posted February 01, 2008 10:32 AM         

The Vegan Food Pyramid is such a helpful tool. It points you in the right direction and takes the guesswork out of which foods one should eat in order to get the proper nutrition you need. (Maybe it should be called the Vegan Nutrition Pyramid?)

Not to mention, it's so pretty and colorful! It makes sticking to your vegan diet easy and fun. Yay! :O)

Here's what you'll discover:

* The major food groups to focus upon on a daily basis to create a healthy vegan diet;

* What constitutes a serving size;
* Which individual foods make up each of the major food groups;
* How to prepare these foods quickly and easily.

There's a wealth of information here that will help jump start your vegan diet and cooking adventure.

There's just one teensy tiny thing...

It can be so discouraging looking at charts like this. How could any one person eat THIS MUCH FOOD on a daily basis? Who designed the Vegan Food Pyramid?!?

But somewhere along the way I came across an important piece of the puzzle...

...serving sizes are smaller than you might think!

* Chopped Cooked Vegetables
1/2 cup (1/2 baseball or rounded handful for avg. adult)

* RAW Leafy Vegetables (lettuce, chard, kale)
1 cup (1 baseball or fist for avg. adult)

* Vegetable Juice
6 ounces (3/4 of a cup)

* Fresh Fruit - 1 medium piece
1/2 cup chopped (1/2 baseball or rounded handful for avg. adult)

* Dried Fruit
1/4 cup (1 golf ball or scant handful for avg. adult)

* Fruit Juice (fresh squeezed!!)
6 ounces (3/4 of a cup)

* Pasta, Rice, Cooked Cereal
1/2 cup (1/2 baseball or rounded handful for avg. adult)

* Soy yogurt or Fortified Dairy Substitute (non-dairy milk)
8 ounces (1 cup -- get out that measuring cup for a visual)

* Ready-to-Eat Cereal
1 oz. varies from 1/2 cup to 1 1/4 cup (check label)

* Dried beans
1/2 cup cooked (1/2 baseball or rounded handful for avg. adult)

* Nuts
1/3 cup (level handful for avg. adult )

* Seeds
2 Tablespoons

* Oils or (Non-Hydrogenated!) Margarines
1 teaspoon

When you take all this into consideration, it's easy to meet the required servings per day.

Although it may take a little time to get used to, and you might find yourself measuring out your food for a while, once you begin to experiment with these amounts it will become second nature to you. You'll be well on your way to meeting the recommended nutrition for a vegan.
http://www.vegancoach.com/vegan-food-pyramid.html