Forks over Knives

I have heard of it and am fairly sure it's promoting a vegan whole foods diet. I have had vegan tendencies off and on but don't do well without animal protein. Each to his own individual needs.

That is my problem with vegan diets- I find the vegan proteins like tempeh and tofu and even quinoa to be tasteless, boring and uninteresting. Vegan products have evolved and I see that Whole Foods Market has a whole freezer full of fake chicken and beef vegan products. What it comes down to is can you live your life eating such things? A lady in my CCFA support group decided to go Vegan and she has lost a lot of weight. She told me she is experimenting with different proteins to counteract the weight loss. To me this is the biggest issue: where is the protein coming from and what is it tasting like?

My granddaughter is majoring in Nutrition, and decided to go Vegan. We watched the video, "Forks over Knives" together and it was extremely interesting. She decided to get the book, and my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter made their first recipe last night. I came over to eat as well. There were 6 of us at dinner, and I don't think that one person liked, or enjoyed their meal. The recipes look rather tasteless to me, although they did use many spices, I don't think that I noticed any oil in the recipes which is so beneficial to all of us.

The main reason that she decided to go vegan is that she has IBS and wanted to see if it would help the situation. I hope that she lasts a week on the diet. Will keep you posted if she finds that it is helpful to her. I don't think that I could or would want to stay on it.

Mema 1, That was my concern - the protein. My friend (27 Yr old Tyler) said he eats a lot of beans for protein. No dairy. I thought "oh no, I love butter, cottage cheese and Greek Yogurt, and whipped cream and ice cream. I'm getting the video a book from the library Thursday. Tyler was determined after seeing the video. Don't know how long he has been on it, but quite a while. He looks great! and feel great! My husband wants to do the vegan diet for weight loss. I can't imagine eating like that. Yes, please keep me posted on your granddaughter.

Yes, protein really is a deal breaker and is the main reason I'm not fully vegetarian. My diet is now what many would call "flexitarian" meaning that I don't eat very much meat. I do continue to consume fish, eggs, and dairy, though I mainly keep to a vegetarian diet in my own home. I don't eat red meat at all anymore, though I will still eat chicken or turkey when I'm out as I've discovered it's just too difficult to fully conform to a vegetarian diet outside the home as I've found myself in many situations where there just aren't any suitable veggie/vegan options. Additionally, I certainly don't expect friends or family to cater specifically to me when I'm visiting. Like anyone else with food or dietary restrictions, I'm responsible for myself.

Another issue is that I am anemic (on and off) and also on a modified diet for adhesions so I have to limit roughage as well as ensure I'm getting enough iron. This makes it even more difficult to go vegan, as many of the alternative foods I could be eating may contribute to partial obstructions, or are not good sources of iron. No win. *LOL*

That being said, I have developed quite a taste for tofu and I've learned dozens of different ways to prepare it. Yves Veggie Cuisine also makes a lentil burger which is absolutely delicious. My brother loves them and he's a meat and potatoes guy.

Anyway, long story short, I don't think there's one "magic diet" for everyone. The key is finding a diet that works for you. While I would love to go entirely vegan, I have long since come to the understanding that it won't be realistic for my circumstances.

I live on a mostly protein diet...I eat tons of veggies (all fresh or lightly steamed), in salads or soups and a good share of fruits...But I cannot eat most starches or simple carbs, any peas or beans (other than green beans) so a vegan diet would probably kill me. I'd be left with very little to eat.
During the day I eat hard cheeses, soft nuts, some dried fruits and a Greek style yoghurt if I can find one...I don't eat meat outside of the house (helps me to control the origins of the meat and how it is cooked). This seems to work best for my pouch...Adding in a probiotic daily means that I can now sleep through most of the night and my pouch doesn't complain.
I agree with Spooky...there is no 'one size fits all' diet plan...you have to reconcile social, religious, health and moral issues on top of diet and pouch requirements...never an easy mix.
Good luck to anyone who manages successfully to do it...I admire you.
Sharon
ps. I love the smell of grilling meat too much to miss out on a bar-b-que...

Just a couple of things I'd add too:

For those who mention that foods like tofu, tempeh and quinoa are bland, there are many ways you can spice them up. Tofu and tempeh can be marinated. For tofu, this works best with the firm but porous variety. Pressed tofu, on the other hand, is not very porous and doesn't tend to marinate well, but it's good for coating with a spice rub or bread crumbs and pan frying (you can deep fry it but I avoid this as too many fried foods tend to upset my stomach). To marinate the porous tofu, I like to use a bit of soy sauce or tempura, with lime juice, garlic and pepper. You can marinate for a few minutes to a few hours.

For quinoa, you can spice it any way you like, and it can be either savoury or sweet. I like tossing cold quinoa in a salad with some greek yogurt or tatziki and finely chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and cilantro.

There are literally hundreds of recipes online to give you more tips. I'm sure you'll find something you enjoy!

Can you and your pouch survive quinoa?
I can't...Can't do whole grain rice or boulgour either...they turn into a bottleneck in my gut and pouch.
As for tofu...I can't get it down...makes me gag. Its a texture thing. I can barely slurp down the tiny little squares that they put into miso soup.
Sharon

I'm not sold on the Forks over Knives (vegan type diet). I'm picking up the videos tomorrow from the library and a book. I'll try to keep an open mind. I do want to feel better, but maybe that's the diet I should have followed when I still had a sick colon.

Sharon, my pouch does fine with quinoa. I've been eating it for years, in fact before it became an "it food." In fact, very few foods irritate my pouch, per se. The main problem I have is with adhesions at the old stoma site - I have to pay attention to the amount of roughage I'm eating as that's my problem area. But quinoa doesn't seem to cause blockages. I suppose if I ate a ton of it at once, it might, but so far it's been fine. Foods that would cause me issues include things like carrots, raw peppers, green or yellow beans (because of the skins), roasted potatoes (when skins have not been removed), cabbage/coleslaw, popcorn, bean sprouts, stalky Chinese vegetables, salad in excess amounts, and basically any other raw veggie in excess. I expect mushrooms would also give me major issues, but I've never liked them and so don't eat them anyway. Oddly, though, things like tomatoes and cucumbers usually don't bother me.

But really, I'm actually quite lucky. Despite the problems I've had, my pouch itself is has excellent function and is generally well behaved. My issues have been with adhesions above the pouch, and with the staple line below. Go figure. LOL The pouch was a little angry at me over Christmas, but I indulged in foods I wouldn't normally (lots of sugar, but mainly it was just excess volume! I ate more than my system has been used to in quite some time. My pouch didn't necessarily appreciate that. ).