FAQ With a Vegan Chef II
Hey folks! Thanks for your wonderful comments and feedback from yesterday's post. One thing I forgot to emphasis is that my eating habits in the last few years were not as great as they could be. I also went through waves of eating way too cleansing of a diet, then binging on sugar. You may need to tweak your diet the longer you are vegan. And I realize now that I could benefit from supplementing since I've eschewed them for the last 9 years. I'm getting back into my healthy routine and my current experiments seem to be working well. I feel really good, sleeping well and waking up refreshed, enjoying lower impact exercise and still feel strong (as seen in the video below), and as long as I have good snacks throughout the day I don't crash mid-afternoon. Also I've been staying away from caffeine, which helps restore the adrenals.
Here's my second FAQ With a Vegan Chef done video style! Since I had some follow-up questions after this video I will address those questions below the vid. If you have any other questions feel free to leave them in the comments.
When using full-fat coconut milk from a can, do you just shake it up and use all parts of it or do you let it sit and then scrape the cream off the top? Are there other brands that are bpa-free?
I shake it up and use the whole can. The only time you would leave it sitting and scrap off the top is if you were making a whip cream or something that would need that fatty thick consistency.
Turns out a viewer called Trader Joe's and they said their coconut milk is BPA-free. I knew that some of their canned beans were but wasn't sure if that extended to the coconut milk. So, if you live near a TJ's you are in luck!
I watched today's video about protein, and am a little confused. I thought fruits and veggies gave us enough protein. Is protein powder necessary, or just a choice for you?
Yes, all foods have some form of protein. If you eat a varied diet of whole foods you will not become protein deficient. Whether it's "enough" is really a personal thing. Many vegans overtime find that they lose muscle mass and need more protein to get that back and get strong. I've been doing this over 9 years and recently found that if I do more protein my strength and fitness has improved ten fold. Also issues like candida are very common from a diet based in carbohydrates, bread, sugar, starchy foods. I feel I may have a mild candida issue so I'm having more protein which doesn't perpetuate the problem.
Hope that was helpful! I will try to do these posts and videos more frequently. Feel free to leave your questions in the comments below and I will get to them soon! As always thanks for watching, reading and sharing these posts with your friends. And thank you for being part of these wonderful community where we can openly share and explore!
Excellent tips on cutting an onion! I always made the horizontal slices, but I like your way so much better.
Also, I appreciated your frank discussion about your health. Since changing to a plant-based diet, I have felt so much better, but I still do have tweaks to make here and there. I have recently increased our consumption of greens and probiotic foods (mainly lacto-fermented veggies). But, I am still noticing a LOT of bloat after eating grains (especially brown rice), as well as indigestion after eating beans (that I soak and cook with kombu). I would love to hear if you have any tips.
Thanks, Christy!
Jennifer you may have some candida issues and gluten-intolerance. But how long have you been eating plant-based? It can be common for some to have trouble digesting beans at first while the body is getting used to eating whole foods with lots of fiber. Be sure you are chewing very well, and maybe try not eating them together at a meal to see if that helps with the bloat.
Christy,
I had candida for years and finally found out a year ago that it was perpetuated by gluten intolerance. Silent celiac disease can mimic candida, especially if you are eating a healthy diet and taking probiotics and not getting any better. I found a lot of my sugar issues were due to fructose intolerance from gluten damage.
I loovvve using coconut milk for candida issues, and the greens powders and green smoothies were the only things that helped me for awhile. Can't live without my green smoothies!
Great product recommendations.
-Christie-
Thank you so much for sharing with us! I haven’t had much gluten this year and I feel so much better. So coconut milk and oil are approved for candida diets?
From what I've read they are. I've used them with success. The caprylic acid in it is what kills the little buggers.
Great information! There are so many greens products at the store, it gets overwhelming and expensive to blindly pick and choose. Also, I had no idea that Trader Joe's had BPA free canned beans and coconut milk.
Happy to hear about your book tour. Let us know if you decide to travel to the Atlanta area. Are you part of the Holistic Holiday at Sea Cruise?
Thanks so much!
No problem! I won't be coming through Atlanta this time but maybe in the fall! Yes I will be on the cruise, are you going this year? If so I will see you in a week!
I'm thrilled to hear Trader Joe's has some BPA-free cans! I've been gravitating towards Eden but that can get a little cost prohibitive after a while. Thanks for sharing!!
I know it is so awesome! I can't wait to be near a TJ's again. It saves so much money!!
Christy, Out of curiosity what snacks are your go tos throughout the day to keep your energy levels up as I can't seem to overcome the mid-afternoon crash despite snacks and B12 supplements.
Often I have that protein shake in the video, or a handful of brazil nuts, rice crackers with nut butter or hummus, something with protein for mid-afternoon seems to help me. Also not having any sugar or baked flour in the morning helps prevents the crash later in the day. 🙂
Thanks Christy! I will take a look for the green powder you recommended. You are so sweet to keep up with your "fans". You go girl and keep spreading the vegan love 🙂