Vegetarian/Vegan diets.

[Nickay12]

I'm just wondering if there are any vegetarian/vegan autistics around?

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

I am vegetarian. I have been for a long time, mainly due to my SPD. When I was a teenager and eating burgers in McDonalds I began to find the texture more and more opposing to what I could stand. I started to think of cows and that put me off altogether. Now I avoid everything that contains meat, I look on every packet to see if it has pork gelatine, and if it does contain it then I cannot eat it.

 

Unfortunately, I myself have quite a restrict diet because of my SPD. I find eating most fruit and vegetables difficult because of my SPD. The most I could do was take vegetarian vitamins to keep my nutrition in check. I am not sure if I can provide much advice about eating vegetarian food when I myself find it difficult as well, .

[Nickay12]

I'm sorry if this sounds ignorant, but what Is SPD?

 

Yeah the more it think about McDonalds the more it makes me sick..

In America McDonalds is very unethical.. They have alot of protesters, I think that they are slightly more ethical in Britain.

 

Do you make a lot of vegetarian food yourself, like from recipes?

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

Sorry I forgot to mention, SPD is Sensory Processing Disorder. It affects the five senses, touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste. To me, I am mainly affected by touch and taste. I am so restricted with foods that if it doesn’t look right, smell right, feel right on my tongue, and taste right, I am unable to eat it. As I said, I am very restricted because of this. It can make me very picky with foods.

 

Yes, on the internet I have noticed that some other people have been trying to make McDonalds offer better vegetarian varieties. To be honest, I am not sure if they are more ethical here or not.

 

I am always searching for easy vegetarian recipes that suit my SPD. To be honest, mum and I’s kitchen is quite small and so cooking in there can be quite draining. My mum isn’t vegetarian. I eat tomato soup, soft rolls, breakfast muffins, pasta and pizza. It has always been difficult to expand my diet. It is very annoying, .

[Nickay12]

Oh I see I thought maybe it was a bowel disorder.. Sorry I lack common sense.

(sometimes I forget that SPD can relate to food too )

 

Yeah I feel quite limited too, I'm a vegan so I don't consume milk and eggs ect..

But It's not all that bad because I don't really have sensory problems associated with food.

 

I think people say that McDonalds are more ethical here because of the legislation regarding slaughter houses in the UK, whether they abide by the legislation is another thing.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

Yes, my sensory issues can be very restricting; I can’t even eat eggs by themselves, be it scrambled, boiled, etc. I can eat foods containing egg as I cannot sense the egg in the foods. If I became a vegan I may be eating barely anything, .

 

If you had problems with the food side of SPD, I can imagine how difficult that would be, .

 

I know that you were the one asking but, lol, do you have any tips on foods I could eat, ? I’m sorry I’m unable to offer any advice.

 

Yes, you never know if they tell the truth or not. It is so easy for organizations to lie to suit profits.

[Nickay12]

I'm not really the person to ask but I will try lol.

 

I guess nutritionally the vitamin that you most have to watch out for being a vegetarian would be Vitamin B12

I guess if you say that you don't particularly like eggs, then you will have to get it from dairy products, So make sure that you eat plenty of dairy.

 

As for food recipes, I'm not that good at these myself.

 

I would recommend, if you can, maybe bending all of your food into a soup consistency, this way you can add all kinds of vegetable and blend them into

a texture that you like.. ( that's if you don't mind the taste of some vegetables.)

 

I would say do the same with fruits to make smoothies, but I can imagine that you would have a problem with pureed fruit.

 

Some vegetables to blend would be potatoes, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, avocado.

I would stay clear of vegetables like brocolli and cabbage, because they leave seeds or stringy peices even after blending.

A great way to make soups taste good is to add a little bit of coconut milk..

 

(although coconut milk is disgusting on its own, when it is in a soup it's reallly nice, it gives flavour without texture)

 

I'm really sorry that I can't be much help.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

I am not currently at home at the moment, but when I do get home I will check if vitamin B12 is included in my vegetarian vitamins.

I do eat dairy products in my rolls. I don’t think dairy is a problem for my SPD.

 

I have tried smoothies, Innocent smoothies to be exact. Yes, they aren’t too bad. The only problem I have is that I need to gulp it down because of them not being totally smooth.

 

I do have a blender, but in truth, we hardly ever use it, . I understand your point about making more varieties with soup. When I get to use the blender, lol, I will certainly take your advice and check online for more recipes and add coconut milk as you have suggested, thank you, . You have helped me. I can understand it can be quite difficult providing options to someone with the food difficulty with SPD.

 

I hope that you are able to find some nice vegan recipes. I can’t offer much help, but the internet has a lot of information as regards to vegans and vegetarians. I hope someone here can offer you some advice. I’m sorry, I couldn’t help, as you know I have a lot of problems with foods myself, but thank you again, .

[Nickay12]

If you eat dairy products, you're likely getting enough B12 .

(B12 only comes from animals or their products ie milk and eggs)

 

Yeah "Innocent smoothies" tend to have quite alot of seeds in them and/or are too slushy.

There is a smoothie called "Happy Monkey Smoothies" they are generally for kids who don't like the texture of the normal smoothies..

They are very smooth. they actually taste like and have the texture of juice, but they are smoothies, so you get all the goodness of the fruit flesh as well as

the juice.

 

They sell them in most supermarkets, I get them from ASDA.

 

I know it is hard to experiment with food, most days I only eat raw fruits and vegetables and occasionally nuts.

Although I don't have that many problems with food taste and texture, I do have problems with the smell of food.. So I do feel a great deal of empathy of you.

 

You're welcome.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

Oh, I didn’t research vitamin B12 before I sent the message, , thanks for clearing that up, .

 

It can be quite embarrassing having to resort to kids drinks, , I will try though, thanks, . I drink flavored water in multipack bottles because I both find my OCD gets in the way of drinking out of cups and plain water tastes horrible.

 

Thank you for your understanding, . Even nuts are difficult for me, . They are too strong and very crunchy. I must be impossible, .

 

I did a little research and came up with: http://www.veganvill...cipes/index.htm, http://www.veganrecipes.org.uk/, and http://www.veganfami...uk/kitchen.html. I don’t know if they help or if you have already discovered them, but I am not really sure how else to help.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Ichigo Kurosaki