Woman's Day Magazine this week featured an article titled "Can you be a part-time vegetarian?" They used the term "flexitarian" which was the second time in recent weeks I've read this term for a part-time vegetarian diet.
But can we really coin the phrase "flexitarian"? Or are you really just a carnivore? What in the world is the difference between a carnivore and a flexitarian? In my opinion absolutely nothing.
Why try to call it something it's not? You either eat meat or you don't. Right? You either eat animal protein or you don't. Are people trying to coin a term because vegans and vegetarians are looked at as if they were from a foreign planet? More times than not when I tell someone I'm vegan they ask me what that is. When I explain to them what vegan is they say, "Oh that seems too hard!" But the funny thing is it's not. Yes, it takes some adjustments to your grocery shopping but once you get the hang of it it's quite easy and way more tasteful... at least when you're at home. Click here to read my experience on trying to eat vegan at Disneyland.
Women's Day gave 5 reasons for trying eatting "flexitarian":
"1. You’ll save money. Vegetarian protein sources like beans, lowfat dairy and eggs cost a fraction of the price of meat.
2. It’s naturally slimming. “People whose diets are plant-based weigh 15% less than meat eaters,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, LDN, an American Dietetic Association spokeswoman and author of The Flexitarian Diet (McGraw-Hill, 2009). “For the average woman, that’s about 25 pounds less.”
3. It helps your heart. A flexitarian diet lowers your risk of hypertension because you’re eating lots of the blood pressure–lowering mineral potassium, found mainly in produce. Low in saturated fat and high in soluble fiber (which soaks up cholesterol and shuttles it out of your body), this type of diet also cuts cholesterol.
4. It protects against cancer. People who eat a plant-based diet and exercise regularly slash their risk of cancer by 30% to 40%, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research.
5. It’s kinder to the planet. Animal protein requires 11 times more energy to produce than grains. What’s more, raising meat uses 26 times more water than growing vegetable protein."
Review those reasons and ask yourself if they explained any benefits to the dairy and meat part of the flexitarian's diet? Why don't they just come right out and say you should be a vegan then? What are the benefits of meat and dairy consumption?
The article also says that, "flexitarianism gives you the best of both worlds: You get your meat fix and the healthy perks of a vegetarian diet". I think this statement is incredibly misleading. Why fool these flexitarians into thinking that they are going to benefit from this diet when really it includes all of the things they are currently eating?
Dr. T. Colin Campbell in his book, The China Study, states that even small amounts of animal protein can be harmful to your body.
John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution, gives an in depth, scientificly and statistically based, and medically reviewed explanation of the benefits of a plant based diet as well as the risks of being a carnivore and the profound effects on the planet we cause because of our decisions.
According to Dictionary.com, the word Vegan was coined by Donald Watson in 1944, to distinguish those who abstained from all animal products from those who just refuse to eat animal meat. Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarian originated around 1950-1955, to describe someone who was vegetarian but did eat eggs and dairy products, such as milk and cheese. Flexitarian originated around 1992 to describe a vegetarian that was flexible enough to have on occasional meat or fish.
I understand this word has been around for awhile, but in my opinion there is no such thing. You either eat meat, or you don't. How much or little you eat meat should not determine whether you can call yourself a full-on carnivore or a flexitarian. It's an absurd word. It is good to look at nutrition and make choices that not only better your own health but can benefit the planet and the creatures of the planet. A vegetarian eats consciencly, a vegan eats knowingly, a flexatarian eats anything.
Click here to read the full article from Woman's Day Magazine.
Thinking About Going Vegetarian Or Vegan But Don't Know Where To Start? Read This!
Most people assume if you're vegan that you must be "one of those people" who just can't stand to see cute little piggies and cows getting slaughtered and so you decided to stop eating meat and dairy all for sake of the animals.
I'm not saying that this isn't a huge part of it, because once you open your eyes to the way we treat our livestock in this country, it definitely does help you avoid meat and dairy for that reason alone. In fact, it's sad that if you chose to be vegan for the animals' sake your almost looked down upon as a weak individual who is unrealistic and overly sensitive. Really?
Click below to watch a video on the topic and ask yourself if this is what you would call being overly sensitive. If you don't want to watch the video, keep reading below there is more... and don't worry it's not about animals anymore, it's about humans and the state of our health...
I became vegan for many reasons - my health, animal welfare and the environment.
My husband was suffering from some health issues and through trying to help him I started reading about the issues he was having and dairy and meat were large culprits. He has very bad excema and psoriasis on his skin and one of the largest culprits for these outbreaks turned out to be dairy and meat! In fact, many infants in the US suffer from excema and I believe that removing dairy from the infant/toddlers diet can clear it all up, at least it's worth a try... and when I say "try" I mean for three weeks or more, which is how long it can take for dairy to be completely out of your system.
My husband had seen every dermatologist at the board of dermatology for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties and none of them could help him with a natural way to get rid of his excema and psoriasis. They instead wanted to give him prescriptions so hard core that he would have to take a liver functionality test prior to taking them because they are so hard on your body. I just happened one night to look up excema and psoriasis in this book, Prescription for Natural Cures
, which is a book written by a medical doctor and a naturopath. They said that dairy and meat were large offenders for people that suffered from these skin disorders and it also explained why which made a lot of sense to me. When we took JP off dairy for a year his skin totally cleared up! At one point he was off dairy but was eating a ton of chicken and his skin got really bad again.
The more I read about health problems and diet and disease, the more it all came back to dairy and meat.
I became vegan in 2006 and it is a hard road in a sense because so many people look at you funny and it's hard to eat out, but once you have the knowledge in your head it motivates you to keep going with it.
It is a lifestyle change. It is literally experimenting with things like rice milk until you find things to eat that still feel like comfort foods, but are healthier for you. You dont have to eat salad every day!
So, there are a few books that I would highly recommend reading. They look a lot at scientific evidence on diet/disease link trends in America as well as other countries. As well as discuss the really screwed up things we do here like our horrible factory farms and other disgusting farming practices that we standardly use here that the UK and Ireland as well as many other countries have banned for years.
The only other person that I have recommended The Food Revolution to who actually read the book is Monica, my co-blogger! She just started reading it at the end of May of this year, as you can read in previous posts, and she hasn't even finished it yet but she has already gone completely vegan as well as her three children. She said that she looks at food completely different now and she sees how it was affecting her body and her children's bodies.
The Food Revolution by John Robbins
is an easy read in the sense that he has easy to read facts throughout the whole book so you can start by just kind of scanning through it and looking at some of the facts and then you'll probably end up wanting to read more once you look at the scientific data that has been gathered.
The next book that I highly recommend is called The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
. This book explains the findings in a 27 year (and still going!) study on different counties in China where animal protein is heavily consumed and other areas where they eat mostly plant based proteins and the staggering links between diet and diseases that they suffer/die from. Over 800 links were found and then published in scientific journals about this study. This is the largest study ever done on humans. The New York Times called it "The Grand Prix of Epidemiology".
The man that wrote the book, T. Colin Campbell, grew up on a dairy farm and began his career at Cornell University in biomedical sciences trying to come up with a safe way to make pigs and cows grow faster so that we could produce meat quicker and cheaper. The goal was that by producing meat faster and cheaper we could help eradicate hunger throughout the world. We could get animal protein over to third world countries because they thought it was the lack of animal protein in these people's diets that was causing their malnutrition.
The more studies he was involved in the more it became clear that the people with the highest consumptions of meat and dairy were the ones that were dying of liver cancer, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, etc.
This book is the one that NFL Football player Tony Gonzalez read and after only the first 40 pages he had already decided to go vegan!
Another book I would recommend is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living
. This is a great guide to understanding what your body needs to function and what foods you need to eat to keep your body in top performance. It is very well written and a guide that I find myself referencing quite often.
Another book that helps with the transition, I think, is a book called Vegetables Every Day
. This book has nothing to do with being vegan, it is just a cook book that has very simple and yet incredibly tasty ways of cooking vegetables. Any time he calls for butter I just substitue with olive oil.
Also, if you are starting by trying to avoid dairy, there are a few ingredients you should know about that are actually dairy. Any time you see whey or whey protein or casein or casein protein, it is derived from dairy. Casein is the main protein found in milk that has been strongly linked to type one diabetes in formula fed babies who's formula was made with cow's milk. Also it takes dairy approximately three weeks to fully work out of your body, so if you are still feeling bloated and farting a lot it's likely not out!! Also, soy milk often makes people feel bloated too so you may want to try rice milk or almond milk if soy is giving you bother.
Another book other people have read and liked but I hear is not that scientific based, is called Skinny Bitch
and apparently they are working on releasing a new one called Skinny Bachelor about men being vegan too.
If you have any questions or comments or want any other information please let us know!
I'm not saying that this isn't a huge part of it, because once you open your eyes to the way we treat our livestock in this country, it definitely does help you avoid meat and dairy for that reason alone. In fact, it's sad that if you chose to be vegan for the animals' sake your almost looked down upon as a weak individual who is unrealistic and overly sensitive. Really?
Click below to watch a video on the topic and ask yourself if this is what you would call being overly sensitive. If you don't want to watch the video, keep reading below there is more... and don't worry it's not about animals anymore, it's about humans and the state of our health...
I became vegan for many reasons - my health, animal welfare and the environment.
My husband was suffering from some health issues and through trying to help him I started reading about the issues he was having and dairy and meat were large culprits. He has very bad excema and psoriasis on his skin and one of the largest culprits for these outbreaks turned out to be dairy and meat! In fact, many infants in the US suffer from excema and I believe that removing dairy from the infant/toddlers diet can clear it all up, at least it's worth a try... and when I say "try" I mean for three weeks or more, which is how long it can take for dairy to be completely out of your system.
My husband had seen every dermatologist at the board of dermatology for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties and none of them could help him with a natural way to get rid of his excema and psoriasis. They instead wanted to give him prescriptions so hard core that he would have to take a liver functionality test prior to taking them because they are so hard on your body. I just happened one night to look up excema and psoriasis in this book, Prescription for Natural Cures
, which is a book written by a medical doctor and a naturopath. They said that dairy and meat were large offenders for people that suffered from these skin disorders and it also explained why which made a lot of sense to me. When we took JP off dairy for a year his skin totally cleared up! At one point he was off dairy but was eating a ton of chicken and his skin got really bad again.The more I read about health problems and diet and disease, the more it all came back to dairy and meat.
I became vegan in 2006 and it is a hard road in a sense because so many people look at you funny and it's hard to eat out, but once you have the knowledge in your head it motivates you to keep going with it.
It is a lifestyle change. It is literally experimenting with things like rice milk until you find things to eat that still feel like comfort foods, but are healthier for you. You dont have to eat salad every day!
So, there are a few books that I would highly recommend reading. They look a lot at scientific evidence on diet/disease link trends in America as well as other countries. As well as discuss the really screwed up things we do here like our horrible factory farms and other disgusting farming practices that we standardly use here that the UK and Ireland as well as many other countries have banned for years.
The only other person that I have recommended The Food Revolution to who actually read the book is Monica, my co-blogger! She just started reading it at the end of May of this year, as you can read in previous posts, and she hasn't even finished it yet but she has already gone completely vegan as well as her three children. She said that she looks at food completely different now and she sees how it was affecting her body and her children's bodies.
The Food Revolution by John Robbins
is an easy read in the sense that he has easy to read facts throughout the whole book so you can start by just kind of scanning through it and looking at some of the facts and then you'll probably end up wanting to read more once you look at the scientific data that has been gathered.The next book that I highly recommend is called The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
. This book explains the findings in a 27 year (and still going!) study on different counties in China where animal protein is heavily consumed and other areas where they eat mostly plant based proteins and the staggering links between diet and diseases that they suffer/die from. Over 800 links were found and then published in scientific journals about this study. This is the largest study ever done on humans. The New York Times called it "The Grand Prix of Epidemiology".The man that wrote the book, T. Colin Campbell, grew up on a dairy farm and began his career at Cornell University in biomedical sciences trying to come up with a safe way to make pigs and cows grow faster so that we could produce meat quicker and cheaper. The goal was that by producing meat faster and cheaper we could help eradicate hunger throughout the world. We could get animal protein over to third world countries because they thought it was the lack of animal protein in these people's diets that was causing their malnutrition.
The more studies he was involved in the more it became clear that the people with the highest consumptions of meat and dairy were the ones that were dying of liver cancer, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, etc.
This book is the one that NFL Football player Tony Gonzalez read and after only the first 40 pages he had already decided to go vegan!
Another book I would recommend is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living
. This is a great guide to understanding what your body needs to function and what foods you need to eat to keep your body in top performance. It is very well written and a guide that I find myself referencing quite often.Another book that helps with the transition, I think, is a book called Vegetables Every Day
. This book has nothing to do with being vegan, it is just a cook book that has very simple and yet incredibly tasty ways of cooking vegetables. Any time he calls for butter I just substitue with olive oil.Also, if you are starting by trying to avoid dairy, there are a few ingredients you should know about that are actually dairy. Any time you see whey or whey protein or casein or casein protein, it is derived from dairy. Casein is the main protein found in milk that has been strongly linked to type one diabetes in formula fed babies who's formula was made with cow's milk. Also it takes dairy approximately three weeks to fully work out of your body, so if you are still feeling bloated and farting a lot it's likely not out!! Also, soy milk often makes people feel bloated too so you may want to try rice milk or almond milk if soy is giving you bother.
Another book other people have read and liked but I hear is not that scientific based, is called Skinny Bitch
and apparently they are working on releasing a new one called Skinny Bachelor about men being vegan too.If you have any questions or comments or want any other information please let us know!
It's Tough To Eat Vegan In Disneyland!
We arrived in Disneyland Wednesday afternoon and I knew I would face food challenges not only for myself but for my ever resistant boys. It's much easier to eat healthy foods when that's all there is. But who wants a carrot stick or apple when there is cotton candy, deep fried corn dogs and gigantic cookie ice cream sandwiches? Holy crap...!!!
So in my attempts to eat and not live on prepackaged fruit alone here is my journal of what I ate and where. And I used the 2% rule which if I really new what I was eating probably would resemble a 20% rule. Ouch...
Wednesday:
Breakfast: Small coffee from McDonalds with some rice milk (most of the rice milk spilled in my purse, so I had just enough for my little coffee), one hash brown and one piece of English muffin (the side without the cheese from the breakfast sandwich my son had to have but didn't eat!)
Lunch: Vegetable soft tacos with no refried beans and extra vegetables. The vegetables were delicious, carrots, zucchini, onions, bell peppers. My guess would be the vegetables were cooked with butter and the rice with chicken broth. But that's OK for now. I'm making much better decisions. No cheese, no sour cream, and no animal protein. This was at Rancho del Zocalo in Disneyland.
Snack: shared a couple of bites of my 5 year old's monster rice crispy treat. (Can't we just consider marshmallows vegan? Please?)
Dinner: At the Pizza Port my 8 year old ordered spaghetti with marinara and meatballs. He ate the meatballs and we shared the pasta. My 5 year old had a huge piece of pizza and he gave me some of his crust. Kids don't like crust anyways and I love the crust of the pizza.
Normally I don't eat much pasta or bread. In fact I tend to avoid it like the plague, but it's a part of my life right now so we'll see. I prefer 100% whole wheat pasta and bread but it's not an option here at The Happiest Place On Earth.
Thursday:
Breakfast: I brought Rice Milk and TJ's version of Cheerios. I think they're called Joe's O's.
Snack: TJ's Whole Wheat Crackers or whatever they're called. I think they have flax seed in them.
Lunch: At the Farmers Market I bought the fresh fruit cup with apples, grapes, blueberries, pineapple, cantaloupe and mango, a veggie tray with grape tomatoes, baby carrots and celery. My sons and husband had corn dogs with french fries and apple slices. My sons don't like the corn breading. So they ate the hot dog and I ate their corn breading. I know, I know. There was probably egg, dairy &/or butter in the corn bread not to mention it was deep fried!
Snack: Back at the hotel room I had a TJ's Rice Noodle Bowl. It was delicious.
Dinner: I had a small garden salad with a little bit of Italian dressing, a bread stick and a kids portion of pasta with marinara sauce. Again with the pasta and bread! Oh yeah, and a huge serving of green beans but I'm pretty sure they were coated with butter. And a biscuit with strawberry jam. Is there anything else I haven't remembered?... I think that's it.
Friday:
Breakfast: Once again I had some Joe's O's and Rice Milk and coffee with Rice Milk.
Lunch: In California Adventure we ate at the Wharf. My husband always has a chowder bread bowl and shrimp Louie bread bowl and the boys follow suit. But I ate vegetable soft tacos again with no refried beans or cheese. They were delicious once again. I did however eat some of the boys bread bowl. It's sourdough. It's fine! Right?
Dinner: We went to a jungle and animal themed restaurant outside the park, where I had the worst veggie burger ever. It just didn't taste good not to mention there was an unidentifiable sauce that I didn't remember being in the menu description. Besides that being the only close to vegan option on the menu there was not one appetizer that didn't have dairy or chicken. I understand maybe the demand is low, but it sucks for me. I did have a moment of weakness with the fried calamari my husband ordered. Oh, and then there was dessert. I closed my eyes and with the shovel-sized spoon they brought out I dug in. Yes I did. I dug into chocolate brownie, a little bit of ice cream and a lot of whip cream. Again, a weakness. I'm still a young vegan with some weaknesses. And I know it. I won't kid myself. I'm sorry.
So that's my Disneyland food journal. Needless to say, being vegan at D-Land was difficult for me. There were plenty of fresh fruit options but I'm not much of a fruit eater, let alone fruit for every meal. I was hoping our one outside the park restaurant would have provided me better choices but it didn't.
However, I felt great. I didn't get a stomach ache once, which usually happens every night. We saved a little money on food because I planned who was eating what better. And maybe I will get a little more creative next trip. And then again maybe I will just bring my own food with me!
NFL Football Star Tony Gonzalez is Vegan?!
The video below is of Tony Gonzalez making a vegan shake and explaining some of the different fruits and vegetables that he puts in his shake - all of the packages I noticed were from Trader Joe's!! Oh, I love Tony Gonzalez more and more!
To top it off, he talks about how the acai berry is a very important part of his shake because of it's high antioxidant levels. In the video he uses Sambazon rather than MonaVie, but I've been doing a ton of research lately on the differences between Sambazon and MonaVie, as my friends are distributors of MonaVie, and I will write more once I finish my research.
This article from The Wall Street Journal entitled, "The 247 lb. Vegan",discusses how he made the decision to go vegan after reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.
To top it off, he talks about how the acai berry is a very important part of his shake because of it's high antioxidant levels. In the video he uses Sambazon rather than MonaVie, but I've been doing a ton of research lately on the differences between Sambazon and MonaVie, as my friends are distributors of MonaVie, and I will write more once I finish my research.
This article from The Wall Street Journal entitled, "The 247 lb. Vegan",discusses how he made the decision to go vegan after reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.
Veggie Burger Review... Or Is It?
I don't know if I should really call this a "review" since I'm really only talking about two types of veggie burgers but I've tried so many different types and none of them have really impressed me except for these two... so there, my review is really saying that all the rest suck but these ones are really good!
The Boca Burger Original Vegan Burger was introduced to me by Monica and my first time having it was grilled on a BBQ and then I put basil, white onion, tomato, avocado, balsamic vinegar and some crushed garlic on it. Amazing!! However, I knew that it was quite possible that it could have been the sunny, hot Sunday afternoon, the kids playing in the pool, the summer smell of a charcoal BBQ burning... maybe even the basil and balsamic/garlic that I had exprimented with that made it by far the best veggie burger I had ever eaten. So I didn't have too high of expectations when I made the next one at home in the toaster oven with just some onions, tomato and avocado on some slices of whole grain toast. Delicious again! Since then I have had many more and they have all quenched that nostalgic need for a good ol' burger on a hot summer day.
Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger was introduced to me by my Stepmom a few years back as she attempted to find edible items for me as I had declared myself vegan forever in May 2006 after reading The Food Revolution by John Robbins. I haven't really eaten them since but I remember thinking they were pretty good. Monica recently reintroduced me to them again and they are even better than I remember! What I like the most about them, which I can not say the same for the Boca Burger, is that they consist of all ingredients that I would have at home... ok, well I suppose I don't have "All Natural Vegetable Gum" hanging around, not to mention I hate the saying "all natural" since that really doesn't mean shit. Just because it's natural (and what is the definition of natural?... there is no FDA regulation on that statement) doesn't mean it's nutritious or safe for you. Cheetos and Cheez Whiz can probably say all natural on their packaging so that word doesn't really mean much to me. But my point is that, for the most part, they seem to be made with "good stuff".
Here is the ingredient list for Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger: Carrot, Onion, Stringbeans, Soybeans, Zucchini, Oat Bran, Peas, Spinach, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Broccoli, Textured Soy Flour, Corn, Oat Fiber, Red Pepper, Arrowroot, Corn Meal, Corn Starch, Garlic, Salt, Parsley, Black Pepper, All Natural Vegetable Gum.
Here is the ingredient list for Boca Burger Original Vegan Burger: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, ,Wheat Gluten, Contains less that 2% of Methylcellulose, Salt, Caramel Color, Dried Onions, Yeast Extract, Sesame Oil, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Natural and Artificial Flavor (non-meat), Disodium Guanylate, Disodium Inosinate.
Wow, I must admit, after typing out the ingredients from the Boca Burgers maybe on second thought this should be titled, Eat Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burgers. I would suggest you go to Wikepedia and look up Methylcellulose, Disodium Guanylate and Disodium Inosinate and make up your own mind.
I think after reading up on those ingredients I'm going to stick to the Dr. Praeger's from now on. Also, I noticed Dr. Praeger's has a gluten free version of the California Veggie Burger too. I also looked up the Vegetable Gum that is in Dr. Praeger's on Wikipedia. It says it is derived from a number of sources, depending on what type of gum it is, but that it typically originates from woody elements of plants or seed coatings... much better!
So, there you go... try Dr. Praeger's for a nice veggie burger. I wouldn't say it tastes anything like a meat burger but it's round and you can put it on a bun!
The Boca Burger Original Vegan Burger was introduced to me by Monica and my first time having it was grilled on a BBQ and then I put basil, white onion, tomato, avocado, balsamic vinegar and some crushed garlic on it. Amazing!! However, I knew that it was quite possible that it could have been the sunny, hot Sunday afternoon, the kids playing in the pool, the summer smell of a charcoal BBQ burning... maybe even the basil and balsamic/garlic that I had exprimented with that made it by far the best veggie burger I had ever eaten. So I didn't have too high of expectations when I made the next one at home in the toaster oven with just some onions, tomato and avocado on some slices of whole grain toast. Delicious again! Since then I have had many more and they have all quenched that nostalgic need for a good ol' burger on a hot summer day.
Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger was introduced to me by my Stepmom a few years back as she attempted to find edible items for me as I had declared myself vegan forever in May 2006 after reading The Food Revolution by John Robbins
. I haven't really eaten them since but I remember thinking they were pretty good. Monica recently reintroduced me to them again and they are even better than I remember! What I like the most about them, which I can not say the same for the Boca Burger, is that they consist of all ingredients that I would have at home... ok, well I suppose I don't have "All Natural Vegetable Gum" hanging around, not to mention I hate the saying "all natural" since that really doesn't mean shit. Just because it's natural (and what is the definition of natural?... there is no FDA regulation on that statement) doesn't mean it's nutritious or safe for you. Cheetos and Cheez Whiz can probably say all natural on their packaging so that word doesn't really mean much to me. But my point is that, for the most part, they seem to be made with "good stuff".Here is the ingredient list for Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger: Carrot, Onion, Stringbeans, Soybeans, Zucchini, Oat Bran, Peas, Spinach, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Broccoli, Textured Soy Flour, Corn, Oat Fiber, Red Pepper, Arrowroot, Corn Meal, Corn Starch, Garlic, Salt, Parsley, Black Pepper, All Natural Vegetable Gum.
Here is the ingredient list for Boca Burger Original Vegan Burger: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, ,Wheat Gluten, Contains less that 2% of Methylcellulose, Salt, Caramel Color, Dried Onions, Yeast Extract, Sesame Oil, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Natural and Artificial Flavor (non-meat), Disodium Guanylate, Disodium Inosinate.
Wow, I must admit, after typing out the ingredients from the Boca Burgers maybe on second thought this should be titled, Eat Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burgers. I would suggest you go to Wikepedia and look up Methylcellulose, Disodium Guanylate and Disodium Inosinate and make up your own mind.
I think after reading up on those ingredients I'm going to stick to the Dr. Praeger's from now on. Also, I noticed Dr. Praeger's has a gluten free version of the California Veggie Burger too. I also looked up the Vegetable Gum that is in Dr. Praeger's on Wikipedia. It says it is derived from a number of sources, depending on what type of gum it is, but that it typically originates from woody elements of plants or seed coatings... much better!
So, there you go... try Dr. Praeger's for a nice veggie burger. I wouldn't say it tastes anything like a meat burger but it's round and you can put it on a bun!
Vegan Protein Sources
My brother has recently cut back on his animal protein intake and asked me what were good alternative sources of protein. After writing him back I thought maybe it would be good to post it here. It's nothing you can't find on the internet or in a book, but it's a good reminder to me of all of the plant based foods that are rich in protein.
In terms of protein intake, the RDA recommendation is that 1 out of every 10 calories you consume should come from protein and exactly how much that is depends on your weight. You should be consuming approx. .5 grams per pound that you weigh so half your weight. However, Dr. T. Colin Campbell in his book, The China Study, says that Americans tend to get way too much protein in their diets and that it should be closer to about 50 - 60 grams/day, rather than the 100 gram/day consumed on average by Americans.
A common fallacy is that you need to combine proteins at each meal to make them complete. Just make sure you eat a variety of foods (fruits, veggies and grains) and you will get all your amino acids, which are what make up proteins. Soy beans are a complete protein by the way so you can eat tofu/edamame/soy milk if you are concerned you aren't eating a balanced diet and therefore not getting all your amino acids.
Ok, now on to foods...
Asparagus, broccoli and tofu are about 40% protein as a % of calories, watercress is 83% so these foods are very high in protein as a % of calories.
Beans - here are the protein amounts per 1 cup serving:
Soybeans - 28.5g
Lentils - 18g
Split peas - 16.5g
Navy beans - 16g
Black beans - 15g
Chickpeas..aka garbanzos - 14.5
Peas (fresh) - 9g
Nuts - here are the protein amounts per 100 gram serving:
Peanuts - 24.3g
Pistachios - 19.3g
Cashews - 17.2g
Almonds - 16.9g
Pine Nuts - 14g
Brazil Nuts - 12g
Walnuts - 10.6g
Pecans - 9.2g
Hazel Nuts - 7.6g
Macadamia Nuts - 7g
Coconuts - 3.2g
Chestnuts - 2g
Seeds - per 100 gram serving:
Pumpkin - 29g
Sesame - 26.4g
Sunflower - 24g
Also, green leafy veggies are especially high in protein as well.
Most of the information from this e-mail came from The Idiots Guide to Vegan Living by Beverly Lynn Bennett and Ray Sammartano. This is a fantastic book for anyone looking into a vegan lifestyle.
In terms of protein intake, the RDA recommendation is that 1 out of every 10 calories you consume should come from protein and exactly how much that is depends on your weight. You should be consuming approx. .5 grams per pound that you weigh so half your weight. However, Dr. T. Colin Campbell in his book, The China Study, says that Americans tend to get way too much protein in their diets and that it should be closer to about 50 - 60 grams/day, rather than the 100 gram/day consumed on average by Americans.
A common fallacy is that you need to combine proteins at each meal to make them complete. Just make sure you eat a variety of foods (fruits, veggies and grains) and you will get all your amino acids, which are what make up proteins. Soy beans are a complete protein by the way so you can eat tofu/edamame/soy milk if you are concerned you aren't eating a balanced diet and therefore not getting all your amino acids.
Ok, now on to foods...
Asparagus, broccoli and tofu are about 40% protein as a % of calories, watercress is 83% so these foods are very high in protein as a % of calories.
Beans - here are the protein amounts per 1 cup serving:
Soybeans - 28.5g
Lentils - 18g
Split peas - 16.5g
Navy beans - 16g
Black beans - 15g
Chickpeas..aka garbanzos - 14.5
Peas (fresh) - 9g
Nuts - here are the protein amounts per 100 gram serving:
Peanuts - 24.3g
Pistachios - 19.3g
Cashews - 17.2g
Almonds - 16.9g
Pine Nuts - 14g
Brazil Nuts - 12g
Walnuts - 10.6g
Pecans - 9.2g
Hazel Nuts - 7.6g
Macadamia Nuts - 7g
Coconuts - 3.2g
Chestnuts - 2g
Seeds - per 100 gram serving:
Pumpkin - 29g
Sesame - 26.4g
Sunflower - 24g
Also, green leafy veggies are especially high in protein as well.
Most of the information from this e-mail came from The Idiots Guide to Vegan Living by Beverly Lynn Bennett and Ray Sammartano. This is a fantastic book for anyone looking into a vegan lifestyle.
Pressed Tofu... So Good!
I was not always a fan of tofu, until I learned to alter its texture. I love pressed tofu. I could eat it every day. Let me share with you what I learned.
Here are some simple instructions:
Take one block of tofu, NOT the silken kind. I like Firm and Extra Firm. Drain and discard the liquid. Cut the tofu in half and turn the halves up on their sides with the cut sides facing you. Slice each halve into 3 equal pieces, rectangles.
Place a clean kitchen towel onto a cutting board or flat cookie sheet. Place the rectangular tofu slices on the towel. Place another clean kitchen towel on top of the tofu. Put another cutting board or flat cookie sheet on top. Then place heavy items on top to put weight on the tofu. I use the huge Costco canned foods and huge syrup bottles. I also have a huge wooden cutting board as my top board. Press for one hour.
Once the hour is up, cook your tofu. I heat my flat double burner griddle. I spray a light coat of non-stick olive oil on my griddle and then line up my tofu on my griddle. I sprinkle a little salt or garlic salt over the tofu. Cook on both sides for approximately 5 minutes on medium heat. It will turn a golden brown. Don’t burn your tofu.
The pressed tofu will have a similar texture as chicken. Tofu taste like what you cook it with. Any dish you would put chicken or steak in, try substituting pressed tofu.
Try changing different things with your tofu. I have sprinkled Taco Seasoning over my tofu and I have sprinkled sesame seeds on one side of my tofu.
My Pressing Tips
I read somewhere you could use paper towels, which I tried and didn’t like for several reasons. I don’t like using paper towels. I think they are a waste of money and not environmentally friendly. However, I do keep a roll hidden in my pantry. I am pro-cloth kitchen towels. I find the kitchen towels absorb the extra moisture in the tofu better.
And if you are wondering what brand of tofu to buy… it may truly be trial and error. I like Trader Joe’s Organic Firm Tofu. The price is perfect for my grocery budget. I actually have an entire list of products from Trader Joe’s that I love and stock my refrigerator and pantry with. That will be another blog… and freezing tofu is yet to come…
-Monica
Here are some simple instructions:
Take one block of tofu, NOT the silken kind. I like Firm and Extra Firm. Drain and discard the liquid. Cut the tofu in half and turn the halves up on their sides with the cut sides facing you. Slice each halve into 3 equal pieces, rectangles.
Place a clean kitchen towel onto a cutting board or flat cookie sheet. Place the rectangular tofu slices on the towel. Place another clean kitchen towel on top of the tofu. Put another cutting board or flat cookie sheet on top. Then place heavy items on top to put weight on the tofu. I use the huge Costco canned foods and huge syrup bottles. I also have a huge wooden cutting board as my top board. Press for one hour.
Once the hour is up, cook your tofu. I heat my flat double burner griddle. I spray a light coat of non-stick olive oil on my griddle and then line up my tofu on my griddle. I sprinkle a little salt or garlic salt over the tofu. Cook on both sides for approximately 5 minutes on medium heat. It will turn a golden brown. Don’t burn your tofu.
The pressed tofu will have a similar texture as chicken. Tofu taste like what you cook it with. Any dish you would put chicken or steak in, try substituting pressed tofu.
Try changing different things with your tofu. I have sprinkled Taco Seasoning over my tofu and I have sprinkled sesame seeds on one side of my tofu.
My Pressing Tips
I read somewhere you could use paper towels, which I tried and didn’t like for several reasons. I don’t like using paper towels. I think they are a waste of money and not environmentally friendly. However, I do keep a roll hidden in my pantry. I am pro-cloth kitchen towels. I find the kitchen towels absorb the extra moisture in the tofu better.
And if you are wondering what brand of tofu to buy… it may truly be trial and error. I like Trader Joe’s Organic Firm Tofu. The price is perfect for my grocery budget. I actually have an entire list of products from Trader Joe’s that I love and stock my refrigerator and pantry with. That will be another blog… and freezing tofu is yet to come…
-Monica
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