Saturday 6 January 2018

Vegan Dry January Day 5: Oatly is the tits

Wagamamas innit
Hello special friends. I thought this newly reactivated blog would be mainly about not-drinking again. It's not. The vegan aspect has entirely taken over. I will admit to a couple of Friday night drink spasms which passed as quickly as they arrived, however the novelty of veganism has meant I haven't missed animal products at all.

I think what I particularly like is being able to eat as much as I want and still lose weight, though that will plateau for a bit, especially after what I ate on Day 5. It's all posted below, as is my daily vlog in which I admit to start feeling like something of a vegan imposter, but for the rest of this post I'm going to hand over to Mary Sweeney, a vegan who plays for the roller derby team "Soy Division" ("rad name, huh?").

Mary very kindly, on the back of a passing suggestion from a mutual friend, sent me a *load* of advice on sensible vegan eating. The volume of information and her writing style was too good to keep to myself so asked if I could post her email up here. She very kindly acceded. If you are thinking of going vegan (particularly if you live in London), here's the 101:

"DAILY TIPS
I know you're a journo and you're often out and about... chain cafés are getting their act together when it comes to offering vegans (and gf/coeliac people also) options.  They're getting better with their labelling.  Caffé Nero offer some kind of fruit-based crumble bar that's pretty scrummy.  I tend to stick with soya milk at coffee shops.  I've tried coconut milk at Starbucks and it's just a bit flat for me.  Some indie coffee shops offer Oatly Barista milk for their drinks, which is the tits.

Pret - one of the few chains to open a 'Veggie Pret'  - there's one in Soho just by the John Snow pub.  All veggie and vegan.  Proper impressed the community with that :) So they're definitely a company who are committed to providing more options.  All of their stores do daily soups, and try and offer a vegan / gf option every day.  Souper Tomato, I've also had a great lentil-based one that was scrummy.  They offer some vegan sandwiches, but I am not often a fan of those.

SNACKS
Stock up on the likes of Trek bars (they're good), bags of nuts and pieces of fruit...on days off, I eat more avocados now, but that's when I have time to mash one up with a smidgin of garlic, lemon juice, and mash it all down on some toasted sourdough...mmmmm.

VEGAN CHEESE
I'll be honest, I miss cheese. It tastes great!  But let's remember it's essentially breast milk from another mammal that we've been conditioned to think we need to have.  We don't.  Also - something else to put you off... lots of cows get mastitis (infected udders) so don't think it's just pure milk you're getting in your pint...and also, when do mammals produce milk?  When they're pregnant.  How comes we're drinking that milk?  Because the calf is taken from the mother shortly after birth so we can rinse her for all of her milk.  When her body is knackered from repeated births...she's sent off to be slaughtered for cheap cuts of meat.  Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty horrendous, just so we can have a cheese and Branston cob, right?  There are lots of standard-style 'cheeses' you can get and I'd say try - on your first outing - Violife mozzarella style cheese..maybe melted on some toast, with some mushrooms on top and some fresh basil.   Mmm... toastie goodness.  There are also artisan 'cheeses' small vegan companies make...which taste great but are also rather expensive!

WHOLE FOODS / HEALTH SHOPS
They offer a lot of great 'equivalents' if you wish to go down that road.  Worth a visit if you're not busy to go and have a gander. I visit them to get odd things to supplement my diet.  There is a school of thought or some vegans who really avoid all that 'fake meat / cheese' stuff and just go full on for the leafy veg, fruit, grains, pulses, etc.  Definitely go for the natural stuff whenever you can.

COOKING
TONS of recipes on the internet for a plant-based diet.  And you can veganise existing recipes if you're any type of foodie / someone that's good with cooking.

EATING OUT
There are SO many good restaurants catering for vegans nowadays, whether it's a regular 'omni' style place offering a few options, or, even better, dedicated veggie & vegan places.  Here's a short list of a few of my faves:

Mildreds - branch in Soho, I hear there is a branch in Marylebone too now
Tibits - off Regent Street, on Heddon St.  Buffet-style but the food is good if you're around W1 and want a plate of decent food quick.  I think they're Swiss originally.
The Gate - Hammersmith.  Round the side of the Apollo, heading down towards the river.  I take a few Omni mates there who are happy to eat veg occasionally and they all love it. Food is soooooo good.  You won't be disappointed.  Check out their website.

DIRTY FOOD
If you're craving some down 'n' dirty vegan fried 'chic'n' at some point and you can be arsed to go to Hackney, try the Temple of Seitan! :) - a 5 min walk from Hackney Central Overground, on Morning Lane.  I believe they're planning a second branch in Camden at some point.

If you're doing this for weight loss I'd also advise getting some chia seeds into your diet.  You can buy them in supermarkets - usually stocked in the same area as Trek bars, energy bars, all that wholefood type stuff.  When I say supermarkets I mean Waitrose, I think Sainsburys, Tescos.  Morrisons... probably not.  Otherwise good old Holland and Barrett.  Used in South America by people on long treks you can add water to them and they swell up into this gel.  Really really good for you.  I sometimes add oat milk to them and a touch of cinnamon and shake it up and leave it for 30 minutes for a healthy breakfast style smoothie.  Could probably put a teaspoon of chocolate protein powder in there if you wanted for extra flavour.

CRISPS
Lots of crisps have milk in.  I KNOW RIGHT WHAT'S THAT ABOUT?!?!  It fixes the flavour.  Kettle Chips are good with labelling their products as suitable for vegans.  Walkers - not so.  I was overjoyed at Ikea Wembley today (!!) to find their sour cream and onion crisps are vegan.

PROTEIN
As you can't fill your body with animal stuff, you may get hungrier initially. We don't need as much protein as we're often told we do, but you do need to think about where you are getting your protein from. What I do tend to have in is a chocolate vegan protein powder for days I am active.  Sometimes I add a spoonful of peanut butter and a banana to it and blend it up.  Usually have that combo if I'm playing roller derby that day.  The powder I use is called Amazing Grass which Whole Foods stock. I asked my vegan pals in the roller derby challenge team what they would recommend and they suggested looking at supplements and shakes from Huel, the vegan range from Protein Works,
Jacked on the Beanstalk, Simnett Nutrition, Soy Protein Isolate from Bulk Powders and Vivolife.

SUPPLEMENTS
B12.  Get a decent B12 supplement from Whole Foods. Makes like Solgar, or BioCare, Viridian, or Terra Nova are decent companies who should do a B12 supplement.  I've bought Solgar's before.  Some plant milks are fortified with B12, but not sure all are.  I think Alpro fortify all of their milks, but I tend to stick to Oatly now, and not sure they do.  Apparently some breakfast cereals are fortified too but cereal is a big barrel of nonsense as far as I'm concerned so I don't touch the stuff.  B12 is also in Marmite, so if you love it and don't hate it, have that too.  But for a regular supply a B12 nugget is probably best.

You'll also do yourself a favour if you have Omega 3.  Tbh, EVERYONE could benefit from Omega 3 from all I've read - I think a typical Western diet has too much Omega 6 and 9 but not enough Omega 3.  The aforementioned chia seeds are good for Omega 3s.  You can also get Omega 3 oils.  I sometimes - every few months - get a bottle of hemp oil from the chilled section at my local health food shop in Ealing.

FRUIT AND VEG
...ah, Nature's goodness.  You'll be eating more of that I reckon.  Fill your boots.  The more you eat raw, the better, your gut will thank you for it.  Look up the idea of 'crowding out' - it's about 'crowding out' the bad foods with so many good / filling / fibrous foods that couldn't eat toxic nonsense even if you tried! Great huh? :)"

Thanks Mary. I went back to Mary and asked her about vegan booze, just to complete the set, not that I'm wavering or anything (honest!) and I will put together an end of Dry January Vegan Booze Celebration list at the end of the month. Maybe we should have a party or something...?!

Okay Day 5 vlog post below, plus the tale of the tape....


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Weight: 11st 7.4lb

Exercise: 10 mins cycling, 75 mins fast walking

Food:

Two slices of home made toast with Pure olive spread and Apricot Jam
Hike Christmas pudding bar
Granny Smith apple
Raw cashew and date bar
Entire bag of roasted unsalted cashews
Wagamama meal including veggie gyoza, a vegan curry and vegan sorbet
Finished off the Montezuma Black Forest Gateau chocolate

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Vegan Dry January Day 31: The Last Post
Vegan Dry January Day 30: A Vegan in Downing Street
Vegan Dry-ish January Day 29: Can't see what all the fuss is about
Days 26 to 28 are Nonblogged.
Vegan Dry January Day 25: Simon Amstell is a Vegan
Days 20 to 24 are Nonblogged. 
Vegan Dry January Day 19: Peer review
Vegan Dry January Day 18: Are you a vegan?
Vegan Dry January Day 17: Mmm... cashews.... 
Vegan Dry January Day 16: Taking Stock
Vegan Dry January Day 15: A relapse
Days 13 and 14 are Nonblogged. 
Vegan Dry January Day 12: There was no Day 11
There really wasn't a day 11
Vegan Dry January Day 10: Alcohol wobble
Vegan Dry January Day 9: Avoiding four meals a day
Vegan Dry January Day 8: Smeared Poo
Vegan Dry January Day 7: Separation Anxiety
Vegan Dry January Day 6: Wastelands of Admin
Vegan Dry January Day 5: Oatly is the tits
Vegan Dry January Day 4: Milk is everywhere
Vegan Dry January Day 3: I've lost my nuts
Vegan Dry January Day 2: This is going well
Vegan Dry January Day 1: Vegan Dry January is go

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