convenient vegan food
a local grocery chain sells many different frozen meals from amy’s, some of which are vegan and very tasty. fellow vegan freakazoids will know what i mean when i say how nifty it is to do the product pickup and label dance with an amy’s item, because if it’s vegan, that’s the first word you see (in parens) after “INGREDIENTS”. i’ve gotten pretty quick with the label dance, but that’s about the best thing next to having it on the front of the product. as a new vegan, i understand why they might want to keep the word off the front, since before my conversion i’d have run screaming from any product with a prominent “vegan”.
the amy’s web site makes it pretty easy to find vegan items; go to the search page, check the Vegan box, and click “Search Products”. so far my favorites are the Indian Vegetable Korma and Black Bean Vegetable Burrito. if you’re thinking of going vegan even partway, see if you can find some amy’s near you. makes the trip much easier.
my schedule is wacky, making it hard to tell if fatigue is related to something other than lack of sleep, but i now think it’s likely my health has declined on that front since dropping animal products from my diet. added supplemental B12 last week, and that might be helping a bit. going to stay vegan for a few more weeks and see if i push through whatever’s dragging me down. if not, i’ll consider looking into a local non-cruel farm where i can get a regular fix. don’t want to, but if it comes down to an animal or me, the animal’s going to lose. hope this is just a temp setback.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:40
Some people just don’t do really well on a strictly vegan diet. It’s possible that you may be one of them. But at this stage, I thnk you’re charting a prudent course by giving it enough time to determine with greater confidence whether your dragging is a simple matter of normal fluctuation or can be reasonably attributed to the vegan diet.
Regardless of whether everyone can achieve optimal health on a strictly vegan diet, the simple fact of the matter is that Americans in general eat entirely too much meat. (There are other problems with the typical American diet that compromise health, but that is certainly one.) Adding insult and injury, the meat they eat–typical factory-farmed fare–is poison to boot! And this is not to mention the cruelty of factory farming, a huge issue on its own.
It doesn’t take much in the way of animal products to round out the diet, and if for whatever reason you want to avoid meat/flesh, most or all of that can be satisfied with things like free-range eggs and raw dairy products–no killing or cruelty necessary.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:55
thanks very much. would you happen to know the most likely thing(s) people miss from the omnivore diet? if i do need animal products for vitality, i’d like to limit it to only the essential ones. fortunately, i don’t have anything pressing right now (far as i know), so i can afford to try to ride this out and get acclimated. don’t like the idea of just conveniently claiming i’m not cut out to be a vegan. oh but those burgers and steaks still look good! oddly, i crave sushi as much or more than anything, which might be my body telling me something. i learned years ago, when bonking for the first time on a bicycle, that the human body has a strong ability to plant images and cravings for exactly the sort of food one needs in emergencies.
mentally, if i compare it to starving, or a POW thing with rice only or whatever, it’s hard to believe i can’t thrive without animal products. before i would add them again, i’d definitely switch to a rigid schedule, both for sleeping and exercise. if that didn’t crack it, i’d be worried i have mental problems. (no jokes about that please.)
April 11th, 2007 at 12:03
Well, I’m certainly no expert in these matters, and fools rush in where wise men fear to tread, so naturally I can’t resist sharing some top-of-mind thoughts. Bear in mind that I know very little about the specifics of your diet, so these are just some shots that may not hit the target to the extent that underlying assumptions are off base.
My first thought would have been along the same lines as yours: B12. Something to keep in mind: B12 is one big fat molecule and is notoriously difficult to absorb. Unless you’re using an especially absorbable and bio-available form (or even if you are for that matter), why not try ramping up the B12 for a while and see if it helps. Even if you think you’re already getting enough, it isn’t how much you consume, it’s how much your body utilizes; it could require ingesting a lot more to get enough utilized.
The next thought would have to do with protein. Although theoretically you should be able to get all the high quality protein you need from plant-based sources, it’s a little more tricky and requires a bit more thought when you completely zap the animal products. You may need to be more conscious of eating a wide enough variety of plant-based protein sources to ensure that you get solid quantities of all essential amino acids.
More generally, and while the following comments could also pertain to those on the “omnivore” diet(I put that in quotes because the typical American “omnivore” diet is really a caricature of an omnivorous diet.), the issues become more pronounced on a strictly vegan one insofar as the variety of plants isn’t increased but the animal parts of the diet are taken away.
Enzymes. I’m particularly struck by your indication of a craving for sushi. Raw foods tend to be excellent sources of enzymes, so if you’ve been eating a very high proportion of cooked food, part of your craving could be an instinctual craving for enzymes. (Given that the craving is for sushi, it also makes me wonder if part of the craving is for complete, high-quality protein, by the way.)
Minerals. So many plants are grown in depleted soils that it can be difficult to get all the minerals needed. Short of adding back a smattering of animal products, you might try increasing the variety of plants, juicing, and/or supplementing.
A couple of other general suggestions if you’re not already doing them. One, try adding an apple cider vinegar tonic to your daily routine. We use Bragg apple cider vinegar, it’s organic and has all the enzymes in it. It may also help with the energy/fatigue issue.
Also, the addition of some coconut oil may help with energy. It’s a phenomenal source of MCT’s / MCFA’s (medium chain triglycerides / fatty acids) and is easily converted to energy by the body. Also very shelf- and heat-stable compared to other oils and fats. We use Spectrum but there are other good brands as well. Note: there are huge differences in taste acros various brands, so if you get one and don’t like the taste, try another brand. You may also be interested to note that coconut oil is great not just internally, but externally as well. Never have found another moisturizer / skin conditioner than can even compare.
April 11th, 2007 at 12:29
By the way, completely off topic, but I just got my CD of Patti Page’s Mercury Years, vol 1 last night in the mail and gave it a listen.
That music takes me back to another time. Really captures the zeitgeist of the era. Although it predates me, I can imagine my parents listening to it in their young years. Could almost be soundtrack to the post WWII era. Even the less upbeat songs reveal an optimism and virtuousness/innocense that is just not around in the same way these days.
I’ll grant that this innocense and optimism may have been naive, deceptive, and superficial but it still describes the era. Even if only superficially it was part of the general “vibe” of the time. People were blissfully unaware of the skullduggery behind Nuremberg, couldn’t have conceived of their government perpetrating something like Project Ajax, etc.
Anyway, thanks much for turning me onto that tune “Once in a While.”
April 12th, 2007 at 01:37
wow. cool! you’ve given me a lot to research and try. thanks for that. my diet before was mostly beef, with sushi once a month or so. sometimes more. also ate plenty of chicken and turkey. i’m wondering how much of this is mental. when i go to the gym, i feel so ragged out, but can ramp it up when required (hitting the heavy bag, or simulating a cycling sprint).
yep, i feel about the same way about the blissfully ignorant era you describe. lotta beauty in the mess.
April 12th, 2007 at 21:53
Some further thoughts.
On the subject of enzymes…
Some may tell you that your body can produce all the enzymes you need. As far as it goes, that’s true, but it isn’t quite the whole story.
It’s surprising how many–even among those who are very nutrion savvy in general–restrict their attention only to fats, proteins, and carbohydrates with a focus on ingesting a broad spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and trace elements and keeping their antioxidant status up. Maybe they also toss in a few herbs or exotic supplements for whatever reason(s). Most frequently overlooked but every bit as vital: probiotics and enzymes. Enzyme nutrition is just such an important and often overlooked area that I’m compelled to write a bit more. (I should also get into probiotics, but I’ll defer for now.)
Edward Howell proposed something called the law of adaptive secretion of enzymes many years ago, and as it turns out there’s pretty good empirical evidence to back it up, albeit ignored for the most part by the mainstream. Basically it boils down to the notion that your pancreas secretes just the right amount–no more than needed–of different bypes of enzymes needed to digest your food. By ingesting enzymes, your pancreas doesn’t have to produce as many. If your body doesn’t have to work as hard to produce enzymes for digestion, then it can spend more of its energy ensuring adequate enzymes for other activities.
I’ve greatly oversimplified it, and there’s more to it than I can write here, but the bottom line is that enzymes are required for virtually every activity (repair and maintenance of tissue, energy production, immune function, even thinking and breathing!). It’s a good idea to ensure you’ve got plenty of enzymes for what’s important and not waste them by using those produced by your body when you could get them from food (or even enzyme supplements).
For a book on this subject that is thorough yet succinct, convincing, and a pleasure to read I recommend this one:
http://tinyurl.com/3ctpsj
For what it’s worth, I take proteolytic enzymes on an empty stomach everyday. I also take digestive enzymes with meals pretty often, particularly if cooked food is on the menu.
I’ve mentioned my cancer journey before. Although I’ve utilized a number of approaches in overcoming that, one of them has certainly been the proteolytic enzymes. (For what it’s worth, “proteolytic” is just a fancy way of saying that these enzymes can break down or digest proteins.) It’s only been since being diagnosed that I’ve gotten into any of this. I was pretty unaware of the importance of enzymes before cancer.
By the way, thanks for the well wishes. In remission now for 18 months. Sometime if appropriate I may go into it a bit more, but for now suffice it to say that it has been a defining experience of my adult life. My prognosis was not good–about a 25% expectation of making it 5 years–but I have the odds much more in my favor at this point. I was able to achieve, against odds, complete remission and that remission has so far been pretty sturdy. 75% of recurrences happen in the first year, 90% happen in the first two years, etc. My doctors are amazed at my progress as am I. A “cure” is not at all improbable at this point, though by no means assured. Basically, the good news is that, especially if I can make it to that 2-year mark still cancer free, then my risk will only be slightly elevated compared with “normal” people. I continue to do what I can to tilt the odds in my favor as much as possible, and so far those efforts seem to be yielding good dividends. I’m doing better than anyone else from my “class”–by far. Most of them, even those with cases that weren’t as advanced, are already either dead or fighting a recurrence now. But most people, even after going through that hell, for some reason don’t change the way they live. They think when they go into remission that it’s “over.” (As if. If only.)
——————–
Something else that occurred to me right after I wrote before was vitamin D. (Can’t believe I didn’t mention it.) If you’re getting a good amount of sunshine, don’t worry about it–you’re covered. But if you’re not, then it could be a challenge to get an adequate amount on a vegan diet. By all means make sure you get enough by any means possible. One of the most important vitamins out there (crucial for proper calcium and phosphorous assimilation, so very important for bone health, great anti-cancer properties as well).
Most people get it from milk, other dairy products, or other animal products (fish, seafood, fish oil, and eggs have some too). This could also be yet another partial explanation of your sushi craving. Extremely important vitamin, don’t let yourself be deficient. Gov’t's RDA (200 to 600 IU, depending on age) should really be considered a lower bound. Three or four (or more) times that would be better for most people.
Note: The D that’s in pasteurized milk is probably the least bio-available D out there, just one of the many problems with that poison that is milk by decree only. Raw milk from healthy cows on grass milked in sanitary conditions is the only way to go: that’s real milk. I know you’re not consuming any animal products now, but I had to throw that in just in case you add dairy back in.
——————
Finally, on the lighter side, regarding that “blissfully ignorant era,” here’s a very contemporary interpretation of it:
http://tinyurl.com/2d3oes
No way those lyrics would have seen the light of day back in the post WWII era! It’s fun to see a view of those times through the lens of today. (Bit of eye and ear candy going there, too!)
April 12th, 2007 at 22:34
thanks again. where i get so frustrated is that…
well, let’s say somebody told me some theory when i was doing my recording engineering gig. if it sounded interesting, i tested it, confirmed the theory, and used it if i wanted. whenever people talk about diet, whether sports nutrition or other, it all goes fuzzy, and i don’t have even a 10th of the required knowledge or facilities to verify even the theory part.
so what happens is i’ll hear some food theory — they’re often presented in a structure that mimics or meets solid logic — and i’m left having no real objection, but also no firm confirmation. for example, my body is just torn up right now, and i don’t know why. is it related to my new vegan diet? is it mental, because i was so passionate about eating animal products?
even the B12, i have no clue if it’s done anything. oh, BTW, i bought a tablet type but melt it under my tongue, since i’d heard the stomach was hostile to B12. don’t know whether i need to buy a dedicated sublingual version.
the way my mind works, everything requires direct confirmation — one of my biggest strengths and weaknesses. it’s why i spend so much time goofing around with reconstructing wheel inventions and whatever. hell, i’m surprised i ever got anything done in my recording studio after i bought a dual-trace oscilloscope.
anyway, whether it’s atkins theory or whatever, i just feel so lost. how is it that you got to the point where you felt comfortable adjusting your diet as you have, and do you feel somewhat sure that you’ve removed the psychosomatic (or whatever more acceptable term fits) from it? never thought changing diet radically would be such a shock. all these years i figured i was just an easy-going dude eating whatever, but i think i may have been tailoring my intake for exactly what i needed. i know that’s true when i started in my early 30s to lose my insane penchant for metabolizing carbs.
i do like your method of questioning what ingredient(s) might be the target of my vague cravings. maybe i should stop trying to pinpoint something and do the old lazy electronics/automotive repair technique; just start throwing new parts at the problem. then if it made a detectable change, i could slowly start eliminating things from that pile of additions.
going to spend a few days going over your information and that enzyme link, then try to put together a shopping trip. gotta find someplace other than GNC. that joint creeped me out when i went to buy the B12.
thanks again. good to hear about your cancer history. that disease tore a hole in me via my mom, and i sure don’t wish it on anybody who’s not a criminal.
enjoyed the candyman vid. seen it before, but had only listened to see how much it tracked “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”. interesting lyrics. ha! girl’s got ass too. there’s an animal product i won’t be eliminating from my diet.
April 13th, 2007 at 11:57
I can relate to what you’re saying. It’s hard to know where to start or what advice can be trusted.
It was often the case as I was seriously embarking on my health quest that I would read “panacea X is the key to golden health,” and then I would read some screaming headline such as “STUDY: PANACEA X FOUND TO CAUSE PREMATURE DEATH.” Later I would learn that the study was done on one-celled organisms in a lab and extrapolated to humans in the most shaky manner imaginable…. Ok, I’m joking a bit here, but the point remains: you can find some “expert” or some “study” to back up almost ANYTHING, no matter how crazy, so the burden still remains: how does one sort through all of that, especially if one isn’t completely up to speed in bio chemistry and other relevant disciplines?
For me, much of the confusion finally lifted when I read Weston Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degneration. Although the book was written almost 70 years ago, it easily stands the test of time. (Truth has a way of enduring, doesn’t it?) I wish it would have been the very first thing I read, it would have helped me put everything else in perspective.
Obviously, there have been discoveries since Weston Price’s observations and experiments, but the knowledge gleaned from a serious reading of that book did me wonders in establishing a solid platform on which to build the rest. (I’m still building.)
Note: you’ll be disappointed to find that although he found some primitive people who were primarily vegetarians and somewhat healthy, they didn’t tend to be as vigorously healthy as those who had at least some animal products in their diet. In my own admittedly limited observations I’ve also found that to be generally the case. Having said that, I know some people who’ve adopted extreme (virtually 100%) plant-based diets who are very robust, but they’ve really put a lot of thought into covering their bases beyond the obvious pairing of brown rice and beans, for instance. Also, there’s just so much bio-chemical diversity that I suspect some people are just wired to do better on plants, some on meat, and most of us on some combination. But I don’t think anyone is wired to do well on the typical American diet.
Even if you’re planning to tenaciously cling to the vegan approach, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t benefit greatly from a serious, thoughtful, and open-minded reading of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. I’ll bet you’ll come away with a visceral as well as intellectual grasping of your health path direction.
Although I heartily recommend reading the whole book, here’s a link to an article that is probably the best brief summary I’ve seen so far. Many of the examples he pulls are exactly the ones I would have cited. But once again: read the whole book! There’s just no way an article can adequately do it justice. (By the way, that also applies to the enzyme book preiview I linked on Google: it’s a good preview but there are a lot of really good parts left out.)
http://www.drrons.com/nutrition-westonaprice.htm
By the way, and I’m not trying to “convert” you, there’s also another article there that you might want to check out. Caveat: I haven’t read this whole article myself, just noticed it when I went looking for the other article, but skimmed it and it seems interesting:
http://www.drrons.com/recovering-from-vegetarianism.htm
Here’s the Weston Price book:
http://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Physical-Degeneration-Weston-Andrew/dp/0916764087/
Ron Schmid, the author of the articles above, also has a book that I recommend. Although it’s about milk, it covers a broad swath of health (e.g., lipid hypothesis of heart disease):
http://www.amazon.com/Untold-Story-Milk-Pastures-Contented/dp/0967089743/
Ok, so there’s a lot of suggested reading here, and I do think that what’s here, coupled with the Howell book (Enzyme Nutrition) will greatly aid you in your quest. But in the end, they will only help you get on the path. Understand: your path will be an individual one. Although there are some basic principles, your bio individuality will necessitate greater focus on some things and less on others than, say, would be the case for me.
I think you’ll find that the approach you’ve found useful in the past, “if it sounded interesting, i tested it, confirmed the theory, and used it if i wanted,” will serve you well in this endeavor as well.
But one thing to bear in mind is that you shouldn’t necessarily expect instantaneous results. As an example, you may notice right off the bat some benefit from an ACV (apple cider vinegar) tonic, but it wouldn’t be surprising for it to take a couple of weeks or so, and even then it wouldn’t be, “Man, I feel like a million bucks from the ACV.” It would be more of a recognition that you’ve just been feeling more healthy of late: it tends to sneak up on most people. And a lot of things work better in combination than as a single shot. (Especially as you read Weston Price, you’ll come to expect that to be the case. As an aside, that knowledge will tend to increase your skepticism as you read so many of the misguided nutritional studies that are out there. How many studies do you see that measure the effects of, say, a single antioxidant? It’s a miracle that so many of them still prove beneficial, but of course they’re most effective in combination, which is why broad spectrum antioxidants including bioflavanoids work best: they’re more like you get from good food, the way nature intended.
Hope this at least gives you some ideas and gets you thinking in some good directions. You’ve got an exciting path of discovery and health ahead!
April 13th, 2007 at 13:02
Stop me before I kill again!
One more thing. We’ve all bought stuff from GNC: they’re everywhere and very convenient. But even though I still buy stuff from them on occasion, I generally avoid that place. Most of the time I find that I know ten times more about nutrition than the person working there, and the quality of their stuff is uneven.
Better to find a good health food store run by people who are really into health (and knowledgable).
Usually the good ones have good brands (Enzymatic Therapy, Jarrow, Natrol, Solger’s, Schiff, many more) and are staffed by people who are just obviously “into it” who have given health subjects some real thought.
Ironically, and although there are many exceptions, the people who work in health food stores don’t always look like the healthiest people on the face of the earth, though. Not sure why that is. The cobbler’s children have no shoes?
I see the same things with workers in the conventional medical field as well, though. Many docs and nurses are pretty unhealthy. In my limited experience, naturopaths tend to be healthier as a rule than MD’s. No, I haven’t seen a study to confirm that, it’s just (an admittedly probably biased) observation based on limited data.
April 15th, 2007 at 20:54
wonder if you could do me a favor. with some of my projects falling behind schedule, i doubt i have the large blocks required to adequately get into that reading list right now, though i’m thinking over everything you’ve written (and thanks). can you, without mulling it too much or feeling responsible, throw together a list of what would make a reasonable pile of things to try all at once? your health store idea’s spot on, because i think i can find one that’ll blow away GNC. that place struck me as one big infomercial palace, and the woman there acted as though she’d been given the job only as part of the plot for a new reality show. no passion for her subject. she did know the specials though.