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WillStrip4Shoes
03-06-2008, 10:42 AM
I've always wanted to try going vegetarian just for health resons and possibly weight maintenance. Congratulations on your decision, I could never handle it for more than a few days. Best of luck!

Emily
03-06-2008, 11:29 AM
Well, Emily once suggested as a way of "easing in" to a new diet to first give up food in which one of the three largest ingredients was "restricted" (in your case, I assume it is just meat?) So for the first few months, if you are worried about privation, check the label, and if one of the first three ingredients is/has meat, don't buy it. Then in 3 or 6 months revisit the policy.

.

ooh, I'm glad something I said stuck!

I'm all for baby steps. Eat the chicken flavored ramen for now. Just limit something you know you can handle until it seems normal, then limit something else.

You don't have to go hard core 100% from the get go. If I did, then I'd never be veg.

jasmine
03-06-2008, 11:48 AM
^^Once you cut out actual meat for a few months, anything containing it just seems really gross.

Also, it's sometimes easier not to tell people you are veg. I never call myself veg, I just say I don't want any meat right now, if someone asks. It helps eliminate judgmental stuff if you do mess up occasionally.

thechaosfairy
03-06-2008, 10:57 PM
If you have an instantaneous turnoff reaction to tofu, you may be allergic (this sometimes happens with foods people are allergic to) so be careful with the soy burgers. If you seem to be doing all right on them, just keep an eye on things.

sunnie
03-08-2008, 03:43 AM
Also, there is as much calcium in a cup of dark leafy greens or soymmilk as there is in a cup of cow's milk, but only 30% of the calcium in the milk is bioavailable.


Most calcium, including that of the supplements that are best absorbed, is only 30% bioavailable. Inducing an acidic reaction in the stomach with lactose actually helps bioavailability, but that is only to reach the 30%-ish levels. (Because it causes calcium to oxidize to the biologically active 2+ state). Getting past that is really, really hard.

Leafy greens have oxalic acid in them (so do grains) which bind to calcium and prevents absorbtion. I am not entirely sure about soymilk....but I better fucking know before I take my comprehensive exams for grad school in June!!!

B-12 is gonna be your biggest factor, Darcy. I am not sure though, what is required by the Ozzie gov't in terms of fortification of foods. Like in the states, all breads and grain products are required to be fortified with Folate, Iron, and some other things I better know before June. In Europe it is optional, but not mandatory. I don't know about you all. Iron, obviously, is huge. So is Zinc, but you have to be careful not to supplement too much zinc or else it inhibits iron uptake. Basically, a multi-vitamin and some eggs and dairy will do you fine. A lot of drinks in the states are fortified with B-12, and actually vitamin water's Revive flavor is really good for B-12....the absorption is equivalent to that of natural foods.

Hope this helps. I was a veg for 2 years...but now I revel in my poultry and very occasional red meat.

Darcy Foxx
03-08-2008, 03:49 AM
day 6 and i'm going strong. loving all the good food i've been eating. tonight i had fake chicken burgers with a heap of fresh salad and home made fries. been having lots of vego sushi, lots of vego stir fries. subway's vegetarian sub is delicious.

being vego makes me feel good about myself :)

sunnie
03-08-2008, 03:54 AM
OMG the way ground beef is processed is disgusting. The grind the beef in these huge vats so that if one cow has some bacteria or pathogen, the beef of like 1000 other cow carcasses is being exposed to that same pathogen. Similarly, chickens transported to slaughter shit a lot because of the stress, if they have salmonella, it is excreted in huge amounts when they are stressed, and then the healthy chickens around them are being exposed to that same salmonella.

I should really eat vegetarian again. :(

StrawberrySwitchblade
03-08-2008, 03:55 AM
Do not rely too much on pre-made vegetarian food. Learn lots of recipes, and adapt old recipes for a vegetarian flair. . Lots of recipes. They are vegan, but it is easy to adjust if you just want to make it vegetarian. Allrecipes.com has a vegetarian section as well.

BTW, not really related, but I just wanted to rave about Fantastic World Foods vegan 'chicken' soup. It's a powder mix in a big bag that you whisk with 9 cups of water. I added some fresh baby carrots, basil, some red pepper flakes, and some crushed rosemary and it was FANTASTIC!

Darcy Foxx
03-10-2008, 08:22 AM
yay. i survived week one of vegetarianism :)

StrawberrySwitchblade
03-10-2008, 01:26 PM
Yaaayy!!

Jenny
03-10-2008, 02:19 PM
Congratulations. The first week is the hardest. This week you'll be swimming downstream in a river of vegetables.

Darcy Foxx
03-11-2008, 01:08 AM
Congratulations. The first week is the hardest. This week you'll be swimming downstream in a river of vegetables.

i'm just about to go buy a bunch of veggies to cook up a big pasta that should last me for at least a few days. i'm really having fun with the vegetarian cooking :)

i am so proud of myself! i seriously never thought i could last even a week, because i've always been such a heavy meat eater.

StrawberrySwitchblade
03-11-2008, 01:18 AM
Veg cooking is fun! It makes you explore new dishes, new ingredients, new methods. It's like chemistry. (God, I'm a nerd.) What will happen if I add eggplant, olive oil, some of this spice, some of that spice, add this, cook on medium heat and presto! Nummy food. Doesn't ALWAYS happen that way. Sometimes it's a disaster, but that goes for every eating lifestyle.

Darcy Foxx
03-11-2008, 02:26 AM
omg this pasta is AMAZING!!!

i made it with baby roma tomatoes, brocollini, zucchini, fresh basil and parmesan cheese, and a sweet basil sauce. fuck it is the best thing i have ever had in my mouth.

ellebelle
03-11-2008, 05:30 AM
I've been vegetarian all my life. Even when I lived in Hong Kong and Singapore (not easy countries to be a vege kid in).

Australia is a really easy country to be veg. Rarely do I go somewhere where I can not order something delicious and veg from the menu, and the odd times I haven't the chef has made something for me. When I go to people's houses for dinner I just let them know beforehand. Being vegetarian isn't as shocking or weird as it used to be.

I'm pretty easy to please though. I'm happy with a plate of vegies, if that's all that's on offer.

Vege food on planes is acutally almost edible. India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos. and Vietnam are all very vege friendly cuisines because of strong Buddist/Hindu ties.

My Hong Kong relatives all still refuse to believe I'm vegetarian though and think that its something I'm going to grow out of. It's been 24 years now. I don't think I'm going to grow out of it, but Yum Cha is still my idea of living hell. A big round table full of my Chinese relatives trying to stick bites of random things with chopsticks in my mouth screaming "No meat!! No meat!! Just Pork/Fish/Chickens feet". Yeah.. no meat.

thechaosfairy
03-11-2008, 05:57 AM
^^^

... Although domestic flights aren't offering free meals anymore, which means that you literally can't get food sometimes, as the only options are meat sandwiches (usually with cheese in them, so not allergy friendly either to anyone with gluten or dairy problems.)

It used to be for domestic flights you could get a great meal if you ticked 'Asian vegetarian' -- Indian food usually. Now that's only true for international flights. But it's still good when available. :-)

Yeah, China's idea of 'no meat' is a little weird. Living in mainland China this year I've had to get a thick skin to the stray piece of this or that and to people staring at me funny while I pick it out. On the other hand, the freshness, diversity and quality of green veggies I've found here is awesome.

AlexxaHex
03-11-2008, 07:13 AM
It's really easy to make vegetarian Indian curries if you buy the jars of spice pastes. There is a company that sells it here called Patak's, and they have all variations of mild to spicy. They might have it also in Aus. The vindaloo is my faaaavorite of all time. Add a couple potatoes, chickpeas or red kidney beans, an onion and a tomato and it's really delicious. I like to put it over brown basmati rice. You can put almost any veggie in a curry. Same with asian stir fry.
Soups are surprisingly easy to make too, if you get a vegetarian boullion. A lot of them come pre-packaged these days. Add some beans and root vegetables, maybe a handful of barley and you're all set.

Darcy Foxx
03-11-2008, 07:41 AM
hmm, the curry idea is very good. think i might have to whip one of those up once i finish eating my pasta!