Vegan Nutrition with Marty Davey

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• Multi-bran chex ? 135kcal/ ¾ cup serving
• Kashi Heart to heart ? 86kcal/ ¾ cup serving
• Nature's Path Ultimate Slim ? 135kcal/ ¾ cup serving
• Milk ? Let's pretend you are a vegan
• All servings are ½ Cup
• Low-fat soy milk - 55kcal
• Rice milk - 50 kcal
• You could very easily be having 320kcal from you cereal. Do you drink juice? Add 44 kcal for a cup.
• Next, about the fruit. What kind and how much? Do you drink anything with it?
• All servings by 1 cup
• Strawberries - 69kcal
• Apple, slices - 57kcal
• Watermelon, diced - 46kcal
• Pineapple, chunks/light syrup - 131kcal
• Cantaloupe, chunk - 54kcal
• Grapes - 104kcal
  
  Four cups could be anywhere from 216 to 524 calories and will probably not sustain you. Your neighbor's granola bar or even 6 month old bag of trailmix is going to look very appetizing around 3pm. Notice the difference between the calories in a cup a cereal and a cup of fruit. It is not the fruit which is keeping you from losing weight unless you are eating over 10 cups at a meal. Finally, what in heaven's name is a "proper healthy dinner"? I have no idea what that means. It could mean 2 cups of Kamut , which is around 300 calories and kale. Or do you have mock meats? Or other starches or grains? How about nuts or beans? Do you have dessert? Salad? Dressing? Ketchup? Alcohol? How much of each?
  
  All these are factors in daily intake. By what little you have given me, I still [in my infinite wisdom] can dole out some useful thoughts.
• You have been teaching your body to conserve energy. By eating as little as possible, your body is learning to hold on to every calorie. Like the Pima native culture, you too will be able to put on weight extremely easily by keeping up this eating regime. Your body thinks the Earth is in starvation mode and is trying to help you out by turning every calorie it can into fat.
  
  
• Start a Food Diary. Write down everything you put in your mouth ? food, beverages, supplements, medication, water, everything. Keep track of the amount, the time of day, location of eating and how did you feel. A little notebook with a pencil attached can teach you more about yourself than any dietitian.
  
  
• You have turned your calorie intake upside down. You should eat the most amounts of calories before 6pm. This is when we are most physically active. Now, we all know that you use the most amount of calories a day to digest your food. However, that should be happening during the most active time of the day. So put that "healthy dinner" at lunch.
  
  
• What and how much physical activity are you doing? If you are trying to lose weight by intake reduction [meaning you are limiting the amount of food you eat], any weight you do manage to lose will be quickly gained back when you get tired of restricting your food. This is where binge eating begins. You get so hungry you don't care what you eat. BAD PLAN.
  
  
• Eat when you are hungry and drink when you are thirsty. Every diet plan I give everyone has three meals and two snacks, at least. We vegheads eat food that was meant to be digested easily. We aren't like tigers who can eat 33 pounds of food at one sitting. We are designed to eat frequently. This aids is absorption of nutrients.
  
  
• Where are the nuts and seeds? You don't need a lot of these, but I don't see where you have any in you intake. Also, when do you chow down on legumes or greens? Being a vegan means taking care of yourself. There are lots of books [Becoming Vegetarian by Davis and Melina] and I have a vegan pantrylist on my answer to FOOD PLAN TO NEW VEGAN on this website. If you are truly stumped, get a professional to help. It's worth the cash up front, instead a medical bill when you have done yourself some harm. I can be reached via martydavey.com, if you need any more support.