Plant-based diet has been a great experience

[Plant Muncher]

I started eating a plant-based diet beginning 2017 and I have to say that there have been some challenges but for the most part I am loving the entire change. My wife has been a vegetarian for most of our 37 years together but I have always loved both vegetarian food and animal food products and I do the cooking in the house. My wife's friends told her that they are jealous that she is married to a vegan cook. I didn't see that coming.

I have trouble calling myself a vegan, although it is an accurate description, I like the description plant-based diet better because it ends all question from anyone that asks me about my food intake. It is just much more simple to say that if it comes from an animal, I don't eat it, and if it comes from a plant, I eat as much of it as I want to.

I am not a purist in that if I order black beans in a Mexican restaurant and forget to say no cheese or even if I say no cheese and the beans come sprinkled with cheese anyway, I simply scrape off the cheese best I can. I used to be a huge milk drinker. Like a gallon in 2-3 days wasn't uncommon. I don't miss milk, I don't miss meat, I don't miss eggs, I don't miss fish or sea food. I MISS CHEESE.

I have tried plenty of dairy-free cheeses but they really don't melt well, taste all that good, or are very satisfying on pizzas and other foods and certainly not on crackers. I can do without cakes and cookies and bacon and butter but I wish that I could find a tasty cheese alternative. I tried Sizzle Pie in Eugene Oregon and they seem to have a reasonable substitute for cheese. I highly suggest eating there if you are in town. They have like 12 varieties of vegan pizza slices on any given day.

Has anyone found a genuinely good substitute for dairy-based cheese? You would be my personal hero.

On the positive side, I have already lost about 35 lbs. as my body finds it's natural size. I am never hungry or starving and even the clothes I bought after I started losing weight are getting too big for me. Weight loss wasn't my reason for changing to a plant-based diet but it is a nice bonus.

Thanks for listening to my confessions. I feel better now.

 

[Plant Muncher]

BTW If you are ever passing through Rockford Illinois, look up the Pig Minds Brewing Co. All vegan and really great microbrewery. https://pigmindsbrewing.com/ Just off of interstate 90 a mile or so past the Cut Rock State Park entrance. I highly recommend.

 

[alleycat]

Hi Plant Muncher, I've been vegetarian most of my life but the last 15 years it has been a natural progression to really vegan. It has only been the last 6 months that my last animal product ( honey) has been phased out. No other sweetener compares, and it shames me to say it has been hard to give it up.
Like your house hold my hubby does most of the cooking, well fair swap I say, he is a qualified chef who doesn't like yard work, I am the opposite and hate being stuck indoors so it works for us.
How have you lost weight, since I stopped working 18 months ago I have stacked on the weight. 20 kilos is just ridiculous, all my clothes are to tight and I've run out of ways to loosen them. Maybe I should give up the good stuff, coconut cream, maple syrup, and rum.
While I like to travel I have a fear of not being able to get home, which is weird because for much of my life I had no home.

 

[Plant Muncher]

Hey Alley! I really don't know the cause of my weight loss. I have always had a good metabolism and I walk a ridiculous amount around town pretty much nightly. I would have to guess that giving up milk was a major cause of the weight loss for me. I never really liked sweets to begin with and I am only just beginning to work on portion size. Weight loss wasn't a motivation for me but it has been a wonderful bonus to the process. I still eat honey occasionally but I could live without it if I ever found a reason to. My wife has been a vegetarian forever and she has diabetes and she cannot lose weight to save her life. I guess it comes down to metabolism in the end.

 

[Emma JC]

hello and welcome and congrats on making the changeover!

Not sure if you have seen Dr Barnard's book The Cheese Trap http://www.pcrm.org/media/experts/neal-barnard-books

I haven't read it yet, have it on order.

We went WFPB in October of 2016 and yes, cheese is also the toughest nut for us, parmesan in particular as we love our pasta and did pile on the cheese. When we first changed over I tried a few different recipes as we do not buy the fake cheeses as they are full of too much oil and too many unpronouncable ingredients. My favourite recipe was from Cooking With Plants - she has a full page of cheese recipes and the ones we liked are the Stretchy Cheese (tastes and smells like fondue cheese) and the Parmesan - I make the parmesan one all the time and it satisfies the craving nicely.

When it comes to weight loss, it is my opinion that vegans and vegetarians eat too much processed foods and too much added oil. We have 2 tablespoons of added oil once a week only when we make Aglio Olio and other than that the only fats we take in come from the foods themselves. Nuts, avocados, seeds, beans etc. We too lost 15-20 pounds from cutting out the oils.

When I think back over the past 9 months I think the reason we don't miss cheese too much is because we make sure everything is very tasty and satisfying and we don't skimp on portions. Beans have somewhat the same mouth feel as cheese and well cooked sweet potatoes and winter squashes also can satisfy those cravings.

All the best with your journies!

Emma JC

 

[Plant Muncher]

Thanks Emma JC! I have been using an alternative Parmesan recipe as well. I found a recipe that was supposed to use cashews as the main ingredient but being allergic to cashews, I substituted macadamia nuts and just love the taste. I try to eat food as close to what it looked like coming off the plant as possible i.e. eating potatoes rather than french fries. Ridding my diet of plant oils is a bit tougher when it comes to cooking. I usually go with coconut oil and then only sparingly.

Eating out at restaurants if pretty much a lost cause. We have one middle eastern restaurant in town where I can get falafel but there is only so much falafel a guy can eat. Every so often I hear about a vegan restaurant in a nearby town and I can't resist trying it. I've driven a long way for lunch on occasion because actual vegan restaurants are so few and far between. I badgered the middle eastern restaurant owner into removing the chicken base from his lentil soup recipe and using a vegetable base and his other clientele either approved of or didn't notice the change. Sometimes it pays to speak up.

Thanks for the welcome.

PM

 

[Ekanga Radha]

I started eating a plant-based diet beginning 2017 and I have to say that there have been some challenges but for the most part I am loving the entire change. My wife has been a vegetarian for most of our 37 years together but I have always loved both vegetarian food and animal food products and I do the cooking in the house. My wife's friends told her that they are jealous that she is married to a vegan cook. I didn't see that coming.

I have trouble calling myself a vegan, although it is an accurate description, I like the description plant-based diet better because it ends all question from anyone that asks me about my food intake. It is just much more simple to say that if it comes from an animal, I don't eat it, and if it comes from a plant, I eat as much of it as I want to.

I am not a purist in that if I order black beans in a Mexican restaurant and forget to say no cheese or even if I say no cheese and the beans come sprinkled with cheese anyway, I simply scrape off the cheese best I can. I used to be a huge milk drinker. Like a gallon in 2-3 days wasn't uncommon. I don't miss milk, I don't miss meat, I don't miss eggs, I don't miss fish or sea food. I MISS CHEESE.

I have tried plenty of dairy-free cheeses but they really don't melt well, taste all that good, or are very satisfying on pizzas and other foods and certainly not on crackers. I can do without cakes and cookies and bacon and butter but I wish that I could find a tasty cheese alternative. I tried Sizzle Pie in Eugene Oregon and they seem to have a reasonable substitute for cheese. I highly suggest eating there if you are in town. They have like 12 varieties of vegan pizza slices on any given day.

Has anyone found a genuinely good substitute for dairy-based cheese? You would be my personal hero.

On the positive side, I have already lost about 35 lbs. as my body finds it's natural size. I am never hungry or starving and even the clothes I bought after I started losing weight are getting too big for me. Weight loss wasn't my reason for changing to a plant-based diet but it is a nice bonus.

Thanks for listening to my confessions. I feel better now.

Hi have you tried daiya cheese ? its amazing ...and congrats on your transition..so have you completely cut out oil and sugar?

 

[Plant Muncher]

Hi have you tried daiya cheese ? its amazing ...and congrats on your transition..so have you completely cut out oil and sugar?

Hi ER! No I haven't. I never did eat much sugar to begin with and seldom use oil except for cooking every now and then. I had my gall bladder removed several years ago and that sort of took care of any cravings for oils. The things I used eat that I loved kind of make me ill at this point. I will look into finding some daiya cheese in my area. Thanks.

 

[Emma JC]

I have managed to avoid eating out for the full 9 months since we have changed over. lol

My spouse commutes and so eats out every lunch and has managed to find a few options that satisfy him and are only a bit oilier than he prefers. If I do have to eat out I will try to research ahead and call ahead as causing a ruckus while there is would not be comfortable for me.

Emma JC