RF Vegetarians, Untie!

[angellous_evangellous]

My wife and I are going vegetarian. We're not strictly committed, but we haven't had meat in two weeks. I think that's a good start.

A big reason for this is our desire to go all organic, and limit our fat intake.

When grilling season starts up again, we may loosen up a bit on the weekends if we can find a good butcher. :beach:

 

[angellous_evangellous]

If RF vegetarians or vegans could give advice or suggest receipes for a newbie, I'd appreciate it.

 

[MSizer]

In my case converting was not as hard as one may think, but there were times in the first 6-8 months or so where it was just easier to give in once in a while than to agonize over the withdrawl. I still miss it, but it's not such a big deal anymore.

We recently have been striving toward a vegan diet (it's going well) and we learned something really cool. By being forced to learn new ways to cook things, we're actaully learning a bunch of new recipies which we simply would never have tried otherwise, so we've actaully been eating great meals as a result of getting a couple of new cookbooks.

Hope it goes well for you.

Oh, one small thing I would advise, apparently there are some reasonable concerns about vegetarian diets for children. Apparently nutrional needs of children can make vegetenariasm a little tougher than for adults, so if you have little ones, I'd check with someone who knows for sure. It supposedly has to do with the amount of nutrients avaialable in vegetables vs. the size of little kids's stomachs. I don't know for sure that it's true, but obviously worth verifying.

 

[Mr Cheese]

I'm eating fallafels as I type..and gettign strange looks from my co workwers...

recipees are many

tjhe important thing to remeber is that no two people have the same dietary needs. You may need to eat meat, dont kill yourself!

Essentials: beans and grains... for protein, free range eggs.. the non meat eaters only real viable source of vitamin B12

http://www.essenes.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=557&Itemid=328

 

[angellous_evangellous]

I've got B12 covered.

 

[MSizer]

I've just noticed a funny typo in the title of your thread. It sounds like you're jumping to support PETA commercials already! LOL

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Congrats, Nate!

Steve and I are not admittedly vegetarian, but our meat intake has drastically reduced since the beginning of the year. We also don't ingest nearly as much dairy as we used to (if we do, it's usually in fermented form like sour cream or yogurt).

The cool thing nowadays is that recipes for people going veg is much more broad and tasty than when I was a strict vegan back in my single days. And even then I found myself with quite a variety of choices.........which is surprising for people who eliminate or radically diminish meat from their meals.

What is highly beneficial is you can easily become very familiar with whole grains that you never heard of or only read about: like spelt berries, millet, amaranth, quinoa, etc.

You also become quite familiar with legumes and beans that you ate infrequently like chickpeas, split peas, lentils, navy beans, etc. (yesterday I ate two falafels from my own recipe, and it kept me satisfied until classes were done last night).

And fruits and vegetables? We eat them practically every couple of hours. Keeps the blood sugar from spiking or crashing. Salads are an every day occurance, and we are quickly becoming conoissours of salad dressings and vinaigrettes. :yes:

Our doctor has applauded us for our dietary choices and our activity levels (Steve has lost a significant amount of weight, and the kids are following our leads too and wanting to eat more whole foods), but he's also suggested we take supplements such as CoQ10. Not hard to find.

Oh, and flaxseeds and flaxseed oil. Omega-3's are everybody's friend.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Cool.

We're not giving up eggs, milk, butter, and cheeses. But we're getting them from better sources.

And we eat lots of salads, but still (much to my shame) with Ranch dressing.

And MSizer, that's not a typo. haha

 

[enchanted_one1975]

I am not a vegetarian but I did do my time in the meat-free world for over a year once. I hope you like spinach. It is a common thing in vegetarian dishes because it adds flavor and iron. If you start lacking iron you may start to feel hungry even when you are stuffed and then the cheese and butter will start to backfire on you. Spinach lasagna, spinach manacotti, spinach in your salads, spinach as a side dish.

 

[sandandfoam]

Good for you.
No meat eaters in our house - our kids have never eaten meat.
Much healthier way to live.

 

[Mr Cheese]

been meanign to get this book its been highly reccomended to me by many people...

Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition

extract of the review:

Used as a reference by students of acupuncture, this is a hefty, truly comprehensive guide to the theory and healing power of Chinese medicine. It's also a primer on nutrition--including facts about green foods, such as spirulina and blue-green algae, and the "regeneration diets" used by cancer patients and arthritics--along with an inspiring cookbook with more than 300 mostly vegetarian, nutrient-packed recipes.

The information on Chinese medicine is useful for helping to diagnose health imbalances, especially nascent illnesses. It's smartly paired with the whole-foods program because the Chinese have attributed various health-balancing properties to foods, so you can tailor your diet to help alleviate symptoms of illness. For example, Chinese medicine dictates that someone with low energy and a pale complexion (a yin deficiency) would benefit from avoiding bitter foods and increasing "sweet" foods such as soy, black sesame seeds, parsnips, rice, and oats. (Note that the Chinese definition of sweet foods is much different from the American one!)

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Oh yeah, I've had that book for several years, and it's one of those books that I don't believe I'll ever part with. It really is the bible of nutrition and healing through foods.

I highly recommend it too.

 

[monta]

Don't eat fake meat :no:

 

[Valjean]

Welcome to the club, Angellous. Glad to hear it's going well. We'll clue you in to the password and secret handshake once your probationary period is over.

I know a lot of people have a hard time giving up meat, though I never really had a problem with it.
Nutritionally, don't worry about it. There's an aweful lot of pure bunk out there.
Lifestyle, cooking, &c -- no need to change anything if you don't want to. Just remove the meat from your plate and add extra scoops of whatever else is on the menu to make up for it.

 

[Baydwin]

Don't eat fake meat :no:

Why not? I like it, especially the sausages as they're what I miss most.

 

[monta]

Why not? I like it, especially the sausages as they're what I miss most.

I personally think you have to wait about a year to eat fake meat or it just tastes awful.

 

[MSizer]

I personally think you have to wait about a year to eat fake meat or it just tastes awful.

Ooh, careful monta, I never let mine sit in the fridge for longer than a week. A year is pushing it. 8^)

 

[Mr Cheese]

ha ha ....

I actually have found Bristish fake meat is better than american...
though havent eaten a great deal here.

I do miss those veggie burgers from various english music festivals....
and good old British staple "bean feast"

But then, I grew up in a vegetarian household.....we had meat less than 5 times a year

 

[Baydwin]

I actually have found Bristish fake meat is better than american...
though havent eaten a great deal here.

I don't know what the American stuff is like, but I actually prefer the fake stuff to the real thing. You don't get any of the gristle, fat, cartilage or stringy bits you do with real meat, just tasty num-nums all the way through.

 

[Magic Man]

And fruits and vegetables? We eat them practically every couple of hours. Keeps the blood sugar from spiking or crashing. Salads are an every day occurance, and we are quickly becoming conoissours of salad dressings and vinaigrettes. :yes:

Our doctor has applauded us for our dietary choices and our activity levels (Steve has lost a significant amount of weight, and the kids are following our leads too and wanting to eat more whole foods), but he's also suggested we take supplements such as CoQ10. Not hard to find.

I'm with ya. I am not vegetarian and I don't plan on being, but I have been eating a lot of salad and lots of fruit lately. I eat generally a banana and apple every day, along with grapes as my evening snack most days. I've become a bit of a dressing connoisseur myself. My favorite (that i just discovered a couple weeks ago) is a pear vinaigrette. It's very tasty but not overpowering, so that I can eat it regularly.

Anyway, as soon as our kitchen is finally finished next week, we can start cooking again (for the first time since we moved into our house in September). I found a farm near here that sells meat, which i plan on using from now on. It's an organic farm that treats its animals very well, and obviously doesn't use hormones or anything. They give you tours and everything. So, I'm not going to cut out meat, but I will at least get it from somewhere that does it the right way, instead of supporting the evil industrial farms. Besides, we don't eat a whole lot of meat anyway.