I think I’m ready to give vegan a try, but I’m struggling with breakfast ideas. Mostly I’d meal prep egg and bacon burritos or just have some toast with jam.
I used to be a cereal person but after having my gallbladder removed I developed an intolerance to lactose. And I haven’t found any good alternatives for milk or cheese that I like, so I’ve basically cut them out of my diet. Plus most cereal is loaded with sugar, and…
I found out yesterday that I’m prediabetic and my cholesterol is a little high. So, I’m trying to move away from animal products and sugar.
I will occasionally have toast with peanut butter and banana on it, but that’s so calorie dense, I only eat it on days I know I’ll be doing a lot of physical activities. Most days I sit at a desk for 8-10 hours.
So really the only other thing I can think of is oatmeal. And eating a bowl full of something hot is the last thing I want to do after my morning walk. I’m in Texas so it’s hot even when I go out at 5 AM.
I’m looking for ideas that can, preferably, be meal prepped or take less than 5 minutes to make. But I’m open to any ideas. Thanks!
If you like oatmeal, try overnight oats. Add some water, touch of maple syrup, your favorite fruit, dash of salt, and put it in the fridge. You can make a week’s worth at a time, and try different recipes to see what you like. I went through a phase where I tried all sorts of recipes, not all vegan.
You can add other grains, too. Barley worked surprisingly well, but chia seeds had that gelatinous texture I don’t care for. Pumpkin seeds, cashew pieces, and poppy seeds were all good. You can also stir in peanut butter, nutella, sunbutter, or cookiebutter if you want to make it more of a treat.
Prenote
Congrats on trying out veganism!
First off, based on your message, I think you might have a couple misunderstandings about veganism. Understand that veganism isn’t a diet nor is it inherently healthy. You can be vegan and eat processed food and imitation products all day long. Veganism is primarily an ethical stance - choosing not to partake in the industrial scale abuse and torture of our animal friends.
I hate to say something that goes against my own beliefs, but I don’t think it really makes sense to go fully vegan just for health reasons. Yes, virtually all nutritionists would say that people need to cut down and significantly reduce the amount of meat and animal products people eat, but for purely health reasons there aren’t many reasons to go down to absolutely 0. Plus, although there are plenty of benefits to outweigh the negatives, it is important to recognize that vegans can have a slightly harder time getting some nutrients, like vitamin D, iron, zinc, omega 3 fatty acids (most people struggle with these nutrients anyway, it’s just that vegans struggle a little more). And uniquely, there is virtually no vegan source of B12, so you need to take a supplement, or eat fortified foods.
I’m saying this because people who go vegan only for health reasons almost always quit eventually. Do it for the animals, but also enjoy the health benefits that come along naturally.
Don’t make these mistakes
Going vegan, especially suddenly, can take a toll on your body, just as making any sudden dietary change can.
- Make sure you are eating enough. A lot of vegan food isn’t as dense as animal products, usually because it contains a lot more water. The actual “volume” of food that you eat should increase quite a bit. Although I’m normally against it, I actually recommend calorie counting for a bit when you first go vegan (but do understand the dangers of calorie counting long term).
- Understands symptoms of suddenly eating a lot of fiber: One of the healthiest aspects of veganism is the high intake of fiber, which is fantastic for your digestive system. However, most people eat way too little fiber, and the sudden change from little fiber to lots of fiber can actually be a bit uncomfortable: bloating, stomach pain, diarrhea. Long term healthy, but maybe short term take it slow.
- Eat satiating foods: Vegetables and fruits are great for your health, but you have to eat foods that provide long term energy and make you feel full. If you are feeling hungry all the time, that’s not good. The overarching categories here are grains (preferably whole), legumes (beans, lentils, tofu, fake meat), nuts, seeds.
- Get your vitamins checked 3-6 months after going vegan: I just think this is too important after any dietary change.
Onto your actual question
The main breakfasts I eat are:
- Granola or cereal and plant milk
- Tofu scramble (can meal prep this easily) and toast, sometimes impossible breakfast sausage. To make good tofu scramble you need some unconventional ingredients you might not find at a grocery store, like black salt (kala namak)
- Beans and toast
- Leftovers from last night’s dinner
- Skip breakfast (or just eat a small fruit) and instead have a big lunch
I will occasionally have toast with peanut butter and banana on it, but that’s so calorie dense, I only eat it on days I know I’ll be doing a lot of physical activities.
This is actually a great breakfast. I understand your concern about it being calorie dense, but recognize that this is very satiating, and will keep you full and energized for a long time.
Also, don’t be afraid to eat some vegan imitation products. I promise they’re not nearly as bad as people demonize them to be, just don’t eat them all the time. I love impossible brand breakfast sausage, bratwurst, burgers, and chicken nuggets. In modern day, you can be vegan and still indulge in some tasty foods occasionally.
To add onto your already excellent answer, another reason that going vegan for purely health reasons doesn’t make sense is that, as you said, veganism isn’t a diet. Or more specifically, the ethical stance that is veganism includes more considerations than just food. Someone that eats plant based foods only may not care about things like leather or other animal products that they may use on a daily basis that aren’t part of their diet. That person wouldn’t be vegan, but rather simply eating a plant based diet. I don’t mean to be pedantic but that is the distinction between being vegan and eating a plant based diet and there is no reason to be entirely vegan for health reasons alone unless you want to take it to the extreme and say that you don’t use animal products like leather because the animal agriculture industry creates pandemics and contributes significantly towards global warming. Despite those being perfectly valid (and important) reasons to be vegan I think that it’s a bit of a stretch to call those personal health reasons.
I’d also just like to add that nutritional yeast is a great source of vitamin B12 and is naturally vegan.
Wow! That is a ton of great information. I totally get I could just down a ton of carbs and call it vegan. Luckily, I have an awesome wife who takes care of all my other meals, and she makes vegan dishes probably 3-4 days of the week. Breakfast is really the only thing I have to come up with on my own. I’ve never been the type that can skip it. My focus at work will be off all morning until I eat. She regularly sleeps later than me, and skips breakfast a lot.
Also, I’m totally onboard with the doing it for the animals and the planet. If it wasn’t for our kids we probably would have completely made the switch now. We’ve been trying to introducing more to them, but we do have some picky eaters.
I’ve gotten into polenta recently. I cook it up ahead of time and put it in a sealed dish in the fridge. When it cools and sets up, it’s easy to slice into sections and eat as finger food. I can eat it plain, with hot sauce or sometimes I’ll saute up vegetables (peppers, onions, zucchini, whatever) and add them to the polenta before it cools. The particularly cool thing is that I can eat it hot or cold. Once it’s set up, it toasts up nicely too.
If you’re just desk jockeying for 10 hours, I’d say skip the breakfast entirely. A nice iced coffee (black or splash of oatmilk) goes a long way towards curbing hunger.
If you absolutely MUST eat in the morning, a smoothie is nice and cold, quick to make, and can be as high/low in calories as you desire. I make mine with a banana, frozen strawberries, protein powder, peanut butter powder, and soy milk (~300kcal, 30g protein) but I only have one on days I go to the gym (4 days a week)
I used to skip breakfast every day but found that I was over eating at lunch as a result. Protein smoothie with a banana has been great.
I go for musli on soy milk most of the days for a fast set of protein and fiber, you can go with a very low sugar level with that, and there are so lo-carb veriants usually. You can also make your own soy milk if you want to set it to your taste.
If youre fond of it you can make sceabled tofu (a’la egg), some ‘black salt’ will give it a familiar taste. Otherwise some veggie/seed paste and a slice of tofu work great for me. I stopped bothering with the highly processed vegan meet-like products, they cost a ton and you can make your own pastes easily.
Scrambled tofu with spinach, salsa and toast.
I was going to say breakfast burritos, it’s essentially the same thing but I usually add soy chorizo.
Right on! Maybe look into some of the fake eggs/omelettes that are available these days, so you can re-create something that you know you like. I had a vegan friend who really liked them. I don’t know that toast with peanut butter and banana is more calorie dense than an egg and bacon burrito. A smoothie might be nice in that hot Texas heat
If you want to return to being a cereal person, try a minimally processed no sugar cereal such as Uncle Sam, with a no sugar plant milk such as West Life soymilk.
