One of my new year resolutions was to attempt Vegganuary (not vegan...dairy is too much of my diet, and I really don't like the plant-based alternatives)...and I managed it* (there were a couple of known exceptions...on 1st January I was marshalling a cyclocross event, and was not going to be picky about what I ate whilst standing in a field in wet, cold conditions...and on 26th January we had a birthday trip at Mama Doreens, where very small savoury treats were provided with meats...again, not going to be picky).
When I consider my diet, I mainly aim for high protein, low carb and low fat, and attempt to get a low-calorie density across the plate (so bulking out with salad and veg). I value speed and convenience a lot...during the week I typically eat my main meal after a training session, and so getting a level of protein in quickly is important. I know I can get cravings for sweet and creamy things too. I know my gut biome will accept most things, so I only really need to concentrate on macro-nutrients and overall calorie intake.
My breakfast and lunch are normally already vegan, as I tend to use Huel (though this may be changing soon, as they are altering their offering, which will impact me quite a bit). My basal calorie requirement is about 1650-1700 calories a day (based on a period of strict calorie counting and weighing a few years ago), and on top of that I'll do 2-3 miles of walking @ 100 calories/mile (weekday), and 1 hour (week) to 4 hours (weekend) of cycling @ 600-800 calories/hour, which can add up to 3,000 calories to the mainly intake need. The weather in January was not conducive to long outdoor rides (I did 1, which is pretty bad for a month), so most of the month was shorter, but higher intensity indoor exercise, which I know tends to give me carb cravings, to which the best counter is rapid intake of protein.
My plan was to do swaps where possible, rather than wholesale alter my diet for a month. I quite often use "healthy" ready meals (calorie-counted, low fat ones are readily available) and supplement with salad/veg to lower overall density. The first thing I found is that these are not common in vegetarian options, with most being "Mac and Cheese", or "something and cheese". Not great. Instead I drifted towards "fake meat and salad" in pittas, with a side of some sort. What thus follows is a comparison of "fake" vs "real" meats, and a few other substitutions.
Fake Item |
Real Item |
Notes |
This Chicken Tenders - 240g
|
Normal Chicken Tenders - 250g
|
Actually really liked these. Cooked in an air fryer they were quick, and honestly I could not tell they were fake. Nutrition-wise, very little significant difference, though a 20% calorie drop compared to "normal". The carbs are almost exclusively the bread-coating, and if you work on 1g of carbs is 4 calories, that's 160 calories shared between them there. |
Beyond Burgers - 226g
|
Normal Burgers - 227g
|
I tried a fair number of "fake" burgers, and these were my favourite. The comparison is against lean burgers (mainly for weight), however I'm willing to get that the fake ones have far less shrinkage when cooked, with little/no leakage of juices. I legitimately really liked these, and (again) would not be able to say they were not real meat. They are not as healthy across the board, and surprisingly high in fats |
Tona - 142g
|
Normal Tinned Tuna - 145g
|
Not worth it. While it tasted like tuna, it was a miserable grey colour, and once drained very little was left (maybe half the volume of the normal stuff). I thought this would be a good "emergency" protein source, but once I went through the 3 cans I ordered, I had no desire to re-order it. Once you take into account the reduced volume of the drained substance, probably more calorie dense than the normal stuff. |
Fake Fingers - per 4
|
Fish Fingers - per 4
|
Another "the normal ones are healthier" result. Again, with thee I could absolutely not tell that they were not real fish fingers, both in terms of consistency and taste. Very little juice leakage during cooking, so the cooked result is probably heavier than the normal version, but not enough to make up the calorie:weight ratio. Absolutely fine, but the normal version is cheaper and healthier |
Pittabread - each
|
Bread Roll - each
|
OK, this was a surprise. I genuinely thought that by swapping to pittas, I'd be saving some calories. All this really tells you is that I've never made pittas when baking, or I'd have known the dough weights. Saves on cupboard space, and (if you suffer from bread bloat) the unleavened nature of it may help, but otherwise not worth the swap |
Cauliflower Rice - 200g
|
Microwave Rice - 250g
|
A genuinely massive calorie drop here, even taking into account the 50g less weight. It does not taste like rice, but does work as an excellent filler for stir-fries, or a typical quick meal for me is a tin of tuna over rice (or this). I'll definitely be keeping this in stock. |
Carrot Chips - 200g
|
Oven Chips - 200g
|
Again, big calorie drop for same volume. These are quick to make in the air fryer (chop carrots, shake in tablespoon on sunflower oil, 16 minutes blast), and typically were cooked alongside something else. With a bit more prep/planning they can be made crispier (adding cornflour to the oil coating), but I liked them as-is. Also significantly cheaper than chips |
So, overall a mixed bag. A couple of keepers long-term (cauliflower rice and carrot chips), and overall I was surprised at how convincing the current generation of fake meats are (especially the burgers and chicken nuggets. I did try some other stuff as well on the run (I spent 2 weekends in Leeds getting my arm tattoo worked on, so was hitting shops and cafes). The winner there was Sainsburys Plant Pioneers Sausage Rolls (from the hot cabinet), which was legitimately the same as a normal sausage roll. Less good was anything from Marks and Spencer (which is a shame, as they are directly outside the tattoo parlour). The loser was probably a Dominos Peppy-Roni, which was just sort of unpleasant...almost slimy. Given this was my "treat" for the 1 hard outdoor ride I did, somewhat underwhelming.
I should also mention Tofu and Quorn. I tried both, and found both to be pretty rubbish. Tofu has the consistency of Halloumi, which I also don't like, and Quorn has a really unpleasant mouthfeel (like a weird marshmallow with no spring). In both cases I followed recommended cooking processes, and both times was thoroughly disappointed. There are way better options out there.
It was an interesting experiment, and while I'm glad I did it, I'm looking forward to moving back to a less picky diet, albeit it with some new additions. The weekend weather is looking good* (for Yorkshire...just above freezing, and mainly not raining), so confident that the Otley Reli Ride will go ahead, and I'm tempted to treat myself to a steak afterwards!
Comments
Interesting given my recent health concerns I've been looking more closely at the composition of my food with more of a focus on cutting out the carbs but also trying to keep the fat down.
The pita bread thing is something that surprised me too that and things like wraps or tortillas often have significantly more carbs than normal bread. I've been going for some of the Keto bread which sometimes get down to as little as 2g of carbs per slice while still tasting bread like. When I was back in the UK my parents found this bread from Holand and Barratt that had 0.5g of carbs per slice but it was ... interesting texture wise very seed heavy and it also had to be kept in the fridge but for getting the carbs down and having as a substrate for sandwiches it worked very well.
Pastry and breads has been the hardest thing I've had to cut out a lot of the other stuff there are good alternatives. Caulflower rice and the like has been a big part of my diet of late, and I've been jamming lentils in most dishes, and going for the salad at lunch.
One other thing I've tried is attempting to convert carbs to Resistant Starches. If you cook starchy foods like rice and potatoes then cool/freeze them overnight it converts some of the starches in there into resistant starches which your digestive system can't process but your gut biome can so in theory it reduces the sugar spike and is good for gut health.
I did a test with potatoes over the weekend cooking basically the same meal twice. Boiling up a small batch of potatoes then splitting it in half cooling and then freezing one half and crisping up the others in the airfryer. Since I've got my CGM I can check the effect of it and it did make a small but noticeable difference to my sugar levels. It adds a bit of extra messing about though so going with alternatives is likely still the move.
Gill tried some of that low-carb bread a while back...it was what I would refer to as "stolid". I think bread generally is one of the hardest things to cut down on in a diet, it's so endemic in modern convenience-food (and as I said in my GBBO application, alongside alcohol one of the only food-types that has penetrated multiple religions). I pretty much had to go cold-turkey to get rid of it, swapping lunches for Huel hot meals. I now don't keep any in the house, or it just gets eaten. It used to be I'd only eat bread I had made, but then I got really good at making the stuff quickly!
The entire flatbreads thing has really opened my eyes. You often see "healthy" options in wraps, but when you dig down it's not really healthier at all. Some of the advertising could even be considered misleading...for example this "low carb" wrap doesn't have total carbs listed in the guideline nutrition (showing only sugars), but when you drill down it's 30% carbohydrate. There is a known side effect of exercise where you over-reward after exercise (combined with over-estimating calorie burn, as it's based on actual effort, not perceived effort, which we are shockingly bad at judging), and it's stuff like this that can really fuel it...you think "low carb" is "no carb", and then suddenly you've had 4 wraps, and taken in more calories and carbs than you burnt.
I think I'm going to try chipping and air-frying more veg as a plate-filler. The carrots worked well, it's very low hassle, and it fills the plate up (which is the main goal). I'm sure there is a plethora of sturdy vegetables that can be sliced up and turned into something. Turnip Fries anyone?
indeed bread was what I had for lunches for a quick snack cutting it down has been difficult
yeah here they do the zero "Net" carbs which is where they subtract the fiber and sugar alcohols from the total carbs which I understand the reasoning but find misleading. They also have some weird alternatives for things I saw a wrap/tortilla substitute that was just cheese flattened and rolled out into a thin disc it was a terrible idea.
I've had some success using radishes as a potato substitute. Normal red ones work ok but come out small once they've lost their moisture bigger radishes like Daikon radish then you've got more to work with.
Tell me you live in America without telling me you live in America.
the other terrifying thing I've seen is "cloud bread" which is basically just cooked whipped eggs
Isn't that scrambled eggs, or perhaps an omelette? Or is it like a savoury meringue moulded into the shape of a loaf?
Actually, America...it won't be savoury will it? When I was there they served me a burger in a doughnut
normally it would come with kilo of sugar mixed into the eggs be coated in caramel and be stuffed with chocolate and have a scoop of ice cream which they insist is the meaning of "a la mode" and be called savory
in this case its aimed at the Keto people so its only half a kilo of sugar barely dipped in caramel and then healthy "dark" chocolate stuffing but two scoops of ice cream since it's "healthy"
In both cases it would also contain over 2000mg of sodium for some reason