Trying to go vegan - how to make up for the lost calories and calcium?

I'm currently lacto-ovo vegetarian, and would like to become vegan, but I don't want lose a lot of weight and be all skinny. If I just eliminate dairy fats - stop putting sour cream on my chili, leave the cheese off the veggie burger, etc. - then my daily caloric consumption will drop dramatically. What are some good calorie-dense vegan foods I can snack on to make up for the lost dairy? Also, where do vegans get calcium from, and how much of whatever that is do you have to eat every day to meet the requirements?

calcium-set tofu is packed full of calcuim, and some soya milks/yoghurts have it added. There is also calcium in many types of beans/seeds/nuts and a cup of dark green veg such as spinach has as much calcium as a cup of milk. The only things it's really hard to get on a balanced vegan diet ( i.e. including all colours of fruit/veg, various beans, pulses, nuts, seeds, grains etc) are iodene and B12. I get iodene from seaweed and B12 from a vegan yeast extract. I'm not underweight at all and other than nuts I don't consume anything high fat, but if you need extra calories, veg margarine has loads, just add it to anything you can, nuts are really high fat (and far better for you than margarine), hummous is quite high calorie I think, also potato fries, vegan chocolate, veggie pakora. Best of luck going vegan, check out vegansociety.com as well.

you can't access the calcium in spinach because of it's acid content Report Abuse

I don't think you can access the calcium in spinach because of it's acid content Report Abuse

You can get clacium from other vegetables, like greens. Also, orange juice with added calcium.
Check this out:

http://www.carrotcafe.com/f/calevel.html

You can get the calories from non hydroginated veggie oils. There are also vegan sour cream and cheeses available. Beans are also a good vegan staple. As for calcium, here is a site I found,
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm

Hope this helps!

brocoli is very high in calcium it is equivilent to 250ml of milk

there are many high calorie foods that are vegan. Ones that spring to mind are nuts and seeds which make excellent snacks, as well as oils - olive oil and coconut oil being the best. Calcium sources include sesame seeds, fortified juices/milk alternatuves, tofu, almonds etc. I;m not sure how much calcium each provides but you can look it up.

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm... - this is an informative site on calcium in the vegan diet.

good luck