Vegan, need help

i am vegan, and am overcoming anorexia(reaon for being vegan)

i dont want to stop being vegan, but im having a really hard time getting that 1800 cals i aperently need to stay alive...

what should i eat, without feeling like a pig?

I'm all about the peanut butter. yummy, great on apples, crackers and bread. good protein, and calorie dense.

They make so many vegan friendly foods now, You can find vegan cheeses that are low in fat and are very healthy. They have a huge variety of all vegan foods, have you tried stores like Trader Joe's. I am not sure what area you are in but I believe Albertson's also has a large vegan section.

I have a couple friends who are vegan. One of them actually ran a vegan restaurant for a while. She eats a lot of beans, tofu, and peanut butter for protien. She has some amazing recipies that are 100% vegan, and really good, so it shouldn't be too hard to be at 1800 calories. Another good place to look is at asian foods - they don't contain very much dairy and other animal products. There are SO many options these days. Mmmm, there is even a vegan bakery in my town!

I don't know about "feeling like a pig" though. I think that is something you have to work through with an eating disorder. But the good thing is you know how many calories you need and there are definately many vegan ways to get there . . . I bet there are a lot of internet sites with recipies too.

hi jellyfish.

try some nuts and seeds..those should be great for you. try adding in more fruit, they have more calories than veggies. i also suggest you very slowly increase your calories..dont jump up to 1800 overnight..you will gain weight, which you might need, but too much will throw you mentally. a little at a time. are you also raw? meaning do you eat anything cooked? or processed? if you dont, than you are also raw. if you arent raw, than try some soups too. and if possible, add some crackers to your soup. some vegans eat bread/crackers, some don't.

are you a big water drinker? if so, try to add some juice or teas. they have calories. good luck. you might also want to try this other website and forum. there are alot of vegan/raw recipes and advice on what to eat, when, how much how often. the atmosphere is usually very supportive and loving. i have never before come across such a energetic and loving forum like this. good luck jellyfish!! hugs, lynette

http://www.rawfood.com/cgi-bin/forum/ultimate bb.cgi

hi jellyfish, I am dealing with the same thing as you. I stopped eating meats so I would lose weight, and my doctor made me promise to eat at least 1200 calories a day, but I am not very good at it yet, because I rarely touch meat. I don't know about you, but for me it is hard to make myself eat so much food! Any ideas about how to make it easier? I have already gained so much weight by eating so may calories a day. He says I needed it though. sigh.

But I do have suggestions.  A healthy vegan diet includes plenty of whole grains and legumes & seeds & nuts.  These combinations provide complete protein.  If you want to know more about getting your protein from sources other than animal, I recommend reading Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappe.  She also wrote a companion book, Recipes for a Small Planet.  You can get them from the library.

If you are eating small amounts, add some healthy oil to each dish.  A tablespoon of oil is 123 calories.  Also, you can afford to sweeten with real honey, although it doesn't provide that many more calories. Have 3 fruits a day.

One more suggestion - eat 5 or 6 small meals instead of 3 large ones.  Spreading your eating out will give you more energy than letting yourself become hungry between meals.

Please listen to your doctor!!!
Claire

From one non-meat eating, eating disorder recoverer to another, I have a lot of advice on what foods could help you up your calorie intake. Recovering from an eating disorder, it can be very hard to remember what a normal day of eating was, and I still can't really remember how I did it before counting calories. When I started eating again, I was a bit weary of nuts and nut butters, because they are so calorie dense. It takes time to get over calorie content, even if you're trying to increase your intake. My advice is to find a really good vegetarian/organic/health grocery store in your neighborhood. Foods that I loved when I was a kid that I had forbidden to myself were all being sold in these stores, only healthy! Hempseed wholewheat waffles, Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches, great chilis and baked goods, all low in calories and high in taste and health. I could eat more, but I managed to maintain a good healthy weight for a long time. I didn't feel like a pig because I was eating healthy treats that helped contribute to healthy diet.

Then I stopped caring and decided to eat whatever I wanted for a while, which was fun too. Now I want to feel good in my body, so I'm trying to get rid of some of my extra weight.

 Also, going through a hospital program for eating disorders, they stressed following an eating schedule. Try to create a food plan for yourself and make a schedule to get yourself back on track. Try to eat the same amount everyday at the same times, and if you're still not consuming enough food, just add more into your plan somewhere. 

I know what it's like to have an eating disorder, and when I started to heal, I read all of this literature that said that people don't recover from it mentally. This isn't true. It takes time, but everything can go back to normal, and you can live a normal life and eat normally while maintaining a healthy, self-satisfying weight.

nuts and avocados are higher in calories, and really nutritionally dense too!

Hi Jellyfish,

Its really not hard to reach 1800/ day. I am a vegetarian but I make a lot of dishes that are vegan. Try whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat. Also, you can try including beans in ur diet...black beans salad, quinoa and black beans are some of the healthy and tasty options. One of my other fav dish id tofu and other veggies in peanut sauce.

other options are lentils...i really like lentil soup made with all fresh veggies...it is a very good source of protein. As others suggested tofu, nuts, Peanut butter, fruits.

I really dont think that you are out of heathy options.

Also, falafel with hummus in whole wheat pita is another good option.