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.
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.
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/Health_Services/Health_Education/nutrition_&_eating_concerns/being_a_vegetarian.php http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/01036/Vegetarian%20diet.html http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002465.htm http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2009/October/becoming-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.
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!
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. 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. Which, incidentally, is more than most people actually need in a day. 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.
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. 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 ^^
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.
Triple Word Score! Or something. But yeah, totally true. There is no "one best diet" that works for everybody. Even some of the brightest nutritionalists in the world have conflicting views on what you should be eating. You basically just have to live and try things and see what works for you. That's why I'll never give up meat. Hell, I get headaches and my skin breaks out if I go more than a couple days without beef! Forget weight loss; I get legitimately ill.
How wonderful! Keep up the great work! It's wonderful you are already reaping benefits! "Be good, do good." You are the perfect example! This will benefit everyone involved! What a load for such a young person to have to carry through life. You are in my thoughts!
^Thanks Recommendations just as detailed could be (and have been) made for meat-eaters. Do you take the time to sit and account for every micro nutrient in your diet? I highly doubt it, because it would take just as much time and energy as it would for a vegetarian to do so. In fact, the dietary guidelines from the sources you offered for non-vegetarians are just as lengthy: Look at the guidelines for selecting meat and poultry from one of your own source websites: http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/food-and-nutrition/NU00202/METHOD=print And brown has something to say about non-veg diets too! Whew, that was a long article! Eating non-vegetarian diets must be really hard and time-consuming! http://brown.edu/Student_Services/H...on_&_eating_concerns/dietary_guidelines.php#1 See, I can Evidence too! http://skepchick.org/2011/11/ask-surly-amy-vegan-vegetarian-and-pescatarian-diets/ So, mortality rates are higher among meat eaters, and lower the less meat you eat -- interesting! Also, did you know that many disease rates for many diseases are statistically significantly lower than for meat-eaters? Some types of cancer and heart disease among the greatest in effect. Check out the charts on this page (Yes, I know the source is biased, but the studies cited are from multiple, unbiased and unaffiliated institutions, and are presented in charts with no commentary except to highlight statistically significant results in red.) Diets aren't one-size-fits-all. The evidence shows that vegetarians are just as healthy as, or healthier than meat eaters. Stop trying to police other people's eating habits, and get your facts straight before your roll your eyes at me. How rude!
Okay, here goes for the recipy! This is my own translation from Swedish, so some things might be...off. Ingredients 4 tablespoons of butter 1 yellow onion, chopped 1 kilogram (or roughly 2 pounds) of tomatoes, diced (recipe also thought peeled and de-seeded, but F that shit) 1 laurel 4 fresh twigs of parsley 4 fresh twigs of basil 1,5 liters of vegetable bouillon (adjust for the fact juices from the tomatoes, recipe thought 2 liters) 1 tablespoon of ketchup 1-2 deciliters of cream (so that's like...a cup?) salt and pepper fresh basil for garnish some bread to make into croutons if you wish 1. Melt the butter in a big pot. Add onions and fry at low heat for five minutes or u8ntil soft. Stir now and then. Add tomatoes, laurel, basil and parsley. Spice with salt and pepper and let simmer for 15 minutes or until the tomatoes have boiled together and most of the liquid have boiled away (again, I didn't wait foir this because I was compensating for the added liquid from the tomatoes). Stir now and then. 2. Increase to medium heat. Add the bouillon and let it come to a boil. Lower the hear, put on the lid and let simmer for 25 minutes. 3. Make the freaking croutons! Recipe had a very fancy dice them and fry them in olive oil thing, but I found that just doing some toast and cutting that into dices works just as well and takes way less time. 4. Remove the pot from the heat and let cool somewhat (again, didn't bother). Remove the herbs and stir the ketchup into the soup. Pour the soup into a mixer and mix it smooth (this is why I didn't bother, I just took my staffmixer and put it in the pot). 5. Pour back the soup into the pot (if removed) and heat it up. Stir the cream into the soup and let heat it up until warm all the way trough (didn't bother since warm already). Add salt and pepper to taste, if even necessary. Pour the soup into bowls. tare the fresh basil into bits and add as garnish, along with the croutons. Enjoy! Here's a pic of it from my lunch today. This is the last bit of it. Was gone after lunch!
^That sounds (and looks) AMAZING! I am so going to try that, though I might replace the cream with half and half to make it at least a little lighter -- or I could puree cauliflower for a thickener. The translation is great, though one note -- we tend to refer to laurel as bay leaves here.
^ It really is delicious, I had it for dinner two days in a row and now today for lunch and I didn't get tired of it. The cream is mainly seasoning, Half and half should do fine. As for the bay leaves, I actually googled that since I had no idea what they where called, and the source I found clearly said laurel was the US version. Damn site lied to me.
Thanks for the well wishes everyone who has wished them, and I wish them all back to you. Emher, that recipe looks delicious, and I will have to try it. Also, I wish to extend to you a laurel, and hardy handshake.
Actually Umbellularia Californica (California Bay Luarel) is only one type of laurel and theer are a few different ones use in cooking--Bay leavings being the most common. It is also, ever so slightly, different from the European Laurus Noblis--mostly due to the growing environment.
I don't believe so. I think there are four or five verities around the world used in cooking. They have slight differences in aroma and appearance. The only ones I've ever seen are the two. One was slightly longer and more slender (forget which). If I remember, the European was more pungent and a bit more woody while the California was a bit more peppery and bitter. The only other one I know of, is one that grows in Eastern Asia (Okinawa maybe?) which supposedly has the strongest flavor, and they use it in just about everything. I think there's also a different one found western South America. I could be totally wrong though. As far as the many other types, some don't really have a use (or no one's found one), but a lot of them are burned in incense, ground into salves, that sort of thing.