Description

This is a vegan semi-elemental diet used for weight gain. It has a carb/protein/fat ratio of about 74/16/10. An elemental diet is a liquid diet which is broken down into its simplest components for easy digestion to provide bowel rest and healing for conditions like Crohn's disease.

This means almost no fiber, varying amounts of fat (in the US it's very low, it's higher in the UK for some reason), and monosaccharide carbohydrates (dextrose) as the primary form of calories. A true elemental diet would have amino acids instead of protein powder, so this a semi-elemental diet instead. This version also has the added benefits of being semi-compatible with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (depending on how strict you are) and also having low FODMAPs.

Since this version is for weight gain, it has been adjusted to have 3000 calories. Many people with Crohn's disease are underweight and need to gain weight.

The protein ratio is 70% pea protein to 30% rice protein, which has been shown be an ideal ratio of amino acids.

The oil blend was chosen because it provides high omega 3 (hemp, flax), low omega 6 (avocado, flax, MCT), a source of choline (sunflower lecithin), rapid absorption (MCT), anti-inflammatory (avocado, hemp, flax, MCT), some saturated fat (all, but more MCT than the others), and other benefits.

The vitamins and minerals were selected with criteria including being vegan, no starch (rice, potato, etc), no maltodextrin, no sugar, no sugar alcohol, no gums, no laxatives (you'd be surprised at how many supplements are accidental laxatives), and they had to come from a reputable company with good reviews on Amazon. I also attempted to select those which were the easiest possible forms to digest with the least risk of potential stomach upset and stomach pain, which meant minimizing chlorides and even citrates. These criteria really narrowed down the available options, and a number of vegan options are more expensive (especially for omega 3 and D3, which are both over $1/day), but I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with.

This recipe results in exactly 13 cups of liquid. The weight-to-volume ratio is 25% (763 g / 3076 ml). You can go higher or lower, but this results in the same calories per ounce as Soylent, and less water may result in less smoothness and more chalkiness.

Instructions

Take the ingredients starting at the top down through filtered water, and put them in a blender. I personally take the supplements below the filtered water while drinking the Vegan Fuel. The B-12 supplement should be taken in the morning sublingually on an empty stomach. I consume the miso paste by making a quick miso soup to eat 2-3 times a day to drink as an appetizer before the drink. I microwave 12-16 ounces of water for 40 seconds (warm, not hot - more than this and the temperature might kill the probiotics in the miso), mix in 1-1.5 tbsp of miso paste, and drink it out of a mug.

If you don't like the idea of taking a dozen supplements on top of the drink, you may empty the capsules into the blender and squeeze liquid from the D3 dropper into the blender as well, and take the tablets (multivitamin, molybdenum, and K1) and B-12 liquid separately. The liquid/powder from the capsules will make the drink taste worse, so I prefer to just take them as pills.

Quantities

Full Recipe

This is the full recipe. However, since this is 104 ounces, unless you have a larger blender and a larger pitcher, it probably makes more sense to use the scaled down recipe that fits into two 64 oz pitchers.

• 3.5 cups dextrose (545.5 g with 2.7% over)
• 3.5 scoops OR 1 cup pea protein (115.5 g with the cup measurement being 5.5% over)
• 3 tbsp rice protein (45 g)
• 0.25 cups + 1 tsp potassium gluconate (29.5 g with 3.1% under)
• 2 tsp sunflower lecithin (10 ml)
• 1 tsp avocado oil (5 ml)
• 1 tsp flax oil (5 ml)
• 1 tsp MCT oil (5 ml)
• 0.5 tsp hemp oil (2.5 ml)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract (15 ml)
• 1 tbsp chocolate extract (15 ml)
• 10.5 cups filtered water (2484 ml)

Recipe to Fit Into Two 64 oz Pitchers

This is the same as the above recipe, but with half the quantity. Make two of these and you'll end up with two pitchers mostly full, each with 52 oz. Make sure to drink both pitchers fully each day to consume the correct amount.

• 1.75 cups dextrose (272.75 g with 2.7% over)
• 1.75 scoops OR 0.5 cups pea protein (57.75 g with the cup measurement being 5.5% over)
• 1.5 tbsp rice protein (22.5 g)
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp potassium gluconate (14.75 g with 4.5% over)
• 1 tsp sunflower lecithin (5 ml)
• 0.5 tsp avocado oil (2.5 ml)
• 0.5 tsp flax oil (2.5 ml)
• 0.5 tsp MCT oil (2.5 ml)
• 0.25 tsp hemp oil (1.25 ml)
• 0.5 tbsp vanilla extract (7.5 ml)
• 0.5 tbsp chocolate extract (7.5 ml)
• 5.25 cups filtered water (1242 ml)

Different Versions

As you heal, it may be worthwhile to switch to a version with normal amounts of fat and normal amounts of carbs (to help gain weight and get enough calories right before and as foods begin to be introduced), and ultimately a version with high fat to be closer to a low carb diet (once enough foods have been added back to the diet and this is just used as a supplement to help gain additional weight).

If you do not need to gain weight, you should switch to a high calorie (2500 calories) or standard (2000 calories) version of this recipe.

Once you have been in full remission and have added full fiber back to your diet, you should switch to one of the regular non-elemental recipes, which would have regular amounts of fiber and higher amounts of fat.

Calculation Notes

Dextrose was entered as 3.75 calories/gram. There are different labels showing this value as 3.33 and 4 from the same manufacturer, and other sources validate both those numbers but also peg it at 3.4 and 3.75. This latter number seems reasonable because it's in the middle and will result in closer to the correct number of calories/day.

Chloride was backfilled on the miso paste based by multiplying the sodium content by 1.5, because the sodium in miso is sodium chloride.

Choline was backfilled on the sunflower lecithin based on taking the phosphatidylcholine content and multiplying by 13% to get the actual choline. Choline was also backfilled on omega fatty acids based on the same chart as the avocado oil. Additionally, choline was backfilled on the Alpha GPC based on 40% of the Alpha GPC weight. Finally, choline was backfilled on the miso paste based on 12.41 mg/tbsp from this page: (http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=37).

Copper was backfilled on the miso paste based on 0.70 mg/17.19 g from this page: (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=114).

Iodine was backfilled on the red mineral algae calcium supplement based on 32.8 ug/g (with 3.5 g of Aquamin) from this study: (http://aquamin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/6.-Bone-Aslam-et-al.-2010.pdf).

Manganese was backfilled on the miso paste based on 0.15 mg/17.19 g from this page: (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=114).

Omega fatty acids were backfilled on the avocado oil based on this handy omega 3/6/9 chart I found: (https://theconsciouslife.com/omega-3-6-9-ratio-cooking-oils.htm).

Phosphorus was backfilled on the pea protein based on 0.37%, which is the lowest number found here: (https://books.google.com/books?id=6btpFSV1T2YC&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq=pea+protein+phosphorus) - it's possible it might be as high as 1.2%, but we're more interested in the min, not the max. Phosphorus was also backfilled on the sunflower lecithin based on 4% by weight from this study: (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.sci-hub.cc/doi/10.1111/sdi.12042/abstract;jsessionid=7E27B604286C9D450AD82A732EA59AD9.f04t02). Finally, phosphorus was backfilled on the miso paste based on 27.33 mg/17.19 g from this page: (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=114).

Sulfur was backfilled on the protein powders as the combination of methionine and cystine, since those are sulfur-containing amino acids, and the 2g requirement was intended for SAAs. For split pea protein, cystine is 1.52% and methionine is 1.03%, for a total SAA of 2.55%, although we're using the amino acid numbers straight off the Now Foods container since it's published. For rice protein, cystine is 1.21% and methionine is 2.25%, for a total SAA of 3.46%, although we're using the amino acid numbers straight off the Nutribiotic container since it's published. The percentages were taken from nutritiondata.self.com.

Vitamin K was backfilled on the miso paste based on 5.04 ug/17.19 g from this page: (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=114).