Hi my lovely readers, today I wanted to share with you an interview I was fortunate enough to do with my Instagram friend and mega vegan babe Stefanie Moir.
After seeing raw food and veganism pop up across all my news feeds on social media, I became curious about the lifestyle and wanted to know more. I did a little research and came across stories of raw food converts speaking of the benefits of eating vegan, meaning they had cut out all animal products in their diet (see FreeleeBananaGirl). Of course with any newly publicised diet regime, I also came across skeptics and experiences of former vegans who fell out of love with the lifestyle after encountering weight gain or nutritional deficiencies (see The Balanced Blonde).
I thought Stefanie would be the perfect person to give us the run down on what being a vegan is all about and share with us her journey into the lifestyle. After being vegan for over a year, Stefanie has recently transition to the 80/10/10 diet. It's our treat that Stefanie has come to answer my vegan questions and share with us her experience.
As a little side note, I am staying away from veganism personally for now. After battling with restriction issues in my past, I am going to work on a balanced diet for now before I start any new program. A little bit of everything is what is working for me at the moment. I am fascinated with 80/10/10 though and am impressed with Stefanie's story and she certainly looks absolutely amazing! With the right information, you can create a lifestyle that works for you :)
Now let's get into it…
What does a high carb low fat vegan mean?
A high carb vegan means eating 80% or more of your daily calories from carbohydrate sources such as fruit and vegetables, rice, potatoes, beans, lentils, and keeping protein and fat to 10% or less each. You can do this fully raw or rawtil4, rawtil4 meaning you eat cooked vegan food at dinner.
How does high carb low fat vegan compare to low carb high fat vegan in your opinion?
In my opinion the high carb low fat vegan lifestyle is much better. I previously followed a high fat high protein and low carb vegan lifestyle and I had no where near the energy as I do now. High fat makes the body feel lethargic, restricting carbs makes the body crave junk food as it isn’t getting the glucose it needs, it also means you are not giving your body as much antioxidants, vitamins and minerals but rather pumping it full of fat. I have also found my athletic performance is much better, I am getting a lot stronger whilst maintaining the same level of leanness. The high carb low fat lifestyle allows you to eat unlimited amount of calories without gaining weight, whilst on a low carb high fat lifestyle you always have to restrict calories as the fat will make you fat if you eat too much. I like to eat so high carb is perfect for me, I have days where I eat 3500 calories or more and I wake up with a flat stomach every day.
What inspired you to start the high carb vegan lifestyle?
I was sick of restricting my food, like I said I love to eat a lot so I needed something that would allow me to do that without gaining weight. I came across the 801010 lifestyle but I didn’t like the idea of being fully raw as I love cooked food at dinner time. I then came across freeleethebananagirl and also Sasha from rice and raw and was astonished at what I found. Both have weight loss journeys eating more food they have ever eaten on any other lifestyle so I done my research and went for it.
What would a ‘day on a plate’ look like for you?
A typical day for me would start with banana ice cream, which is just blended up frozen bananas! I usually use around 10 bananas so I have around 1000 calories. I try make all my meals 1000 calories at least. Lunch is usually dates for me, I love them and they are so easy to take on the go, unlike a watermelon. I like to have a late afternoon snack either a trek bar or a nakd bar (both just raw fruit and nut bars), dinner is always cooked and can either consist or 1.5kg of potatoes baked in the oven without oil or salt to make low fat chips, or I like steamed vegetables with rice … lots of rice. Pasta is another favourite of mine, especially brown rice pasta as it is gluten free and I usually have about 300 grams dry weight minumim.
Have you experienced any changes in your physique or wellbeing since becoming a high carb vegan?
I have yes, I was vegan for almost a year previous to this, but filling my body with so much easily digestible food that is full of vitamins and minerals really makes a difference to your stomach as it does not bloat it. I also found I dropped a little fat from my stomach, but in terms of weight I haven’t changed too much because my body was slim before. I did not change to this lifestyle to lose weight but in terms of my energy, my strength in the gym, my moods, everything is so much better.
Are your friends and family supportive of your lifestyle?
At first everyone was skeptical in terms of eating such large amounts of food and also having fruit as a main food source throughout the day, but now they see how healthy I am, how much I eat without gaining weight, how delicious my meals are so everyone is very supportive yes.
Recently the well-known blogger ‘The Blonde Vegan’ now ‘The Balanced Blonde’ transition from vegan to vegetarian after suffering from a myriad of poor nutritional health complaints. Do you worry you are not getting enough vitamins and minerals from your type of diet?
Personally I find it very hard to believe that this had anything to do with veganism, if anything she could not have been eating enough calories to be receiving enough vitamins and minerals but that is just my opinion. I do not feel I am deficient in anything at all. If you look at the typical western diet that is full of animal products such as meat and dairy, no body questions whether anybody eating this way gets enough vitamins and minerals, I think it is just because people do not want to believe that veganism is the healthiest way to eat that they look for negatives in this lifestyle when in fact there is none.
Your food looks crazy good. Do you have a favourite recipe to share with us?
I would love to share my favourite dinner recipe with you guys, spicy vegetable pasta.
Spicy Vegetable Pasta
Ingredients:
1 bag brown rice pasta
1 can chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp mixed herbs, 1 tbsp paprika, 2 tbsp hot sauce (optional), 2 tbsp tomato paste
Vegetables
courgette, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach
Method:
1. Put your pasta into a pot and boil according to packaging (should be around 10 mins)
2. combine your sauce ingredients into a small pot and mix on low heat
3. stir fry your veggies without oil (lower fat) until at desired texture, i like crunchy so only 5 mins or so
4. drain your pasta once cooked and add to stir fry and stir in your sauce.
A BIG thank you to Stefanie for sharing her story with us and giving us the 411 on veganism. Be sure to check her out for more on her journey and all her amazing recipes on Instagram, where I sourced all these gorgeous pics from naturallystefanie and her stories on You Tube (stefaniemoir).
You can also find ME on Instagram and Twitter - https://twitter.com/skinnysweeties
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