nocones wrote:
Javelin wrote:
I know this will bring out the nay-sayers, but here it goes:
Vegetarian.
No supplements, no vitamins, etc.
I'll answer any questions, and hopefully the "you must have protein!" crazies will stay quiet.
Please explain what you eat and how much? I'm seriously interested. Got what your typical day/week looks like from a food standpoint?
I've don't know if I could ever go vegetarian but I do know that the healthy eating principles can be augmented or modified to accomidate deliscious chicken, lean beef, pork and other animals that went through the trouble of eating all those veggies for me so I don't have to.
I've just kinda stabilized with the type and quantity of food I eat and am staying fairly constant in weight all be it high.
Sure! Let's see, yesterday was hot wheat cereal for breakfast, glass of OJ, two homemade cinnamon pumpkin muffins, a banana, whole grain rice with an African dish (deit w'et or something like that? It was a new recipe, had tomatoes, spices, barley, onions, garlic, etc in it) for lunch, an apple at work for the afternoon snack, a handful of raisins and almonds, and dinner was homemade "meatballs" (TVP, onion, spices) with roasted brussel sprouts and cornbread. Desert was a little dark chocolate. I drank water all day and had two mugs of fresh hot tea (I do organic black tea).
Typical breakfasts include stone-ground oats, polenta, grits, etc. We try and do some fruit on the side (picked all summer so we have a freezer full of peaches, berries, etc). Snacks are fresh fruit from whatever is in season (mandarin oranges right now!) like kiwi, grapefruit, apples, etc. We do a lot of home baking and use good ingredients (pure cane sugar, whole-grains, etc). Lunches are typically the leftovers of last night's dinner, but we also do sandwiches (the Tofurkey brand lunch "meats" are good), wraps, and burritos. Speaking of burritos, dinner is very typical American fare. I love the Boca brand "Chk'n" like the burgers and nuggets. We do a lot of Mexican (using dried beans to make our own beans and refried beans) like burritos, tacos, and tamales. I also like to grill tofu (the trick is to get extra firm and press all of the water out of it first) and wrap that in a tortilla with rice, a little melted jack cheese, and some green Tabasco. We also do a lot of pasta dishes. My favorite for football day is Gardein "Buffalo Wings", they taste like and have the same texture as the real thing.
We got in a rut for dinner so we bought a cookbook and are doing every recipe in order, which has actually been really fun. There's been some duds, but a lot of things that were outside my comfort zone (like the African dish) are actually really good. We do a mean cheater Pad Thai, too.
As for missing the flavor of meat, it's all in spices. Have you ever eaten meat just cooked straight with no salt, rub, or anything (especially on propane)? It's bland. Some science studies show that humans can't chemically taste meat protein, either. Anyway, you can do all the same sauces, spice rubs, and marinades on the meat substitutes as you can on meat. So a lot of my favorite recipes pretty much ported right over.
If you're on the west coast, seek out a chain called "Veggie Grill", it's like a vegan Applebee's, it's insanely good. That'll give you an idea of how meat-like the fake stuff can be. Plus, onion rings!