When I first switched to a vegan diet, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
I made the change cold-turkey and made a lot of mistakes along the way. I’ll do a future blog post going through these mistakes to help you avoid them (it will be linked here once it’s complete).
Something that really helped me figure out how to do this lifestyle was seeing how other people did it.
The online vegan community made sticking to a vegan diet possible for me by giving me a real idea of what kinds of foods I could eat beyond rice and veggies (which are great, don’t get me wrong, I just wasn’t very creative beyond them at first), and I hope to help someone else in the same way with this series.
Breakfast
I’ll admit it, the first thing I do in the morning is make a cup of coffee, (okay fine, more like a pot of coffee).
Nothing starts until I’m properly caffeinated and you can’t convince me otherwise.
So the first thing I do after this sacred morning ritual is head to the gym. I’m a relatively active person so I try to eat more satiating foods so I’m not ravenous all day.
That said, I love how I feel after a good healthy smoothie, so a lot of my mornings start this way.
Post Workout Breakfast Today:
A Green Smoothie & Sourdough Toast with Hummus.
Green Smoothie Ingredients:
- 1 small banana (frozen)
- 2 dates
- 2-3 cups (~5-7 deciliters) of spinach
- 1 tbsp (15ml) flax seeds
- 1 cup (250ml) plain calcium-fortified soy milk
- 1 cup (~2.5dl) frozen mixed berries
- 1 tsp (5ml) cacao powder (totally optional, just adds a richer flavor)
Breakfast Total Calories: 561
334 for the smoothie + 227 for a slice of toast & hummus.
This admittedly wasn’t the best smoothie I’ve ever made, but I honestly could not taste the spinach which is a win in my book!
Lunch
I usually like to eat a light lunch to keep my energy up throughout the day, so I will either make a soup or wrap of some sort as an afternoon pick-me-up (depending on what I have in the fridge and the weather).
Lunch Today:
A schnitzel salad wrap.
This day I went with a wrap, and I happened to have a vegan schnitzel in the freezer (basically a soy version of a breaded chicken breast), so this wrap was delicious.
Wrap Ingredients:
- 1 plain white store-bought tortilla
- 2 tbsp (30ml) plain hummus
- 2 cups mixed greens
- 1 vegan schnitzel
- All the hot sauce
Lunch Total Calories: 467
Dinner
Now dinner is my favorite meal of the day. I like to go a bit extravagant with dinner when I can (think large and more time consuming to prepare), and today was no exception.
Dinner Today:
Spring Rolls
For dinner this day I decided on the labor intensive spring rolls. They are my favorite meal and I already have a video on my YouTube channel outlining how I make them if you’re interested (linked here), so I’ll just outline the ingredients and calories for this batch in particular here.
Spring Roll Ingredients:
- 10 spring roll wrappers
- 1/2 block of tofu
- 1 bag spinach (about 500g)
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 green onions
- 1 head of cilantro
Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp (heaping) peanut butter
- 1/2 tbsp sriracha
- 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce (vegan)
- 1 tsp lime juice
- water to thin
Total Dinner Calories: 551
408 for the spring rolls + 143 for the sauce
Snacks and Final Touches
I am less of a snacker than I used to be, but every now and then I’ll get a craving for something between meals (or before bed) and will eat a little something extra.
Today I grabbed 2 medjool dates with peanut butter (it tastes amazing, you’re welcome), and had another half bell pepper with hummus. Yes, I eat a lot of hummus.
I also want to mention that I do take a Vitamin B12 supplement and a Vitamin D supplement (with calcium). I didn’t used to take Vitamin D supplement, but since I’ve moved to the Netherlands, I no longer get enough sun exposure here to produce it on my own.
Note: Talk to a doctor to see what supplements (if any) are right for you.
I also forgot to mention that I drink a lot of water throughout the day, which is important. 🙂
My total calories for this day: 1803
Disclaimers
This post covers one full day of everything I ate and drank, but this is just one day – it is an example – not necessarily what I eat every day.
I am not a nutritionist / certified professional in this field. I use Cronometer to calculate nutrition and calories and will link the source to any information I provide accordingly.
This post is not to be misconstrued as dietary advice or recommendations, just a sample of what I eat in a day.
Please also know that I do not count calories on a daily basis – this is just for illustrative purposes to help you gauge the kind of volume you’ll need to eat to eat a sufficient number of calories on this type of diet.
pin it for later!
