4 Calorie-Rich Vegan Foods to Gain Weight
Are you vegan and trying to gain weight? Discover the best calorie-rich vegan foods that will let you build muscle mass and gain weight!
By following a vegan diet, it’s common to lose weight. However, you can maintain your ideal weight and even gain a few pounds if you pay special attention to what you eat. Let’s find out some calorie-rich vegan foods that you shouldn’t miss in your diet.
High-calorie foods
To gain weight, it’s essential to eat vegan foods that are high in calories. That way, you’ll have lots of energy and will be able to convert nutrients into muscle mass.
1. Calorie-rich vegan foods: Vegetable oils
Vegetable oils are the perfect option to add to your meals. In addition, they provide vitamin E and unsaturated fatty acids. Next, let’s see how many calories the main oils have:
- Olive: 899 kcal per 1/2 cup
- Canola: 884 kcal per 1/2 cup
- Coconut: 899 kcal per 1/2 cup
- Sunflower: 899 kcal per 1/2 cup
The good news is you can eat them in any of your four daily meals. How? For example, add a little vegetable oil to your avocado toast. In addition, add it to salad dressings, homemade bread, or even pasta with oil and vegetables. You can even add them to your fruit or vegetable smoothies!
2. Calorie-rich vegan foods: Nuts
Some of the best calorie-rich vegan foods are nuts. They are perfect to satisfy your hunger between meals and are a healthy snack. In addition, you can add them to your soups, salads, dishes or even your vegan yogurt!
Also read: Four Recipes with Nuts that You Have to Try
Walnuts
Walnuts have 611 kcal for every 2/3 cup. We recommend them since they’re a source of omega-3 fatty acids, folates, B vitamins, fiber, and protein.
Its proteins don’t have methionine, an essential amino acid. Therefore, we recommend combining them with cereals. For example, you can make cereal bread to get protein similar to the way an animal does. On the other hand, they do have iron, potassium, selenium, magnesium, phosphorous, and zinc.
Hazelnuts
Hazelnuts have 587 kcal per 2/3 cup. They are rich in oleic acid, vitamin E, folates, and vitamin B6. In addition, they have minerals like iron, magnesium, calcium and potassium. Also, they have good quality protein and the amino acid L-arginine.
Macadamia nuts
Macadamia nuts are very popular nowadays. They are very nutritious and rich in calcium, iron, phosphorus, and B vitamins. In addition, they have 602 kcal per 2/3 cup. Their high fat content makes them great to make vegan mayonnaise, in addition to eating them as a snack or in salads.
Pistachios
They have 551 kcal per 2/3 cup. Also, they’re great in sweet dishes, such as ice cream, cakes and other desserts. However, you can also add them to savory foods, like pasta sauce.
Cashews
These nuts are rich in magnesium and B vitamins (B1 and B2) as well as proteins and trace elements. In addition, they have 570 kcal per 2/3 cup.
3. Calorie-rich vegan foods: Cereals
Cereals are one of the pillars of a balanced diet. Along with vegetables and fruits, you should eat them every day. For example, some important ones are wheat, rice, corn, rye, oats, barley, and millet.
Cereal grains have about the same amount of calories as each other since they’re mainly composed of carbohydrates. In fact, the starch inside the seeds gives us energy.
On average, they have between 7 and 15% protein. To absorb them better, we recommend eating these cereals with legumes. This way, you can achieve protein similar to animal meat. Also, they provide B vitamins, potassium, iron, calcium and zinc, among other minerals.
Don’t miss out: Replacing Commercial Cereals with Whole Grain Cereals
4. Calorie-rich vegan foods: Legumes
Legumes have great nutritional value, with about 350 kcal per 1/2 cup. When cooking, depending on the type of legume and how you cook them, the caloric value can change.
In fact, they are the main source of plant-based protein, contributing between 19 and 36% of good quality protein. Additionally, they are rich in carbohydrates, mainly starch, as well as fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals (potassium, phosphorous, zinc, iron and magnesium) and B vitamins (B1, B3 and B6) and folates.
Conclusion
Don’t hesitate to add these calorie-rich vegan foods to your diet. Also, make sure to exercise regularly if you’re trying to gain weight. Remember, talk to a professional to help you organize your diet so you don’t lack any nutrients.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Sieber CC., Malnutrition and sarcopenia. Aging Clin Exp Res, 2019. 31 (6): 793-798.
- Wong C., Harris PJ., Ferguson LR., Potential benefits of dietary fibre intervention in inflammatory bowel disease. Int J Mol Sci, 2016.
