Vegetarian thoughts.

[MrMadison]

so what all are there 'substitutes' for?

[DCFan]

sitting in shoppers right now looking at veggie substitute food.... this crap is EXPENSIVE!

Solution = eat what you're presently eating, just eat less of it. End result is lower caloric intake and lower food bills.

[MrMadison]

those of you who said 'i was a vegetarian for *insert years*'....what made you stop?

[Obed_Marsh]

those of you who said 'i was a vegetarian for *insert years*'....what made you stop?

10 years and than I started a job with 260-280 days of business travel a year. I lasted about a year and half but tt was time consuming finding restaurants that were reasonably healthy. Some parts of the country the extra effort of tracking down decent tasting vegetarian options became unbearable.

[DCFan]

those of you who said 'i was a vegetarian for *insert years*'....what made you stop?

I did it when I was in my early 20's.  It was a fad or a phase and wasn't something that I felt was my life's calling to continue the rest of my life.  Besides, I liked steak and burgers too much to forsake them forever. 

[2IPAs]

Solution = eat what you're presently eating, just eat less of it. End result is lower caloric intake and lower food bills.

I agree--you can just treat meat as a condiment for everyday meals and fill things out with beans and whole grains.  Watch the cheese, though. And, of course, my advice goes out the window when confronted with Five Guys or Rays Hellburger.  Though I haven't had either in 2009. Thank God for Trader Joe's chicken chipotle burgers. (While I'm rambling on, TJ's is another place you might want to look for reasonably priced vegetarian foods. I just bought some veggie Masala burgers from their freezer case.)

[GburgNatsFan]

We sailed into the Inner Harbor, I got drunk at a bar with my wife, then decided I had to have crab cakes before I went back to the boat. That pretty much ended it for me.

those of you who said 'i was a vegetarian for *insert years*'....what made you stop?

[tomterp]

J-Mad, breakfast is the easiest meal to make a healthy one, in my view.  Cheerios with skim milk and a handful of raisins or banana on top, is an awesome light meal.  Stay away from muffins and pastries, not to mention breakfast meats, they are among the worst foods you can eat if you're trying to control your weight.

Also, drink water instead of sodas, another plus for your health and diet.

[DCFan]

J-Mad, breakfast is the easiest meal to make a healthy one, in my view.  Cheerios with skim milk and a handful of raisins or banana on top, is an awesome light meal.  Stay away from muffins and pastries, not to mention breakfast meats, they are among the worst foods you can eat if you're trying to control your weight.

Also, drink water instead of sodas, another plus for your health and diet.

Here you go JMad, I'll build off Tom's post to give you the DCFan rules of healthy living. 

50% of the food you eat should be fruits and vegetables.
Throw away the salt shaker and sugar bowl.
Hang a crucifix in each room of your house.
Ditch sodas, even the "diet" ones.
Get a programmable thermostat.
No white bread, just stone ground whole wheat.
Start storing bottled water, canned foods, and bars of silver in your basement.
Minimize your red meat consumption.
Doughnuts are only allowed on weekends. 
Chicken and fish are your friends.
8 glasses of water a day, minimum.
Get rid of your SUV.
A low dose aspirin a day.
Glass of red wine a day.
Lots of sex with the Mrs. If she gives you any crap, tell her I told you it's for your health. (that could play out a couple of ways  )
Walk as much as time permits everyday.
Drugs, smoking, heavy drinking and attending gentlemens clubs - does it have to be stated?
Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
Pray and attend church as a family.

[The Chief]

Here you go JMad, I'll build off Tom's post to give you the DCFan rules of healthy living. 

blah blah blah

Cheap ass tightwad penny pinching miserly bastard 

[DCFan]

Cheap ass tightwad penny pinching miserly bastard 

Yeah, I am a bit anal about leaving the lights on. 

[tomterp]

Cheap ass tightwad penny pinching miserly bastard 

Yeah, I am a bit anal about leaving the lights on. 

saves money, and the planet too.

[Obed_Marsh]

Here is my secret to every diet success I've had. Eat less. Exercise more. Continue until desired weight. The rest is crap.

[tomterp]

Here is my secret to every diet success I've had. Eat less. Exercise more. Continue until desired weight. The rest is crap.

That's really the short answer, isn't it? 

I always thought of it as a 10-10 rule.  Reduce caloric intake by 10%, and increase caloric burning by 10%, and you really tip the balance the other (good) way.

I would also recommend the 10% caloric intake reduction come off the top of the bad foods list - greasy stuff (Five Guys, breakfast meats), sugary stuff (sodas, candies, etc.). 

[The Chief]

Here is my secret to every diet success I've had. Eat less. Exercise more. Continue until desired weight. The rest is crap.

Basically.

[PANatsFan]

those of you who said 'i was a vegetarian for *insert years*'....what made you stop?

Travel. Being a vegetarian only works in the US, from my experience. Although I ate at a kickass vegetarian buffet in Montevideo, Uruguay. I didn't want to miss out on a huge part of other cultures due to dietary restrictions.  But I went whole hog the other way and I've had squid, alligator, quail, eel, frog's legs, you name it, even though I grew up in a kosher home.

[PANatsFan]

Morningstar Farms Grillers (old, new, shreeded) are my favorites but Boca, Amy's and Gardenburger has some good ones. Love tempeh too. 

Aside from ethics and religion obstainers there are a few other reasons people believe not eat Eggs and Dairy.
* Avoiding hormones used to increase milk and egg production in factory farming.
* Some consider any animal items harder on the body to process and that they adversely effects one health and energy. [this was why I as a vegan but couldn't keep up with the cooking required]
* Some believe that dairy product consumption has increased the amount of Insulin-dependent diabetes (Type I)

I only drink organic milk and eat only organic, cage-free (or free range if they are cheap enough) eggs. The thing is, domesticated cows are bred to make too much milk than just for their calves. If you don't milk a cow, it suffers pain. Chickens just leave their eggs in the dirt. They aren't alive unless the chicken had sex before it layed the egg. The cows at Organic Valley farms are happy cows. They are doing what they are meant to do. It's like a working dog. A working dog, e.g. a shepard, is happiest when it was working. That's what it's brain tells it to do.

But that's just me. If you want to eat vegan, go for it. The only two types that I consider a bit whacked out are frutarians and raw food people.

P.S. If you can afford to switch to organic milk and eggs, you won't be sorry. I'd estimate that they taste 30% better. They feed them better stuff and it shows. But you won't find that stuff at shoppers.

[MrMadison]

interesting stuff. I'm scouring the web for info on this. interesting reading. the PETA folks make it sound like eating meat is something only Satan would do. . but their videos are pretty gruesome, I'll admit.

I've decided I'm going to try it for about a week, just to see if I could deal with it tastewise and from spidernat's "always hungry" standpoint. just a test run, so to speak. I haven't eaten any meat since the Cold Cut sub I had on umm...Saturday, I guess?

but then again, I've been eating a lot less anyway. I think I've been eating once a day, with a snack here and there as is. so just instead of eating something with meat in it once a day, I'm eating pasta or something else. *shrug* we'll see.

along with working out, I should hit my weight. and then once I get where I want to be, I'll start gradually eating more often, but not overdoing it.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I haved dabbled with vegetarianism (probably more than dabbled...once it was for 7 years)...the problem is this: I feel better about myself when I don't eat meat, but I feel physically better when I do...I guess I like animals either way.  And on that note, time for my Thai leftovers (chicken).

[PANatsFan]

interesting stuff. I'm scouring the web for info on this. interesting reading. the PETA folks make it sound like eating meat is something only Satan would do. . but their videos are pretty gruesome, I'll admit.

I've decided I'm going to try it for about a week, just to see if I could deal with it tastewise and from spidernat's "always hungry" standpoint. just a test run, so to speak. I haven't eaten any meat since the Cold Cut sub I had on umm...Saturday, I guess?

but then again, I've been eating a lot less anyway. I think I've been eating once a day, with a snack here and there as is. so just instead of eating something with meat in it once a day, I'm eating pasta or something else. *shrug* we'll see.

along with working out, I should hit my weight. and then once I get where I want to be, I'll start gradually eating more often, but not overdoing it.

It's healthier to eat 4 small meals than 1 meal, so I've been told.

I'm not sure what stores they have in your area, but it might be worth a trek to the Fairfax Wegmans once a month to stock up on healthy, vegetarian, organic foods. Their prices are very competitive and they have the finest and freshest foods. Shoppers is nice for what it is but the last shoppers I went to had little to no veggie food. Costco is really coming around - you can get the restaurant sized Boca burgers, 3 packs of organic milk, huge boxes of organic salad greens, you name it.

[MrMadison]

yeah the closest grocery store to me is Shoppers, and their selection of vegetarian food is terrible. it's literally one small shelf space in a freezer. out of the entire store.

gonna go look at the Giant at PG Plaza and see what they've got.

[Frau Mau]

I don't eat a lot of meat, but am not all the way vegetarian. I do try to avoid it when I can, like subbing tofu for chicken in Thai food. I have tried a lot of the meat substitutes available. I like the Morningstar breakfast sausage patties and links, darn close to the real thing, but not fatty. You will want to check the calories on all of the substitutes though, some are not low calorie. I also like the 'chicken' nuggets and buffalo wings by Morningstar. For lasagna we use Gimme Lean instead of hamburger. I basically just takes on the flavor of whatever you're browning it with, so some garlic, onions and peppers give it flavor. Boca grillers are fine for burgers. Basically my issue is with factory farming, I do try to get organic/free range eggs and meat when possible, but like it's been mentioned before, it's hard to just get a plain salad when you're at a bbq joint.

[The Chief]

It's healthier to eat 4 small meals than 1 meal, so I've been told.

I tried this at first and always found myself hungry and ended up eating too much or too often so I went back to large meals and that has worked a lot better for me.  Just depends on the individual I'm sure.

Either way you're going to be a hungry at first because your body is used to eating more.  I got used to it reasonably quickly though.  It's all about willpower.  Eating more filling foods when you DO eat also helps a lot.

[PANatsFan]

yeah the closest grocery store to me is Shoppers, and their selection of vegetarian food is terrible. it's literally one small shelf space in a freezer. out of the entire store.

gonna go look at the Giant at PG Plaza and see what they've got.

Giant has a line of generic organic foods that is very affordable. Nature's Own. But I can never get my organic bananas there (a friend who is an agriculture researcher informed me that banana pesticides give the pickers chemical burns and can sterilize them, so I refuse to eat the regular ones). Stores like My Organic Market and Whole Foods charge a premium, but you'll be bowled over by the selection. I end up going to several stores sometimes to get what I need.

[GburgNatsFan]

You prefer to eat sterilized banana pickers with chemical burns?

Giant has a line of generic organic foods that is very affordable. Nature's Own. But I can never get my organic bananas there (a friend who is an agriculture researcher informed me that banana pesticides give the pickers chemical burns and can sterilize them, so I refuse to eat the regular ones). Stores like My Organic Market and Whole Foods charge a premium, but you'll be bowled over by the selection. I end up going to several stores sometimes to get what I need.