I am considering adopting a vegan approach to eating and I was just wondering what a typical day of meals are for those that are vegan or vegetarian. Also, I have a high level of activity too, so wondering what good sources there are for energy (beans?) in the vegan diet. Thanks!!
I am type 1 and my husband is a vegan, so here's a sample:
Breakfast: Scrambled tofu with veggies & a piece of whole wheat toast. If you tolerate cereals ok, you could have it with soymilk.
Lunch: Usually leftovers. Today will probably be a italian bean/veg stew. If carb goals allow on some days, perhaps ending with a whole-wheat pumpkin muffin.
Snack: Current favorite is sunflower seeds (1/4c = 5g carb & 7 g protein)
Dinner: Salad or broiled veg with entree of choice. Often bean-related, like a chili. Vegan cornbread for the non-diabetics in the family with a teensy bit for me.
Depending on whether you go low or moderate-carb, there's always the more "normal" fun foods that we add in small amounts like whole wheat pasta. (And most junk-food seems to be vegan!) Energy/protein-wise, beans, tofu, and nuts are great. (I'm allergic to nuts and a bunch of other things which is why I can't manage being diabetic and vegan at the same time. So I cook mostly vegan and add in cheese or greek yogurts where needed.) If you're not gluten-sensitive, seitan is a great meat-substitute, low-carb/high-protein and easy to make. I find veganism to be a lot more cooking from scratch but not hard to do.
Might I suggest going to the library or bookstore and perusing cookbooks to see what looks good to you? Most won't have nutritional info listed, but if the foods look really good, you'll at least get some ideas. And there are websites that allow you to put in the recipe ingredients to get the carb counts and such. A couple of vegan cookbooks that do have the nutritional info listed are Appetite for Reduction (Moskowitz), Vegan Vittles (Stepaniak), anything by Donna Klein, and The Vegetarian Family Cookbook (Atlas). Some recipes will be really carb-heavy but some won't. There's also a couple of books specifically for a diabetic vegan diet; the recipes in them just didn't appeal to me as much.....
Hope that helps. Good luck!
Thanks for the great info!!!