I recently started the zone diet but am having trouble with some snack/meal ideas that fit into a vegan diet. Many recipes on the website contain dairy products, especially cheese but I have eliminated those from my diet. There are many rice, soy, and almond replacements out there but they don't provide the same levels of proteins/carbs as their dairy counterparts??? Any ideas on making better balanced meals and snacks? Please help! Protein powder only goes so far!

I am a vegetarian, but have used soy cheese and other products before when I was cutting down on dairy. Just read your nutrition labels to get the right blocks and use just like the dairy version. Also, hummus mixed with soy protein powder can be a great dip with some raw veggies. Soy protein powder smoothies are also a good choice. There are also vegan burgers and "chik'n" nuggets out there again you have to read the labels to get the blocks right. It is possible to Zone while vegan but it is a tad more challenging. In no time at all it will be second nature. GOOD LUCK!

Just wanted to share.
Everything is more challenging when vegan. I have been vegan for 3 years and I know what it's like. I am vegetarian now because I eat cheese and yogourt but no milk and no eggs. For everything else I have a vegan way of life, don't wear leather, suede, silk, wool etc. Buy cleaning products that is environment friendly and not tested on animals etc...

Good luck

Have you read the Soy Zone book? They have lots of recipes in there that are vegan. I have been vegan for years and it helped me ease into the Zone diet.

You will need to learn to love tofu.

And Tempeh.

I just saw this thread. I am starting on the Zone and am also vegan. I'm also doing CrossFit, which is a regular monster workout, and I want to make sure to get adequate nutrition. Not in love with the concept of cooking every single meal I eat, which seems to be the issue I'm having with the Soy Zone.

It would be great to have a vegan Zone support group!

i am not a vegan. however, i am a strict veggie and i eat very limited cheese and eggs for a variety of reasons, so i have been struggling a bit with the proteins too. once thing that has helped is learning to season tofu with dried herbs. also consider hemp products - they are harder to find, but hemp is naturally high in protein, like soy, so this might be a good option for you.

I just started a vegan zone diet and I can tell you that I found a vegan protein powder that makes balancing out my meals easy;) The company that makes it is called Nutribiotic, they make a rice protein powder..it's pretty good if you make it with the almond milk and a little stevia..otherwise it's completely bland...

I used to use a lot of hemp protein powder, and unfortunately, I learnt here that it does contain Omega-6s, and my kind of hemp protein powder had several grams of 20 grms of protein if I recall right, which really adds up in a day of travelling around the city and country etc.

But, if you can find a source that's fat-free, it should be fine ...

I use egg white powder, if that's acceptable to some of you (I think a strict vegan doesn't eat eggs?) but for me, it creates a bad smell in the bathroom after a while, and also bad-smelling gas, so I only use it several times a week. It makes a great milk chocolate bar for me when i mix it with extra-light-tasting olive oil, fructose, cocoa, a little salt.

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I didn't know there was such a thing as a rice protein powder that was bland ... those I've tried had such a strong taste, that I had to use a lot of stuff to cover it up, and I still didn't like it. So that is great news for me! :-)

I agree totally. I kept going back and forth between doing Zone and being vegan...I don't know why it took me so long to realize that I could do both...lol. I'm finding more and more people on line who are doing the zone and vegan...pretty cool;)