Vegetarianism and Performing at a top level of dance, skating

[peg]

For those giving advice, I feel it is prudent to note that the OP is already anemic even with meat in their diet...

yeah, that's why I really think he needs to see a dietitian or nutritionist

 

[Buttercup]

For those giving advice, I feel it is prudent to note that the OP is already anemic even with meat in their diet...

The OP mentioned getting injured, I don't recall anything about being anemic. If anemia is an issue, all the more reason to consult a nutritionist regardless of what diet is planned. It may be that the OP will be better able to absorb iron from non-meat sources.

To mnm464: Fuzzymarmot gave some excellent advice, but I just want to follow up on a couple of things: first, learning to cook is a really good idea. It doesn't have to be complicated stuff, just being able to put together nutritious dishes that you enjoy. The other thing is that healthy vegetarians cannot be picky, and here I disagree. I am picky. Not to a degree that I won't try anything new, but there are certainly things I don't like or don't want to try. The important thing is to find foods that you like and that work for you. You don't have to try everything, but you should try some new things (this is where being able to cook comes in handy!). And the one thing I really want to suggest is not trying to replace meat - you want to make sure you are following a balanced, nutritious diet, but it doesn't necessarily have to be vegetarian versions of meat dishes. There are so many delicious vegetarian options and you should enjoy them for what they are, not as substitutes. Explore and find out what you like and can make a staple food of your diet. Your goal should be to have a healthy diet, but also to enjoy what you eat. As a vegetarian for more than two decades, I can tell that it's definitely possible to do both Good luck!

 

[peg]

The thread he started about anemia is here: http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?54143-Fighting-Anemia-Tiredness

 

[yyyskate]

mnm464 Yuna is not a vegetarian. She reportedly said that, during her preparation for sochi og, she has a hard time to keep her muscle mass (probably due to her high metabolism) She had to force herself to eat lots of meat (that is Korean bbq near her rink). And Yuna also said in interviews, that she has no particular preferences in terms of diet.
EDIT: Yuna' fav food (as fans all know) is bread (or pastry). In late interviews she got too embarrassed and said she also likes rice too. I don't think Yuna is particularly picky about what she should eat or on some secret restricted diet. she was spotted buying junk food between comp sessions during 2013 worlds.
One thing interesting though, is that Yuna or perhaps skaters in general, craving for starch rich food (or carbohydrate). I also read that lots of skaters likes pasta and sushi.

 

[apgold]

Vitamin D(Indoor activity concern) U.S. Dietary Reference: 200 IU/day

Is this a misprint? Should be more like 2,000 IUs per day. No wonder there is a Vitamin D deficiency in the US.

 

[Buttercup]

The thread he started about anemia is here: http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?54143-Fighting-Anemia-Tiredness

Oh, okay. Well, I hope the OP can find a good way to address the anemia, because eating lots of red meat is hardly ideal, either.

I see. It seems that YuNa(still need confirmation) and Megan Duhamel are/were vegan/vegetarian. Any other top skaters and athletes that are notable? I want to do a little internet research!

Alissa Czisny and Gretchen Donlan are apparently both vegetarians.

 

[satine]

If getting enough iron w/o eating red meat is a concern, here are some options- pumpkin seeds, spinach, & very dark/pure chocolate. I'm sure there are other (maybe even better) options, but these are what I know of off the top of my head. Also, obviously, there are iron supplements, which I see you've said in your other thread you are already taking. I know that sometimes anemia is not as simple as just lacking in iron though, so of course getting blood tests & checkups with your trusted regular doc is always best.

 

[gourry]

If anyone wants to associate vegetarianism to being skinny, just remember that all huge animals are herbivore.... The largest animal ever existed on earth was also herbivore.

 

[Violet Bliss]

If anyone wants to associate vegetarianism to being skinny, just remember that all huge animals are herbivore.... The largest animal ever existed on earth was also herbivore.

That's what I always tell people worrying about not getting enough protein from a vegetarian diet. And for those who think milk is the only or the major way to get calcium, I ask them where cows get their calcium from. They don't drink milk but eat grass, ideally, though they are fed grains and drugs these days which are not natural or healthy for them, or us.

Milk is not the answer to strong bones. The countries with the highest dairy consumption are also the ones with the highest rate of osteoporosis. Calcium from CAFO cow milk is really not bio-absorbale. Drink too much milk and the calcium is deposited in all the wrong places, causing arthritis in joints, plague in blood vessels and stones in the kidneys. Vitamin K and magnesium are also essential for strong bones.

Really, someone who does not know how to eat well from a omnivorous diet likely does not how to eat well from a vegetarian diet. Eating right used to be natural and almost automatic, eating local products according to the seasons. These days it take a lot of awareness most people don't have, as Big Food feed us edible junk from agricultural practices that kill soil and environment, depleting food of nutrients while adding all kinds of toxins.

We can make our own vitamin D from sunlight and it can last 6 months in the body, a wonderful provision from nature for us to survive winter. Very dark skinned people, however, likely need supplement in colder climate due to their abundant melamine, developed to protect them from intense tropic sun. If you take D supplement, be sure it's the right kind.

Some essential minerals were once ubiquitous but hard to get enough of these days. Magnesium is extremely important and we can get them by eating sufficient fruits and vegetables. Selenium and zinc are severely depleted from most foods but the best source for each is hundreds of times more potent than the next best. For selenium, two Brazil nuts a day will do wonders for your health and longevity. They are from the Amazon and not economically feasible to grow commercially, which is why they are so good. The best source for zinc is oysters. For vegetarians and non vegetarians, backstrap molasses is a great source of many bio-absorbable minerals.

You can eat well and be healthy from both vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets with attention to avoid toxic edible junk and to eat a variety of naturally grown produce or clean meats. There are many personal reasons for anyone to choose vegetarian diet and generally I believe it is healthier for us as well as the environment. I am not completely vegetarian but I choose to eat low on the food chain, as consuming lives is necessary for living.

 

[apgold]

If you take D supplement, be sure it's the right kind.

Right kind = Vitamin D3, correct? And get levels checked via regular blood tests. I think anyone who isn't getting sunlight, regardless of their skin color needs to supplement, especially during the winter. Too much sunscreen isn't good either as it can block Vitamin D absorption.

And I am with you on the calcium thing. We take too much calcium for bones which does more harm than good. I've read a book called "The Calcium Lie" which is very interesting and challenges the conventional wisdom that calcium = strong bones.

I am not a vegetarian and require animal protein to feel full, which usually means eggs, lean chicken, turkey and some fish and dark meat on occasion (choosing organic/antibiotic free when possible).

 

[mnm464]

In response to mnm464:

I was a vegetarian twice: once in my early 20s, and now. Below are my stories of a) how to do it wrong and b) how to do it right. I offer them in hopes that they can offer some insight into your own decisions. As others have said, however, at the end of the day we are just so many strangers on the Internet, and your best sources of information lie closer to home.

How to do it wrong: I was a junk food vegetarian in my 20s. I rarely cooked, ate out a lot, and generally didn't make food a top priority. When I became a vegetarian, I mostly substituted cheese for meat and probably ate a higher-fat, higher calorie diet as a result. I gained weight, and didn't feel great. I felt much better once I started eating meat again.

Almost fifteen years later, I tried again and it's now a fundamental part of my lifestyle. Though I'm certainly not an Olympic athlete, I do enjoy an active lifestyle with hobbies such as cycling, rock climbing, and hiking. Here are some things that made a huge difference the second time around:

1) I learned to cook. I really think that cooking is essential to eating better, period, whether you choose to follow a Paleo, vegan, Mediterranean, or any other diet. A great place for vegetarians to start is Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. That's been my bible. Rather than just give recipes, he explains what the various ingredients are, how to make substitutions, and how to improvise. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Yes, cooking is a time commitment, but it doesn't need to be an exorbitant time commitment. I think that vegetarian meals can take longer to prepare on average than meat-centered meals, but it's easier to prepare large quantities and stockpile them for later. So being vegetarian isn't just about cooking vegetarian - it's about finding a routine that works for your lifestyle (for example, making a giant pot of lentil soup one day, that you can eat for the rest of the week).

2) I had vegan friends who introduced me to new ways of serving up plant-based protein sources such as tofu, tempeh, seitan, legumes, seaweed, nuts, seeds, and grains. Just as I believe you can't be a healthy vegetarian without learning how to cook for yourself, I also believe you can't be a healthy vegetarian while also being a picky eater. The right way to become a vegetarian is to increase the variety in your diet (by discovering new foods), rather than decreasing it (by eliminating meat, but replacing the meat with equally familiar but potentially less healthy foods such as cheese).

3) I dated (and later married) a fellow vegetarian. This isn't a requirement, as I know plenty of vegetarians married to non-vegetarians. But it does help a lot to have allies. When you say that "my dad says you can get all but one crucial amino acid from other supplements," this worries me because, well, your dad doesn't know what he's talking about. I suspect that he's conflating a longstanding myth (that vegetarians need to worry about "combining" amino acid sources to get "complete" proteins), and a very important fact (that vegans CANNOT get reliably get vitamin B12 through a plant-based diet, and MUST find a way to take vitamin B12 supplements in order to remain healthy). The important question here is, is your dad open to being educated? Are the people in your life willing to eat a few vegetarian meals with you, and help you explore vegetarian cooking and vegetarian nutrition? If they are, your road will be a lot easier. If they aren't, you'll need to educate them while educating yourself, which isn't impossible, but it's certainly more of an uphill battle.

4) I learned enough about the science in order to ignore the science. Let me explain this one. I think there is a HUGE amount of misinformation out there about how to eat vegetarian and maintain an active lifestyle. There's science, and there's pseudoscience. I can't help you separate fact from fiction, but I can advise you to read everything you can, listen to your body, and use common sense. Eventually, you'll hit a point where you can plan meals based on instinct and taste rather than bean-counting macronutrients (percentage of diet from fat, carbs, and protein) and micronutrients (making sure you get enough vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and iron). The science is important, but being able to maintain a lifestyle without going insane means that you eventually learn how to plan a week's worth of meals without having to count calories, measure out protein, or sum up your vitamin intake. Trust your doctors, but also trust your own body. Also realize that every person's body chemistry is different. If eating vegetarian just doesn't work for you, then perhaps the best dietary choice is to make an effort to find sustainably and humanely raised meat and seafood. This also requires research, but it's research that's well worth undertaking.

In the end, I think it's very much an American myth that we can eat mindlessly and not suffer the consequences. I personally believe that there are many different ways to eat mindfully, and no one way is the right way. My way works for me, and it also works for my husband. Best wishes, mnm464, as you find your own way.

And just to add to the list of high-level athletes who don't eat meat: Rock climber Steph Davis maintains a great blog, and she talks quite a bit about her choice to be a vegan. She has some great recipes as well.
http://www.highinfatuation.com/

From my experience, the "American" way of eating has only two problems, too much dairy and too much sugar, emphasis on the former. I think dairy-free goes a long way to maintain good health dietary-wise. I've been to some non-corporate milk farm in the U.S. and even though I already stopped dairy a lot of time ago I still found it implausible for people to drink those highly-processed milk that came out of this sort of place, and I can only imagine the processing that goes for corporate brands. I've tried vegetarian for a period sheerly out of curiosity (and that American processed meat tastes terrible) and didn't feel too different. Cooking vegetables isn't a thing done well in the West. I cannot imagine eating cold salads all day. Overall I think one cannot assume you will be able to maintain a reasonable weight if you eat milk cereals for breakfast and drink latte or hot choco all day even if you go vegetarian. I told my American ex-boyfriend to stop this cereal crap and he lost about 10 pounds within two months. I suppose though cereal is embedded into most Americans' food memory so it's close to impossible to actually stop eating it. I myself came from heavily oily unheavenly-looking Chinese culinary culture and wouldn't feel very happy if I don't get enough grease in anything I eat (though not American Chinese food kind of grease. American Chinese food is a total invention non-existent anywhere in China), vegetable or meat. I kind of admire the Western non-attention and non-complicatedness in food though. Preparation of food should not take as much time and effort as most Chinese people put into it.

The OP mentioned getting injured, I don't recall anything about being anemic. If anemia is an issue, all the more reason to consult a nutritionist regardless of what diet is planned. It may be that the OP will be better able to absorb iron from non-meat sources.

To mnm464: Fuzzymarmot gave some excellent advice, but I just want to follow up on a couple of things: first, learning to cook is a really good idea. It doesn't have to be complicated stuff, just being able to put together nutritious dishes that you enjoy. The other thing is that healthy vegetarians cannot be picky, and here I disagree. I am picky. Not to a degree that I won't try anything new, but there are certainly things I don't like or don't want to try. The important thing is to find foods that you like and that work for you. You don't have to try everything, but you should try some new things (this is where being able to cook comes in handy!). And the one thing I really want to suggest is not trying to replace meat - you want to make sure you are following a balanced, nutritious diet, but it doesn't necessarily have to be vegetarian versions of meat dishes. There are so many delicious vegetarian options and you should enjoy them for what they are, not as substitutes. Explore and find out what you like and can make a staple food of your diet. Your goal should be to have a healthy diet, but also to enjoy what you eat. As a vegetarian for more than two decades, I can tell that it's definitely possible to do both Good luck!

If getting enough iron w/o eating red meat is a concern, here are some options- pumpkin seeds, spinach, & very dark/pure chocolate. I'm sure there are other (maybe even better) options, but these are what I know of off the top of my head. Also, obviously, there are iron supplements, which I see you've said in your other thread you are already taking. I know that sometimes anemia is not as simple as just lacking in iron though, so of course getting blood tests & checkups with your trusted regular doc is always best.

Wow, so many posts! Yes, I am awareand totally agree that at the end of the day we are just a load of strangers, but it can't hurt to get some people's say along with research, imo. Yes, I am starting to cook for myself as a she-teen(just to make that bit clear for some of you) I especially like eggs, dairy, fruit and veggies. I don't care for junk food at all, as well as faux Chinese food. About the anemia, I take the iron tablets and am much better. I started to eat a lot more spinach(as I really don't care much for meat) and also took d3 supplements.

 

[peg]

Yes, I am starting to cook for myself as a she-teen(just to make that bit clear for some of you)

My apologies : For some reason I had thought you'd said you were a guy in a previous thread. My mistake

 

[mnm464]

In response to mnm464:

I was a vegetarian twice: once in my early 20s, and now. Below are my stories of a) how to do it wrong and b) how to do it right. I offer them in hopes that they can offer some insight into your own decisions. As others have said, however, at the end of the day we are just so many strangers on the Internet, and your best sources of information lie closer to home.

How to do it wrong: I was a junk food vegetarian in my 20s. I rarely cooked, ate out a lot, and generally didn't make food a top priority. When I became a vegetarian, I mostly substituted cheese for meat and probably ate a higher-fat, higher calorie diet as a result. I gained weight, and didn't feel great. I felt much better once I started eating meat again.

Almost fifteen years later, I tried again and it's now a fundamental part of my lifestyle. Though I'm certainly not an Olympic athlete, I do enjoy an active lifestyle with hobbies such as cycling, rock climbing, and hiking. Here are some things that made a huge difference the second time around:

1) I learned to cook. I really think that cooking is essential to eating better, period, whether you choose to follow a Paleo, vegan, Mediterranean, or any other diet. A great place for vegetarians to start is Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. That's been my bible. Rather than just give recipes, he explains what the various ingredients are, how to make substitutions, and how to improvise. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Yes, cooking is a time commitment, but it doesn't need to be an exorbitant time commitment. I think that vegetarian meals can take longer to prepare on average than meat-centered meals, but it's easier to prepare large quantities and stockpile them for later. So being vegetarian isn't just about cooking vegetarian - it's about finding a routine that works for your lifestyle (for example, making a giant pot of lentil soup one day, that you can eat for the rest of the week).

2) I had vegan friends who introduced me to new ways of serving up plant-based protein sources such as tofu, tempeh, seitan, legumes, seaweed, nuts, seeds, and grains. Just as I believe you can't be a healthy vegetarian without learning how to cook for yourself, I also believe you can't be a healthy vegetarian while also being a picky eater. The right way to become a vegetarian is to increase the variety in your diet (by discovering new foods), rather than decreasing it (by eliminating meat, but replacing the meat with equally familiar but potentially less healthy foods such as cheese).

3) I dated (and later married) a fellow vegetarian. This isn't a requirement, as I know plenty of vegetarians married to non-vegetarians. But it does help a lot to have allies. When you say that "my dad says you can get all but one crucial amino acid from other supplements," this worries me because, well, your dad doesn't know what he's talking about. I suspect that he's conflating a longstanding myth (that vegetarians need to worry about "combining" amino acid sources to get "complete" proteins), and a very important fact (that vegans CANNOT get reliably get vitamin B12 through a plant-based diet, and MUST find a way to take vitamin B12 supplements in order to remain healthy). The important question here is, is your dad open to being educated? Are the people in your life willing to eat a few vegetarian meals with you, and help you explore vegetarian cooking and vegetarian nutrition? If they are, your road will be a lot easier. If they aren't, you'll need to educate them while educating yourself, which isn't impossible, but it's certainly more of an uphill battle.

4) I learned enough about the science in order to ignore the science. Let me explain this one. I think there is a HUGE amount of misinformation out there about how to eat vegetarian and maintain an active lifestyle. There's science, and there's pseudoscience. I can't help you separate fact from fiction, but I can advise you to read everything you can, listen to your body, and use common sense. Eventually, you'll hit a point where you can plan meals based on instinct and taste rather than bean-counting macronutrients (percentage of diet from fat, carbs, and protein) and micronutrients (making sure you get enough vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and iron). The science is important, but being able to maintain a lifestyle without going insane means that you eventually learn how to plan a week's worth of meals without having to count calories, measure out protein, or sum up your vitamin intake. Trust your doctors, but also trust your own body. Also realize that every person's body chemistry is different. If eating vegetarian just doesn't work for you, then perhaps the best dietary choice is to make an effort to find sustainably and humanely raised meat and seafood. This also requires research, but it's research that's well worth undertaking.

In the end, I think it's very much an American myth that we can eat mindlessly and not suffer the consequences. I personally believe that there are many different ways to eat mindfully, and no one way is the right way. My way works for me, and it also works for my husband. Best wishes, mnm464, as you find your own way.

And just to add to the list of high-level athletes who don't eat meat: Rock climber Steph Davis maintains a great blog, and she talks quite a bit about her choice to be a vegan. She has some great recipes as well.
http://www.highinfatuation.com/

From my experience, the "American" way of eating has only two problems, too much dairy and too much sugar, emphasis on the former. I think dairy-free goes a long way to maintain good health dietary-wise. I've been to some non-corporate milk farm in the U.S. and even though I already stopped dairy a lot of time ago I still found it implausible for people to drink those highly-processed milk that came out of this sort of place, and I can only imagine the processing that goes for corporate brands. I've tried vegetarian for a period sheerly out of curiosity (and that American processed meat tastes terrible) and didn't feel too different. Cooking vegetables isn't a thing done well in the West. I cannot imagine eating cold salads all day. Overall I think one cannot assume you will be able to maintain a reasonable weight if you eat milk cereals for breakfast and drink latte or hot choco all day even if you go vegetarian. I told my American ex-boyfriend to stop this cereal crap and he lost about 10 pounds within two months. I suppose though cereal is embedded into most Americans' food memory so it's close to impossible to actually stop eating it. I myself came from heavily oily unheavenly-looking Chinese culinary culture and wouldn't feel very happy if I don't get enough grease in anything I eat (though not American Chinese food kind of grease. American Chinese food is a total invention non-existent anywhere in China), vegetable or meat. I kind of admire the Western non-attention and non-complicatedness in food though. Preparation of food should not take as much time and effort as most Chinese people put into it.

The OP mentioned getting injured, I don't recall anything about being anemic. If anemia is an issue, all the more reason to consult a nutritionist regardless of what diet is planned. It may be that the OP will be better able to absorb iron from non-meat sources.

To mnm464: Fuzzymarmot gave some excellent advice, but I just want to follow up on a couple of things: first, learning to cook is a really good idea. It doesn't have to be complicated stuff, just being able to put together nutritious dishes that you enjoy. The other thing is that healthy vegetarians cannot be picky, and here I disagree. I am picky. Not to a degree that I won't try anything new, but there are certainly things I don't like or don't want to try. The important thing is to find foods that you like and that work for you. You don't have to try everything, but you should try some new things (this is where being able to cook comes in handy!). And the one thing I really want to suggest is not trying to replace meat - you want to make sure you are following a balanced, nutritious diet, but it doesn't necessarily have to be vegetarian versions of meat dishes. There are so many delicious vegetarian options and you should enjoy them for what they are, not as substitutes. Explore and find out what you like and can make a staple food of your diet. Your goal should be to have a healthy diet, but also to enjoy what you eat. As a vegetarian for more than two decades, I can tell that it's definitely possible to do both Good luck!

If getting enough iron w/o eating red meat is a concern, here are some options- pumpkin seeds, spinach, & very dark/pure chocolate. I'm sure there are other (maybe even better) options, but these are what I know of off the top of my head. Also, obviously, there are iron supplements, which I see you've said in your other thread you are already taking. I know that sometimes anemia is not as simple as just lacking in iron though, so of course getting blood tests & checkups with your trusted regular doc is always best.

My apologies : For some reason I had thought you'd said you were a guy in a previous thread. My mistake

It's no issue! I think maybe my whatever I said, guys. That is how I write sometimes.

 

[fuzzymarmot]

The OP mentioned getting injured, I don't recall anything about being anemic. If anemia is an issue, all the more reason to consult a nutritionist regardless of what diet is planned. It may be that the OP will be better able to absorb iron from non-meat sources.

To mnm464: Fuzzymarmot gave some excellent advice, but I just want to follow up on a couple of things: first, learning to cook is a really good idea. It doesn't have to be complicated stuff, just being able to put together nutritious dishes that you enjoy. The other thing is that healthy vegetarians cannot be picky, and here I disagree. I am picky. Not to a degree that I won't try anything new, but there are certainly things I don't like or don't want to try. The important thing is to find foods that you like and that work for you. You don't have to try everything, but you should try some new things (this is where being able to cook comes in handy!). And the one thing I really want to suggest is not trying to replace meat - you want to make sure you are following a balanced, nutritious diet, but it doesn't necessarily have to be vegetarian versions of meat dishes. There are so many delicious vegetarian options and you should enjoy them for what they are, not as substitutes. Explore and find out what you like and can make a staple food of your diet. Your goal should be to have a healthy diet, but also to enjoy what you eat. As a vegetarian for more than two decades, I can tell that it's definitely possible to do both Good luck!

I think we're on the same page, Buttercup. :agree: To be honest, "picky" was poor word choice on my part. My grandmother was the world's pickiest eater and a vegetarian, and she lived to be almost 100. She was picky not in the sense of rejecting variety (though there were plenty of foods she simply didn't like, mostly non-Chinese), but in the sense of rejecting low quality food and being very quick to detect anything "off" about the flavor or freshness of ingredients. Her pickiness made her the world's most amazing cook, but was also at times a bit of a nightmare to accommodate. (I miss her so much. God bless Chinese grandmas who spend all day in the kitchen.)

The kind of "picky" eating I had intended to flag was the kind where people eliminate way too many food sources. For example, I've known vegetarians who don't like vegetables. Turns out you can live on bread and potato chips for quite a while. And there are also people with eating disorders who use vegetarianism or veganism to restrict their calorie intake or mask how little they're eating. In a sport like figure skating that puts so much emphasis on thinness, I wouldn't be surprised if that's a risk in and of itself. You use animal welfare to talk yourself into hating food, because food is the enemy. Or you set up restrictions on what you can eat, one restriction at a time, until eventually you're not eating anything. I'm not saying that vegetarians have a propensity toward developing eating disorders - I'm saying that people with eating disorders can sometimes use vegetarianism to mask or justify their eating habits.

Anyway, perhaps a better way for me to say what I meant to say would have been "if you've lived your life eating the Standard American Diet, you'll probably need to venture outside your comfort zone in order to eat a healthy vegetarian diet." I agree fully that a big part of making the leap to vegetarian cooking and eating is getting out of the habit of trying to replace meat. A veggie burger or vegan lasagna is never going to taste the same as its meat counterpart. And it's often a nuisance to try and create a vegetarian meal the same way you create a meat-centered meal, with a hunk of protein, a starch, and a vegetable all occupying their own little quadrants of the plate. To me, it's much easier and tastier to create (for example) a one-pot lentil stew with potatoes and kale, or a one-dish pasta stir-fry with broccoli and chickpeas, or a one-dish seaweeed salad with walnuts, apples, and quinoa. All of the above are vegan, contain plenty of protein, and can be made in large quantities, so the initial time it takes to cook beans or chop veggies pays itself off in leftovers that keep really well. As you said, cooking doesn't need to be complicated, and a healthy diet should be also be enjoyable both in terms of the taste of the food and the quality of your lifestyle.

 

[mnm464]

Thank you so much for the detailed post! I cooked my own dinner(ragout with lentil and veggies) and it was decent. I think that the adjusting is not an issue as much as it usually might be BC I wasn't eating a whole lot of meat in the beginning of this time. Actually, I have felt more energetic and "cleaner" after eating vegetarian! Don't worry about any disorders from me, I like food! As far as a standard American diet, I don't really know what that is. My parents always emphasized being worldly and such by exposing my brother and me to all kinds of international foods.

 

[cl2]

I think we're on the same page, Buttercup. :agree: To be honest, "picky" was poor word choice on my part. My grandmother was the world's pickiest eater and a vegetarian, and she lived to be almost 100. She was picky not in the sense of rejecting variety (though there were plenty of foods she simply didn't like, mostly non-Chinese), but in the sense of rejecting low quality food and being very quick to detect anything "off" about the flavor or freshness of ingredients. Her pickiness made her the world's most amazing cook, but also at times bit of a nightmare to accommodate. (I miss her so much. God bless Chinese grandmas who spend all day in the kitchen.)

May I suggest a more befitting adjective: "discerning", rather than "picky".

 

[fuzzymarmot]

Thank you so much for the detailed post! I cooked my own dinner(ragout with lentil and veggies) and it was decent. I think that the adjusting is not an issue as much as it usually might be BC I wasn't eating a whole lot of meat in the beginning of this time. Actually, I have felt more energetic and "cleaner" after eating vegetarian! Don't worry about any disorders from me, I like food! As far as a standard American diet, I don't really know what that is. My parents always emphasized being worldly and such by exposing my brother and me to all kinds of international foods.

I think you'll do fine, then! A great way to eat vegetarian is to sample from all different ethnic cuisines, many of which have longer traditions of vegetarianism than America. And I should definitely clarify that when I say "Standard American Diet," I'm referring to the diet that food activists rally against: high in refined carbs, sugar, fat, fried foods, McDonalds-quality meat, and precious little vegetables. Obviously, not all Americans eat this way, and not all Americans are obese. But if you google "Standard American Diet," you'll see what I mean. It's a convenient acronym (SAD) to describe everything that's wrong with convenience food. Again, as a former junk food vegetarian myself, I am the last person to throw stones. I wanted food that required zero effort, and I got it. Only after many years did I discover that there's a happy medium in between my wonderful Chinese grandmother who spent all day cooking up elaborate meals (at one extreme), and buying it all packaged, made in a factory, and devoid of nutrients (at the other extreme).

 

[peg]

I think you'll do fine, then! A great way to eat vegetarian is to sample from all different ethnic cuisines, many of which have longer traditions of vegetarianism than America.

Ok, now you have me craving Indian and Thai food

 

[dorispulaski]

Don't miss some of the Near Eastern dishes and spice choices as well! We eat very little meat or protein in general, because of my husband's kidney problems. Unfortunately, 3 oz. of protein is still 3 oz., whether vegetable or animal, as far as his kidneys are concerned, according to his nephrologist, but we have found that a variety of cuisines have a lot of dishes that are low protein and yet give what could be a dull diet a lot of tasty choices. Many of those choices are vegetarian.

I would advise becoming aware of a lot of different spices and fresh herbs to anyone having or wanting to make big changes in diet. Grow your own herbs in pots, either inside or on your porch. It is cheaper, and better, too.

I would also caution against products and meals intended to mimic things you are eliminating. Products often have additives a lot less healthy than what you are trying to eliminate. For example, we are cautioned against salt substitutes. In all cases, read labels!

Listen to your body. When making big changes, odd symptoms may mean you have inadvertently given yourself some kind of diet deficiency. If it feels bad, something is not right. Talk to your doctor or nutritionist. But sometimes initial symptoms may not be painful, just odd, like excess fatigue, changes in hair or nails, or such. Don't ignore changes. Again, talk to your doctor or nutritionist.

For example, if you have been getting most of your Vitamin D from milk, and you eliminate dairy products, you may develop a vitamin D deficiency.

In any case, good luck.

 

[peg]

I would advise becoming aware of a lot of different spices and fresh herbs to anyone having or wanting to make big changes in diet.

:yes:

And aside from being tasty, many herbs and spices have a lot of health benefits. Ginger and turmeric are natural anti-inflammatories. Ginger is also good for stomach upset. Turmeric and curcumin are also anti-oxidants and can improve brain function and reduce the risk of brain disease, including Alzheimer's. Oregano and basil have anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties. Rosemary improves digestion, enhances memory and concentration, and has anti-inflammatory properties as well. Cayenne is god for heart health, can boost metabolism, and has anti-bacterial and anti-allergen properties. Virtually every spice and herb has some type of health benefit, so using a variety of them is really good for you