Hey everyone! I've been working on this post now for several months, so hopefully you will enjoy it. This is going to be more of a rambling post than a well plotted out recipe. I've had many people ask me on my Instagram about my diet and whether I follow a specific program and what works for me.
I've tried several different diets over the course of my vegan journey, so I'll tell you a bit about each, the pros and cons, and what I'm doing now.
1. Junk Food Vegan
When I first went vegan (for real, not the first attempts that failed), I basically substituted tofu, beans, and mock meats into the meals I was already eating. I was eating tons of pasta, oils, popcorn, ramen, ice cream, cookies, et cetera... Not so many fruits and vegetables. I was eating tons of food because I had seen so many people saying that you had to eat more as a vegan to get all your nutrients. I was eating way too much fat in my diet, and I could tell because my skin was really oily. I was having better luck with my cystic acne though, because I had stopped dairy, so I thought it was just a skin response. Later, I figured out that too much processed oil in my diet aggravates my acne, so you can imagine that my skin wasn't so happy at this time.
Pros: I was staying vegan and I stopped having cravings for eggs. I was enjoying eating the same foods I had been eating, but without a guilty conscience. I discovered Cronometer while I was eating this way so I could track my micronutrients. Biggest pro? COMFORT FOODS!
Cons: I was basically eating the vegan version of the Standard American Diet... So it wasn't very nutritionally balanced.
Check out this pasta dish and this vegan egg salad for recipes I made while following this diet.
Check out The Vegan Peach if you want to see some fantastic food and beauty product reviews. I placed this here because she does lots of reviews of vegan "junk foods", but I'm not sure she would call herself a Junk Food Vegan. She is, however, on of the first YouTubers I watched when I became interested in veganism, and is definitely worth a watch.
2. Raw Vegan
I'm going to preface this with this fact: I don't like sweets very much at all before about 6 pm. So eating only fruit for breakfast is like torture for me.
The first time I decided to go vegan, I discovered the Raw Vegan YouTube community and made the switch overnight. It lasted for about three weeks and I was pretty miserable the whole time. The premise of this diet is to only eat raw fruits and vegetables (with minimal amounts of raw nuts and seeds if you are high carb low fat, or more seeds and nuts if you are "gourmet" raw).
Pros: eating lots of fruits and vegetables is really good for you. You get a lot of nutrients and fiber! There is also a lower sodium intake. You will have lots of energy from the sugary fruits. My skin also had fewer break outs.
Cons: you have to eat so much food. Raw vegetables have a lot of mass without being calorie dense, so you eat a salad that could feed four people, and you're hungry again in an hour. Eating so much sweet fruit was making me feel ill. I ended up eating a lot of dried fruit as snacks in between meals so I wouldn't be hungry all the time. I craved foods I never usually crave: French fries, chocolate, salty fatty junk foods like potato chips. I eventually went back to eating bacon and cheese fries and gained a bunch of weight because of all the cravings. It is also nearly impossible to eat out on this diet. Unless you go to a restaurant with unlimited salad bars and fruit options, you are going to be spending a ton of money on very little food.
To find out more about this diet style check out the following:
FullyRawKristina
The Rawsome Vegan Life
The Raw Food World
The Woodstock Fruit Festival
Megan Elizabeth
3. Raw till 4 (RT4)
This diet and movement came out of the raw vegan movement and was started by Freelee the Banana Girl and Durian Rider on their website 30 Bananas a Day. The diet is another example of HCLF (High Carb Low Fat) diets where you consume only raw fruits and veggies in the morning and afternoon and only eat low fat cooked foods in the evening.
Pros: This has many of the same pros as the raw food diet. You get lots of fiber and sugar from all the fruits and carbohydrates you are "smashing down", so this diet is great if you are an athlete. You feel "high" on sugar all the time. You get to eat cooked food, which is a huge pro, especially if you have come from a fully raw diet. Hot food is wonderful in the winter.
Cons: You have to eat a lot of food to feel satiated, and also consume a lot of sugar from fruits and carbs. If you don't care for bananas, durian, mangos, or other dense fruits, you will be eating tons of the more watery fruits just to get the calorie requirements you need for the day. You don't get to eat a lot of nuts and seeds and beans. It is quiet difficult to eat out on this diet. My main problem with it was that I couldn't stand that much fruit. Too sweet.
**I want to put out a little disclaimer that I have lost a lot of respect for some of the "YouTube Gurus" who spearheaded this movement. There has been a lot of "vegan drama" coming out of this movement, and it reflects terribly on vegans as a whole. I no longer follow Freelee or DurianRider as I could not stand the hate and anger they were spewing against non-vegans and vegans alike under the guise of "calling them out" for lifestyle choices. There are other ways to go about it than mud slinging, and their recent actions (in the past two years) disgust me. However, I was heavily motivated by them to go vegan initially, so I felt like I must include them in this list. I just want it known that my views do not currently reflect theirs.**
For more info, check out the following links:
30 Bananas a Day
Raw Till 4 Diet
The Daily Raw
4. The Starch Solution/Potato Diet
The Starch Solution is a book by Dr. McDougall that emphasizes a low processed, plant-based diet comprised of low fat, low sodium, starchy root and cruciferous vegetables. This diet allows you to eat as many starches as you want (grains, legumes, vegetables) as well as non-starchy vegetables, fungi, and fruits. You can also eat proteins such as tofu, tempeh, and soy and nut products like almond milk. On this diet you CANNOT eat: animal products, oils, processed foods, white rice, margarine, mayonnaise, artificial ingredients, olives, avocados, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, simple sugars, and dried fruits. The premise is that the foods you eat on this diet are the easiest to digest and for your body to use, as well as being very healthy.
The potato diet is very similar, so I lumped them into one category. Basically, you eat potatoes. With a but of veggies and condiments on top. That's it. Very starchy and, for some, an excellent diet for weight loss.
Pros: You get to eat a wide variety of foods. It is low fat, for those who are watching fat intake. It is a very clean diet. The foods are easy to cook and delicious. Once you figure out what foods to eat, and which ones to stay away from, it is a very easy diet to follow.
Cons: It starts to get boring after a while, especially if you have limited fresh vegetables available. Also, low fat diets, over long term, can make you crave fats when you eventually begin eating them again, which can lead to overindulgence and weigh gain. It can be hard to eat out on this diet, but possible.
Check out more at these links:
The Starch Solution
Potato Strong
High Carb Hannah
5. High Protein/ Carb Cycling
This is something I looked into when I was trying to gain some muscle and lose weight last year after breaking my foot. Many bodybuilders use Carb Cycling as a way to build muscle, while getting rid of excess body fat. Instead of a Bulking and Cutting cycle (aka lots of food to bulk up and very low carbs, low calorie for cutting fat), many people turn to carb cycling. The premise is to eat High Protein/ Low Carb for a few days, then have one High Carb/ Low Fat day to refuel and get glycogen stores back to normal to feed your body during workouts. Many people have success doing this, but it can be difficult to plan out your foods for the week if you are not organized. Eating many small meals and drinking lots of water is important on this diet. Meal Prep is also recommended. Personally, I enjoyed this diet for how it made me look and feel. There are lots of vegan protein options if you search at the stores, but the planning aspect of it was pretty difficult at the beginning. Once you do it for a few weeks, it would become easier as you figure out the meals that work best on certain days.
Pros: You can continue to build muscle, while getting rid of excess bodyfat. Workouts are not impacted by diet changes.
Cons: Planning, planning, planning. As a vegan it is harder to get a lot of protein if you do not plan carefully. Also there are fewer options you can eat on your low carb days, so it can get boring. Planning multiple meals around busy schedules can be difficult.
Check out these links to learn more:
Carb Cycling for Vegetarians and Vegans
Mother Nature Loves You
Vegan Physique
Here is a link to my protein noodle dish that I ate a lot when I was following this diet.
6. Ketogenic Vegan Diet
This is something new I've stumbled upon and am still learning a bit about. Ketogenic diets are known as the "bacon and butter" diets, but it was originally developed in the 1920's as an epilepsy aide. The premise is to eat very low carb (5% of daily calories), moderate protein, and high fat. The idea is that you use up your body's glycogen stores and start using stored fat to produce energy. This is a ketogenic reaction. When you keep eating fat, you keep burning fat, because you are not burning carbohydrates (which our bodies use first because they are easier to burn). This is the complete opposite view point of high carb, low fat diets. Both have scientific studies that back them up.
Doing this diet as a vegan can present some problems, as it is very limiting, but many have been successful and have lost weight healthily on this diet.
Pros: you can eat as much fat as you want, as long as it is a "healthy fat" (not horribly processed). Appetite is suppressed naturally on this diet, so you do not need to eat large quantities of food.
Cons: you have to eat a lot of fat on this diet. Carbs are in most vegan foods, especially fruits, and some nuts and legumes. Meals must be carefully planned. Not many people follow this diet because it is very limiting and hard to plan out.
Check out the following links for more info:
Meat Free Keto
Keto Motive
Ketosis IRL
Vegan Keto Madi (This blog is super helpful!)
Vegan Ketosis
So, this is all for right now. I hope this has helped some of at least figure out some of the different plantbased/vegan diets and which ones you would enjoy trying. If you would like me to go more in depth on any of the diets, I can, but I wanted to put all of this info in one place that was easy to access.
I've tried several different diets over the course of my vegan journey, so I'll tell you a bit about each, the pros and cons, and what I'm doing now.
1. Junk Food Vegan
When I first went vegan (for real, not the first attempts that failed), I basically substituted tofu, beans, and mock meats into the meals I was already eating. I was eating tons of pasta, oils, popcorn, ramen, ice cream, cookies, et cetera... Not so many fruits and vegetables. I was eating tons of food because I had seen so many people saying that you had to eat more as a vegan to get all your nutrients. I was eating way too much fat in my diet, and I could tell because my skin was really oily. I was having better luck with my cystic acne though, because I had stopped dairy, so I thought it was just a skin response. Later, I figured out that too much processed oil in my diet aggravates my acne, so you can imagine that my skin wasn't so happy at this time.
Pros: I was staying vegan and I stopped having cravings for eggs. I was enjoying eating the same foods I had been eating, but without a guilty conscience. I discovered Cronometer while I was eating this way so I could track my micronutrients. Biggest pro? COMFORT FOODS!
Cons: I was basically eating the vegan version of the Standard American Diet... So it wasn't very nutritionally balanced.
Check out this pasta dish and this vegan egg salad for recipes I made while following this diet.
Check out The Vegan Peach if you want to see some fantastic food and beauty product reviews. I placed this here because she does lots of reviews of vegan "junk foods", but I'm not sure she would call herself a Junk Food Vegan. She is, however, on of the first YouTubers I watched when I became interested in veganism, and is definitely worth a watch.
2. Raw Vegan
I'm going to preface this with this fact: I don't like sweets very much at all before about 6 pm. So eating only fruit for breakfast is like torture for me.
The first time I decided to go vegan, I discovered the Raw Vegan YouTube community and made the switch overnight. It lasted for about three weeks and I was pretty miserable the whole time. The premise of this diet is to only eat raw fruits and vegetables (with minimal amounts of raw nuts and seeds if you are high carb low fat, or more seeds and nuts if you are "gourmet" raw).
Pros: eating lots of fruits and vegetables is really good for you. You get a lot of nutrients and fiber! There is also a lower sodium intake. You will have lots of energy from the sugary fruits. My skin also had fewer break outs.
Cons: you have to eat so much food. Raw vegetables have a lot of mass without being calorie dense, so you eat a salad that could feed four people, and you're hungry again in an hour. Eating so much sweet fruit was making me feel ill. I ended up eating a lot of dried fruit as snacks in between meals so I wouldn't be hungry all the time. I craved foods I never usually crave: French fries, chocolate, salty fatty junk foods like potato chips. I eventually went back to eating bacon and cheese fries and gained a bunch of weight because of all the cravings. It is also nearly impossible to eat out on this diet. Unless you go to a restaurant with unlimited salad bars and fruit options, you are going to be spending a ton of money on very little food.
To find out more about this diet style check out the following:
FullyRawKristina
The Rawsome Vegan Life
The Raw Food World
The Woodstock Fruit Festival
Megan Elizabeth
3. Raw till 4 (RT4)
This diet and movement came out of the raw vegan movement and was started by Freelee the Banana Girl and Durian Rider on their website 30 Bananas a Day. The diet is another example of HCLF (High Carb Low Fat) diets where you consume only raw fruits and veggies in the morning and afternoon and only eat low fat cooked foods in the evening.
Pros: This has many of the same pros as the raw food diet. You get lots of fiber and sugar from all the fruits and carbohydrates you are "smashing down", so this diet is great if you are an athlete. You feel "high" on sugar all the time. You get to eat cooked food, which is a huge pro, especially if you have come from a fully raw diet. Hot food is wonderful in the winter.
Cons: You have to eat a lot of food to feel satiated, and also consume a lot of sugar from fruits and carbs. If you don't care for bananas, durian, mangos, or other dense fruits, you will be eating tons of the more watery fruits just to get the calorie requirements you need for the day. You don't get to eat a lot of nuts and seeds and beans. It is quiet difficult to eat out on this diet. My main problem with it was that I couldn't stand that much fruit. Too sweet.
**I want to put out a little disclaimer that I have lost a lot of respect for some of the "YouTube Gurus" who spearheaded this movement. There has been a lot of "vegan drama" coming out of this movement, and it reflects terribly on vegans as a whole. I no longer follow Freelee or DurianRider as I could not stand the hate and anger they were spewing against non-vegans and vegans alike under the guise of "calling them out" for lifestyle choices. There are other ways to go about it than mud slinging, and their recent actions (in the past two years) disgust me. However, I was heavily motivated by them to go vegan initially, so I felt like I must include them in this list. I just want it known that my views do not currently reflect theirs.**
For more info, check out the following links:
30 Bananas a Day
Raw Till 4 Diet
The Daily Raw
4. The Starch Solution/Potato Diet
The Starch Solution is a book by Dr. McDougall that emphasizes a low processed, plant-based diet comprised of low fat, low sodium, starchy root and cruciferous vegetables. This diet allows you to eat as many starches as you want (grains, legumes, vegetables) as well as non-starchy vegetables, fungi, and fruits. You can also eat proteins such as tofu, tempeh, and soy and nut products like almond milk. On this diet you CANNOT eat: animal products, oils, processed foods, white rice, margarine, mayonnaise, artificial ingredients, olives, avocados, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, simple sugars, and dried fruits. The premise is that the foods you eat on this diet are the easiest to digest and for your body to use, as well as being very healthy.
The potato diet is very similar, so I lumped them into one category. Basically, you eat potatoes. With a but of veggies and condiments on top. That's it. Very starchy and, for some, an excellent diet for weight loss.
Pros: You get to eat a wide variety of foods. It is low fat, for those who are watching fat intake. It is a very clean diet. The foods are easy to cook and delicious. Once you figure out what foods to eat, and which ones to stay away from, it is a very easy diet to follow.
Cons: It starts to get boring after a while, especially if you have limited fresh vegetables available. Also, low fat diets, over long term, can make you crave fats when you eventually begin eating them again, which can lead to overindulgence and weigh gain. It can be hard to eat out on this diet, but possible.
Check out more at these links:
The Starch Solution
Potato Strong
High Carb Hannah
5. High Protein/ Carb Cycling
This is something I looked into when I was trying to gain some muscle and lose weight last year after breaking my foot. Many bodybuilders use Carb Cycling as a way to build muscle, while getting rid of excess body fat. Instead of a Bulking and Cutting cycle (aka lots of food to bulk up and very low carbs, low calorie for cutting fat), many people turn to carb cycling. The premise is to eat High Protein/ Low Carb for a few days, then have one High Carb/ Low Fat day to refuel and get glycogen stores back to normal to feed your body during workouts. Many people have success doing this, but it can be difficult to plan out your foods for the week if you are not organized. Eating many small meals and drinking lots of water is important on this diet. Meal Prep is also recommended. Personally, I enjoyed this diet for how it made me look and feel. There are lots of vegan protein options if you search at the stores, but the planning aspect of it was pretty difficult at the beginning. Once you do it for a few weeks, it would become easier as you figure out the meals that work best on certain days.
Pros: You can continue to build muscle, while getting rid of excess bodyfat. Workouts are not impacted by diet changes.
Cons: Planning, planning, planning. As a vegan it is harder to get a lot of protein if you do not plan carefully. Also there are fewer options you can eat on your low carb days, so it can get boring. Planning multiple meals around busy schedules can be difficult.
Check out these links to learn more:
Carb Cycling for Vegetarians and Vegans
Mother Nature Loves You
Vegan Physique
Here is a link to my protein noodle dish that I ate a lot when I was following this diet.
6. Ketogenic Vegan Diet
This is something new I've stumbled upon and am still learning a bit about. Ketogenic diets are known as the "bacon and butter" diets, but it was originally developed in the 1920's as an epilepsy aide. The premise is to eat very low carb (5% of daily calories), moderate protein, and high fat. The idea is that you use up your body's glycogen stores and start using stored fat to produce energy. This is a ketogenic reaction. When you keep eating fat, you keep burning fat, because you are not burning carbohydrates (which our bodies use first because they are easier to burn). This is the complete opposite view point of high carb, low fat diets. Both have scientific studies that back them up.
Doing this diet as a vegan can present some problems, as it is very limiting, but many have been successful and have lost weight healthily on this diet.
Pros: you can eat as much fat as you want, as long as it is a "healthy fat" (not horribly processed). Appetite is suppressed naturally on this diet, so you do not need to eat large quantities of food.
Cons: you have to eat a lot of fat on this diet. Carbs are in most vegan foods, especially fruits, and some nuts and legumes. Meals must be carefully planned. Not many people follow this diet because it is very limiting and hard to plan out.
Check out the following links for more info:
Meat Free Keto
Keto Motive
Ketosis IRL
Vegan Keto Madi (This blog is super helpful!)
Vegan Ketosis
So, this is all for right now. I hope this has helped some of at least figure out some of the different plantbased/vegan diets and which ones you would enjoy trying. If you would like me to go more in depth on any of the diets, I can, but I wanted to put all of this info in one place that was easy to access.
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