Going Veggie

[J. Allen]

Indeed. I'm finding that my energy levels have been boosted significantly just in the past few days. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to start jogging around the house just to burn some of it off!

[Kenbushway]

Congrats on the improvement, best of luck.

[Sector 7]

J., I can identify with the "country cooking diet". I grew up on it, too! Unfortunately, when I became disabled, I still ate that kind of food. Now, I'm not only ill, but overweight.

Part of the difficulty taking care of my mother, is that SHE still wants to eat that way. Last night was a breakthrough (I hope!). I explained to Mom (one... more... time...) why she needed to diet. [She has been bedridden for 4 years now. She refuses to diet, or even eat healthy, and has gained enough weight that our aide/friend and I are having back problems moving her.]

This time she seemed to be listening. Last week my lab results showed: diabetes under control, can stop taking cholesterol medications, etc.

I showed her how I count carbs instead of calories, from my Nutrition class. She seems to be catching on and I think she likes being in control of her diet, too.

I like Carb Counting rather than dieting or veggie-ism:
First, I could never be a vegetarian and vegans I've met are too preachy for me to ever follow their way.
Second, I grew up an Ohio farm boy, raising beef cattle, a few hogs for eating, corn and wheat. Except for corn, veggie people tell me all that is evil.
Third, vegetables are like Chinese food... I can eat forever and not feel full... and an hour later I'm hungry again.
Last, people with Fibromyalgia (me!) crave protein because their bodies need more protein than most people. (Possibly to repair damaged nerve endings, I read recently.)

Carb Counting is something I can get into... I've always loved reading, including labels. Lean meat is free Carbs (LOVE that!), so are most veggies (I love veggies, but not solely). Since it seems to be working for me, I'll stick to Omnivore Carb Counting. "What works best is what works for you."

I've seen couscous, but didn't know anything about it. After reading this, I'll check it out. Also, some other foods you have all posted will be checked out.

[thestrangequark]

Oh, man, Sector7, please don't take any offense or insult at this, because I don't mean it that way at all, but I personally find your attitude towards carb counting hilarious! It's just that I am a type 1 diabetic; I've been carb counting since I was 12, using carb counts to calculate boluses. The thought of carb counting as fun rather than "IF YOU DON'T DO THIS CORRECTLY, YOU WILL DIE IN YOUR SLEEP!" is so mind-bogglingly foreign to me that it made me laugh! It's awesome that you like it though, and that it's working so well for you. Very cool!

[CorporalClegg]

RoJoHen wrote:

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I'll just stop you there.

Yeah it's definitely not easy. I admit the one thing I could absolutely not give up was sushi. Granted, I can count on one hand the number of pieces I've had in the last three years, but I could never permanently say "no" to it.

The other thing is pizza. While I do usually opt for a cheeseless, I'm usually left with the feeling that it misses the point. Sometimes I have to splurge and soy cheese is just too expensive. So what I do is take a small bag of shredded mozzarella and mix it with a bag of soy mozz. I can usually get two pizzas out of that (if I go light). But if I know others will be sharing I just bite the bullet and skip the soy stuff. That way I can get fresh mozz which is so much better, anyways.

Incidentally, people always initially scoff at the idea of a vegetarian pizza, but after they try it decide they like it better because there's so much less grease.

[teacake]

Couscous is fun and quick but is basically tiny balls of pasta. For health I'd rather use brown rice the same way. But I've noticed people get really excited about couscous and if I was trying to convert someone away from a heavy meat/processed meal I would look at including it.

[Hunter X]

It's great to hear that you're feeling so much better, J. Hope it continues!

teacake's description of her childhood reminds me of my wife's, in that she was raised by a hippy single mom. Eating meat or sugary cereal was how they rebelled as teenagers.

We eat meat now, but we're actually trying an experiment due to rising grocery costs. Instead of buying meat at the grocery store, we're going to try only buying at the butcher. It's more expensive, but the inconvenience of making that extra trip, and the extra cost, has naturally motivated us to move in a more vegetarian direction. Plus, the meat we do eat tastes better, and is more of a treat. I once heard someone advise using meat as a seasoning rather than a main course. That always stuck with me as an interesting perspective.

Anyways, we have a few curries we make (Chana Masala being the most recent, with homemade naan bread, yogurt and a cucumber salad), as well as soups. I love making soups.

[Kelthaz]

thestrangequark wrote:

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That's complete, total, utter nonsense. It is very easy to eat a complete and healthy vegetarian diet!

Right ...

Look, I never said that it's impossible to adopt a vegetarian diet, but if you go into it without knowing what you're doing it's not going to improve your health. It's much easier (and requires very little planning) to eat a reasonably healthy diet that includes meat. The same can not be said of a vegetarian diet.

http://brown.edu/Student_Services/He...vegetarian.php

It is important for vegetarians to pay attention to these five categories in particular.

http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/...an%20diet.html

Adopting a healthy vegetarian diet isn't as simple as scraping meat off your plate and eating what's left. You need to take extra steps to ensure you're meeting your daily nutritional needs.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/002465.htm

Vitamins that may be lacking in a vegetarian diet include:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsle...g-a-vegetarian

Iron. Studies show that in Western countries, vegetarians tend to get the same amount of iron as meat eaters. But the iron in meat (especially red meat) is more readily absorbed than the kind found in plant foods, known as non-heme iron. The absorption of non-heme iron is enhanced by vitamin C and other acids found in fruits and vegetables, but it may be inhibited by the phytic acid in whole grains, beans, lentils, seeds, and nuts.

[J. Allen]

Kelthaz wrote:

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Right ...

Look, I never said that it's impossible to adopt a vegetarian diet, but if you go into it without knowing what you're doing it's not going to improve your health. It's much easier (and requires very little planning) to eat a reasonably healthy diet that includes meat. The same can not be said of a vegetarian diet.

http://brown.edu/Student_Services/He...vegetarian.php

http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/...an%20diet.html



http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/002465.htm

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsle...g-a-vegetarian

I don't want meat. What I am eating is working, so don't worry. I get plenty of vitamins and nutrients in the food I eat, and what I might not get, my multivitamin, which I take to help against the diabetes, covers that.

Plus, I'm smart enough to know how to cover my body's nutritional needs.

[teacake]

Diet isn't one size fits all. If you find something that works, makes you feel better, lose weight, improve health issues then go for it!

[J. Allen]

teacake wrote:

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Diet isn't one size fits all. If you find something that works, makes you feel better, lose weight, improve health issues then go for it!

Bingo! Yahtzee! Connect Four! That thing you say when you win Scrabble!






(this)

[teacake]

When you win scrabble you yell out "P - W - N - E - D".. but then you are kicked out of the game.

[CorporalClegg]

Kelthaz wrote:

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The same can not be said of a vegetarian diet.

Yes it can. A well balanced vegetarian diet doesn't take anymore planning than a well balanced omnivorous diet. There are plenty of negatives to eating meat which you conveniently seem to ignore. And what do you think does more harm in the long run, too much cholesterol or not enough zinc?

But in case you were wondering, I can say with 100% certainty that my diet is healthier than yours. And how much time do I spend a day meticulously charting out what I'm going to eat? Well... I don't.

It is important for vegetarians to pay attention to these five categories in particular.

Vitamins that may be lacking in a vegetarian diet include:

Four of those listed are accounted for by the multivitamin I take everyday. And before you sneer, let me add that I was taking a multivitamin long before I stopped eating meat. Everyone should take one. If you don't. Start.

As far as the protein, well I already addressed that.

Iron. Studies show that in Western countries, vegetarians tend to get the same amount of iron as meat eaters.

Which, incidentally, is more than most people actually need in a day.

But the iron in meat (especially red meat) is more readily absorbed than the kind found in plant foods, known as non-heme iron. The absorption of non-heme iron is enhanced by vitamin C and other acids found in fruits and vegetables, but it may be inhibited by the phytic acid in whole grains, beans, lentils, seeds, and nuts.

May be, but sort of kind of isn't. Why? Because you have to eat A LOT of grains, lentils, and nuts to absorb enough phytic acid to really make an impact. Also, leafy greens also provide way more iron than a piece of steak. They also are a great source of Vitamin C.

That said, J. started this thread as a positive thing. Please take your negativity someplace else.

[Emher]

trampledamage wrote:

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Oh, do you have a recipe? That does sound nice!

I do, but I don't have the time to translate it right now. Will get to it later on and post it in this thread.

thestrangequark wrote:

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On the contrary, m'dear, there are those who would say that anything that has beans is not chili! So you prefer an all veggie chili-esque stew? So what, make what you like! Another healthful, but non-vegetarian creative spin would be to use ground turkey breast or chicken breast and make a bean-free chili.

I am also a big fan of making soups. They allow for endless variation and creativity, it is easy to keep them healthful, they are cheap, and easy.

I don't know if they sell Better Than Bouillon in your area, but I'd highly recommend it. It comes in vegetable, not-chicken, chicken, beef, and lobster. The quality is top-notch, and unlike dry bouillon it doesn't leave that obvious, bouillon-y taste. It makes soup-making so easy! And when I'm sick, there is nothing better than boiling a kettle of hot water and pouring it over a spoonful of Better Than Bouillon.

I made a really nice tarragon chicken and veg soup a couple days ago, myself.

I'll play around a bit then! Might make the chili this weekend when I have some time for it too cook properly.

I didn't use to be a big fan of soups but my mom recommended it recently and I read trough this book of soup recipes that she has and found several really yummy ones. I did notice afterwards that most of them where tomato based. No surprise since I love tomato.

We have sort of a liquid bouillon that's called "fond" (roughly translated to "foundation"). I'm going to buy me some of those next time. The cube base worked but with the liquid one it will be even better.


Will see if I run out of the soup today or if I'll be doing something else tonight ^^

[teacake]

Eating this now. Stir fry with no frying, lol. One cup brown rice left over from yesterday, tofu and/or chicken, diced carrots and zucchini raw. Some sweet soy sauce and chillie onion flakes. This is VERY good with cucumber slices too instead of the tofu/meat, makes it an almost salad. The only thing heated is the rice, just nuked it a bit and mixed in the rest.



Anyway I'm just posting it say you can stir fry with no fry, just mix some rice in with chunky raw veg and add whatever seasonings you would to a stir fry. Great with leftover rice. Took under 5 minutes to make.