Can anyone tell me what your general diets (vegan or vegetarian) are in a day?

I'm trying to get an idea of a healthy, full meal plan throughout a day in the path of a vegan or vegatarian. I'm lost on how to live as such, the horrors of animals dying for human life to consume them terrifies me to much deep down, I want to stop consuming animal life but I am confused on how to be smart about it.

Here are several meal plans for multiple days.

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/meals
http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/two-week-vegan-meal-plan.aspx
http://living-vegan.blogspot.com/2007/02/vegan-sample-meal-plans.html

The real key is to learn to listen to your body and what it NEEDS not wants or craves. Begin researching food combining. Not because you HAVE to eat certain foods with other foods but because some foods augment others and bring out the benefits.

One example of the above is that after I would eat bean burritos I usually felt the need for orange juice. After a little research I found that Vitamin C greatly aids the body in digesting non-heme (non blood aka non meat) iron from other foods. Pinto beans have a lot of iron and my body knew what it needed to run most efficiently. Most cravings can be satisfied through a little checking into what the craved food brings and why your body needs it.

It should take six to 10 months for your taste buds to acclimate to a whole new way of eating and living. Plan for tomorrow and take each day as it comes. Read labels but don't get worried if something you ate yesterday had a non veg ingredient in it. Just remove it from your list of products to eat and find a replacement. Try to avoid the many veg convenience foods as staples and cook for yourself at first. It will help the transition go faster. After you have a good comfort level with your new diet you can add some indulgences.

Yahoo has a very good veg group you can sign up for with many supportive people, lots of recipes and a very active board. It can be a good tool to ask questions and have them answered by people who have been where you are and are willing to help.


Much success in your new life

[LucidMoob]

I'm a UK vegan (4 years so far!) and used to take a lot of interest in eating ALL of the right foods everyday, but it got a little draining and produced anxiety within me. Now I just eat lots of veg, wholegrain foods and beans/pulses/lentils/legumes etc. with occasional processed foods like burgers sausages, fishless fingers etc. and my diet is fine, on my medical 6 months ago all my levels were completely normal. I work twelve hour shifts a few times a week and meditate and go hiking in my days off so plenty of energy...

I'll give you a brief outline of my typical meals..

Breakfast
This morning I had wheetabix cereal with rice milk, sometimes organic soya milk. Sometimes I'll have wholegrain toast with jam or hummus or Marmite etc. For a treat I'll have beans on toast I usually put dates and apricots in with my cereal as well as a variety of nuts and seeds, although I am a poor person and nuts and seeds can be expensive here in the UK so I don't always have them.

Lunch
Nothing set in stone here, I'll probs have beans on toast today yey! Sandwiches at work with hummus on, sometimes vegan pate sandwich spread, some salad stuff etc.

Dinner or teatime
Tonight its bangers and mash. Mash potatoes flavoured with vegan butter (pure spread or vitalite) salt & pepper, Fry's sausages, steamed vegatables and bisto gravy. Tomorrow I'm making a Shepard's pie, so brown lentils (vegan mince works fine aswell) onion, mushrooms, garlic, an assortment of vegetables and a stock cube. Bang it all together and put a layer of mash potato on top. I'll probs make a curry at the weekend and risotto, again with lots of veg and mixed beans or tofu...

Dessert
Me and the gf make our own desserts, usually cakes, cupcakes, fridgecakes etc. There are many great recipes on internet for this stuff. PM me if you want some simple recipes.

Other snacks
We eat many bags of crisps, here in the UK skips are vegan, so are Nick Nacks, some walkers crisps, hoola hoops, pom beans, as well as many others. vegan chocolate bars and fruit bars are easy to get. My gf is a sugar addict and vegan, she eats lots of brownies and cakes and buns and anything else laced with sugar lol...

Most of our food is bought at the local supermarket, We dont have to go to any special shop to buy food although the occasional trip to a health food shop is done.

Hope this helps

[fire]

I would say this is a subject to address to your heart.

Have a look at your overal diet, write down a list of everything you usually would consume over a month or two, and strike through the items that contain meat and / or slaughter byproducts, like gelatin.
Then take a sheet of paper and make a placemat by drawing a line through the middle. Write down the remaining items from your list on the left side, and ideas for meals that you may prepare on the right side.

For instance, if you will allow a diet with eggs and diary, you can list meals like boiled eggs, egg salad, fried egg with toast and omelet on the right side. Just be creative and go with the flow of it.

When you run out of ideas, take a break from the list, forget about the subject of food completely, say to your mind "I'm going to resolve this with new solutions in a little while, when I feel better", and find for yourself any activity to soothe and uplift your vibration to a better feeling place.

Once you feel refreshed and inspired to continue with the list, find more items to fill in on the left side that you would like to try out, and maybe items you had forgotten earlier will come to mind as well. Then see if you can come up with more delicious meals to list on the right.

Remember to be kind with yourself in your choices. Changing one's diet should not be entirely biased towards a principle, but balanced in conjunction with what one is ready to give up. So please don't beat yourself up with thoughts about how wrong something may feel to you about this subject. Give yourself time to adjust to changes, and let it be a natural process of unfolding from compassion, with as little judgement as possible. The more one lashes at it, the more difficult it will become for oneself to accept what the mind or body and may want or crave. Instead, forgive yourself with compassion for the animals and allow yourself to enjoy your choices as they are.

Talk to your dr and ask to see a dietician/nutritionalist. See were your mineral and vitanmin levels are at now, to see exactly what you have to start with.

Learn to broaden your pallet. It is possible to not eat meat (at least all the time) and get all you need, but it wil be more of smaller meals spread throughout the day, with various foods.

Think of what level you wish to stay away from animal products. Do you mind eating milk, yogurt, eggs? Some vegitarians eat chicken on occasion, or moreso fish and seafood. I will say eating milk products, or even eggs can make things easier.

You have to be careful with soy products. Too much soy in males creates pseudoestrogen and can unbalance testosterone levels. It is also in many vegan products. Mushrooms are a good meat alternitive. Grilling giant sh-itake that have been marinaded in herbs and oils is reminiscent of a steak!

Learn about various oils. Olive oil, hemp oil, flax seed oil, peanut oil.... all these have omega fatty acids (usually only found in meat), and are full of good cooking and digestive properties.

Be "nuts". Nuts have fats, as well as oils and even some digestiable protien in them. Many can even be grown in your yard in 90% of the US. Almonds have chemicals that "fill" your stomach, so you dont eat as much. Even pistachios can be grown in 3/4 of the US. Be careful when you see the nutrition labels on nuts. They may be high in fat, but they dont discern the differences in WHAT fats.

Constantly have some sort of fruit with you at all times. IF youre picky and only like, apples for instance, at least eat as many kinds of apples you can. The big thing is, you need a huge pallet of fruits and veggies, eatin in different ways. Dont stick to the usual apples, cherry, orange diet either. Try dragon fruit, different pears and plums, cocouts, asian pear, perssimion (native NA fruit i might add), berries. Leafy greens are good as well, if you try things other then spinach and lettuce. A salad consiting of say, Kale, spinach, a fw kinds of lettuce, rocket, mullien, mint leaves, nausturtum flowers, dandelioin leaves, and cress will load you chalk full of iron and trace minerals. Add some peppers, onions, celery, tomatoes and radish, and you have a super salad.....

Shelled hemp seeds are a great addition to the diet, as they are the most complete protein in the plant kingdom. They are very healthy, and taste good! They make it easy to ensure that you get enough protein, and of an excellent quality too!