New ovo-veggie (could use support/pointers)

Hello! drumminmama sent me here for veggie advice/support. I'm gonna cut & paste my OP from a different board since I think she's the only one that will have read this already, so you get an idea of where I'm coming from. I could use all sorts of support, pointers & anything else anyone can come up with. My family all thinks I'm nuts for wanting to give up meat. Even my lil sis, who was a full vegan for 6 years thinks I'm irrational.

I have tried on several occasions to go vegetarian. I developed a deadly allergy to all pig - pork, bacon, ham... about 15 years ago, and have only eaten meat a few times per month since I moved out of my parents house, 12 years ago.

With all of my allergies, it has always been easiest for me to stick with all natural &/or whole foods. Processed foods, even things like TVP just don't do well in my system.

And a year ago, I went dairy-free. I added yogurt back into my diet for the summer, but it made me sick & I dropped it again after a few weeks.

My last meat was on Thanksgiving. I am committed to sticking this out this time as my body really does not seem to like meat. And with the dairy-free too, I am about 1 step short of vegan now. And I am VERY new to the concept. It seems like every vegetarian dish out there is loaded with cheese. I am still eating things like eggs, but only in things like baked goods.

What I'm wondering, is what do I need to do to suppliment my diet both for overall health, and for healthy hair? I have been taking 2 TBSP crushed flax seeds with my breakfast for the past 2 years, and know about incomplete proteins & low iron dangers. But is there anything specific I could/should be doing?

I don't know that it makes a difference, but my BP and Cholesterol are not a problem here. So sodium & a bit of "good fat" are not going to put me into danger. My normal BP is right around 98/68 and my Cholesterol is currently at 152. My sugars however, are a disaster. I had gestational diabetes, and adult-onset diabetes does run in the family. To date I do not have it, but I watch my sugars closely as I experience extreme sugar crashes if I'm not careful.

Guess that's about it!
love,
mom

 

take a good multi vitamin...the flaxseed is good...i use a product called omega flax (in hte vegetarian capsule) it is good.
when i first went veg i did every meal according to SDA (seventh day adventist) vegetarian food pyramid....now i eat much healthier than i ever did when i ate meat.

 

Yup, I'm here! And I read the FAQ. Still going through the sites & jotting notes fast enough that my fingers are smoking! You umm never really pointed out just exactly how MUCH "out there" stuff was on this site! I'm just a touch overwhelmed.



It's funny you should mention Small Planet. My mom's favorite lasagne recipe is from an old recipe book... Recipes for a Small Planet! I've been trying to get Mom to give it to me for years now. I think I need to ebay for my own copy No, my info came from the dieticians I've seen both while pg with my daughter 6 years ago, and a year ago when I went dairy-free & hinted to my doc about wanting to go vegetarian. The only things they really pointed out was the obvious things like rice & beans... and I like to eat them together anyway

My lil sis is an odd little duckling. I love her dearly, truly I do. And I know she's just worried that her crazy whacked-out big sis is going to run off & live on a farm in the middle of Nowheresville Wisconsin, but... well she just doesn't have to worry about it... all we can afford is a couple acres!
love,
mom

 

Ohh nutz. I typed in a big long reply yesterday, and it all disappeared! I hate that!

I like Mexican food. Could eat it every day, and DO eat it most days! Everything tastes better with salsa & cilantro! I also like most Asian cuisine... Chinese & Thai more than Korean & Japanese. And some of my favorite foods are baked potatoes, sage dressing, and pancakes, waffles & pannekoeken. Yup, I'm a helpless carb-junkie.

The easier question might be what I DON'T like to eat... and the answer is, not much. Raw mangoes still taste weird to me, but they're okay if they're mixed in with something. My allergies keep me away from artificial colors & flavors, and some herbs like chamomile & raspberry leaf that have an anti-inflammatory nature to them. Other than that, I'll try anything, and like almost everything!
love,
mom

 

No, no cheese. I've always had a slight intolerance to dairy, and within the last few years it's gotten bad enough that I gave it up entirely Christmas morning, 2004.

The few Mexi-places I eat out have a special veggie-friendly area. And I've "interviewed" them fully in the past on what is & isn't in their foods because of my pork allergies. I know (they showed me the cans!) that at both of them, they use organic vegan refried beans! Asian places are a little tougher, and when we go out, we visit a Mongolian BBQ where everything is in a buffet line, and they grill it for you at the end of the line. Ohh, it's so good! And since it's buffet, I know exactly what is & isn't going into my food. They too have a pork-free firepit. I've had to ask here too, because my food cannot be cooked on the same grill that pork is. So I might catch a trace amount of chicken or beef here, but that's about it.

Usually I cook at home though. Unlike most of my mama-friends, I LOVE to cook & bake. To me it's not a chore, it's an adventure. I have integrated more whole grains into our foods within the past few years. The last few batches of pancakes we made were with buckwheat flour, and my flour canister is full of ground wheat... NOT white flour. Ditto with sugars. We've use turbinado or honey, not that junky bleached stuff here. And white bread? No thank you, we all prefer oatmeal or whole wheat bread.

Because I also need to lose a considerable amount of weight, I have drastically reduced my carbs. I will use a measuring cup when it comes to things like mashed potatoes, just because it works for me. And I rarely use bread myself. It's whole-grain tortilla shells 90% of the time.

And yes, I am just learning to experiment with curries. They're not like anything I'm used to, but I like it!
love,
mom

 

It sounds like you're on the right track, as you're aware of what nutrients you need, etc.
Now it's just time to find the staple foods that you enjoy and can make easily and eat often. For example, what about a veggie pizza without cheese? You could even drizzle a little flaxseed oil and nutritional yeast on top when it's done, and it's also flexible because you can use whatever kinds of vegetables you like.

I get a lot of good vegan recipes at www.vegweb.com They have recipes for pretty much every food there is- in vegan versions.

And since you're not eating dairy, if you ever miss ice cream or yogurt you can try soy versions. A brand I really like is Tofutti. They also make dairy-free cream cheeses etc.

 

Oh, thank you both! Yes, I think that's exactly what I need now... those "staple meals" that I can plug into the monthly menu and not die of boredom, or slave to create each week. I'm getting better, but I just haven't found substitutes for everything quite yet.



We have a weekly tradition here. Every tuesday night is Pizza & Movie Night. Sometimes we make our own, sometimes we order out, and sometimes we get frozen pizzas. Usually I'll scavenge the fridge for leftovers, but DH JUST found a frozen pizza for me (Amy's Naturals) as well. I've also made some of my own on english muffins or tortilla shells. They don't taste at all like pizza, but they're good! My favorite is pizza sauce sprinkled liberally with peppers, black olives, mushrooms & mandarin oranges



Tofutti... oh, yum! The kids & I are addicted to Tofutti Cuties during the summer! DH also brought some sort of soy... thing home the other night. It was called Chocolate Decadence, and while it didn't taste like ice cream, it sure gave me my chocolate "fix!"

My son is 10, and beginning to truly become self-sufficient in the kitchen. My daughter is almost 6 now, and loves to help with things like arranging veggie trays & mixing things. They both adore working in the kitchen

Right now, I think my biggest challenge is figuring out how to balance 4 people's dietary needs without spending all my time in the kitchen. I've got 2 teeny tiny kids who still need things like high-cal, some fat meals. My husband is a teeny tiny guy who needs high-cal, but has high cholesterol. And now I'm a veggie, who needs to lose weight & needs to have small, frequent meals because of sugar problems. (sigh) But I think I'm getting there... finally!
love,
mom

 

We Seventh-day Adventists have been advocates for vegetarianism for over 140 years! Vegetarian is the way to go! 18 million Seventh-day Adventists can't be wrong. My folks are in their early 60's have been vegetarians for over 40 years. Both of them barely look a day over 50 y/o.

HomeschoolMama. I'm Hypoglycemic and have to keep a close eye on my blood sugar as well. A great big ol' generous helping of peanutbutter on wholewheat bread does wonders for stablizing blood sugar levels.Nuts and legumes,beans etc.. are not only great sources of protein but also help to regulate blood sugar levels.

 

Yes, that's what we've been doing. I've never cooked meat more than 2-3 times per month, so I've kept that in the "menu" and have just been making things where I can pull my own food out before I add the meat or cheese to any other dish. Other than Pizza & Movie Tuesdays, when DH brings home pizza for the kids there just isn't a lot of meat anyway.

I think I've almost got the hang of it now. It's still not that easy, but it's never been easy to figure out our diets anyway. The biggest problem at the moment is my mom. She still sees DH as the human garbage disposal he was when we 1st met that can eat like a starving teenager, she absolutely resents my becoming vegetarian & takes it as a personal insult, and she doesn't see why I don't just slather the kids in a tub of Crisco to fatten them up. (sigh) Gotta love yer mom, huh?
love,
mom

 

I have a lot of respect for you mama.....That is awesome what you are trying to do, not jsut for yourself, but your family....My mother was one who would call him to her elementary school age son home by himself (2 working parents) to say...Do you want chic-fil-a or mcdonalds? ......yes yes i know all of the veggies in ehre are really shaking their heads, and yes i agree that is horrible, but she is my mother so i dont want to hear any nasty remarks on that one......but anyways, thats great.

 

What exactly did the dieticians tell you about "incomplete proteins"? Both rice and beans along with all other unrefined starches and vegetables are COMPLETE proteins, meaning they contain ALL of the essential amino acids in excess of the recommended amounts to meet our dietary needs. If the dietician or anyone else tells you otherwise, then they are wrong and I can provide citations proving so.