I pretty much eat jelly-filled donuts, exclusively. Though I have taken to sprinkling crushed up multi-vitamins on them, being a health nut and all. Sometimes when I'm craving protien, I'll shoved a hotdog in the donut. Both nutritious and delicious.

my basics:

whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, oats--not instant)
beans, tofu, legumes.
dark greens (spinach or kale, broccoli)
citrus.

If anybody knows about granola bars please reply in this thread.

So where do you vegans find vegan cheese? All the soy cheese i've found contains casin which is a no no.

BTW, I'm just veg, but in considering going vegan giving up cheese has been the biggest hurdle.

A typical grocery store here has at least two brands. Places like local grocers, Wheastville food Co-op, and Whole Foods have more types of soy cheese than I would ever need.
Look in: the cheese aisle, the healthy foods seciton, and yes, the produce section. Cheese to me seems.. I dunno. I used to love cheese but maybe soy-cheese got me away from cheese. Soy cheese tastes good but only melted and it seems most recipes (excluding quesadillas) can go fine without cheese. Also cheese is expensive relative to the food you are cooking. I mean when you make vegan burritos the cost for ingredients is like 3$. Why spend another $3 for overpriced soycheese (esp when you can get 2 Hass avocados for 88cents)?

In "Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck, these kids get sick because their steady diet of BEANS AND RICE has been disturbed by scarcity. They're forced to eat other stuff until the winos save the day by stealing 'em a few more 20 lb. sacks of BEANS AND RICE! Yeah!
I've pretty much been on the BEANS AND RICE diet for ten years, and while supplementing it with avocados (when available/affordable - one more reason So.Cal. is awesome!), salsa fresca (tomatoes, onions, chiles and lots of GARLIC), and corn tortillas (always corn tortillas!), I've managed to stay a healthy, strong, 6'0", 150 lbs., in spite of all the beer. Or maybe, thanks to all the beer. Still haven't figured that one out.
Anyway. BEANS. RICE. Totally...

whole foods carries tofutti slices, purple-lable Vegan block, and slice cheese, and also carries Chreese mix, and the various macaroni & chreese.

however, these are not as good as euro cheese substitutes like cheezley, or the gourmet cheese substitutes available at specialty stores - (like the harvest co-op in cambridge, ma)

i don't know why you'd want any kind of substitutes for meat/dairy if you're a vegan.

vegetables are good. tempeh and tofu are good.

that said, people say nutritional yeast is cheesey, but i don't get it. nutritional yeast is great stuff, but it is certainly not cheeselike.

as far as getting your vitamins, too much soymilk (fortified or not) is no good.

anyone read that new michael pollan book? supposed to be great reading. i just saw him speak the other day. smart guy, interesting things to say.

buy local!
(sf riders, the civic center farmers mkt is great. if you haven't been, go)

'nuff said.

evan....you are wise in the ways of good eating....we should share secrets, eat, ride till we're hungry and eat again. Flax seeds eh.....hmm.

i have to point out.. don't listen to messengers..when i was riding 60-80 miles a day i couldnt get enough food in my mouth 4 bagels, 2 pbnj sandwiches, 4 slices of pizza, 2 rice crispie treats and 2 large mochas with whip cream was a normal day before 3 o'clock and i was losing weight..and im only 5-7...if i ate that now everyday id be obese.

the point being.. the more you ride.. the more crap you can stuff in your mouth..

bicycling magazine is a great source for eating info...they arent afraid to tell you a few beers is good for you.. and they claim yogurt is the post ride shiz..peanuts are also goodd for rebuilding

i LOVE to eat, and i hate being hungry. So here's what I do in the summer to stay relatively lean at just under 145lbs. I'm about 5' 7".

I eat. And I eat. Then I eat more.

1. I always eat when I'm hungry. But I try and avoid empty munchee calories. Instead I try to snack on fruit over candy, donuts, jellybeans, or cake. Frozen bananas make awesome summer treats, store them pre-peeled in the freezer in a ziploc bag. You can even dip them in a bit of chocolate. Or smother with spoonfuls of peanutbutter spread. They cost under $.50 each. I tell myself that eating healthy will keep my energy level high for the rest of the day, instead of crash and burn energy obtained from junk food.

2. I snack on other kinds of fruit. If I'm jonesing for a snack I'll try and get a piece of fruit (or several). The fiber in an orange makes me feel "full" - about the equivalent of 3 donuts fullness feelin full. It's the ethanol of snacks! Remember the fad grapefruit diet from the 1980's?

3. I usually eat at least one cliff bar during the day. There are other bars out there - but try and avoid the gross super-sports-energy bars (i.e., powerbars). Cliff bars are pretty tasty and go well with coffee. I imagine I'd be munching on cake or donuts if it wasn't for cliff bars. These are sweetened with organic brown rice syrup. They're $.99/each at trader joes.

4. Ride lots, drink water and coffee. Eat hearty breakfast. For breakfast I often have slow-cook oats but I don't really cook them. I pour the oats in a bowl, add raisins or strawberries, and pour steaming hot water over them then let sit for a few minutes. Or I'll eat them raw with raisins, milk and sugar/honey, or sprinkle a load of them on regular cereal. Nobody ever said you have to cook oats and the slow cook taste 10x better than the 'instant' kind.

5. Dinner is normal. At home it's usually pasta with sauce and fresh herbs (or 'pahst' if you're carmela soprano) or some kind of meat with veggies and rice or couscous, or fajitas with beans. Often it's the most junk-food meal of the day though, i.e., pizza, chinese food, whatever.

Well, now I'm bein a yammermouth. My point is there's no need to go hungry to stay fit. Especially for people like me who end up binging to sate the hunger. Just avoid overly processed sugar based foods.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/2006/5/5bryan.html

breakfest - oatmeal, coffee with milk
11 am - kefir (yogurt like drink)
1 - pasta or turkey burger or tuna
2 or 6 pm - 15 miles at park or weights or muay thai + whatever travel on bike is needed, ussually 40 min
3 pm - bagel, yogurt, tea with milk
9 pm - grilled chicken or pasta and glass of wine or campari

5' 6" 135 pounds (and i've been making an effort to gain weight. over the last 2 years i've managed to put on ten whole pounds. i think if i stopped riding and did more weights it would happen, but i love cardio)

Everyone has their own ideas about what is good for you. Here's what I think, in general.

The less processed food is, the better. Meat is good to eat a few times a week, not everyday though. Organic meat is higher quality.

I avoid dairy. I try to eat a lot of fresh vegetables, whole grains, and fruit.

To drink, I usualy have water. Juice I will drink in the morning, sometimes.

My pet peeve is soda, I hate the stuff with a passion. Soda companies are pretty much on par with cigarette manufacturers.

Yeah, everyone has their ideas, but let's talk about something people rarely talk about here: science.

It has been widely known that in order to maximize production of lean muscle mass, you need to consume your numerical weight in grams in protein every day (as in, I consume AT LEAST 155g of protein). According to a somewhat recent Vanderbilt-Duke joint study, in order to maximize protein absorbtion and to minimize muscle canibalization, you should consume your protein (conventional wisdom says no more than 50g at a time, but there's no data to back that up) within 30 minutes of intense physical excercise. Furthermore, in order to maximize glycogen production, you should consume that protein with carbohydrates in a 4:1 ratio. That means you should be having AT LEAST 200g of carbs and around 40-50g of protein after intense rides. You might be able to get away with less protein, because you're not really looking for massive lean muscle gains as a cyclist (unless you're a sprinter). You can get fancier with BCAA's and creatine monohydrate, but it's silly if you don't provide those basic macronutrients. Cytosport makes a good product called "Muscle Milk" that I like a lot post workout/ride. They also make Cytomax, which is a great during-ride drink mix. They make these other supplements with d-ribose and pyruvate which actually increases your lactic acid threshold (i.e. less burn). They have their science down, and they even cite their studies on the label.

Other than that, your best bet is as many simple and complex carbohydrates as you can eat. If you're like anyone who isn't ********, you're probably worried about diabetes from too much sugar. The trick is to look at how sugar exists in nature. It's almost always hand-in-hand with fiber. The amount of fiber you consume with sugar will give you the glycemic index, or glycemic load of a particular food. So long as your glycemic index is low, you can eat as many carbs as you want (because the load on your insulin levels is mitigated).

Do some googling. Look at sites for triatheletes. Drink more water than you think you should, and try to eat fresh more often than not.

I've noticed a significant difference in how I feel since I started making a point of drinking more water.

hmm. ok, cool. but how the f*** do you eat 200 grams of carbs and 50 grams of protein in one sitting? any concrete suggestions?

There's also the whole Training and Nutrition bit of the forum if you seek further answers.

(No "WRONG FORUM" snark here, as I've genuinely enjoyed this thread)

I started eating better in the mid 90's when I started bigwave surfing. When your hobby can kill you... you need all the help you can get.

or it's your mustache...

nah fam...you need to diversify that repertoire

mix in fruit and raw veggies...hope those are whole wheat bagels if that's all u eating

this thread has done two things so far:
1. made me realize how crappy my eating habits are
2. convinced me to get a salad for lunch

what do you mean "watch your portions"? I'm honesty curious.

I'm about 6'2" 175 too and I eat as much as I can whenever I can, and eat pretty healthy/well balanced meals when I can...is that bad for me?

this is tRUE!!! (at least I think so)

some of yall eat like birds...
I can't see myself doing that. Then of course, I'm on 'meal-plan' right now (best part of school). When I'm not tho, large portions of rice and blackbean stew (special teia bahiano recipe), peanutbutter and jelly, fruit feasts etc.
I am fortunate to be able to eat a lot, so I take advantage of it. Never eat A piece of fruit or A sandwich for lunch. 'Eating out' only works out when the mexicans or dominicans hook up the portion on some real ish uptown. Broadway! Amsterdam! St. Nicholas!