Diet Update: Adapting to a vegan high fat intermittent fasting diet



I recently turned my diet completely around. From an unrestricted vegan high carb three meals a day diet to a carloric-restricted vegan high fat one meal a day diet. Let me explain in this post why I did this and what the benefits I noticed so far.

Starting out with why I ate the high carb diet. Coming to veganism many years ago I read about the McDougall starch based diet and also the raw version of it, the 80/10/10 diet. I experimented with those for many years but never really felt good on them. I was always bothered by digestive issues.

While I wanted to gain muscle I learned from all sides that I needed to increase my calories to gain weight. This always resulted in even worse digestion and feeling more tired.

I was also during that time experimenting with intermittent fasting. But the sheer quantity and volume of food I had to eat with the reduced meal frequency did not make me feel better. And eating carbohydrates and fasting are two different metabolic states. Switching between those on a regular basis was not working for me. During fasting I was hungry and after eating I was still hungry but too full to eat anymore.

So on my current diet I eat only one meal a day. More precisely I have around 90% of my calories in one meal and for the other 10% of my calories I eat a nutrient dense snack like a big salad or smoothie around 1-2 hours before or after my main meal. So I am fasting for 22-23 hours each day.

My calories mainly come from: coconut (-cream), hazelnuts, peanuts, flaxseeds, almonds, soybeans, black beans and legumes in general.

For nutrients I consume vegetables like spinach, lettuce, broccoli, wheatgrass-juice,...

I take a multi-vitamin/-mineral (Alpha Men von myprotein), Glucosamine Sulphate, Q10 and B12 with my meal. To be on the save side with all nutrients.

Over the last couple of weeks my diet has thus been roughly:
20-30% Carbohydrates
10-20% Protein
50-60% Fat

With the long fast this should put me in a state of ketosis for most of the day.

Know with this macronutrient ration intermittent fasting has become so much more enjoyable. At the beginning I felt very weak. But I knew that the body needs time to ramp up its production of enzymes to generate energy from fat more efficiently. Besides some body-weight exercises and the necessary bike rides my exercise level was almost zero. And I am now slowly starting to have the energy to exercise more again without feeling totally weak.

And the greatest part about it is that the hunger during fasting has totally lost its edge. I do not crave eating anymore. I feel that my brain now can use ketones instead of glucose and this makes energy levels much more stable even without food.

It feels amazing to have an empty stomach all day long and still be productive. Even more productive as I am not getting that serious tiredness after lunch. And moderating portion size with meals never worked for me. Once I started eating I always wanted so much that I could not eat more. Especially with carbs.

Now with the fat-based diet satisfaction sets in much earlier with much less calories and I have been consuming 1200-1500 calories daily without any problems. 

Visually my body has not lost any muscle and I am getting more defined. 

I was on a calorically restricted high carb diet before for several month. But I lost a lot of muscle and was never able to see a weel defined six-pack. Now I can see that I am getting closer to it.

Overall I feel amazing on this diet and have no more digestive issues. Big salads or portions of sauted vegetables with a lot of nuts (-butters) are now the most delicious and satisfying food for me. Food tastes really good now even without sugar.

On some days I tried eating a couple pieces of fruit before my meal and felt that I did not really crave them that much anymore and immediately felt that they were not giving me the satisfaction I gain from a fat-based meal. And also they produced a lot more digestive issues again.

I will continue to post updates on this diet in the future.