Vegan Diet?!
Vegan Diet?
I'm a high school student and a vegan, and I'm having trouble knowing how to buy lunch at school. I was packing my lunch, but my new schedule change has made it nearly impossible to do so. Any advice?????
Additional Details2 months ago
btw, I'm NOT doing this to loose weight... alot of ppl tend to think so, I'm vegan because I'm generally against the killing of animals for my own eating pleasure
Answers:
2 months ago
btw, I'm NOT doing this to loose weight... alot of ppl tend to think so, I'm vegan because I'm generally against the killing of animals for my own eating pleasure
Your canteen MUST have fruits and vegetables, so there'll be something to eat at least. Foods like hash browns, fries, potato crunchies and things are nearly always vegan, but always check (hardly healthy living though!).
Baked beans, spaghetti hoops etc are also *usually* vegan. Spaghetti napoletana (made with durum wheat spaghetti) is vegan. Most bread rolls are vegan here in the UK (not sure where you're based), so maybe you could have a lunch of either spaghetti with a side salad, or maybe buy a roll, a salad and bring your own veggie meat in to make a big fake meat and salad sandwich. Always get a piece of fruit.
Make sure you have a really big breakfast. Get a glass of fruit juice in, a multivitamin, maybe wholemeal teast with Marmite/Vegemite, scrambled tofu, a healthy fry-up, a fruit smoothie or yogurt etc. Leave for school feeling full and you wont be tempted to just buy chips for your dinner.
As someone mentioned, do try packing a lunch. It's far more cost-effective and healthier (vegan or not!).
Nice pack lunches could be:
a fake vegemeat, salad and vegan mayo wholemeal sandwich + vegan yogurt + banana
a toasted bagel with red pepper homous, tofu and salad + + vegan yogurt + apple
a pita stuffed with sprouts/salad and pieces of chopped, cooked veggie meat or tofu + vegan yogurt + strawberries.
Also, with your canteen, I would suggest speaking to your headmaster. If there aren't any vegan eateries aside from just the fruit and veg, you should put in an official complaint to the school asking why only junk food is available at the canteen. Many people are vegan for religious reasons (buddhists, hindus, jains), and if they serve kosher or halal food, they need to also have vegan food. To have a meat and dairy fuelled canteen is, aside from unhealthy, also prejudiced. Suggest chunky veg soups, vegetable curries, vegetarian chilli etc. Let your headmaster know that vegetarian food is cheaper than meat and dairy if he mentions cost issues. A chunky vegetable soup uses vegetable stock rather than chicken stock and has no milk or cream. Can't get cheaper than that!
Also, since you're a veggie, sign up to fitday.com (it's free), although not aimed at vegans and vegetarians, it's handy to make sure you have your nutrition covered! :-)
Pack your lunch at night. I'm sure there's time for that. You're unlikely to find a nutritious lunch at school if you're vegan. I hope you are taking all of your vitamins and supplements and you're seeing a doctor periodically. You don't want to stunt your growth.
If your scholl sells sunchips,plain potato lay's,fruit roll ups,those are vegan.I usually buy sunchips or baked lay's and an apple juice at school.
lol this is part of being vegan hun. You eat PURE ORGANIC foods. You have to go to the store and get the boca burgers (soy burgers), tofu, fake milk. Being a vegan isn't healthy for you. I really don't recommend it. You may lose weight, but the second you stop being a vegan your going to gain probably 20 pounds back. It happened to me, I was vegetarian for a very long time and then I stopped because I was getting sick from lack of calcium, protein, things like that... and i had to eat meat again. I started eating meat and I gained a lot of weight so its not even worth it if your just doing it to lose weight.
School's usually have cheese sandwiches for those who can't afford anything. Ask them if they could prepare something modified (so that it's vegan) that's easy and quick for them.
*response to another's response*
Veganism isn't unhealthy. If you're lacking nutrients, than you're just eating a bunch of crap. I 'do' suggest it, and it's usually for reasons other than losing weight (although a vegan diet definitely helps with that as well).
http://www.adasnatural.com/common/recipe...
look threw here make it up and night and take it with get some containers that travel easy
That's a tough one. You may wish to talk to your school cafeteria manager or your school board to ensure there are healthy vegan options available. Often school balk at the idea thinking it is too expensive to prepare such specialized niche market foods, but you can give them plenty of ideas that could sell to vegans and non-vegans alike.
-Veggie and tofu stir fries
-PB & J
-Veggie patties and vegan meat analogues
-Vegan soups (veggie, tomato (not cream of tomato) and there are hundreds of soup recipes that are meatless if they ever make their own soups though I realize not many schools do so these days
-French Fries (not exactly healthy, but not many teens focus on healthy options
-Salads (sans meat and egg) with vinaigrette dresssings
-Fresh veggies and fruits
-Soy or rice milk (good for those with lactose intolerance too)
I'm sure you can come up with other ideas.
Here's a story about a NYC district that has decided to provide vegan options:
The New York State Legislature passed unanimously a resolution encouraging local school districts to provide daily vegan meal options, to replace ala carte and vending items with healthier choices, and to provide nutrition education reinforcing these choices. The resolution was patterned after similar resolutions enacted by the Hawaii and California legislatures.
This great victory for children and animals was achieved by the New York Healthy School Lunch Coalition, a partnership between FARM's CHOICE program and New York's Animal Welfare Trust. The effort was headed by Amie Hamlin, Lydia Antoncic, and Susan Wieland. Other team members included Arathi Jayaram, Rosemary Benedict, and Mary Max.
For additional information, including the text of the resolution, please visit CHOICEUSA.net or HealthyLunches.org. To help implement the New York resolution, contact Amie at amie at healthylunches.org, 631-286-1343. To launch a similar resolution in your state, contact Susan at susan at choiceusa.net, 877-6CHOICE.
The resolution was introduced by Senator Kenneth P. LaValle (R-C-I), Port Jefferson, and Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-51st District) on behalf of the Coalition. It passed the Senate on March 24, 2004 and the Assembly on April 26, 2004.
Below is a link to resources for school cafeterias to purchase vegan foods.
If you don't have time to pack a lunch, make time to pack one. It only takes 15 minutes or so at most to gather up appropriate items and make a sandwich. It's probably the healthiest option you have, school's put a lot of junk into their foods, even the "healthy" ones. Plus you can never quite be certain it's completly vegan.
Just pack your lunch at night and it's all ready to go in the morning, and if you really don't have time to do even that, then you need to cut back on the work!
There are so many great products out there for vegans. I work full time and just finished my MSM so I understand time constraints. Pack your lunch in the evening.
pack your lunch
school don't have human food
bring cans of soy milk, fresh fruits, veggs, all pre cut and washed, ready to eat
make trail mix and eat those for lunch