Lots of people ask me what I eat for my protein source now that I have cut animal products from my diet. Honestly, before going veg, I only really ate chicken and fish with the occasional steak or red meat source. Even when we were grilling, I'd still make a veggie burger for myself.
But, now I do have to make sure that I get enough protein, since apparently chicken had a shitload of lean protein. So now my best sources are:
BEANS They pack alot of protein. Luckily there are plenty of beans to choose from, so I can have a variety. Its been easy to replace my old favorite meat-basted recipes with beans. I use chickpeas for my chickpea salad for lunch as well as using them in recipes. I also have grown to love black beans and kidney beans. Lentils are my newest bean to play around with.
TOFU I already liked tofu, so this one was easy. I love it in stir fries and grilled. I even made scrambled tofu last weekend and it was delicious!
QUINOA (keen-wah) SUPERFOOD! This baby is the queen of whole grains and complete protein. It can be used in place of rice in any recipe. (People in Bolivia even eat it as oatmeal - I have yet to try that one.) It is loaded with vitamins and minerals. It is a great source of folate, iron, magnesium and zinc...and it is one of the few non-meat foods that provide all eight of the essential amino acids that our bodies need to repair themselves. Mmmm, mmmmm good!
NUTS Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. I try not to eat too much because of fat content, but plenty of protein here.
PROTEIN BARS / PROTEIN SHAKES I really love the Odwalla Super Protein bar that has 16g of protein...sometimes I will have that as part of my breakfast in the car if I am in a hurry or as an afternoon snack. I am still trying to find the best vegan protein mix that dissolves well in almond milk just with a spoon. I hate pulling out the blender, so I need one that dissolves easily - I'll keep you posted.
VEGGIE BURGERS I love my veggie burgers - any variety - bring 'em on! Luckily I loved veggie burgers even before going veg, so this was easy peasy.
MEAT SUBSTITUTES - Gardein makes a whole bunch of delicious meat substitutes.The ones Ive tried are:
~the crispy tenders "chick'n strips" - my favorite so far- I even got my sister to eat them and she said she'd eat them again.
~the "buffalo wings" - yummy
~the stuffed turk'y breasts (available at Thanksgiving, but I still see them in the stores now)- amazing!
~chick'n & scallopini is still in my freezer - I'll let you know
~bbq pulled shreds - I was never ever big on pulled pork, so i I wasn't too crazy for this one. I got is for Craig to try - he wasn't too crazy for it either.
~chicken strips - I had them once and don't feel the need to have them again. I'd rather put garbanzo beans on my salad
Edamame Mmmmm mmmmm! Fresh green soybeans (thankfully not genetically modified) Another complete protein source! A 1/2-cup serving of shelled edamame contains only 100 calories, with 3 g of unsaturated fat and 8 g of protein. It also provides 4 g of fiber and is a good source of calcium, copper, folate, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, thiamin, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K. Edamame doesn't contain any cholesterol and has very little sodium* (unless you throw some salt on them, of course!)
Protein can even be found in my everyday goodies such as oatmeal, cereals, bagels, breads, broccoli, potatoes, peas, and even spaghetti and rice
I am still learning about / experimenting with.....
SEITAN - no, not Satan...say-tan -it's the protein part of wheat gluten. Some people refer to it as "wheat meat." Ive used it once in a stir fry - it had a chewy texture like meat- good if you drown it with a yummy sauce. Boring if its plain.
TEMPEH The NKOTB for me (oh, that's 'new kid on the block' for those of you unfamiliar with boy band lingo.) I've been interested in this even though its higher in fat than tofu or other proteins. I bought some 'jalapeno flavored' at the Farmer's Market and it was DELICIOUS! I cant wait to get another container. (wikipedia says..."it is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty.")
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Have you lost any weight?
Alot of people ask if I have lost any weight on my new diet.
Well, the thing about losing weight is that you have to stop eating like a piggy and start exercising, no matter what kind of diet you are following. I am still working on both of those, so.... nope....I haven't lost any weight yet, but I plan on it once I get moooving (hee hee a cow pun!) and get a grip on the amount of calories I am taking in each day.
Well, the thing about losing weight is that you have to stop eating like a piggy and start exercising, no matter what kind of diet you are following. I am still working on both of those, so.... nope....I haven't lost any weight yet, but I plan on it once I get moooving (hee hee a cow pun!) and get a grip on the amount of calories I am taking in each day.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
So far so good....
First week of transition to vegan = success in my book....but definitely LOTS to be learned.
Eating at home is quite easy - there are so many recipes out there - plus, most of the vegetarian things I had been making were already vegan (or could be made vegan very easily.) Most of the times, all I need to do is take out the cheese and voila! vegan! Honestly, most things I make don't taste any different to me without the cheese.
Today I made tofu scramble for the first time - YUMMY! Craig said that if I served it to anyone else, that it could pass for real eggs. Hmmm...wonder who I can pull one over on ;)
Going out is another issue.
At dinner this week, we THOUGHT that we ordered something that was vegan, until we got a little surprise when we tasted butter. This is totally a learning experience for us...we are going to make TONS of mistakes along the way...AND we're going to end up eating non-vegan foods by accident or by choice along the line...but the main thing is that we are making an effort to not use/ consume animal products as much as we possibly can without making ourselves crazy. It will not be the end of the world when we mess up...and we will certainly never send anything back at a restaurant if we discover it has something we weren't expecting.
I am going to try my best to be as vegan as possible when out, but I am sure there will be times when it might not work out 100%.
This week we had vegan pizza for the first time at a pizza place at the farmer's market - it was certainly delicious and I didnt miss "real' cheese one bit!
In the same meal, we did learn that Guinness is not vegan....oops!
From Guinness:
In reference to your inquiry, isinglass, a fish product, is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast. To the strict Vegan, this would be considered an animal product and therefore unsuitable.
Like I said....we're going to make LOTS of mistakes along the way!
Eating at home is quite easy - there are so many recipes out there - plus, most of the vegetarian things I had been making were already vegan (or could be made vegan very easily.) Most of the times, all I need to do is take out the cheese and voila! vegan! Honestly, most things I make don't taste any different to me without the cheese.
Today I made tofu scramble for the first time - YUMMY! Craig said that if I served it to anyone else, that it could pass for real eggs. Hmmm...wonder who I can pull one over on ;)
Going out is another issue.
At dinner this week, we THOUGHT that we ordered something that was vegan, until we got a little surprise when we tasted butter. This is totally a learning experience for us...we are going to make TONS of mistakes along the way...AND we're going to end up eating non-vegan foods by accident or by choice along the line...but the main thing is that we are making an effort to not use/ consume animal products as much as we possibly can without making ourselves crazy. It will not be the end of the world when we mess up...and we will certainly never send anything back at a restaurant if we discover it has something we weren't expecting.
I am going to try my best to be as vegan as possible when out, but I am sure there will be times when it might not work out 100%.
This week we had vegan pizza for the first time at a pizza place at the farmer's market - it was certainly delicious and I didnt miss "real' cheese one bit!
In the same meal, we did learn that Guinness is not vegan....oops!
From Guinness:
In reference to your inquiry, isinglass, a fish product, is used during the clarification process as a magnet to get rid of excess yeast. To the strict Vegan, this would be considered an animal product and therefore unsuitable.
Like I said....we're going to make LOTS of mistakes along the way!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Making the leap to VEGAN
baby cows are NOT trash :(
This link is just part of the reason that I have decided to cut dairy out of my life. I cannot believe that it has taken me this long to allow myself to see the truth. Animals are not trash and should never be treated that way. I allowed myself to see some of the videos of how cows, pigs, chickens, geese, turkeys, etc are treated at farms and it sickens me. It sickens me that for the almighty dollar, animals are allowed to live in disgusting, painful conditions and treated like machines rather than the living, beautiful creatures that they are. I can no longer support an industry that abuses these creatures anymore. It is so sad that people are being fooled by the pictures of "happy cows," wide open pastures, and loving farms on the packaging of dairy and meat products. I feel sick enough that I supported them for this much of my life, but I am THANKFUL that for the rest of my life I will know better.
I only wish that EVERYONE could feel this way. I wish that there was a way to spread this message without sounding preachy or self-righteous. I guess the only way is by the occasional facebook/twitter posting for now to try to get people to open their minds to what is going on. I can also become involved in local organizations and continue to support places like the Gentle Barn and Farm Sanctuary.
I am VERY thankful that Craig is also an animal lover and he is on board with me.He is willing to give a vegan lifestyle a try too! He has a unique way of transitioning in - he tells people "I am vegan when I cook at home, but vegetarian when I am out" since he feels overwhelmed about not being able to find anything to eat when he is out at bars and restaurants, which is understandable in the beginning stages. I think that in time we will find options at our favorite places, even if it means asking the waiter to change up the selections for us.
For now, that may be how I approach things - if we are out and I have no other options, maybe I will have to allow myself to have a dairy item....BUT in time, i would love to be able to just say no to it no matter what the circumstance. I think this will be a learning experience as we go along...maybe there will be situations where we have no choice but to have a small amount of dairy in a dish - we will see as we go along.
I am glad to have very supportive friends for the most part...I feel lucky to know others who are giving this a try so its been fun to be able to share websites, recipes and ideas.
For those interested in learning more....
Food Inc is a wonderful documentary that exposes the truth about the food industry. I will never look at food the same way again after watching this. This didn't just focus on meat, but also on the soybean and corn industry, which I learned some shocking things about. I continue to read about all the new things I learned from this.
Meet Your Meat (narrated by Alec Baldwin) is one of the graphic videos that I forced myself to watch. As much as it made me cry, I needed to see the truth. I think it was important for me to look at the images to truly understand the suffering animals live through each day for the sake of meat, eggs, milk, cheese, etc... It isn't a happy cow on a happy farm like the commercials show. Its a miserable cow in miserable conditions. Please watch for yourself.
This link is just part of the reason that I have decided to cut dairy out of my life. I cannot believe that it has taken me this long to allow myself to see the truth. Animals are not trash and should never be treated that way. I allowed myself to see some of the videos of how cows, pigs, chickens, geese, turkeys, etc are treated at farms and it sickens me. It sickens me that for the almighty dollar, animals are allowed to live in disgusting, painful conditions and treated like machines rather than the living, beautiful creatures that they are. I can no longer support an industry that abuses these creatures anymore. It is so sad that people are being fooled by the pictures of "happy cows," wide open pastures, and loving farms on the packaging of dairy and meat products. I feel sick enough that I supported them for this much of my life, but I am THANKFUL that for the rest of my life I will know better.
I only wish that EVERYONE could feel this way. I wish that there was a way to spread this message without sounding preachy or self-righteous. I guess the only way is by the occasional facebook/twitter posting for now to try to get people to open their minds to what is going on. I can also become involved in local organizations and continue to support places like the Gentle Barn and Farm Sanctuary.
I am VERY thankful that Craig is also an animal lover and he is on board with me.He is willing to give a vegan lifestyle a try too! He has a unique way of transitioning in - he tells people "I am vegan when I cook at home, but vegetarian when I am out" since he feels overwhelmed about not being able to find anything to eat when he is out at bars and restaurants, which is understandable in the beginning stages. I think that in time we will find options at our favorite places, even if it means asking the waiter to change up the selections for us.
For now, that may be how I approach things - if we are out and I have no other options, maybe I will have to allow myself to have a dairy item....BUT in time, i would love to be able to just say no to it no matter what the circumstance. I think this will be a learning experience as we go along...maybe there will be situations where we have no choice but to have a small amount of dairy in a dish - we will see as we go along.
I am glad to have very supportive friends for the most part...I feel lucky to know others who are giving this a try so its been fun to be able to share websites, recipes and ideas.
For those interested in learning more....
Food Inc is a wonderful documentary that exposes the truth about the food industry. I will never look at food the same way again after watching this. This didn't just focus on meat, but also on the soybean and corn industry, which I learned some shocking things about. I continue to read about all the new things I learned from this.
Meet Your Meat (narrated by Alec Baldwin) is one of the graphic videos that I forced myself to watch. As much as it made me cry, I needed to see the truth. I think it was important for me to look at the images to truly understand the suffering animals live through each day for the sake of meat, eggs, milk, cheese, etc... It isn't a happy cow on a happy farm like the commercials show. Its a miserable cow in miserable conditions. Please watch for yourself.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Its been awhile....
I haven't blogged since July, but I plan on starting up again with the new year....
all I know is - I have A LOT to learn!
all I know is - I have A LOT to learn!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Update and funny story
I am proud to say that Craig and I are still going strong with our meat-free diet! We are talking about someday making the leap to vegan, but right now we are rocking out without meat in our diets! I have given up cow's milk completely and only eat cheese on occasion.When I told my mom of course she said I was "nuts" but after talking to her about the reasons, she seemed to understand better. We were in NJ for 10 days last week and one day she said she "felt sorry for us" that we weren't having what she grilled. We bought our own veggie burgers (splurged on the expensive Amy's brand which were yummy!) and I explained to her that my meal was just as enjoyable. I also pointed out that we were able to enjoy all the other things she prepared (salads, vegetables, etc) and that made her feel better.
Funny story - one day she was lost on what to make. She did not want us to cook a vegetarian dinner (I think she was afraid my Dad wouldnt like it) so I suggested she could make lasagna. As we were about to eat it, she had a very worried look. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she accidently used meat sauce in it. Neither Craig or I made a big deal - she was obviously trying...and she seemed genuinely upset that she messed up - so we both enjoyed her food thoroughly. In my mind I thanked and apologized to the poor cow and moved on. Neither of us got sick, thankfully...but that was the only time where we didn't make a big deal about it.
After every meal Craig and I eat together, I say something like "Honey - no creatures were hurt in this meal!!" and we smile at each other with pride. It sure feels good to eat with compassion!
Funny story - one day she was lost on what to make. She did not want us to cook a vegetarian dinner (I think she was afraid my Dad wouldnt like it) so I suggested she could make lasagna. As we were about to eat it, she had a very worried look. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she accidently used meat sauce in it. Neither Craig or I made a big deal - she was obviously trying...and she seemed genuinely upset that she messed up - so we both enjoyed her food thoroughly. In my mind I thanked and apologized to the poor cow and moved on. Neither of us got sick, thankfully...but that was the only time where we didn't make a big deal about it.
After every meal Craig and I eat together, I say something like "Honey - no creatures were hurt in this meal!!" and we smile at each other with pride. It sure feels good to eat with compassion!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Planning meals: I really need to start planning out weekly meals so that I don't feel so stressed the day of...and so I dont find myself eating chickpeas 3 days in a row. I started a list of ideas of meals to eat that I can pull from each week. hopefully that helps a bit.
Things I have learned about eating the past few weeks:
Hummus: Its a wonderful thing to put on sandwiches for lunch but I have to be careful - this stuff is TOO good once I start using it as a dipping snack. Sure, its healthy, but too much of a good thing could be bad, so I have to try to cool it with the hummus - plus I dont want to get tired of it. I NEED it for when I go out to places that dont have many options. I need to make sure I enjoy it and it doenst become an everyday borning food like turkey sandwiches had become.
Fish:Its time to say goodbye. I thought I could do it. We went out for sushi and I just felt....well...bad. There are vegetarian sushi options so I can still enjoy the atmopsphere and edamame and stuff :)
Lunches: I have really fallen in love with hummous and tomato sandwiches. Cynthia said I'd find my "new turkey sandwich" and I think I just did! I need to remember to mix it up a bit though
Snacking: I need to be careful here. Its too easy to reach for almonds with the excuse of "oh, I need my protein" - I am getting enough protein in my meals - if not I can make a lowfat shake...Veggies and Fruits have to be my main snack - and TEA after dinner
Going out to restaurants:Be careful about too much hummous again. Also, when drinking, do not rely only on salad to be a filling meal. I have to eat some bread somehow in this situation.
As far as pastas I need to watch my portions.
Planning meals: I think I need to start planning meals a week in advance - not only to make sure I am not eating TOO MANY BEANS but to also make sure I get some variety in there. its tough not having chicken as the staple for every lowfat protein option, but I also need to remember to start using the cookbooks more and try new things. remember how amazing the quinoa stuffed peppers are? woo!
Things I have learned about eating the past few weeks:
Hummus: Its a wonderful thing to put on sandwiches for lunch but I have to be careful - this stuff is TOO good once I start using it as a dipping snack. Sure, its healthy, but too much of a good thing could be bad, so I have to try to cool it with the hummus - plus I dont want to get tired of it. I NEED it for when I go out to places that dont have many options. I need to make sure I enjoy it and it doenst become an everyday borning food like turkey sandwiches had become.
Fish:Its time to say goodbye. I thought I could do it. We went out for sushi and I just felt....well...bad. There are vegetarian sushi options so I can still enjoy the atmopsphere and edamame and stuff :)
Lunches: I have really fallen in love with hummous and tomato sandwiches. Cynthia said I'd find my "new turkey sandwich" and I think I just did! I need to remember to mix it up a bit though
Snacking: I need to be careful here. Its too easy to reach for almonds with the excuse of "oh, I need my protein" - I am getting enough protein in my meals - if not I can make a lowfat shake...Veggies and Fruits have to be my main snack - and TEA after dinner
Going out to restaurants:Be careful about too much hummous again. Also, when drinking, do not rely only on salad to be a filling meal. I have to eat some bread somehow in this situation.
As far as pastas I need to watch my portions.
Planning meals: I think I need to start planning meals a week in advance - not only to make sure I am not eating TOO MANY BEANS but to also make sure I get some variety in there. its tough not having chicken as the staple for every lowfat protein option, but I also need to remember to start using the cookbooks more and try new things. remember how amazing the quinoa stuffed peppers are? woo!
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