Nov. 8, 2023

Navigating the Holidays - Part 1/2

Ever thought you could enjoy a hearty Thanksgiving feast without breaking your fitness goals? Brace yourself as we unravel the secrets to maintaining a fitness-oriented lifestyle while keeping a keen eye on your fitness throughout the Thanksgiving season. From smart strategies like calorie-saving before the holiday, loading up on proteins, to taking charge of your food by bringing your own dishes, we've covered all bases. Plus, we've got a treasure trove of mouthwatering yet healthy Thanksgiving recipes just for you!

We've handpicked some of our most loved vegan dishes perfect for your Thanksgiving table - think high protein spinach and artichoke dip, green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes, pumpkin chili, and butternut squash chickpea curry.

But hold on, it doesn't end there! Thanksgiving pies are a tradition we all love, and we're spinning it with a healthy twist.

High Protein Vegan Pumpkin Pie

We're also serving up more vegan-friendly Thanksgiving recipes on our website!

Best High Protein Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes

So buckle up and join us on this culinary journey to make your Thanksgiving both healthy and satisfying!
Navigating Thanksgiving as a Vegan

Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:35 Thanksgiving struggles
1:33 Saving up calories
2:38 Pre-gaming protein
3:35 Foods with mystery macros
4:40 Bring your own dishes
5:20 Thanksgiving recipes
10:00 Outro

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00:00 - Intro

00:35 - Thanksgiving struggles

01:33 - Saving up calories

02:38 - Pre-gaming protein

03:35 - Foods with mystery macros

04:40 - Bring your own dishes

05:20 - Thanksgiving recipes

10:00 - Outro

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879
Welcome to episode two of the Deficient Vegans podcast.

00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:06.323
I'm the muscle deficient vegan and I'm here with the Protein Deficient Vegan.

00:00:06.323 --> 00:00:06.983
You wanna say hi?

00:00:07.793 --> 00:00:08.183
Hi.

00:00:08.933 --> 00:00:09.353
Thank you.

00:00:10.523 --> 00:00:14.603
So we've got a couple of blog posts out this week about the Thanksgiving holiday coming up.

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We wanted to talk about, um, kind of the physical barriers to the Thanksgiving holiday today.

00:00:21.533 --> 00:00:32.154
And then next week we're gonna put out the podcast talking kind of about, uh, mental barriers and dealing with different, you know, struggles of being vegan around a holiday, um, that you might encounter

00:00:32.484 --> 00:00:33.444
and having fitness goals

00:00:33.503 --> 00:00:34.613
and having fitness goals.

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So, uh, one of the issues with a holiday like Thanksgiving, if you're a vegan with fitness goals is that it doesn't take much of.

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You know, kind of overindulging maybe on some, some dishes at Thanksgiving to really set your progress back on your calorie goals by a week or two, uh, in just a matter of days.

00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.588
So whether you're in a caloric surplus or a caloric deficit.

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You still have goals to hit, you might have macro goals to hit.

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You probably definitely have some kind of protein goal to hit if you're, um, you know, trying to be fit.

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So

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to get it r

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So we wanna make sure that we have some kind of strategy and plan to, uh, get through the holiday pretty much unscathed.

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I mean, everything's okay in moderation.

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We're not saying that you have to withhold from eating the things you like or anything like that.

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You just don't want to get a week later.

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And look back and be like, wow, I really wish I would've handled that differently.

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So a couple things you can do.

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Uh, one is you can save some calories going into the holiday.

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So if your goals normally have you at 2000 calories a day, maybe for the couple of days leading up to Thanksgiving, uh, you drop that down to 1800 a day, that gives you an extra 200 a day of cushion to use on Thanksgiving.

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So if you do that for four days, you've got 800 calories worth of cushion.

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Uh, what,

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what if,

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yeah,

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what if I just don't eat for seven days, then I have 14,000 calories.

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The math checks out that that is, uh, technically correct, the best kind of correct.

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So much casserole.

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That's, that's a lot of casserole.

00:02:08.378 --> 00:02:16.269
Unfortunately, if you did that, I don't think you'd make it to Thanksgiving and you'd probably be spending your holidays, you know, in an emergency room or something along those lines, which doesn't sound great.

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Challenge acceptance.

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Yeah.

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So, uh, you can keep us updated on that.

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Everybody else, I would not recommend it.

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Um, so that'll give you a, a little extra room for your calories.

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Uh, if you handle it a little less intensely than our friend here wants to handle it,

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I go hard.

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Um, something else you can do is on the day of your Thanksgiving gathering or, or whatever it is you're doing for that holiday, you can make sure to kind of pregame with some extra protein, right?

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Ami,

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ami, take

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ami in your purse.

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Ami is good.

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Uh, protein shakes are good.

00:02:53.109 --> 00:02:56.739
Um, whatever you wanna do, you can use that to kind of boost your protein goal.

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Uh, your protein intake for the day to kind of get closer to your goal.

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Or maybe you just want to eat a little before you go.

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If you know that if you go hungry, you're gonna go kind of crazy and you don't wanna go kind of crazy.

00:03:07.834 --> 00:03:08.044
Right.

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And they might not even have food you can eat.

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Yeah.

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That's actually a, a real concern with a lot of family gatherings is if you don't eat before you go, you're gonna get really hungry because everybody's gonna kind of forget you're a vegan and nobody's gonna make anything you can

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eat.

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Yes.

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You're gonna have raw carrot sticks and nothing to dip 'em in because, whoops, forgot about dairy.

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You can dip 'em in water.

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Does that count?

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No, no, no.

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That doesn't count.

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Okay, here's some olives.

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Enjoy

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and, and even if your family members, uh, are great and nice like ours and make vegan food for you, then you might not know what ingredients get.

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Put into those foods, right?

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Like you, you don't know who just, it doesn't measure their oil.

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Everybody, right?

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Anybody who's not doing fitness, gallery counting type stuff, usually use all

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the butter, all

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the butter, all the oil,

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all vegan cheese, if they know what that is.

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Yeah.

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So, I mean, you really, it's not really anything that you can just put into MyFitnessPal and really know where you're at for the day.

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So giving yourself that little bit of cushion can help with.

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With all these unexpected things that happen, and then you're gonna take all these delicious dishes and you'll probably end up taking home some leftovers.

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So you're gonna have a couple of residual days of eating some things that you don't really know how to track,

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especially if they make something specifically for you because you're vegan.

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You will be guilt tripped into taking that.

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All of it because they don't wanna eat it.

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Yeah.

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Well

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been there.

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Hopefully, hopefully you, you at least get guilt tripped into taking something that tastes good.

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Yeah.

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I mean, if I brought it right.

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Yeah.

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So yeah, speaking of bringing your own dishes, uh, that's kind of our go-to and what we really recommend.

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Uh, you know exactly what's in it, you know, it's something that you like to eat and, you know, you can share vegan food with your family and, you know, show 'em that.

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Conversion.

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Conversion is always a good goal if you can, uh, do that.

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Um, but you know, it gives you something just that a certainty for the day.

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So if nothing else, you can, you know, eat the meal you brought.

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Uh, so we actually have a separate blog post where we have a collection of recipes we recommend making for Thanksgiving gathering that are kind of tailored towards a holiday gathering type situation like that.

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A lot of sides, a couple of desserts.

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So I think we can just, uh, kind of go down the list here and hit on each one of these and talk about what it is a little bit.

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So we've got a high protein, spinach, and artichoke dip.

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Uh, dips always a good choice for kind of a gathering like this.

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Everybody can kind of wander by and graze on it, right?

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This one is so good.

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I'm convinced you could take this to like a work potluck and not tell anyone it was vegan and they would have no idea.

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And it's.

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33% protein.

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Uh, it's still creamy, like a normal artichoke dip.

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It gets its protein from extra firm silk and tofu and nutritional yeast.

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Awesome.

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Also, artichokes and spinach have a pretty high protein content for a vegetable.

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Oh

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yeah.

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Yeah.

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Wow.

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So next up on the list, we got a high protein green bean casserole.

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This tastes almost identical to the original green bean casserole that you've probably had since you were a kid.

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Um,

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but this one is 39% protein.

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Yep.

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Also extra firm silk and tofu.

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'cause we have a problem.

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Yeah.

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So we kind of got a theme going here.

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You don't really have to choose between delicious sides and the protein Maine, we just made it.

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Protein sides giving, right?

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Yes it is.

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Sides giving this year because usually the main suck anyway.

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That's true.

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So I, me personally, I would rather just eat a bunch of artichoke dip and green bean casserole.

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I would too, I mean, even, even before I was vegan, that was pretty much all I needed.

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I never really was a big fan of Turkey like that, so, okay, next up we have two versions of high protein scallop potatoes.

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Uh, one is with sweet potatoes and one was with, uh, normal white potatoes.

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They're both pretty high protein, um,

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25% protein.

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25% protein for both.

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And they're both delicious.

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Yeah, they're really good.

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And even better, like heat it up the day after.

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Yeah,

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because we've been eating these for leftovers for lunch for like three days.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And you know, because they're high protein.

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It's okay.

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Yeah.

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As many as you want.

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That's right.

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Uh, next we have our high protein pumpkin chili.

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So Chili's always a good standby.

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Um, another good one for gatherings and this one has a little bit of pumpkin flare for the fall.

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Yeah, all the fall vibes

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and that one is, uh, 39% protein, so that's pretty significant.

00:07:32.798 --> 00:07:36.939
Obviously Chili's, pretty high protein in general with all the beans and stuff, but we also have tofu in there.

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Yeah, and this is a good one to take to like a potluck or a family gathering because you can just bring it in a crockpot, it just sits there and stays warm.

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And, um, chili seems to be one of those easier things to get non-vegan to eat.

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Yeah.

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It doesn't have like, you know, fake cheese, which is what they always turn their noses up at.

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So,

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yeah.

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Uh, next we have a high protein, butternut squash.

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Chickpea curry.

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Yeah.

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So the high protein part is, it is coming from the chickpeas, but it's mostly coming from the fact that we use TVP, um, for it to sit on instead of like, usually you would use rice with a curry, we just use TVP.

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Um, then we kind of get into the dessert category a little bit.

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Uh, first we've got a TV protein, pumpkin, craisin muffin.

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It's made with TVP?

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Yes.

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Holy shit.

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I feel like we discovered gold here.

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This thing is.

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Freaking incredible.

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Yeah.

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I mean, you think, how

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many did you eat?

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Um, two in one day, four.

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Normally, normally, since it's a muffin, I would say too many, but they're high protein muffins, so I'm allowed to eat as many as I want

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since I have to cook them all.

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So that's, yeah.

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Well that sounds like a u probably

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the muffins.

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Go let's the question on Tuesday.

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Yeah.

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So these are, these are hard to walk away from for sure.

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Very good.

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And they have like.

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Chocolate.

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Yeah.

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And I'll eat anything with chocolate,

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obviously.

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Yeah, same.

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Uh, and then last on the list here, we've got a high protein vegan pumpkin pie.

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Uh, that is really unique and really good.

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Uh, we've got what silk and tofu in the filling and then TVP for the pie crust, which I don't think is something we have seen anybody do before.

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So

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30% protein, you could literally nothing but.

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That fucking pie and you'd be golden.

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Yeah.

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And it's so good.

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It's so good.

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It's good.

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Like warm or cold even.

00:09:32.124 --> 00:09:32.423
Yeah.

00:09:32.754 --> 00:09:39.024
So if your vibe for Thanksgiving is just avoiding friends and family, sitting at home and eating an entire pie.

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Yeah.

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30% protein, you could do this.

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That's, that's

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actually my ideal Thanksgiving.

00:09:43.823 --> 00:09:43.943
Yeah.

00:09:44.453 --> 00:09:46.224
You don't have to worry about politics or anything.

00:09:46.283 --> 00:09:47.183
You just eat pie.

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That's true.

00:09:48.264 --> 00:09:48.683
Yeah.

00:09:48.984 --> 00:09:50.153
That does sound like a pretty good thing.

00:09:50.153 --> 00:09:50.244
I

00:09:50.244 --> 00:09:50.394
know.

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It's like, I think we should do that actually.

00:09:53.813 --> 00:09:54.114
Yeah.

00:09:55.283 --> 00:09:55.583
Sorry.

00:09:55.583 --> 00:09:56.274
We can't come.

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We were eating pie.

00:09:57.744 --> 00:09:58.104
Yeah.

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Thanks for listening.

00:10:00.009 --> 00:10:07.688
Uh, we will have the episode out next week about the mental struggles and other things you might have to deal with during this holiday season.

00:10:07.688 --> 00:10:10.839
If you're trying to maintain your fitness goals as a vegan, keep an eye on the website.

00:10:10.869 --> 00:10:18.849
We have more Thanksgiving recipes in the tank that'll be getting dropped over the next couple of days, and, uh, we'll probably, you know, cover those a little bit on next week's podcast as well.

00:10:18.938 --> 00:10:19.479
You wanna say bye.

00:10:19.958 --> 00:10:20.589
Goodbye.

00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:20.979
All

00:10:20.979 --> 00:10:22.149
right, bye everybody.