10/15/11 09:58 - ID#55313

Plant based diets

I have recently watched two documentaries. One called "Fat Sick and nearly Dead" and "Forks Over Knives". I am so interested in these topics they discuss mainly introducing more plants in your diet. I don't think I could cut out meat entirely but I would like to eat a lot less. I know some of you do this but I would like to know more. Anyone have any good sites or recipes they can point me to?

I am not sure where to start and it is all very overwhelming.

fing writes at 10:33:17 10/24/11 - Comment #65773: Slow. I have been doing the best I can to replace whatever I can with something veggie or fruit. This morning I made a protein shake with grapes instead of my usual bowl of cereal. Lunch was skipped (not on purpose) and I made some Barley Mushroom soup for dinner which had chicken in it. So really just had some meat for dinner.

I have also made myself eat a salad for lunch if I don't have enough time to pack lunch. The next trip to Wegman's will probably yield more veggies.

tinypliny writes at 12:21:13 10/22/11 - Comment #65701: How it it going??

tinypliny writes at 08:21:46 10/19/11 - Comment #65642: Another super fast meal I made: :::link:::

Experiment. It's hard to go wrong once you have some basics and combinations down.

tinypliny writes at 08:18:40 10/19/11 - Comment #65641: I don't know if you like soups, but they are my favourite food. Today, I made a tomato based soup in around 15 minutes. You need a rice cooker to compete with :::link:::

Take any beans or lentils (dal in hindi) Orange lentils cook really fast without need for presoaking so they might be best for this. I used mung dal - a yellow tiny lentils that also cooks fast. Wash and add a pinch of baking soda, and cook in a rice cooker (or over stove top). This takes around 20 minutes depending on how much you are making. Meanwhile roughly chop
- a couple tomatoes
- a bunch of well-washed kale
- any summer squash - zucchini?
- a red/green pepper
- garlic pods - a few
- fresh ginger

Season with a little olive oil and cumin seed (if you don't have cumin seeds, thats fine, chop in the garlic and ginger into the olive oil (a couple tsps), stir fry for a minute or so, drop on the tomatoes, and kale, stir around till tomatoes start to look cooked, add chopped squash, stir for a few minutes, add chopped peppers, stir around till lentils are done, pour the lentils in, add some water, bring to a boil, add salt and pepper to taste. And you are done! Delicious soup! You can add boiled potatoes for carbs. Or ladle this over rice or dip toasted bread in it.

tinypliny writes at 08:07:37 10/19/11 - Comment #65640: Try this:
Chop apples (preferably green, but if you don't like green, you could go red or yellow or whatever), carrots, toss in a few strawberries, maybe a peach, chop in some basil, sprinkle some shredded unsweetened coconut on this, sprinkle with powdered flax seed, half a tsp honey, some roasted almonds - SUPER AWESOME SNACK/dessert/fun on the go mix meal.

tinypliny writes at 07:43:38 10/19/11 - Comment #65639: Actually, it's super easy to get proteins in a vegetarian diet. I wouldn't recommend going vegan since its somewhat extreme. But EVEN in a vegan diet, its easy. Take a look: :::link::: Lentils, legumes and nuts have a ton of protein. All are plant based. Examples of plant based stuff that contain complete proteins (much like an egg) are soybeans (and soy based products) and quinoa. I think cheese and eggs are great accompaniments to vegetarian diets. However I would gradually go easy on them.

Almonds are super nuts. If you incorporate more almonds in your diet, not only are you getting protein and essential fats but also a lot of fibre.

Let's see.

Breakfast: Raisin Bran --> I would add at least 2 (or maybe more) different types of sliced fruit to this. Eg. granny smith apples, peaches, plums, cantaloupe, blueberries, strawberries, carrots (yes! they are awesome with apples) Any seasonal fruit you can get - the more varied the better. Try to keep away from canned or frozen fruits etc. They are not necessarily all that great, though they may come to the rescue in a cinch. Breakfast NEEDS to contain more protein. It's your first meal and needs to tide you over carb/sugar/crap craving mid morning. I would also add maybe a hard boiled egg or maybe a slice of low fat/skim mozzarella, or even a glass of soymilk - if you like it (I love it!). With the addition of at least 2 different fruits and a source of protein you have effectively balanced out your breakfast to make it equally split between the carbs (bran + fruit), fiber, protein and essential micronutrients and some fat.

A good breakfast really does wonder for the metabolism. You are more likely to burn the heavy meals more efficiently if your breakfast has been substantial. Because your body is not expecting a drought situation in the morning, you gave it enough food so it burns with abandon instead of assimilating and making you lethargic.

What to avoid
== Desserts
== donuts
== danishes and whatnots filled with sugar. They just spike up the glucose, make the insulin rush out and end with you feeling hungry and empty less than an hour and a half later. The idea should be to aim for a slow and steady energy release breakfast - something achieved by a properly balanced meal.

WATER is extremely important. I cannot stress this enough. You need at least a GALLON of water a day. 1.5 gallon would be great. Carry a bottle with you. Keep drinking!

Lunch also needs to be more balanced. What was in the sandwich? What did you have on the side? A chopped salad of tomatoes, carrots, apples and onions tossed with lemon juice and little pepper is a good lunch side. All plant based. Add a few cubes of feta, a few cooked garbanzo beans or any of the 36 different kind of lentils and legumes you can get, and you have a lunch in itself. You can get rid of the sandwich bread.

Dinner should be your lightest meal. What was in the bowl? I am not sure I know. But I would add a super generous side of vegetables - any vegetables, raw or cookes along with any beans (take your pick, kidney, garbanzo, black eyed peas, navy, great northern, black, edamame, lima -etc) to the veggies and reduce the pure carbs. Toss all of this with tomatoes, lime juiice, chopped basil, or cilatro and you have more plant based stuff on your plate than other things!

fing writes at 11:04:46 10/18/11 - Comment #65631: I think doing a meal a day might be a good start. I might even just do up to two but I know I am not the type of person to cut out meat entirely. I could see myself eating meat just a few times a week and not every day. I have always been the type of person that needs protein to function. Sometimes I will feel out of of or cant concentrate. If I have some peanut butter or a piece of cheese I am back in business.

Right now I don't eat a lot of crap really but lately I feel like I am eating more carbs. Maybe I am just more in tune with what I am eating but it seems like I need a change or it might turn out to be habit. I would like to eat a little better and drop a little weight in the process.

Today I started with a bowl of Rasin Bran, Lunch was a sandwich and dinner was a Burrito Bowl from Chipotle (chicken, no cheese and light sour cream), Guac and some chips. I know does no sound like a great day but that was today. I seem to also eat heavier toward the end of the day but I think if I eat less food more often that might help out a lot.

tinypliny writes at 08:12:28 10/18/11 - Comment #65629: That's great. So how do you want to start it? Do you want to make one meal a day completely plant based for starters (I think you might already be on such a diet). What is your diet like? Can you, for instance, tell us what you ate the whole of today starting from breakfast? Which meal would you like to change and why?

fing writes at 07:54:44 10/18/11 - Comment #65628: Yeah sorry I had something typed up the other day but forgot to save it. There is not much I don't like besides peas (which I am learning to like) and olives. Probably want to try to stick to things I can get at Wegman's.

tinypliny writes at 07:26:14 10/18/11 - Comment #65624: Welllllll????? I was all excited about your enthusiasm!!! Where have you vanished??

tinypliny writes at 03:22:49 10/17/11 - Comment #65598: Where is the list?? :)

metalpeter writes at 09:23:27 10/16/11 - Comment #65565: As someone who doesn't eat well at all I can say I like my meat and lots of that stuff that is good for you I don't like the taste of well unless it is Buttered.. Taste is a big factor and I think for that reason you need to ease into things and try different things... It is also important to know that things taste very different raw and cooked and how they are cooked.... For example I never buy them but love carrots as soon as one starts to cook them at all there is no crunch and they don't taste right.... Onions on pizza have to be the purple onions white onions I don't like.... Also some things I might not eat when mixed with other things (again on Pizza) I don't mind..... But in terms of helping you eat more of them not much help there really..... Other then to say if you like meat things like soup, stew, or chili you can work vegetables in there but understand it will taste different.... I wish you luck.....

metalpeter writes at 09:16:47 10/16/11 - Comment #65562: Sorry but Vegans are nuts.... No meat I get... But nothing that comes from animals at all so out goes all milk products what does one eat? So also no leather or anything cow hide..... How does one get a belt? kidding a bit but........

paul writes at 10:51:25 10/15/11 - Comment #65556: I like vegetables a lot. I tried being vegan for years but it ended up not working out. Now I just eat a balance of vegtables and animal products although I still think I eat more vegtables than most Americans. Just nowhere near as much as (e:tinypliny).

tinypliny writes at 10:36:49 10/15/11 - Comment #65555: So if you are really serious, go ahead and post a list! Let's see what makes it on there!

tinypliny writes at 10:34:25 10/15/11 - Comment #65554: This is an interesting blog: :::link:::

Just pick a random recipe and follow whatever you can. :) Most vegetarian recipes are very forgiving, the results are mostly good.

This is a good round up of the best out there: :::link:::

If you are interested, you should come and cook with me and (e:Paul) someday. It'll be fun. :)

Oh and these are some more fun recipe sites I occasionally check out, mainly to drool over pictures and make my own hash of the recipes: :::link::: :::link::: :::link::: :::link::: :::link::: :::link::: :::link::: :::link::: :::link::: :::link:::

fing writes at 10:15:46 10/15/11 - Comment #65553: Great idea. I knew you would reply but didn't want to single you out. I am sure there are a lot of good fruits and veggies out there I don't even know about. I try to keep things simple but I think that could get boring pretty quick.

tinypliny writes at 10:07:05 10/15/11 - Comment #65552: It is EXTREMELY easy to eat a predominantly plant based diet and not overwhelming at all. 101cookbooks is an extensive and well-written site of vegetarian recipes for starters: :::link:::

There are MILLIONS more that I can possibly recommend, but the best way to incorporate more vegetables in your diet is by consciously increasing them on your plate.

For starters, why don't you make a list of veggies and fruits you like and post them here? We could easily take it from there. If you are motivated you could easily switch to a ~90% plant based diet in less than a month.

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Last Modified: 10/15/11 09:58

10/06/11 12:00 - ID#55244

Things seem different now

About a month ago I suffered a pretty nasty head/face trauma. Long story short I ended up with a broken nose and some swelling in my nose and face which still has not totally subsided. After a lot of tests and some Dr. appt it turned out to be a vasovagal episode. I pretty much passed out because I stood up to fast.

Since then I feel like things have been different in my life. I know that is a pretty broad comment but I have yet to put my finger on it. I tend to have a little more anxiety then I have ever had and I feel overwhelmed quite a bit. I have even read that some people who have head trauma go into temporary depression. I don't feel depressed but I feel like I can't get enough done lately. I usually tend to not start working on something because I don't have enough time to finish. The last few days I have been trying to do a little bit at a time when I have time.

I don't know what is changing in me but I feel the need to change my life a little bit. I want to be excited about work, life and be happy with where I am. It's been a long time since that has all come together and maybe this is a wake up call. Perhaps this broken nose will start something new for me.

Time will tell.........