Vegetarian: A life-style change

[TechAngel85]

Tech' date=' there is a nice Hungarian version of veggie stew, called letcho, it's absolutely gorgeous! Check it out.

Thanks! Sounds good from the ingredients.

 

I also found this to be an interesting, short read: https://www.forksoverknives.com/the-myth-of-complementary-protein/?cmpid=takepart

[Guest]

I have no idea how search brought me here, but I'd like an update T. I have been without this food source since I was 12 I think. I eat what I like and put virtually nothing on, which is great. Doctors say I'm very healthy. I don't like fish, but you can get those algae capsules now for omega 3, although they are not that cheap. On top of the usual, I also eat a crap load of dairy, nuts, seeds and brown bread. For drinks I like smoothies, juices, and whole milk (I drank 2 litres yesterday lol). I think the last bit of meat I had was a cheese burger from McDonald's. That crap was enough to put me off for good. No way could I be a vegan though, I'd probably wither and die. 

[TechAngel85]

It's been a while so an update you shall have!

 

I've fallen into what I call a 90% vegetarian lifestyle. My main source of food comes from grains, fruits, and vegetables. I found this quite difficult at first simply due to the area I live, family, friends, and culture. I live in a town with a population of just over 18,300. Options for grocery shopping are very limited with the next best options being a hour and a half away...not a trip for to be making once or twice a week just for groceries. Family, friends, and culture all play a role as well. Most people in this area are raised with traditional "southern" values. Meat is the staple of nearly every meal. So visiting friend and family, it's hard to stick to a strict vegetarian diet. Even finding a vegetarian meal at a restaurant can be a challenge. With all this in mind, I stick to my vegetarian lifestyle as much as possible. If I go out with friends or am visiting family, I will occasionally eat meat because the options are very limited. When I do eat meat it's either fish or poultry, though. I rarely ever eat any type of beef nor pork and I even more rarely eat any kind of fried food.

 

I am borderline lactose intolerant so I don't eat much dairy either. Milk is out of the question, but it's no loss due to the fact I don't care for the taste unless it's chocolate milk. I tend to go with almond milk as a substitute. Grains in my diet typically consist of whole grain breads (brown breads), rice (white and brown), and rolled oats for oatmeal and baking. I've found a very filling and tasty meal is a fillet of fish on top a bed of rice. Simple and quick yet filling! I love nuts as well, but they tend to be expensive so I don't eat as much as I'd like.

 

I can't think of anything else to add. Got questions, just ask! ::

[JawZ]

Glad to hear things are going good for the life change you made Tech :)
Started with this myself a year back or so, and I'm in a similar seat as you. But I'm not striving to become a full pledged vegetarian. Just to limit my intake of "bad things" which equals to becoming more of a vegetarian than an all-eater as I used to be. Lot's of reactions was had at work, "salad again!!" and other goodies on a daily basis. But nothing that was meant as to be mean towards my choice of eating though, that and I just didn't care what anyone else thinks.
 
And vitamin and mineral supplements, should be a no go. Only if you really know that you are very low in any particular vitamin or mineral should you resort to supplement pills, oils and what not. Otherwise you can easily find natural sources to act as a "supplement" in your day to day meals. Seeds and nuts being among the top choices for that.
 
I mostly skiimed through all the posts so might have missed something in between here. But even so good luck with keeping with this new life of yours :)
 
And a recipe I did as my last dinner for my now previous work last thursday, very tasty and can be eaten as is or as a base for a fish stew or even for a chicken stew, for those who might read this and not be vegetarians.

 

[spoiler=Persian lens stew (Not really persian I think, just a "sounds good name")]

4 Portions of rice
1 onion
2 garlic pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil (to fry in)
1 teaspoon tumeric (Or after taste)
1 teaspoon cumin (Or after taste)
1 teaspoon chili powder (Or after taste)
7½ dl vegetarian stock (stock plus 7½liter of water)
400ml coconut milk
3dl red lenses
~400g celeriac
65g baby spinach
1 lime (or half a lime and grinded skin from that half)
pepper
salt if needed
50g of grnded almond nuts

• Cook the rice as usual.
• Cut the onions.
• Peel and cut the celeriac.
• Ready a pot with the olive oil and heat it up.
• Add the onion and garlic as well as the spices until the onion has received some color.
• Add the stock, coconut milk, let it get to shimmer, then add the lenses and let it cook for about 8 minutes.
• Add the celeriac to the stew, and let it cook for about 2 minutes.
• Once done add the spinach, lime, pepper and if needed salt.
• Serve with the rice and the grinded almond nuts, rough or fine goes just fine.

Bare in mind I might have misspelled or chosen the wrong word to translate certain ingredients from swedish to english.

 

 

 
 
SparrowPrince;
A more natural way to ingest Omega 3 oils, without resorting to fish, is Chia seeds. Doesn't really taste anything particular and can be added to any meal, mostly. I usually sprinkle them on top of my breakfast oatmeal along with raisin's(for sweetening), pumpkin seeds(mostly for the iron, which Chia seeds also has a high amount of) and if I really got a sugar tooth a particular morning I add just a bit of Maple Syrup :P
Also Omega 3 can be found in olive oil, not that high amounts of it but some. I replaced regular butter with Olive oil years back to cook with, both because it has "better" fats and it taste better.

Edited November 5, 2015 by JawZ

[TechAngel85]

Thanks, JawZ! I used to take a daily multi-vitamin and an Omega capsule which had all 3 omega oils in it as well, but have left that behind for the most part. I can tell a difference when I took them because when I did I "felt" like I had more energy. This was a simple side-effect of the high dose of B vitamins which were present in the pills, though.

 

I have found the best thing to curve my sweet-tooth are Fuji apples. I don't particularly care for apples much, with Fuji apples being the only exception. They're among the sweetest of the apples you can buy and really satisfy my sweet cravings well. Almost as good as dark chocolate (60% cacao)...the one thing I can never give up!

[JawZ]

Same here, my dear old mom has drilled me of that since I was a kid. Now I'm the one telling here what she should take and what she should let go. It can also be a place-bo effect, at least that what I partially got from it as well.

Another thing if you require a "supplement" addition in your day to day meals, is through veggie and fruit jucies or preferably smoothies, to get the most of the content in that "über-nutrition" drink. Juice centrifuge, or whatever they are called in english, is a good investment ;)

Recipes for such juices can be had here -> https://www.rebootwithjoe.com/category/blog/recipes/smoothies/

Those two movies started my interest to taking this more seriously , but I did immediately see a flaw in his "reboot plan", i'm not stupid, of course he looses fat when he only drinks fluids  .

 

Chocolate is my Achilles heel, but years before I even considered eating more vegetables I opted for dark chocolates, 70% and up (it's that or milk chocolate that's available here). But I do struggle with it still, damn my sweet tooth  And it doesn't help with all the candy ads either! But luckily I don't have a TV so not that much advertising of it, but still.

 

Oh and I added a recipe in the previous post, if you missed it.

[TechAngel85]

I was "juicing" for a while until it got to be a little expensive for my budget. You can very quickly go through a weeks worth of vegetables in just a couple days when you're juicing. Since we're sharing recipes, I'll share one of my Fall favorites:

 

Sweet Potato & Anasazi Bean Stew (sorry, US metrics)

 

 

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Onion, diced

2 Carrots, diced

2 Celery Stocks, diced

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

1 Large Sweet Potato, cut into 1/2" inch cubes

30oz Anasazi Beans, cooked

6 Cups Vegetable Stock/Broth

Green Onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons Cumin

2 tablespoons Tomato Paste

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

Directions:

1. Place onion, carrot, and celery in a 6qt pot or dutch oven. Using a healthy oil, saute over medium heat until vegetables are soft.
2. Add garlic and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the green onion to the pot and bring to a boil.
4. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and cook covered for 15-25 minutes or until sweet potato is soft and tender. Occasionally stir the stew while it's cooking.
5. Garnish with green onion and serve while hot.

 

Tips:

1. Pinto beans can be substituted for Anasazi beans. Canned beans can be used, but be sure to drain and rinse the beans before use.
2. Pumpkin can be used instead of sweet potato and is actually what this recipe originally calls for. I don't like pumpkin so I replaced it with sweet potatoes for a naturally sweeten stew.
3. I typically never add salt to this stew. I have a sensitive palate to salt so, for my tastes, it doesn't need it. I actually rarely cook with salt.
4. For non-vegetarians, chicken works well in this recipe when cut to about double the size of the sweet potato. You can simply toss the raw chicken into the stew with the rest of the ingredients in step 3.
5. This stew is one of those stews which is even better the next day after the flavors have more of a chance to meld so I hope you have leftovers to enjoy for lunch the next day!
6. A very good side paring for this dish is cornbread or sweet cornbread (not the healthiest side, but good nonetheless).

 

 

 

Totally off-topic:

I find it interesting to find people who don't have a TV, like myself. I haven't had a TV service in years! I found the main use I was using the TV for was background noise. I also found that any shows which I had an interest in, could be found online at the station's website the following day they air. So I've only had internet service for years now. If I want to keep up with any TV shows, I can simply watch them online. For background noise, I now turn on internet radio and I'm set. I honestly find it strange that people have cable or satellite TV these days. It's just a waste of money.

[rootsrat]

+100 for chia seeds! I love them!

[Guest]

Oh nice T. I totally understand about buying and blending food being costly. I gave up making my own smoothies because it was messy and actually more expensive, even with the proper kit. I know the culture around you is hard to kick. I have many people not understand why I made a choice like this. They sometimes try to undermine your choices and really you just have you ignore them, as hard as that can be. I hardly watch TV either. It's a growing trend around the world. Live viewers are in decline. 

 

I think you are right about supplements Jawz, I tell people to just eat better and that is enough really. You don't need them if you eat right. Not that I eat right, but probably better than some.

 

I looked up chia, but I dunno' algae oil is more expensive, but lasts 2 months at 1 capsule a day. It is a new thing that is farmed in tanks and is basically the oil that is in fish, but from a reproduced plant source. Also, hardly no fish smell! I'm sure it will go down and down in price too.

[JawZ]

TechAngel;

I experienced that as well. And have gone to just making smoothies as a between the meals on occasion, or when I've been lazy and not made any dinner!

 

Thanks for sharing the recipe, I will have a go with it during the weekend, unfortunately I don't have a oven. Still going back and forth between purchasing that or a dishwasher, can't have both, looks like my ma and pa is getting a free dinner this weekend. No worries, used to them by now.

 

And I got hungry so here's another recipe I just came up with

[spoiler=A(l) Weird Veggie Burrito]

2-4 soft tortillas

400g potatoes

300g artichoke

2 Eggs

1 mozzarella "lump"

1 Yellow Onion or half of a big one

250g Cherry Tomatoes

1 avocado

Salt and pepper to taste (In the mashed potatoes and artichoke mix)

1. Prepare the potatoes and artichoke, then start boiling them.
2. Fry the eggs.
3. Peel, chop and prepare the onion, mozzarella, tomatoes and avocado.
4. Then just mash it all together in a soft tortilla and you're good to go, fast simple and delicious :)

One can also do a olive oil based dressing to add to this, but I couldn't wait, hehehe.

 

 

 

 

 

rootsrat;

Dito ;)

 

 

SparrowPrince;

I have always gone with "everything in moderation", too most things anyway. Which together with a varied sort of meals is just the way to do it. I don't now either if it's better then some but I feel better and feel better about putting the sort of meals I cook today then what I used to cook 5-10 years ago. Fast things that was more or less done only needed to heat it by various means.

 

Well algae oil is a good supplement, as it is where fish get's their good fats from. Chia is just as sugar is on ol' pancakes, just for the good of having it on ;)

[aaltair]

It's great to see so many people experimenting with what's right for them in terms of food. I think the best thing is not to adhere too rigidly to any one philosophy other than to avoid processed foods of all kinds. I've tried a lot of different things over the years. I was a strict vegetarian for 5 years during which time I was very unhealthy. Never had enough energy. I was a professional dancer and trained an average of 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. Vegetarianism didn't work for me despite "doing it right". The moment I went back to meat I felt great. So I think that every body is different and for some people no matter how bad you want it, being a vegetarian is not going to be an option. So after that I went to a high fat "diet" but still ate carbs because I could. That worked out great until I "retired" from dance at the ancient age of 35, then discovered those carbs I could just burn through with my highly active days didn't react so well with going back to school and sitting at a desk a lot of the time, lol. So now i'm low carb although not no carbs and focus on healthy fats. 

 

What I do is I make a kale smoothie every day and that gets me through to mid-afternoon. The kale smoothie contains about 2 cups of kale, 2 banannas, 1/4 cup full fat no sugar or additives greek yogurt, 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil, 1/2 an avocado, about 1/2 a squeezed lemon, and a big handful of frozen fruit such as blueberries and strawberries. Sometimes I'll add a Tablespoon of honey of it needs sweetening, especially if the lemon was a juicy one. The best way to make these so that they're delicious is to blend the kale with water before you add any other ingredients. So you pack your blender with the kale (pull the stems off) and add about a cup of water and the lemon juice. Blend until the kale bits are microscopic and you've essentially got kale juice, takes about 5 minutes for my blender. Then add the rest of your ingredients and blend. You could add chia seeds, almond butter, whatever. 

 

Mid-afternoon i'll have something like a handful of almonds or if i'm home i'll scramble an egg or if i'm craving carbs i'll have some toast. Basically you have a small something in the afternoon. Unless you eat dinner before 6, then you can probably wait. I eat dinner after 7 and I eat whatever I want there although I still keep the carbs to a minimum. Pasta dinners are once in a great while. I think the key is not eating crap foods like fast food anything or packaged meals. You can make enough kale smoothie to last you several days so if your mornings are filled with rushing to work you just put the smoothie in a cup and go.

 

It probably sounds like a diet but it's not. There's actually a lot of high-energy healthy fats in that smoothie and it's incredibly filling, perfect for a vegetarian if that's what you're doing. I'm not in the same shape I was when I was dancing full time but duh, no diet will make that happen without the accompanying 4-6 hours of strenuous activity daily. I still work out regularly but i'm not shooting for superhuman anymore, I just want to look good while I'm sitting at my desk modding skyrim ;) lol

Edited November 28, 2015 by aaltair