Manly Vegans

I did some research today on vegan male athletes. "Research "is my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Although many of our friends have taken quite an interest in our new eating habits, many of my female friends quickly exclaim that they could "NEVER" get their husbands to eat "like that".

Many of the female halves of these same couples rue the fact that their men are carrying around too much belly fat, costing them too much money at the grocery store, and that they don't have the time to cook every night.

So more money, weight loss and more time aren't a motivator?

I get quite frustrated that the prospect of savings, a hot summer frame and efficiencies in time aren't enough to motivate people to just give a vegan diet a try for a while. I suppose they prefer the pinnacle of convenience... a stressed-out, unhealthy husband needing a by-pass... because there's no stress there! OK - that's a bit extreme - but I am just warming up...

In any event, I was thinking about all of those "guy's guys" out there. You know - the kind that work out hard, have gorgeous lean muscles, play sports, and hang out with other guy's guys? How the heck is a woman supposed to feed a man like that?

Give Him Some Eye Candy: First, start out with the food being REALLY GOOD. If the food is bark-y, tasteless and boring, you'll probably not get anywhere. Think of pulling a dinner together for your guy the way you'd get dressed for a night out with him. Colour. Textures. Varying items of interest. Layers. Something tasty and intriguing. He might not even notice that there's no flesh around except yours!

Surprise Him With Your Savings: Secondly, and especially if you're part of a couple who cares where your money is going, treat yourselves to a ridiculously lower grocery bill every so often. The internet is full of creative ideas, and I promise you - NONE of them will cost as much as that barbequed rib-eye. If you absolutely must part with your money, why don't you get him a new tool for his toolbox for the price of what you would have spent on a steak?

Animal Behaviour. Just because you haven't eaten any animals, doesn't mean that there aren't certain instinctual behaviours which can't be borrowed from them.... While I like keeping the blog family friendly, let's just say that there are two other particular fringe benefits for vegan eating that transcend the kitchen, and I won't write about them here. If nothing else turned a manly guy eater into a vegan, I would venture a guess that these would if they only knew about them.... within about 4 minutes.

Bragging Rights. I am always blown away by male "locker room talk". What so many of my male friends have told me over a few beers about what they notice. Guys care about how they look naked as much as women do (maybe more?!). So if the last motivator for more frequent vegan eating is a leaner, stronger, meatier frame with less flab then the buck might just stop there.

Here are some snippets from guys posting what they actually eat as vegan weight lifters, football players, and hockey players. There are some easy, good ideas here, but none of them are mine...

One weight lifter eats this in a day:
Breakfast
3 tablespoons of Rice Protein Powder (nutribiotic brand) with 8oz of almond milk and 8oz of soy milk. I add ½ cup of frozen mango or strawberries to the mix and one tablespoon of coconut oil.

Mid afternoon snack
½ cup of almonds and ½ cup of raisins

Late afternoon snack
Two Veggie burgers with olive oil and some sprouted bread

Post Workout Shake
3 scoops of Rice Protein Powder with 8oz of oat or rice milk. Throw in
1 tablespoons of flaxseed oil and ½ cup of frozen fruit.

Dinner
Mixed Green Salad with 1 tablespoon of olive oil or one avocado.
One cup of lentils steamed with squash, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, and some tofu. One tablespoon of olive oil is added to the mix.
One cup of quinoa
A pear or apple
Some dark chocolate for dessert and some ginger cookies
Glass of red wine

Late Night snack
Peanut butter or almond butter sandwich and a cup of berries

Another guy had this on his web page:
Consume protein and good quality fat as part of each meal and snack.

*Tip: If you make bread, muffins, or any baked goods, leave out some of the flour and replace it with soy protein powder, hemp flour, or bean flour. Use hemp seed oil as a base for salad dressing or to mix with a soy drink to make it creamier. Use hemp seed oil on cereal and in baking.

Good quality protein sources:

Hemp seed nut and flour
tofu
beans (kidney, black, garbanzo, soy, adzuki)
legumes
soy protein powder
unsweetened soy drink

Good quality fat sources:

extra virgin olive oil
flax seed oil
hemp seed oil
avocado
non-roasted nuts and seeds

Breakfast: 1 cup Oatmeal 6
1 cup Soymilk 7
1 Bagel 9

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Lunch: 2 slices Whole Wheat Bread 5
1 cup Vegetarian Baked Beans 12

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Dinner: 5 oz firm Tofu 11
1 cup cooked Broccoli 4
1 cup cooked Brown Rice 5
2 Tbsp Almonds 4

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Snack: 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter 8
6 Crackers 2
TOTAL 73 grams

Finally, another guy posted this list of protein contents per serving, and it's a good list.

AMOUNT PROTEIN(gm)
Tempeh 1 cup / 41g
Seitan 3 ounces / 31 g
Soybeans, cooked 1 cup / 29g
Lentils, cooked 1 cup / 18 g
Black beans, cooked 1 cup / 15 g
Kidney beans, cooked 1 cup / 13 g
Veggie burger 1 patty / 13 g
Chickpeas, cooked 1 cup / 12 g
Veggie baked beans 1 cup / 12 g
Pinto beans, cooked 1 cup / 12 g
Black-eyed peas, cooked 1 cup / 11 g
Tofu, firm 4 ounces / 11 g
Lima beans, cooked 1 cup / 10 g
Quinoa, cooked 1 cup / 9g
Tofu, regular 4 ounces / 9 g
Bagel 1 med.(3 oz) / 9 g
Peas, cooked 1 cup / 9 g
Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), cooked 1/2 cup / 8 g
Peanut butter 2 Tbsp / 8 g
Veggie dog 1 link / 8g
Spaghetti, cooked 1 cup / 8 g
Almonds 1/4 cup / 8 g
Soy milk, commercial, plain 1 cup / 7 g
Soy yogurt, plain 6 ounces / 6 g
Bulgur, cooked 1 cup /6g
Sunflower seeds 1/4 cup / 6 g
Whole wheat bread 2 slices / 5 g
Cashews 1/4 cup / 5 g
Almond butter 2 Tbsp / 5 g
Brown rice, cooked 1 cup / 5 g
Spinach, cooked 1 cup / 5g
Broccoli, cooked 1 cup / 4 g
Potato 1 med.(6 oz) / 4 g