's tough because there are things I absolutely love like duck confit, blue cheese, mayonnaise, eggs over easy and bacon -- just make my mouth water. So I have been kind of doing the social carnivore thing someone mentioned above, if I am at a place I know the food is going to be awesome I order whatever but definitely not like at an applebees or burger king, no offense. I am no longer going to eat beef though, unless its all natural and grass fed. What they've turned cattle into is disgusting, none of this meat would be allowed in Europe where they don't allow the likes of growth harmones and antibiotics -- do you really want to be eating all those chemicals? --that's another tirade though.

The awesome thing about being vegan is all the carbs you can eat. For years I did the low carb high protein thing and my weight just yo-yo-ed like crazy. When I went vegan last spring, for about 3 months, I dropped 16lbs doing nothing (literally, I was about to get knee surgery and wasn't allowed to run, bike, etc.) all the while, I was eating like a beast. I don't want to call it a diet but the lifestyle really cleans you out, obviously because of the fiber but all the visceral fat too. When I did it last spring, while I still had a gut I felt like I could suck it in further and feel my ribs better -- it just strips away that lining around your organs. I've read two ok books that I won't mention because they were just ok, and you can find all the info you need on the internet these days. Get yourself a good vegan cookbook for ideas, not to live by. I mostly eat raw, but asian cuisines are uber vegan friendly, supposedly 90% of asians have some form of lactose intolerence so you hardly find dairy in their cooking, thus most vegetarian options are vegan too. Chinese and thai = yum yum. Indian is good too but watch out for (delicious) sauces that are laced with butter.
And finally -- GREAT WEBSITE that I discovered that is all about vegan athletes --- www dot organicathlete dot org