Vegan Nutrition with Marty Davey

Marty Davey is a Registered Dietitian and has a Masters degree in Food and Nutrition from Marywood University. She became a vegetarian in 1980 when she discovered that the chemicals in American meat made them unsellable to Europeans. She and her husband have raised their son as a vegan. She teaches nutrition and has a private practice specializing in assisting clients transitioning to a plant-based regime step by step. Her website is martydavey.com

I have been vegetarian off and on over the years and made the decision to go vegan last August. Overnight, I cut out all animal and animal secretions out of my diet. I do take supplements i.e. iron, folate, B12 sublingual and multivatimins. I do not eat any junk food whatsoever, and not even soy ice cream. However, I have gained 12 pounds!!! Most especially in my abdominal area. Help!

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Kudos to you for going vegan. I'm not sure what all 'animal secretions' entails, but it sounds like scary stuff and I wouldn't eat it either. There is only one way, other than medication, to gain weight&8212;calories in is more than calories out. The fact that you don't eat junk food is great; however, I don't know what you eat. A food diary would be the first step, but more on that later. Here are some common pitfalls.

Buttering up. Nut butters are fantastic, in small doses. I love them on crackers, but when I haven't been running, I use a tablespoon, measure it out and put it on celery instead.

Trails of Trail mix. These mixes are great for snacks because they carry well and are nutrient dense. They are also calorie dense. Keep these to a couple of tablespoons a day.

Going naked can be a good thing. Salads are where a lot of folk fall into a vat of calories via the dressing. I dress all of the salads in my house. I use about a tablespoon for 3 people unless it is totally fat free. I put seeds in my salads, about a tablespoon for three eaters. I mix the dressing into the salad. Thus the term, 'dressing the salad.' Juice concentrates make great salad dressings and you can add a multitude of spices to enhance your salad ingredients. The dipping of your fork when the dressing is on the side does not always work. You may feel great that you only had half of the container however, the container holds Ľ cup. This means you had three tablespoons of dressing. And forget the croutons; they are usually made with oil.

Tofu tipping. Tofu is a great product, if you use it judiciously. One half cup of tofu equals 5 grams of fat. Use the low fat version without adding oil to your dish. Watch the sauces you may add. My personal story of losing weight is of going on a diet to eliminate some food allergies I had. I ate cooked grains, beans, fresh vegetables and very little fruit. I did not have any sweeteners or fermented products such as bread, soy sauce, vinegar [or anything with vinegar], ketchup, mustard, mayo, tempeh, tofu and seitan. My physical routine was the same and I lost a lot of weight. I did eat tahini, ginger and garlic on everything. Except oatmeal. So what does that mean?

Eat fresh everything and cut out any added oil. AND?

Increase your physical output. You don't mention what your physical activity is, but it is not enough to offset your input. If you have slacked off, get started to bring yourself back up to speed. If you aren't sure what exercise to do or how much to do, there are a number of websites to help you.

Food Diary. I mentioned this earlier and now will get into the details. A food diary is where you write what, how much and when you ate. This can be daunting to do on your own, so here are two free websites I have used with clients to get them back on track - Nano Nutritionist [http://www.nanonutritionist.com/] and Spark People [http://sparkpeople.com/]. Both will track your food intake and physical exercise. Both will show you how to do the exercises. Nano Nutritionist has a place where you can subscribe for a monthly fee and work directly with a dietitian. I know this because I am one of the dietitians [full disclosure]. Spark people is entirely free, but you don't work with professionals. Neither one is set up for all of our vegan foods, but they do have some of them. You can enter a food that isn't listed. I am personally working on getting Nano Nutritionist to be more vegan friendly.

[Editor's note: VegFamily will soon launch a sister site devoted to vegan and vegetarian weight management including menu ppans, weight loss tools, support, and other resources. Click here to find out more.

Okay, Writer, the best thing you did, other than becoming vegan, was to do something about your weight before it becomes overwhelming. Twelve pounds is not that much to lose and means a little adjustment in your lifestyle. I'm sure after you view your intake and output, the only secretions you will deal with is your own sweat equity creating your optimal health.

Get your own personal nutrition consultation with Marty here.

Disclaimer: The advice given here is for eductional purposes only. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

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