Vegan / Vegetarians Only (Chat about lifestyle, opportunities, food, whatever...)

[MJ DeMarco]

@sparechange - you mentioned you were looking for a plant-based chicken substitute.

I was craving junk food today for lunch and bought these at Target...



While I haven't ate chicken in years, it tasted like the real thing, so much so, I had to do a "double take" on the packaging to make sure it was vegan with no meat. Even says "contains no meat" because I think some people probably were grossed out how real it was.

They are Canadian based as well.

 

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[sparechange]

@sparechange - you mentioned you were looking for a plant-based chicken substitute.

I was craving junk food today for lunch and bought these at Target...

View attachment 37529

While I haven't ate chicken in years, it tasted like the real thing, so much so, I had to do a "double take" on the packaging to make sure it was vegan with no meat. Even says "contains no meat" because I think some people probably were grossed out how real it was.

They are Canadian based as well.

Oh wow thank you!! Just checked my local store and they carry it, I'll try them out today!

 

[sparechange]

Holy ****

You've gotta be kidding me! I tried the plant based chicken style bites and as someone that has been living off chicken mainly my whole life...

I feel like Neo seeing the other side in the matrix...



They were actually really good and could barely notice the difference, if we can replicate the taste of a meat product *without* using meat... what is the point of meat?

I feel like I just had a peek into the rabbit hole that is called veganism. @MJ DeMarco Thanks alot!, I'll be trying out this vegan thing for a while... and see how it turns out, just like the script tells you to trade your life away for money, it's like there is a script out there for the food industries to push out these products onto us for mass profits via marketing & brain washing (think the kind of stuff like REAL MEN eat meat, and milk is good for your bones!)

Could these all be lies? How much money are these meat industry people making off the exploitation of animals?

Ultimately.... are we eating to fuel our body? Or to please our taste buds?

Sometimes a picture is better than words!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

just like the script tells you to trade your life away for money, it's like there is a script out there for the food industries to push out these products onto us for mass profits via marketing & brain washing (think the kind of stuff like REAL MEN eat meat, and milk is good for your bones!)

Could these all be lies? How much money are these meat industry people making off the exploitation of animals?

Ultimately.... are we eating to fuel our body? Or to please our taste buds?

Congratulations.

As I said elsewhere, I went vegan while I was researching cultural scripts while researching my 2nd book, Unscripted . The routine enslavement and exploitation of animals was a huge script I discovered, not to mention the food lobby, and various other things. I don't kill spiders or grasshoppers in the house, but I had no problem eating a chicken sandwich? The hypocrisy was too much to bear. If I couldn't kill the animal myself, I had no business eating it.

For me to cross that chasm was huge and it took me a lot of study and self-reflection. Especially since, politically speaking, I don't identify with the general political stereotype of a vegan (who tends to be anti-gun and anti-capitalist) -- I'm on an island to myself.

For me, it is a simple decision to be compassionate, which I believe, ties deeply into spiritualism, no matter if you are religious or atheist. Another creature's life is not mine to take, just because I like the way it tastes.

Another big part of the shift is something I never mentioned before publicly: I had a mild heart attack in my mid-thirties ... this was when I was on a heavy meat diet, steakhouses a few times a week, eggs for breakfast, blocks of meat for dinner. And yet physically speaking in terms of "shirt off aesthetics" -- I looked great.

They were actually really good and could barely notice the difference, if we can replicate the taste of a meat product *without* using meat... what is the point of meat?

Yes, and you saved a chicken's life too! (not really, but every bit helps).

The "meat replacements" have really improved in the last 2 years. I haven't found a steak replacement however, and steak was always my favorite. Here is my list of how tasty/replaceable certain food categories are ... a 10 = it tastes exactly the same as the real thing...

Chicken 9/10
Hamburger 9/10
Sliced Cheese 9/10
Pizza 6 / 10 (the melted fake cheese needs improvement)
Ground Beef 9/10 (Fajitas, tacos, etc. 9/10 [impossible ground beef)
Steak ??

They are making it REALLY EASY to go vegan as all your favorite junk is still out there.

Years ago, it would have felt nearly impossible.

On a side note: vegan business opportunities are growing like crazy. I live in an agricultural "red meat" type of area and my local Target had 6 full coolers of plant-based options, that's 12 doors. Last year it was just 3. Doubled in 1 year. This is the same thing that happened to the milk coolers, slowly replaced and faded out with Almond, Soy, Cashew, and Coconut milk alternatives.

 

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[MoneyDoc]

What I love about the vegan industry is that it kills multiple birds with one stone.

Vegan

Halal

Kosher

Vegetarian

There's still lots of opportunities, specifically in the chicken space, even though a few brands have been popping recently.

I do believe meat is saturated. I think the opportunity is niching down if you're going to go the meat route, like steak, ribs, etc.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

What I love about the vegan industry is that it kills multiple birds with one stone.

Vegan

Halal

Kosher

Vegetarian

There's still lots of opportunities, specifically in the chicken space, even though a few brands have popped up.

I do believe meat is saturated. I think the opportunity is niching down if you're going to go the meat route, like steak, ribs, etc.

Not to mention the climate and/or "sustainable" folks. A lot of boxes checked.

 

[redshift]

I found out about Vegan Fried Chicken last year from a shark tank episode. Tried a few of them and it was impossible to tell the difference. Blew my mind. Agreed, the vegan industry has been blowing up, especially last year.

Here's the shark tank clip. It doesn't show the shark's reaction but they all couldn't believe it either. They got an offer from Mark Cuban (who's also a vegetarian) to buy them out for $1m but they turned it down.

View: https://youtu.be/-6b3tEEID04


My top vegan tip would be to buy a home teppanyaki grill, you can grill almost any veggie on it with a little bit of salt and it will taste incredible. Personal favorite is King Oyster Mushrooms (tastes a bit like steak). Kale, broccoli, potatoes all work really well too.

 

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[Ronak]

Speaking of junk food, for those with a sweet tooth, Ben & Jerry's has an amazing line of vegan ice cream that you cannot distinguish from the dairy version. And sprouts carries great vegan chocolate chip cookies.

It's a bit of a double edged sword-- one of my biggest benefits of going vegan was completely abandoning a lot of unhealthy foods due to substitutes simply not being available.

Now that we have the luxury of replacements, you really have to be careful not to go back to a pattern of refined, processed, junk foods. Sugar is still sugar, vegan or not.

Except for Peanut butter half baked ice cream-- no human could have created such a wonder-- it is therefore made by the gods= natural...

 

[Kak]

I had a “beyond” burger today at Del Frisco’s and it was very very good. Although Del Frisco’s does a pretty good job at most things they attempt.

These vegan options are quickly becoming a healthier alternative to a greasy, Jimmy Buffett, burger fix for me. I am really loving the fact that this market exists.

 

[sparechange]

Speaking of junk food, for those with a sweet tooth, Ben & Jerry's has an amazing line of vegan ice cream that you cannot distinguish from the dairy version. And sprouts carries great vegan chocolate chip cookies.

It's a bit of a double edged sword-- one of my biggest benefits of going vegan was completely abandoning a lot of unhealthy foods due to substitutes simply not being available.

Now that we have the luxury of replacements, you really have to be careful not to go back to a pattern of refined, processed, junk foods. Sugar is still sugar, vegan or not.

Except for Peanut butter half baked ice cream-- no human could have created such a wonder-- it is therefore made by the gods= natural...

Ben & Jerry's ice cream.... put it on the list!

 

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[Branko]

Okay, finding this thread makes me really happy!

I've only recently listened to unscripted and the fast lane .But one thing I've managed to figure out on my own is that I absolutely cannot accept the scripted way of food production and consumption. I've been vegan for about 5 years now (25yo).

I watched the earthlings, produced and voiced by Joaquin Phoenix. I watched all the other brutal and mild documentaries, and I knew from that moment, I understood that I absolutely have to change.

For a long time I was really mad. At myself at my parents at the world. But then I got desensetized to the brutality of the situation. Now I only speak about it if people show genuine interest about it. As for myself, I am the healthiest and happiest I've ever been.

Now all thats left is changing lanes, from my current antiquated slow lane to the fast one.

I guess I should really consider, how my business can align with veganism, and how I can serve vegans and people transitioning to veganism, and how to provide not just value, but also contribute to a healthier planet and society.

 

[sparechange]

Just wanted to share my experience so far, diving into this cold turkey and will see how I feel this upcoming week, I've got a few gym sessions and am interested in seeing energy levels/fatigue (I go fairly hard for about an hour) with a bike ride before and after.

Did a shoulder and back workout tonight with a short hike and felt alright, the past two days have been broccoli, lettuce, corn, almonds & peanuts, peanut butter & peanut butter bars, spaghetti with sauce and the fake chicken style meats. I've noticed my appetite isn't to much..

With meat & sugars II feel like my appetite is never ending, but with eating more natural it's a bit strange,

Today I had broccoli for breakfast....I'm in my 20's.... I've never in my life had that for breakfast growing up, it's always been chicken, a bagel with cream cheese or butter or sugary cereal with milk.

I'm not exactly hungry even though I'm hungry... if that makes any sense?

Anyways, let's see how the week goes. Quite a different way of eating that feels like more about nutritional value rather than pleasure eating... chocolate bars or milk and cookies, the sugary cereal with warm milk...or the night out eating chicken wings with pizza.

Hey.. isn't that a real pandemic in the modern world with fast food restaurant's? In a perfect world I'd 100% support the outright ban on fast food restaurants not only for ethical reasons such as cruelty, but for playing a part in the obesity crisis widely known in the US,

Little bit of some random thoughts, don't even get me started on cigarettes!

 

[MTF]

Just wanted to share my experience so far, diving into this cold turkey and will see how I feel this upcoming week, I've got a few gym sessions and am interested in seeing energy levels/fatigue (I go fairly hard for about an hour) with a bike ride before and after.

Happy to read that. Remember to eat a variety of different foods from different groups. And be careful with peanut butter, that beast can make you put on a lot of weight.

This is a good daily reminder:



source: Daily Dozen Challenge | NutritionFacts.org

 

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[MTF]

Another big part of the shift is something I never mentioned before publicly: I had a mild heart attack in my mid-thirties ... this was when I was on a heavy meat diet, steakhouses a few times a week, eggs for breakfast, blocks of meat for dinner. And yet physically speaking in terms of "shirt off aesthetics" -- I looked great.

Thank you for sharing that. I have a tendency to judge people's health based on how they look. I also demand a lot from myself when it comes to my own physique. But in the end aesthetics don't always equal optimal health and I guess we'd rather live longer, healthier lives...

On a side note: vegan business opportunities are growing like crazy. I live in an agricultural "red meat" type of area and my local Target had 6 full coolers of plant-based options, that's 12 doors. Last year it was just 3. Doubled in 1 year. This is the same thing that happened to the milk coolers, slowly replaced and faded out with Almond, Soy, Cashew, and Coconut milk alternatives.

Wherever I travel around the world, you can see the same trend pretty much anywhere. Plant milks are now super common everywhere. It's a shame that most plant milks are junk foods with processed oils, though. The plant milk I buy (usually oat milk) is just oats, water and salt.

Europe in general is now super easy for vegans, even in countries with high meat/fish consumption like Spain where I once shopped in an entirely vegan supermarket. It wasn't big like a regular supermarket but it wasn't a tiny store, either. And every single thing was vegan. How crazy is that?

 

[Fox]

Question to whoever wants to answer:

How was the vegan lifestyle been on your skin / hair / sex drive?

 

[The-J]

How was the vegan lifestyle been on your skin / hair / sex drive?

Skin is the same, except acne is much less frequent. My skin has always been very problematic, but that's because my skin has always been dry. When I was a child my hands developed scabs. I also live in a place with cold, dry winters. No diets I've tried yet have helped. I did find this Youtube channel of a vegan guy who claims to have improved his eczema with a vegan diet, but I can't remember what it was called. Maybe I should try his diet, I probably don't eat a lot of the foods he eats.

Hair: no idea, I've been losing my hair since I was a teenager. Pretty much all the men in my family are bald or are going bald, so I kinda just lost the genetic lottery with that one. At least I don't look strange with a shaved head.

Sex drive: this is a bit TMI, but I'm way too horny for my own good. It's almost inconvenient. Granted I'm 27, and if you're not horny as hell at 27 then you probably have a problem. I could reduce my sex drive by incorporating extreme intermittent fasting I guess.

 

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[MTF]

How was the vegan lifestyle been on your skin / hair / sex drive?

Skin: no change.
Hair: bald people don't worry about it lol.
Sex drive: no change.

In general, I haven't noticed any big changes ever since I switched to veganism. But maybe that's because I switched from vegetarianism.

The biggest challenge for me is that I struggle not to gain weight (and no, I don't eat vegan junk food). People say that vegans are all skinny but my problem is the opposite. Perhaps it's not because of the diet, though, but because of everything closed down (no places to go to exercise indoors and burn off extra calories during the winter) and few opportunities to exercise comfortably outside.

 

[becks22]

I'm a vegetarian not a vegan so I still have dairy and eggs in my diet. I try to buy from local farms only for these though. On the months I have less dairy, my skin looks better. I'm slightly lactose intolerant so I very rarely have anything that contains milk or creme. It's just yogurt, cheese, and the occasional ice cream treat. I started adding a green smoothie on most days and that has significantly improved my skin.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Ben & Jerry's ice cream.... put it on the list!

Most vegan ice creams are 10/10 ... Ben Jerry's definitely a 10. Really can't tell the difference between normal ice cream, and no cows were forceably impregnated. The only vegan ice cream that I think sucks is Halo, unless something changed in the last 3 years.

Chicken 9/10
Hamburger 9/10
Sliced Cheese 9/10
Pizza 6 / 10 (the melted fake cheese needs improvement)
Ground Beef 9/10 (Fajitas, tacos, etc. 9/10 [impossible ground beef)
Steak ??

Forgot ice cream and bacon...

Ice Cream: 10/10
Bacon: That's a 7/10 ... needs some work.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

@sparechange - Another one, the BBQ flavor was really good...

How was the vegan lifestyle been on your skin / hair / sex drive?

1) I've had no skin problems, before or after.

2) My hair stopped failing out. About six years ago (my current FB picture) I had long hair and had to cut it because it kept falling out. Now I'm thinking about growing it long again.

3) Haven't noticed any change there, either way.

 

[sparechange]

I'm a vegetarian not a vegan so I still have dairy and eggs in my diet. I try to buy from local farms only for these though. On the months I have less dairy, my skin looks better. I'm slightly lactose intolerant so I very rarely have anything that contains milk or creme. It's just yogurt, cheese, and the occasional ice cream treat. I started adding a green smoothie on most days and that has significantly improved my skin.

I've always gotten acne whenever consuming milk or cheese..

Got french fries for later, hoping those can ''fill'' me up, I've noticed I haven't been getting as full (satisfied) as usual, and some rice without milk ingredients.

Little businessy complaint here, food is ALOT more expensive now. A big box of real chicken I.E is much cheaper than everything else and can last me a bit longer... maybe other startups could disrupt the vegan industry and drop the cost for vegan products, just a little suggestion for the food entrepreneurs out there.

 

[juicey]

Do you have any recommendations for good vegan protein powder/meal replacement? I have tried a couple and so far all have tasted pretty bad.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Do you have any recommendations for good vegan protein powder/meal replacement? I have tried a couple and so far all have tasted pretty bad.

I'm not a big protein powder guy, although there are a ton of options.

Protein Powder | Organic & Plant-Based Protein | Orgain

Browse our selection of delicious protein powders. From plant-based protein to grass-fed milk protein, you choose what is the perfect protein powder to fuel you.

orgain.com

I use Orgain drink mixes in my coffee and sometimes after the gym. (The little premixed cartons)

They sell 24 packs at Costco. Never had a problem with the taste.

 

[Andreas]

Not a vegan, but when I use my juicer, I save the pulp and use it as a filling for my banana cake and it works great.

The rest of the pulp from veggies goes to the chickens.

 

[Deleted68316]

Skin is the same, except acne is much less frequent. My skin has always been very problematic, but that's because my skin has always been dry. When I was a child my hands developed scabs. I also live in a place with cold, dry winters. No diets I've tried yet have helped. I did find this Youtube channel of a vegan guy who claims to have improved his eczema with a vegan diet, but I can't remember what it was called. Maybe I should try his diet, I probably don't eat a lot of the foods he eats.

Hair: no idea, I've been losing my hair since I was a teenager. Pretty much all the men in my family are bald or are going bald, so I kinda just lost the genetic lottery with that one. At least I don't look strange with a shaved head.

Sex drive: this is a bit TMI, but I'm way too horny for my own good. It's almost inconvenient. Granted I'm 27, and if you're not horny as hell at 27 then you probably have a problem. I could reduce my sex drive by incorporating extreme intermittent fasting I guess.

I am 33 yo and still with skin problems. I am figuring it out, though.

100% is food that creates the problems.

Here are the foods that cause me to breakout:
- Seeds
- Alcohol (the stronger the worst)
- Meat, including chicken, that is not organic and super expensive. Especially in the States (I come from Europe) meat causes me a big thing under the skin. I had less than optimal meat only three times in 2 years in the States and all of the times that same thing happened (never happened in Europe).
- Nuts. Some cause more problems than others.
- Junk Food
- Milk and cheese
- Protein shakes: tremendous. Even vegan ones.
- Fried food
- Legumes, unfortunately. All of them.

In terms of beard, I don't use any more the razor but I only trim it with a short comb (like 2/3 mm) in order to avoid touching the skin.

The best improvement I have ever had is happening right now. The major change I did was:
- having only fruit until noon
- try to avoid starches and protein together
- huge salads at every meal
- after eating fruit wait about 30/45 minutes before eating anything else. After eating any other food, wait 3/4 hours before eating anything else.

Skin is glowing (together with the energy levels). No need to use any chemical or special soap or creams or acids.

Mood: solid.

Regarding meat: trying to eat it as little as possible. Only when I really feel the need. That's because legumes make me break out.

 

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[sparechange]

Been alot different eating and having to look at the ingredients for everything. A bag of chips I usually have has some cheese in it so couldn't eat that today... ended up grabbing a bag of pretzels, was surprised to see it had some iron and protein.

Off to the convenience store to see what I can get, likely almonds, or something like that.

 

[YanC]

So, I've lowered my meat (and eggs) intake very much for the past 2 months, probably by around 80%. Basically didn't buy any, but during the weekends with family, I haven't dared to be the annoying guy who wants his special meal so far.

I haven't lost any significant weight, which is cool.

What do you guys have for breakfast (especially those of you who workout / do plenty of sports) ? Used to be eggs and veggies, then switched to green smoothies (fruits + veggies, someone mentionned them earlier in this thread) but I have a very hard time digesting them and they F*ck me up for the day. I'm trying gingerbread (whole flours and coconut sugar) with almond puree, but I'm concerned it's a little bit light.

 

[sparechange]

Speaking of junk food, for those with a sweet tooth, Ben & Jerry's has an amazing line of vegan ice cream that you cannot distinguish from the dairy version. And sprouts carries great vegan chocolate chip cookies.

It's a bit of a double edged sword-- one of my biggest benefits of going vegan was completely abandoning a lot of unhealthy foods due to substitutes simply not being available.

Now that we have the luxury of replacements, you really have to be careful not to go back to a pattern of refined, processed, junk foods. Sugar is still sugar, vegan or not.

Except for Peanut butter half baked ice cream-- no human could have created such a wonder-- it is therefore made by the gods= natural...

I just had this,, I'm still skeptical that it's not dairy... Absolutely amazing


Also got these which taste pretty good!



I got a big workout tomorrow in the evening, excited to see how I feel, I've ate NO meat or dairy at all for the past few days...feel alright, after almost 3 decades of my life has revolved around chicken, pizza, milk, eggs etc. Let's see how I do in the gym after a week off.

A little off topic, but since we are all entrepreneurs here..

My god these people must be making a killing financially! $7 for a small tub of ice cream and I think $5 for these little gummies. I'd have to guess the cost of production for these products would be anywhere from $1-3 for the ice cream and under $1 for the gummies, imagine the scaling you could do around the world with these products! The cliff bars I just bought a while back I researched the company a bit, (recommended study) these bars were invented in the kitchen of a mountain biker that struggled to find healthy snacks to take out on longer rides.

Clif Bar and Kind are among the top-five bestselling snack bar brands in the country. According to Euromonitor, in 2018 Clif Bar and Kind had estimated revenues of $890 million and $800 million, respectively.

He was offered 120 million to sell the company and refused it, could you imagine saying no!?!?

Why Clif Bar Turned Down an Offer to Sell the Company for $120m

In 2000, eight years after the founding of the company, Clif Bar was offered $120m to sell to a major food conglomerate. A sale would have set up the founding team for life. But they walked away fr…

blog.storyforge.co

As the vegan trend picks up, this could possibly be ''the new internet'' of opportunity's.

 

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[sparechange]

Felt good in the gym, straight up vegan for the past few days... didn't have any power or energy issues at all.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

As the vegan trend picks up, this could possibly be ''the new internet'' of opportunity's.

It is.

Compassion is not a fad.

Policy wise, it is something I believe that culture and the politicos will eventually back due to the environmental and nutritional (poor national health) issues as well, although that phase of the "trend" is still hotly debated.