I lost weight when I first went vegan, in part because of the adjustment to my eating, but also mostly because I upped my activity significantly. I’ve tended to be a really active person over the years since then, and as far as my eating has gone, I tend to just eat what I want, with an awareness that I tend to hyper focus on work and games and things and space on eating. Snacks have been integral for me, and I try to always keep them in the house. But I don’t particularly focus on the content of what I’m eating at all! Maybe if I was still a long distance runner it might be important to make sure I have a certain volume of carb content or whatever, but as a person who walks every day and runs moderately several times a week, I get by pretty well by snacking liberally and eating meals regularly!
Congrats! I think this is the biggest hurdle to being vegan!
I lost about ten pounds over a year when I stopped eating animal products, but I think that’s common any time someone starts thinking about their diet and was previously just eating whatever. The biggest change is that I stopped eating out at most restaurants and cooking at home instead.
If it’s a big concern for you, peanut butter toast is extremely cheap and high-calorie.
Know any vegan joints in Portland worth checking out for lunch after my flight? I have a car. Just wanna avoid fake lame places and don’t have much time.
Two great bakeries: Sweetpea on Stark at 12th and Shoofly on Division at 11th. Avoid Voodoo Donuts, it’s nothing but tourist lineups and the donuts are gross. If you want all vegan donuts that are incredible, go to Doe Donuts on Sandy at 41st or 42nd (I forget).
Black Water Bar is on Broadway at 8th, and it’s some of the best vegan junk food out there.
Apparently there’s a vegan Sri Lankan place? It’s on Belmont at 24th but I can’t vouch for it, it opened after I left.
These are all on the east side. Don’t bother with the west side, and Powell’s Books sounds cool but they’ve been shitty to their employees’ union.
Lots of other really great places have options but aren’t completely vegan.
Looks like a bunch of my old favourites have closed, RIP Paradox Cafe.
I full heartedly second all of Karasu’s recommendations! And I can vouch for Miritasa, the Sri Lankan place, I was able to eat there last time I was in town. It’s incredible. I’ll try to get back there anytime I’m there.
There was some recent talk about this ice cream when the ”normal morning” thread turned to Candy Chat for a moment. I was just wandering through the shops and noticed this in the freezer section and had to grab it. I didn’t know they made a plant based version!
After going to the parking violations bureau today, I was in Westwood so I typed “vegan” into google maps, as one does, and found this little Korean cafe with an $8 lunch special. The menus had NO descriptions whatsoever beyond the names of the items and so I just asked which one has no meat. Got the “Hot Dry Noodle” bowl and it was very interesting. From what I sussed, it was noodles with a ton of tahini, green beans(?), tofu flavored like pork, pickles, and maybe a lot of ginger
I’m not Australian, but I spent a bunch of time there throughout the 2010’s and I would have killed for vegan dim sims! The closest I came was at a super expensive place in Sydney a friend had recommended that turned out to be vegetarian! Where is this if you don’t mind me asking?
This was from the actual stall at the South Melbourne Market. They supply their “south melbourne dim sims” to food places all over, which are a bit different (better!) than regular dim sims.
Hey!
In regards to maintaining/gaining weight when on a plant-based diet I would say volume in the meals is key. Especially carbs will help with this. As you mention you mainly do cardio based exercises, which help in maintaining, and sometimes/often losing weight since it rarely builds muscle volume to do these activities. Therefore carbs become even more important if you wish to gain weight, but also sufficient protein to give the muscles enough to recover and grow.
Myself I eat three meals a day. My breakfast and dinner are the biggest meals because they correlate with me finishing my workouts. During summer I gained around 3-4 kg in weight by just upping my meal sizes: i.e the amount of vegetables/fruits and carbs as I have pretty much nailed the amount of protein I need atm. : )
To ensure I get enough calories I use a ton of extra virgin olive oil on most things. healthy fats! avocado! my dad and I are both big dudes over 6’1" and average muscular athletic build.
