I'm now one week into my vegetarian diet. I've lost 4 pounds. I'm not suffering (I'm not craving meat). This diet is giving me a feeling of being centered and balanced in my body. I'm far more mellow in my mood throughout the day (I've long suspected for many years that there's a significant connection between mood and diet). I'm sleeping much better now. After a 6-pack beer drinking session, my body rebounds much faster ...and without suffering any stomach nausea, and having at worst a mild headache that's too mild to call it 'a hangover'.
I've decided to include egg whites in my diet. And I've given myself the green light for eating non-fat yogurt. A couple days ago, I returned a bottle of olive oil to the store thinking I wouldn't have a need for it. Yesterday I went back to the store to buy that same bottle of olive oil, and, last night I tried frying up some slices of tofu using olive oil, soy sauce, and worcestershire sauce - that's my first tofu cooking experience. Oh, and like Bill Clinton, I'm giving myself the green light to include a small amount seafood in my diet. At Thanksgiving, I'm going to allow myself to have a couple pieces of white meat turkey of an amount no larger than a deck of playing cards.
Tonight for supper, I'm having a veggie hotdog sliced up into baked beans with cornbread.
For the vegetarian newbie, veggie burgers and veggie hotdogs are a taste experience that's going to be "very different" from their meat-made counterparts. But once you apply your preferred condiments of choice on to them, they get the job done for passing for a hotdog or hamburg eating experience.
I'm just learning this about the real definition of "vegan":
"Veganism is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients."vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/g/Vegan.htmSo, I'm not a vegan.
I'm a flexitarian.
"“Flexitarian” is a term recently coined to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but occasionally eat meat. Many people who call themselves "flexitarian" or "semi-vegetarian" have given up red meat for health reasons while others, for environmental reasons, only eat free-range or organic animals and animal products."What is a "flexitarian"?
vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/f/flexitarian.htmBill Clinton is not a vegetarian; he is a flexitarian.
Update:
Veggie hotdogs in my baked beans are not working for me. These veggie dogs are VERY BAD. When heated, especially when heated in a microwave, they cause a stink in the house of an odor like no other. You'd think that this "odor like no other" couldn't possibly come from an edible food. To me, these veggie dogs are NOT EDIBLE FOOD.
The brand of these veggie dogs is Smart Dogs, and I can't believe I'm finding positive reviews for this veggie dog over other brands. So right there, I'm getting a big clue that I should not bother to try another brand of veggie dog.
I'm looking for a hotdog substitute that's more healthier to eat ... and since I've identified myself as a "flexitarian", that healthier substitute might end up being ... a turkey hotdog?
2nd update:
I made my own hummus this evening. Hummus can be used as both a dip and a spread. I'm going to use mine as a substitute for peanut butter (using it as a spread) on my toast in the morning. The hummus recipe I consulted on the web:
Hummus III Recipe - Allrecipes.com
allrecipes.com//Recipe/hummus-iii/Detail.aspxThere are over 800 user reviews for the above hummus recipe. Many reviewers offer suggestions to alter this recipe. After reading through a couple dozen reviewer suggestions to alter this recipe, I came up with my own recipe:
2 cups garbanzo beans (one 15oz can), drained
2 Tbsp tahini (sesame seed butter)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
Salt optional - add salt after blending to suit your taste
The price of a jar of tahini is about 3 times the price of a jar of peanut butter.
3rd update:
I love the taste of tahini, or sesame seed butter. If you like the taste of natural peanut butter, no doubt you'll like tahini. And like natural pb with the separated oil on top in the jar, you have the same thing happening in a jar of tahini - you have stir the separated oil and the settled ground sesame seed together before using. Once stirred together, tahini butter (I like calling it a 'butter' as we do with 'peanut butter') is a bit thinner in density than natural pb, and you can use tahini just like natural pb with the only downside being that the cost of using tahini is triple the cost of using natural pb.
I tried my hummus on my toast this morning ... voila! ... I no longer want for peanut butter on my toast.
But, the next time I make my hummus ... because in peanut butter there's no lemon and no garlic (and I love garlic, but not in a substitute spread for peanut butter) ... I'm not going put lemon and garlic into my hummus the next time I make it.
If I were making hummus to use as a dip, I would then use lemon and garlic, and maybe add some other seasoning(s) to it.
4th update (10/5/10):
I tried frying a veggie hotdog in olive oil. The result was a hotdog that tasted like a hotdog.
I lightly toasted a hotdog roll in a toaster oven, then fried the inside of the roll with a little olive oil. I put some ketchup, mustard and relish on it. It tasted so good I was tempted to cook up another one.
Lesson learned:
Fry or grill veggie hotdogs; don't microwave or boil them.
5th update (10/8/10):
I tried making hummus without lemon juice and garlic. I miss those flavors, so I'm keeping the lemon and garlic in it. When my tahini (sesame seed butter) runs out, I'm going to try using natural peanut butter in the place of tahini (it's only 2 Tbsp in the recipe). Because I'm using my hummus as a substitute for pb (I'm seeking a substitute spread that's far lower in fat than pb), it seems to me to be a no-brainer that using natural pb instead of tahini would work just fine in a hummus spead that's being used as a substitute for pb.
I tried mixing plain soymilk and vanilla soymilk. I found myself wanting more vanilla flavor, and, I learned the sugar content in the plain is only slightly less that in the vanilla. And so I've decided I prefer the taste of vanilla soymilk ... and have I said it tastes great in coffee!!!