Nutrition is a difficult topic for me for a variety of reasons. First: i am vegan. This means that i eat no animal-based foods or by-products this includes all types of meat, dairy, and eggs. I am vegan for the animals and because i believe in the mantra "vote with your wallet". I wont, however, try and persuade you to go vegan too on this blog, because i don't want this blog to force my "political views" down anyone's throat, but i do want it to be clear that i am on a vegan diet since that complicates things a little bit when it comes to eating.
Second: i used to have an eating disorder. My relationship with food will therefore always be somewhat skewed. I think that most women overall have a complicated relationship with food, which makes the topic of nutrition difficult to talk about.
Third: i am an extremely picky eater. I also have ADHD which makes me hyper focus on certain foods sometimes. This means that i can be very obsessed with a certain type of food for days or weeks, and then one day i wont care about it at all. This makes planning meals difficult.
Taking all these things into consideration; you can probably kind of figure out why i hate the topic of nutrition, but it is an important one nonetheless. As they say:
muscles are build in the kitchen, not the gym.
Right now i try to focus on getting the appropriate amount of calorie intake and also get enough protein. I am currently eating in a deficit, because i want to lose some unwanted fat. Once i am happy where i am at, i will have to figure out what my maintenance amount of calories is. I am expecting to be able to eat more calories the more that i train, and i don't really know how to adjust my calories once my muscles grow, but that is a thing for future me to figure out i guess.
I am currently trying to eat as clean as possible, with a lot of protein, and with as little carbs as possible. This is very difficult for someone who loves bread and pasta. Luckily i have discovered veggie pasta which has been very good so far, and a store that i don't shop at often apparently has protein pasta which i will have to check out one of these days. I also have one cheat day a week where i can eat whatever junk i want within a calorie limit. This usually results in pizza, tortellini, lasagna, chocolate, and chips (not all at the same time of course).
I think it is important to incorporate a cheat day. This makes it easier to hold on to your healthy diet the rest of the week since you are "working towards your cheat day". It also keeps you sane, since, if you have any cravings for unhealthy foods, you can just eat it on your cheat day. And i have realized that it keeps me thinner somehow. I don't believe in the whole "it speeds up your metabolism" bs, but maybe there is some truth to it after all?
To figure out what and how i want to eat i have been looking around on the internet for nutrient and protein dense vegan foods for inspiration and i have found two websites that were helpful.
First i found an article on Men's Journal: What Vegan and Plant-Based Athletes Eat to Stay Ultra-Jacked. This helped me a lot. They interviewed different type of vegan athletes and it was interesting to see what an average day for them looks like. I guess you can just google other athletes' their diets if you aren't vegan to get a feel for what work-out heavy people eat. I would say it is a bit easier to figure out your diet when you aren't vegan, since there is way more information out there. For example, forums like Bodybuilding can help out a lot with seeing what other people eat, but also recipes, and of course overall dietary advice. There is also a Vegan Bodybuilding website and forum but i haven't really used that website at all so i don't know if it is any good. For overall advice on nutrition i usually like to read the normal Bodybuilding forum. There is a lot of contradicting advice out there tho, so make sure to do proper research before taking anyone's advice.
Another helpful website is the r/vegan1200isplenty subreddit for meal ideas. Since i am a somewhat tiny person i do not need to eat as many calories as most people, which can make it difficult to plan meals or to not overeat. To find protein heavy recipes i searched "protein" within the subreddit and there are many fun and easy to make meals that are protein heavy.
Other than that i went to the website of my main supermarket and i went through a bunch of different meat replacements (and there are a looooot, so it took me a few days to go through all of them). And i searched for the most protein dense meat replacements. I then made a list with the ones with the highest protein density and the ones that i could incorporate in my meals the most and i went to my store and bought a few of each. I have a big freezer so i can bulk buy meat replacements (especially handy when they are on discount!). I also found that soy bits (i believe they are called "Soya granules") are very heavy in protein density, but they didn't have those in the store so i need to separately purchase them from a website some time. I did buy a tofu block to make my own meat replacements, but it is such a hassle (and i'm lazy) that i'd rather just buy things that are ready to use not to make it harder on myself.
I think it is important to have fun with your foods and to eat food you actually like. Since i am a picky eater (mainly with veggies), it is difficult to incorporate them in my diet. If you also have issues with including healthier foods in your diet, make sure to first add the healthy foods you do like. Or prepare them in a way that you do like them (no, smothering veggies in cheese doesn't count). Then later on you can always adjust your diet or start incorporating other healthy foods. Just know that your diet doesn't have to be perfect from the start. Even just a teaspoon a day of veggies is progress if you aren't used to eating them every day. You can always try small portions of healthier foods and then work your way up to bigger portions. Take your time, and learn what you do like to eat!
I also try to limit my sugar intake to zero (which is almost impossible) (sugar is in literally everything), which can be quite challenging. I like to eat dessert, but the only protein heavy vegan yogurt that i have access to has a lot of sugar in it. So it is challenging. Right now i just eat the dessert whenever i crave it and i try to not beat myself up too much because it has "too much sugar". Along the line i hope to replace it with something healthier.
I don't really know what else to add to this. I might post a full week of eating here some time, in the hope that i improve in the future. It would be fun to compare the two a year from now or something.
Right now i try to aim for a minimum of 50 grams of protein a day. And i would like to work my way up to at least 100 grams. Since i am not used to tracking my protein, or eating protein heavy foods, i think 50 is a good number to start out with, since i can only increase it from here on out.
Currently i try to get most of my protein from meat replacements and protein smoothies (protein powder with frozen fruit and mylk). I have a really good recipe for a protein smoothie that is about 200 calories, and 30 grams of protein and it tastes like ice cream! It's sooo good. I will post it here some time. I hope to increase my protein intake by eating more protein dense veggies in the future
Leanbeefpatty also made a good video on eating vegetarian for an entire day. She got about 1800 calories with 143 grams of protein which is nuts!
