The Glade 4.0

So I have been giving serious thought to cutting way down on my meat intake and becoming sorta vegetarian. Not a FULL vegetarian or vegan, mind you, but saving meat for special occassions.

Basically, I want to do it for health reasons (animals taste good but are oh so fatty).

Is anyone here a vegetarian or mostly follow a vegetable diet that can give any words of wisdom?

Pros, Cons to such a diet?

*poke*
*poke*
mmmm burger.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Hush, enabler!

Butter up that bacon!

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Not Vegan, ok. Ovo-lacto? Is fish a vegetable? Some people pretend it is so they get enough protein. Once you get involved it all tends to blur.

Beans and rice, 1000s of ways to make them, most even taste good. This is your staple, try all the beans, most can be prepared tasty.

Pasta and sauce are usually way overdone by early convert vegetarians. Unless you have a celiac problem wheat is okay, but if you do pasta and sauce every night, it gets old real fast. Parmesan cheese is fat.

Whole grains have protein, bran, etc. Prepared properly you don't even have to go around being avoided for Screelingesque reasons.

Vegetables exist in varieties you have probably never tried. Hit a few farmer's markets and try the ones you've never had. Look up recipes for them.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme make a good lyric, but are horrible all together. Learn how to spice properly, a problem most early convert vegetarians blow off, then fall in love with later on.

Most ethnic cuisines have some good vegetarian dishes. My favorites include Indian and Thai.

Suspect anything with a broth that tastes good of having a large infusion of chicken or beef stock, usually with more fat that you want.

If it's shiny it's oily. Cheese is mostly fat. Peanut butter is mostly fat. Olive oil is fat, but it is a good fat.

Sauteeing onions and garlic goes very well with just a little olive oil.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Shelgeyr and I have both been vegetarian in the past, me mostly because I caught myself adding meat or cheese every time I wanted to increase flavour and I didn't want to be a lazy chef. Most cuisines are plant based with the addition of minimal protein, and these are very healthy... you just have to be careful of some of the pitfals Mike mentioned.

Some tips:

Take a multivitamin and fish oil.
Find a good vegetarian broth. ImagineFoods no-chicken broth is excellent, use it to poach veggies, as a soup base, for rice, or in sauces.
Egg beaters are just egg whites dyed yellow. Lots of protein, no fat. Make egg drop soup.
Vegetables are delicious roasted.
Buy spices in bulk, it's much cheaper so you wont worry so much about using them.
Tofu is great in moderation, but don't pretend it's meat. Enjoy it for what it is.
Beans. Amaranth. Quinoa. Soy. All vegetable protein.
Try new things. If you're not anti-meat you can use things like fish sauce to add flavour
Eggplant is yummy, but most preparations involve a lot of oil. You're actually better off with a chicken breast.
Salads aren't low-fat if you're using half a cup of dressing. Serving size is 2 tablespoons, that's a coffee scoop.
Use toasted nuts as a garnish. They're high in fat, but it's good fat.

I love seafood, so no problemo there.

Do baked beans with all the gooey drippins count? Or are you just meaning like lima beans, kidney beans, etc. Rice is alright, because I like rice.

Pasta is trickier because I fall into the "overdo" category you mentioned. I guess I could do spaghetti with an olive oil concotion of some sort.

I'm not sure how Screeling fits into all this, but it sounds embarassing and unpleasant.

Yeah, veggies are gonna be the big one. But that's okay because I love veggies.

Spices I have, but they tend to be salty. Guess I'll need to spend some more time in the fresh foods dept.

Oriental food in general has a lot of good veggie dishes I normally pass up. Tonight we went out to a Japanese place, and I ordered the vegetable hibachi dish -- no meat anywhere. Was really good.

Only real cheese I tend to eat any more is parmasean on spaghetti, but I can always cut back on that. And I don't really do soup, aside from the occasional tomato soup.

The biggest problem for me is seeing all the meaty temptations calling me like a succubus of arterial death. I think that will be the biggest hurdle.

Thanks for the advice, TR ... er Micheal. You are a bull moose among men.

All the gooey drippings on baked beans adds a lot of flavor and twice as many calories. look at the labels for the various sauces you love. BBQ sauce frequently has three kinds of sugar in the top 6 ingredients. Consider Fava, black, white, Anasazi, pinto, lima, kidney, string, navy, lentils, chickpeas, yellow, and I haven't even scratched the surface on bean varieties.

Refried means fried twice, think about that.

Canned means high salt. Drain and rinse.

Try Pasta e fagioli, pasta and beans, good stuff. Go ahead and swallow.

Cutting back on your calories by foregoing meat doesn't mean plop on the cream sauce either.

Listen closely to that siren call - hear the wail of your arteries. Feel the sludgy white cholesterol building upon the inside of your veins caking and drying like spackle until your blood cells are making their way through to your heart at a tenth their normal rate. hear the tininitis in your ears buzzing, ringing, going WARNING System Under Pressure - Could Blow at Any Moment.

Be like Teddy, enjoy the great outdoors, exercise, walk in the woods, and if you have to eat meat, hunt it down and kill it yourself.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

If things get boring you can alway spice them up with various varieties of peppers, fresh, ground, dried, etc...

Not 'spice mixes'... spices. Ground ginger has no salt. Neither does chili powder. Or dried oregano.

Oh! Lemons and shallots! Keep them on hand, they are how a chef increases flavour without fat or salt.

Well I forgot to stop by the fresh spices section today, but I took the plunge and purchased a primarily vegetarian lot of groceries (only meat I got was a small amount in some pre-packaged chef salads). We'll see how this goes . . .

Just a reminder: It is entirely possible to have a vegetarian diet that is unhealthy and full of fats as it is to have an omnivorous diet that is lean and balanced.

Exactly, vegetarian or vegan does not equal healthy diet, I have 3 vegan friends, they are all obese, I eat meat but i'm not, it's entirely how you eat, and meat is only fatty if you eat fatty meat, I mostly eat chicken which isn't fatty if it's white meat. Overall though being an omnivore is a more health balanced diet, vegetarian/vegan is only viable if you get nutriants your body needs from artifical sources, aka pills.

Not true. It's totally possible to get every nutrient you need from a plant source, it just requires a bit more effort.

This. Unfortunately, many vegetarians and vegans exercise a poor diet, but it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't even require that much effort -- just a little education. I don't really advocate vegetarianism myself, but there are a lot of combinations of vegetables that will result in complete nutrition that is in every way as adequate as a diet containing meat. A classic example of this is:

Corn + beans = complete protein (all amino acids are present)

The mezo-americans had a pretty solid diet going. And now you know why Mexican food is what it is.

Really, though, the "secret" to a mostly-vegetarian diet is the same as any other healthy diet -- plenty of variety. You want some grains, nuts, seeds, legumes (beans), leafy vegetables, fruit, and starchy vegetables (ex. potatoes). That is, don't dwell on a just a single category and you'll be fine. I always cringe when I see someone go on a "vegetarian" diet that consists almost entirely of pasta and potatoes because they don't really like green vegetables. Not only is that sort of high-starch diet nutritionally inadequate, it's also obesity waiting to happen.

For this sort of diet, a good rule of thumb is that a serving of meat is about the size of a deck of cards (2-3oz), and you should aim for about 2 servings a day.

Learn to like whole grains if don't already. They're much better for you. And when you're buying bread, make sure you're buying 100% whole wheat bread. Bread that merely says "whole wheat" (without the "100%") is hardly better than white bread. Similarly, most breakfast cereals are not particularly that great since they don't use whole grains. They're not bad for you, but nutritionally speaking, you'd be better off just eating some cheese toast or oatmeal.

The orange juice you buy in the grocery store is incredibly high in sugar and calories compared to just eating an orange (or two).

This is kind of more of a general cooking tip but get a good collection of spices and don't be afraid to season things. Yes, you can over-season, but in my experience most people err the other way. Seasoning adds a lot of flavor with essentially 0 impact on nutrition. People are often used to being lazy with their seasoning because they eat a diet that is high in fat and sugar. As Taamar contends, fat and sugar are a "lazy" (but effective) way to make things taste better. This leads a lot of people to try a healthier and diet and then give up because it "tastes bland" or just doesn't taste good. The reality, though, is simply that most people don't know how to cook anymore. Fortunately, at a non-professional level, it's mostly the case that -- as my mother likes to say -- "if you can read, you can cook". I don't know if it's possible to get your hands on some of the Weight Watchers cookbooks without being a member, but I can vouch that they have a lot of really good recipes that are low-calorie and that conform to the sort of vegetable/meat ratio you're looking at.

A teaspoon of honey will sweeten a remarkably large bowl of strawberries (or other fruit) for far less calories than it would take to sweeten them with sugar.

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Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

Not entirely true I am afraid.

Vitamin B12 is animal only and difficult to absorb to boot. Lack of vitamin B12 can cause anemia and then eventual peripheral and central nervous system damage.

Vegan Indians had no trouble in India, but developed problems when they emigrated to England. Why you may ask? Well there was much less insect infestation of stored food stuffs.

My other degree (MS) is in nutrition.

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Memento Vivere

I have local knowledge.
That sandbar was not there yesterday!

AHA! Thank you for clarification, I've done a little research and found an even nastier connection: "Human faeces can contain significant B12. A study has shown that a group of Iranian vegans obtained adequate B12 from unwashed vegetables which had been fertilised with human manure. Faecal contamination of vegetables and other plant foods can make a significant contribution to dietary needs, particularly in areas where hygiene standards may be low. This may be responsible for the lack of aneamia due to B12 deficiency in vegan communities in developing countries.

EEW!

However... I seem to recall my vegan friends eating nutritional yeast for B12, and I have rice milk, soy milk, and coconut milk in the house that are all fortified with it. Some cereals are fortified as well. While it may not be a naturally occuring thing, it's certainly possible to get it from a properly managed vegan diet.

I found an alternative to meat sauce spaghetti that is not only healthier, but (IMO) much tastier.

Spaghetti with Olive Oil and Vinegar salad dressing.

Made some last night, and man was it good. Even better, olive oil does not solidify when cooled.

I'd suggest reading Michael Pollan's Omnivores Dilemma and In Defense Of Food.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143038583?pf_ ... PDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/Defense-Food-Eate ... y_b_text_b

I particularly like In Defense of Food's simple advice: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I also like that he tackles the "food-science" industry where they constantly bombard you with the latest "must have" concoction infused into your food. i.e. "We'll take this piece of chicken, add this and this and take out that and... there it's better food!" Err no.

The bulk of the book is about defining what "food" is. Unprocessed, natural, whole foods. Lean meats, fish, poultry. Veggies, fruits, grains, nuts, beans.

I've also had this recommended to me but I have yet to read it myself. I'm ordering it soon:

http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Life-Bill- ... 697&sr=1-1

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe