vegan food pyramid - how on earth do i include 6-11 servings of wholegrains in to my diet daily?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

First off, good for you for wanting to be a healthy vegan! So many vegans/vegetarians are either doing it for the snazzy label, or for weight loss.

you don't need to get exactly 6 or exactly 11 servings just use the serving size as a guideline.

a serving of whole grains includes 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of cereal, 1/2 of a bagel, 1 cup cooked oatmeal, quinoa or brown rice, 1 cookie, 1 pancake, a handful of crackers--etc.

In a typical day you could have 2 slices of toast with breakfast, a bagel for lunch, a cookie for snack, and brown rice with dinner, right there you already have 7servings.

A different day you could have 2 cups oatmeal for breakfast, a slice of toast with spread for snack, a cup of brown rice with lunch, and 2 slices of bread with dinner. You have about 6 servings there too. Don't stress about following the food pyramid, just eat what you are craving and what your body needs.

good luck!

edit: The serving sizes i mentioned are based off of a nutritionist, and food pyramid, sorry if i offended people with too large of an amount of grains. To each is one's own. Anyways, don't worry about meticulously following specific guidelines and calorie amounts, eat what feels right. You'll go crazy if you try to count calories.

a whole wheat bagel OR 1 c oatmeal with breakfast (2 servings)
a pbj on whole wheat bread with lunch (2 servings)
a cup of whole wheat pasta with dinner (2 servings)

Sample day could go:
Breakfast: 1 c oatmeal (2) with fruit and nuts
Snack: small handful raisins
Lunch: a veggie sandwich with bean spread (2 slices bread); cup of bean/lentil soup
snack: wasabi peas
Dinner: 1 c whole wheat pasta tossed with chickpeas, grilled veggies, and olive oil; grilled seitan


serving= 1/2 c rice/pasta/oats, 1 slice bread, 1/2 bagel or english muffine, 1oz crackers
According to Loma Linda University guidelines. That's the food pyramid I follow:
http://www.vegetariannutrition.org/food-…


!A Flower Child!
I think that's a ridiculous amount of grains- the measurements you gave for a serving, anyway. The amount of grains (besides quinoa, b/c there's no amount) that you said to eat in a day adds up to about 1170 calories.
There's no way to fit the rest of the food and nutrients you need- nuts, seeds, fruits, veggies, and legumes- into the remaining 330 (1500-cal diet)-830 calories (2000-cal diet).

Use the list below to gain a perspective on how much food a recommended serving size really is; it may be much smaller than you realize.

According to the USDA, one serving equals:

one slice of whole-grain bread
1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta
three to four small crackers
one small pancake or waffle

http://www.webmd.com/diet/control-portio…

Condense your food: Sandwhiches, crutons , crackers w/ soup etc. Also stock up on foods that multi-task like quinoa (carbs and protein).

Also, remember thats just the recommendation. You don't have to follow it to the letter. Just do what you can.

Be more active it seems.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/Di…

One piece of bread counts as one serving, so have a sandwich and you've knocked out 2. Eat wholegrain crackers as a snack. That's 2 servings. Eat wholegrain pasta or rice.