I am looking to get into vegan but I want to GAIN muscle at the same time. What can I eat to replace the meats?
I've been looking for a healthy lean muscle vegan diet for building muscle.
I eat a lot of the same meals, so here is what I'd choose from for the day
Scrambled tofu (35g protein/serve)
turmeric, paprika, cracked pepper, nutritional yeast (high in protein), almond milk mixed together and added to fried up crumbled tofu, sliced mushrooms and chopped red capsicum (or bell peppers as you'd call them)
Burrito bowl (35g/serve)
Black beans/TVP, chopped capsicum and tomato, salsa, avocado, rice (I use cauliflower rice myself), nutritional yeast liberally sprinkled over it
Smoothie
Don't really need to describe it as you can put pretty much it whatever you want in it, with protein powder
Red lentil dhal
Check for recipe online, but super easy to make and lentils have over 20g protein per 100g
Snacks include
peanut butter on toast (15g protein) with sliced banana on top (I use powdered PB and rice cakes myself)
Salad with fake chicken (15g protein)
There's a brand here in Australia that make plain chicken fillets that are made out of a seaweed and 10g of protein per). I add hemp seeds (could also add over types of seeds as they're all good for protein)
I also have a muesli (granola?) bar with 10g protein as they're pretty easy to find in the supermarket
And I'll usually have a protein shake before bed.
It's also easy to find mock meat burgers that are 20-25g protein, hotdogs with 8-10+g, ect
Ive been sticking to a low-calorie diet for about 5 months after learning you don't have to be at a calorie surplus to gain muscle, and have had tremendous results.
I also capped my meals at around 35g protein as I learned that the body can't really process any more than that in a meal anyways, but if you want to add more protein to those meals you can just have bigger serves.
From a health point of view, try to incorporate nutritional yeast in at least one of your meals a day for B12, and hemp/chia seeds (great in smoothies) for Omegas.
TVP is a great, cheap high-protein alternative from mince, so you can use it for all sorts of dishes. I made up a big chilli con carne this week. And if you don't want to use protein powder, I discovered that adding tofu in my smoothie actually tastes good as it makes the smoothie creamier.
You'll also find a decent amount of protein in breads if you look at the labels. I found a 'keto' type bread of 23g protein per 2 slices. Turkish break is pretty high too.
One last thing is just have a good look at products in your supermarkets. As an example I found a cashew yogurt that has 10g protein per serve.