(Part 2) Top products from r/veganfitness

>I have been contemplating switching but I don't even know where to start.

First of all welcome to the club! Here, watch these two videos of a vegan bodybuilder making cheap, simple and high quality vegan meals to have an idea of what you can do:

https://youtu.be/n3spAyOWq7o

https://youtu.be/H-6Qm9KPcmA

>but what about everything else? should i be taking vitamin supplements? should i make sure to eat a huge variety of foods to accommodate for certain nutrients

First B12:

Vegans commonly have one main nutrient of concern and that's B12, vegan products are gaining more space on the shelves so now we have several fortified foods with B12 but you have to understand how B12 works in your body so in the end of the day the simplest way is just taking a supplement but it's possible to get it without any supplemention whatsoever depeding on your diet:

"To get the full benefit of a vegan diet, vegans should do one of the following:"

"Eat fortified foods two or three times a day to get at least three micrograms (mcg or µg) of B12 a day or

Take one B12 supplement daily providing at least 10 micrograms or

Take a weekly B12 supplement providing at least 2000 micrograms."

https://veganhealth.org/what-every-vegan-should-know-about-vitamin-b12/

Here, an exemple of a B12 supplement:

https://www.amazon.com/Vitafusion-Extra-Strength-Gummies-Packaging/dp/B00OJOL3KO/ref=zg_bs_3774741_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XTR63FRJXCA32GXV83BH

Ômega-3:

This is a highly contentious subject in general, there are several recent studies that disavowed positive effects of omega-3 supplements from fish. As a vegan there are two routes that you can take, you can add 20g of ground flaxseed or ground chia seeds on your diet or you can take a EPA/DHA supplement from algae:

Have in mind that there are no absolute certainty that omega-3 supplements are helpful but dieticians will usually recommend to you in the name of "playing safe". It's up to you what to do:

Additionally, benefits of ALA:

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/100/suppl_1/443S/4576604

Supplement:

https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Omega-Supplement-Support-Softgels/dp/B074N5JZK8

Non-mainstream view on omega-3:

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2007/06/19/ask-the-expert-omega-3-fatty-acids/

Calcium

Since you'll be cutting dairy from your diet I advise you to put some plant-based milk as a replacement. You'll have no qualms with calcium and plant-based milks are fortified with several vitamins and micronutrients.

Overall:

Although people talk a lot about the difficulty of getting other nutrients, I think it's super difficult to have problems with any other nutrient. To have a better idea, get an app called "cronometer" to monitor you micros and if you just eat normally you'll see that's almost impossible to have problems with other nutrients. You should also check out Dr. Greger "daily dozen" app.

Personally, I don't take omega-3 supplements just ALA everyday and I eat fortified foods and sometimes I just eat a B12 gummybear for safety.

You can also disregard all advise and just follow the guidelines of actual health professionals:

Academy of dietetics and nutrition whole statement on vegan diets:

https://t.co/9CjMolH4lc?amp=1

I'm just starting my own fitness journey (trying to build muscle and lose fat), so I am no expert (yet!). My target is 50% carbs, 30% protein, 20% fat, so I have been watching all of those closely.

I have found this Black Bean pasta to be awesome. 2 grams of fat, 25 grams of protein per serving. I added some cubed seitan and diced tomatoes, some cayenne, salt and pepper.

The whole meal breaks down as:

• 330 calories
  
• 40g of carbs
  
• 4g of fat
  
• 47g protein
  
  If you have a carb craving and can get this black bean pasta locally, definitely do so. I like it better than the brown rice pastas I've tried. You could easily sub pasta sauce for the diced tomatoes.
  
  When looking at the nutrition for some things, I've just found the protein content to not be worth the fat/calories. Clif Builder Bars are something I'll only eat in a pinch. So far, seitan seems great because you can heat it up quickly and add some healthy sauce/condiment and have a huge amount of protein for very little fat/calories.
  
  I like the Sun Warrior Protein Powder. They've made it taste better recently, and I don't notice the stevia aftertaste, anymore. I'll drink it with soy milk in a smoothie or sometimes just with water and a couple tablespoons of coconut milk creamer.
  
  Good luck and stick with it! It's not that hard to find the right things, you just have to keep at it.

So yesterday I tried this combo:

1 scoop Jarrow Creatine
30 mins before Jiu Jitsu.

Breakfast:
8 a.m:

1 slice of Ezekiel sourdoug toast with almond cream cheese.
Shake with Nutiva hemp protein, 1/2 banana, blueberries, water, almond milk, almond butter and a splash of flax seed oil.

Tea mix of whole foods yerba matte and spoonful of matcha.


11:30 a.m:

1 scoop BCAA in my water bottle for during class & open mat (1.5 hours)

2 p.m.:

1 scoop Glutamine
1/2 Scoop Nutiva Hemp Protein Powder

Grilled two veggie sausages with a tad of almond cheese melted on two whole wheat hot dog buns.

About 20-30 mins after eating I pretty much crashed and had to take a nap. Was tired the rest of the day. Took 1 B-complex vitamin before bed and slept in till about 8:15 am. Usually wake up before 7 and feel fine.

If it matters, for dinner I had a bowl of quinoa with grilled corn, vegetables and some seitan chorizo, a small glass of wine and after a beer.

Noticed that at Jiu Jitsu I was in beast mode but felt my mind was clear. I was worried the creatine would give me anxiety like a lot of other similar supplements often do. I felt great and had some amazing matches. Went harder with some of the tougher dudes but held my own and felt great.

I'm thinking maybe I need to work on my post workout food/routine. Maybe I need to bring a shake that's ready for right after with protein powder and glutamine or something. Any suggestions?

I had the same dilemma for a long time! I highly recommend buying one, as it's so much more convenient. I recently got this tofu press, and it's been great!

My goto lately has been either tofu "eggs" or scramble, which I make by combining a seasoning mix to coat the outside of pressed, not previously frozen firm tofu. I just eyeball it, but it's mostly nutritional yeast, with a few dashes of turmeric, some onion and garlic powder, some ground mustard, salt, pepper, and about a Tbsp of corn starch mixed well. I just cut a hunk of tofu into four equal sized flat planks and coat them well and throw them in the skillet with veggie sausage, onions, peppers, sometimes vegan cheese, and always hot sauce. Super easy, and super tasty!

MyProtein is crazy cheap during a sale but for an everyday rice protein I like Super Protein. It's lysine-enriched to give it a complete amino acid profile and also has some added fiber to help with digestion. It has a very smooth texture and it's a good price (33 g/$). I also bought Hemp Yeah protein on a sale (also 33 g/$) and have been very impressed with the texture. The flavor is still quite grassy of course but the texture is worlds beyond what hemp protein used to be. Add in some cacao powder and you should be good to go.

I don't know about "best" because they all taste horrible, but kaged muscle is vegan and it actually mixes decently in water.

True Nutrition is vegan and you can save 5% with code "GOVEGAN"

Micro Ingredients is vegan and pretty cheap.

I've heard people say purple wraath is vegan, but I haven't confirmed that with CL. I have a friend who trains BJJ and he sips on it through his workout. It isn't just BCAA's - it's BCAAs + EAA's + beta alanine + citrulline malate + betaine + ginger. I love the way it tastes.

No probs, the kind I got was their all-in-one kind, which has all the essential amino acids, plus some other vitamins and some omega-3. Both the chocolate and vanilla flavors are great, but I would recommend making sure to use a banana and pb for sure, otherwise it isn't as sweet and fatty tasting. I picked mine up at Albertsons, but you can also grab it on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Naturade-Vegansmart-Nutritional-Shake-Vanilla/dp/B00CWLA56O?th=1

Hope that gives you some good info!

>At the moment I'm considering: organic brown rice, hemp and pea protein, coconut oil powder/coconut powder, ground up leafy greens, ground up chia seeds and some kind of flavouring

That sounds pretty good to me and similar to what I drink, adjusted as needed. Are you asking if I would be interested in an all-in-one product like that? Not particularly, unless it was very competitive in price to plain protein. My GF is fond of this all-in-one nutritional shake. At first glance, the only thing this includes that your shake is missing would be the pre/pro biotics, the digestive enzymes and perhaps a fortified vitamin or two that would be missing. If I were interested in a product like that, this is what I would buy.

>I've heard that B12 is quite hard to get from a plant based diet, is this true?

Yes, vegans need to supplement B12. I recommend getting the Deva multivitamin.

>What supplements should I take?

We also need a source of EPA and DHA, and AFAIK Ovega-3 is the cheapest option. Other supplements you may need are D3, zinc, and creatine.

>Any good quick meal suggestions?

My go-to meal is black beans fried in olive oil because of their hearty texture. Depending on how involved you want to get, you can add spices like basil and paprika and vegetables like onions and tomato.

>Any advice for what to eat when I'm out and about?

If you guys have Chipotle, their sofrita is an excellent tofu burrito.

Chocolate is $40 at amazon right now.... The recommendation of the Orgain from Costco is also a good one value wise. Vega has the best taste I have tried of any of the powders so far (chocolate flavor is all I have tried)
http://www.amazon.com/Vega-Sport-Performance-Protein-Vanilla/dp/B005H6UCHS

I'm not sure the nitrate content, but this is what I use:

Beet Juice Powder

Along with: L-Citrulline


I mix about two scoops of the Beet powder and 1tsp of L-Citrulline. I find it to be extremely effective. I have used all sorts of pre-workout powders over the years. Some with caffeine, some without, and all sorts of different ingredients. I have beeng using this concoction exclusively for the past 2 months and it's the best thing I've ever used for a pre-workout. If your doing 2 scoops its turns out to be about 64 servings for $27.

I just bought gluten powder from Amazon and it seems very cheap if you go the route of cooking it. I used this recipe because it was the most simple and also I wanted to use a slow cooker to be lazy, figuring if it would take time at least that is time I didn't have to be paying attention to it.

First batch came out pretty fantastic and that was with not really measuring anything well. When you compare the cost its super cheap to make yourself.

I don't know about amino acids but this stuff is great value: [Nutrisport 90+ Protein Vegan Unflavoured 908g] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0013G6PM2)


Less than £10 for 1kg. Pure protein from rice, peas and soya.


Be warned though, it's unflavoured so tastes like chalk. It's fine once you get used to it though!


Edit: Disclaimer - I only started working out a couple of months ago so this product may be total crap, but as far as I can tell as a beginner it's good.

I enjoy Minimalist Baker because of the photos of every recipe + macros listed. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735210969/

I also really like this one (especially for impressing dates), though I'd argue most of it is a little decadent to be healthy. https://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Vegan-Slow-Cooker-Ultra-Convenient/dp/1558327908/

Here's what I'm thinking of putting together:

BCAAs (Edit: Just realized this is not vegan friendly)

L-Arginine a-Ketoglutarate


L-Citrulline DL-Malate


N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine


Beta Alanine


Creatine Monohydrate

Alpha Lipoic Acid

Maltodextrin


Waxy Maize

I'm currently using a mix very similar to the above listed ingredients and it works very well!

I would like to just take a pre-mixed powder, but it seems like they all have caffeine, which I'm not a fan of for working out in the evening.

I'm also somewhat interested in Agmatine Sulfate and Phenylethylamine. Anyone have any opinions on those two chemicals?

This is the press I have & it works great. Usually I press for about 30 minutes. I eat tofu 3-4 times a week. Once it's pressed it picks up other flavors easily. Dice & saute it with garlic, braggs aminos, onion, & leafy greens. Saute it with just salt & pepper, let it chill, use in a salad. Cut it into slabs & bake it with bbq sauce. Good stuff.

This is a great rice/pea/hemp blend https://truenutrition.com/p-1169-vegan-protein-optimizer-formula-1lb.aspx and you get a discount with the code "5PERCENTOFF"

The NOW plant protein complex is good and cheap, too https://www.amazon.com/Now-Foods-Plant-Protein-Complex/dp/B00NIJ01FO

I bought this awhile ago and honestly make a recipe from it once or more a month:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1558327908

Long story short: lots of stews, amazing bean dishes, thick root vegetable soups. There are a billion things to do with a slow cooker that don't involve meat.

Yeah, I concur on Vega. My weapon of choice being this one though. Pea/Rice protein mix has a great AA profile, I gather. And I find it (the Vanilla Vega Sport in particular) unusually drinkable, for a non-soy all-veg powder. I don't mind drinking Vega's vanilla pea/rice powder at all. Which is saying something. Because there aren't a lot of drinkable powder's in its category.

Most creatines will be vegan, but Jarrow is a good brand and they list it as vegan on the label if you wanted a recommendation. link

Try reading this book http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Life-Everything-Healthy-Plant-Based/dp/0738214930

I have it, and it's excellent. It's written by dieticians, not just random vegans.

This is my brand of choice.
http://www.amazon.com/Vega-Nutritional-Shake-Chocolate-Ounce/dp/B00R0Y0W8O


Also a good brand
http://www.amazon.com/Sunwarrior-Warrior-Protein-Powder-Vanilla/dp/B005WLY4L8/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1452714911&sr=1-1&keywords=Sunwarrior

And finally this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Life-Protein-Nutritional-Supplement/dp/B00CLD74U8/ref=sr_1_7?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1452714944&sr=1-7&keywords=Garden+of+Life+protein

You didn't mention which multivitamin you are taking but I would recommend this one. It's inexpensive, high quality, and vegan.

If you have access to Trader Joe's I suggest checking out their high protein tofu. It looks like this. It doesn't need to be pressed. It's very firm. It might be the best tofu I've used. I won't use anything else unless silken is required because you don't need to press that, either.

I'd otherwise suggest getting a tofu press because the taste and texture of your tofu will be night and day. I've pressed tofu with a towel and plates which works texturally if done for 3-5 hours but I've noticed the tofu still won't absorb flavor properly. This is the press I own and used to swear by.

Here's a good organic kind that I use if anyone is so inclined.

I just go for Nutrisports £10 powder. Be careful only the 90+ is vegan.

Doesn't taste the best but I blend it with soya milk a banana peanut butter and a drizzle of Agave syrup (makes a big difference) and it goes down fine.

This one.

B12, Omega 3, and Creatine Ethyl-Ester. I used to take BCAAs but now they're in my Protein Powder.

Hemp protein

https://www.amazon.com/Nutiva-Organic-Hemp-Protein-3-Pound/dp/B001OHX1ZY?th=1

This!! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OQR0G70/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A4SI9MKIUKZH0&psc=1

kaged muscle and true nutrition are vegan.

Here is the mobile version of your link

It's a book

Definitely take B12. That's what I've decided based on my research.

I do also take a vegan omega 3 supplement but there's some disagreement among plant-based doctors on that one. This is the one I take: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B074N5JZK8

I use these food service towels that are meant to be reused but they have a limited life span so they can be thrown away. And I put paper towels in between the food service towels and the tofu. It’s not as environmentally friendly, but I haven’t had moldy smelling tofu.

Also, there’s the tofu press that I SO desperately want.