The Vegetarian & Vegan Thread

[cestmagique]

I don't need the lesson, I'm a nutrition student. All I'm saying is that longer doesn't equal harder. Bodies are well-equipped to handle fats; eating something high in fat, whether it's fried or naturally fatty like avocado, isn't going to put you through the ringer. As you said it's just not going to be handled as quickly as some other foods. That's a positive thing anyway, for satiety.

 

[papa_levante]

I read over in the "Eliminating Sugar From Your Diet" thread that white sugar is colored white with bones. True?

This makes me think that being a vegan is much more than reading labels. Now it's actually knowing chemicals and what they're made of. I stay away from calcium lactate and anything with "calcium" in it. Though I'm not a regular drinker, Red Bull contains taurine which can be found in the lower intestines and tissues of both humans and animals.

I looked at my Triscuit box, and it's only got about 3/4 ingredients. It seems okay to eat: WHOLE WHEAT, SOYBEAN AND/OR PALM OIL, SALT. CONTAINS: WHEAT. (I got that from NabiscoWorld.com).

Does this mean I must do a lot of my shopping at special grocery stores?

 

[Belowen]

I cooked this mushroom bourguignon for dinner last night, and it was a super easy recipe to follow, and the meal itself was delicious! Thanks for the recommendation Ta-Ta!

 

[EXOskeleton]

I read over in the "Eliminating Sugar From Your Diet" thread that white sugar is colored white with bones. True?

yep. animal bone char (incinerated animal bones) is used in the refining process.

more info at the bottom of the page:
http://www.vnv.org.au/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=78

 

[fashionista-ta]

I cooked this mushroom bourguignon for dinner last night, and it was a super easy recipe to follow, and the meal itself was delicious! Thanks for the recommendation Ta-Ta!

Soo funny, I made it last night too! Glad you liked it ...

 

[tullepen]

When I had my wisdom teeth out, everyone was expecting me to have jello...but I had to break it to them that gelatin is made from boiled animal bones.People are so in the black about what is in mainstream foods.I just had Odwalla smoothies all week.Then I got dry sockets...horrible. I'm trying to talk my mother into trying being vegan just for a day or two and see how her energy goes up.She eats lots of cheese and her cholesterol went up a little (from 20 to 30 on a scale of up to 100) and is curious about it.Don't see it actually happening though.

 

[cygnenoir]

Just saw on the Oprah site (I know, Oprah!) that there are recipes and an excerpt from Alicia Silverstone's vegan book there.

Excerpt:
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Read-an-Excerpt-of-Alicia-Silverstones-The-Kind-Diet

Recipes:
http://www.oprah.com/food/Vegan-Recipes-from-The-Kind-Diet_1

I do think I want to try her chocolate peanut butter cups, but maybe that's just because I'm hungry!

 

[ChloeFrancoise]

I'm totally making those. I haven't baked anything for weeks.

 

[cygnenoir]

Please do and report back.

Or bring me some!

I'm totally making those. I haven't baked anything for weeks.

 

[ChloeFrancoise]

Hmmm, I'm not sure I can find that Earth Balance non dairy butter here, but I'll see what I can find.

 

[nijuyanah]

Well, I'm completely new to this thread (yes, I have already tried to read through most of it) and so I hope this hasn't been brought up to often before but: I'm usually a real meat-lover, steaks, ham, scallop - I love it all. But because of the christmas-days I ***edited*** decided to stay away from meat completely - just for some days. Within this time, I recognised that my skin felt increadibly smooth and also seemed to clear up (well, it wasn't that bad before but it certainly got even better).
Anyone has expierence with being a vegeterian and it's effects on the skin? Because even though I truly meat-products and their taste, I guess with all the positive aspects of abandoning them from my diet I will do so

 

[oiselet]

Yeah, my skin is clear and a lot younger looking (I'm 23 and I usually get mistaken for a 17 year old). The only time I get acne is around "that time."

I'm not sure what the correlation between clear skin and a vegetarian diet is, I’ll have to look it up.

 

[chichina]

^ Hey, i've been vegetarian since i was 7, and my skin isn't too bad compared to my brothers who suffered really bad acne during their teenage years. So it might be the fact i'm vegetarian.
But it depends what kind of meat you eat? Do you normally eat lots of processed meats like ham, KFC, burgers etc? Cause the chemicals, fats and other ingredients in them would no doubt make your skin worse. They really do have some very good quorn products in the supermarket if you like the taste of meat. I actually find some of them too realistic for my liking and i don't tend to eat them.
And of course by eliminating meat you will be eating more vegetables, so that will be another reason for your skin to improve.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I read that there's a significant percentage of people who have an allergic reaction to Quorn ... apparently it's made not from mushrooms but from some other kind of farmed fungus I'm sure it's lovely, but just thought I'd mention that it might be a good idea to start slowly in case you're allergic.

 

[tullepen]

Hmmm, I'm not sure I can find that Earth Balance non dairy butter here, but I'll see what I can find.

Earth Balance is easy to find..well in fairly well populated areas.I use it all the time, on rye bread (must make it!),sometimes broccoli.I've no clue what actual butter tastes like! Thanks to my super healthy parents (my mom went to an Adventist nursing school, so she got all the tofu back in the early days) I never recall having butter.But we did have meat.I have never cooked with meat or fish and never will.I'm going to make peach cobbler today I hope, I love blueberry the most but the juice stains my teeth.And also roasted Yukon Gold heart potatoes and yams with fennel.And steamed kale for dinner with left over quinoa.I always make myself hungry! I love The Kind Life blog, have to remember to read it more often! Although her ingredients are hard to afford...grr!

 

[Belowen]

I read today that Ginnifer Goodwin is a vegan. Looking at her skin, and Zooey Deschanel's skin, I am seriously considering making the change

 

[papa_levante]

^ You should! It helped me decide the switch.

Last night, I did some thinking. Being vegan is much more than just reading ingredients and saying, "Nope! No milk, no eggs, no dairy. I'm all set!" For example, I asked about sugar earlier and it isn't labeled that white sugar is colored with animal bone, so I cannot take everything at face value. Does that make sense? As if I didn't know gelatin was an animal product, I might have eaten it and drank Red Bulls anyway. So, it's much more than saying it's vegan friendly because it doesn't have such-and-such ingredient in it.

 

[EXOskeleton]

^ definitely. there is so much to learn and be knowledgeable about, like all those food additive numbers, thickeners, colourings etc used in pre-prepared foods.

moral is: i find it best to avoid processed food as much as possible.

http://www.vnv.org.au/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=85&Itemid=97

 

[papa_levante]

^ Thanks! Lately, the "processed" foods I have been eating are things like mustard, Rice Chex cereal, Triscuits, hummus, peanut butter, pita pockets or pita bread, and rice milk. Everything else has been fresh fruits and vegetables. I take pride in that I have done a 180 in my eating habits, actually enjoying produce more than I ever have before.

 

[tullepen]

That's great.I've always eaten lots of fruits and veggies, but I noticed a physiological change when I started doing vegan.It's really something,isn't it? You feel so much lighter.