Vegetarian Beach - Veggies and Vegans let's meet here

[lorka150]

http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/Healt ... ncer.shtml

(I won't post it in here because it will take up a lot of room).

[BudtkaBoy2000]

Great article. And the strong emphasis on stuffing yourself with protein-rich foods all day is one of the downfalls of the South Beach and Atkins and Zone and these other plans. If you make sure that you eat wide variety of foods from different groups (vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, etc.) there is no question that at the end of the day you should have gotten your necessary fats, fiber, protein, carbohydrates, phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals, etc.

[lorka150]

a huge flaw, too, in the eating system of most individuals is their huge reliance on protein. i realize that protein is one of the building blocks in satisfying your hunger, however, it really is 'over rated', unless you are a body builder.

in addition, animal protein reliance (which is fine to eat that, if you wish), in my opinion, should be halved and balanced with a stronger vegetarian protein per meal. IE instead of a huge steak and two sides... have half the steak, two sides, and a vegetable based protein (like lentils).

too commonly i see people's meals being FULL of protein per meal - only protein! it's insane. in addition, the fact that the South Beach Diet does not "count" dairy and legumes as protein is beyond me.

but then again, a lot of vegetarians and vegans don't understand the balanced protein concept, of getting both complete AND incomplete proteins; equally detrimental.

[aweea]

OK, vegetarians! A question for you!

Can you name and describe (post recipes if you'd like), your TOP 5 FAVORITE meals that are SBD friendly.

Curious to see what gets posted, as it may spark some meal ideas!

[lakegran]

I am not a vegetarian, but served a veggie picnic over the weekend.
Menu
creamed sliced cukes from my garden with onion
Broccoli/brown rice casserole
guacomole
home made salsa with whole wheat tortilla chips (baked withe evoo spray )
veggie tray /SB spinach dip
SB veggie baked beans, ( a little of that salsa in the beans and they were awesome)

also served some very not SB sweet corn from local veg stand, But ya gotta have 'Ives' corn, at the very least, once a summer if you live within driving distance

Everyone groaned when I announced we were all SB / all veggie, but no one went away hungry and most were pleasantly surprised with the meal
The biggest complainer was the most complimentary after trying and enjoying everything.

[aweea]

Would love the broccoli/brown rice casserole recipe and the veggie baked beans recipe! I also make a home made salsa that I just looooove, but I know I wouldn't be able to handle myself, portion-wise.

How did you make the tortilla chips?

[fab50]

I used to eat more veggie than recently, since I had lots of vegetarian friends and like veggie food. Now, I'm eating less, partly out of laziness and partly because I married a carnivore. He'll eat most anything, but I know he loves poultry and meat. When I started SBD, it was easy to eat a lot of poultry and fish for lean protein. I also eat a fair bit of soy, but that's mostly veggieburgers and soy sausage.

I need variety to keep this going. It's time to start making more interesting vegetarian food. Also, I'm concerned about the mercury so I don't want to overdo fish.

So, this week I'm making tofu and chickpea curry with brown rice, probably tomorrow. I also have a spinach ricotta pie recipe that I think should be fine with no crust and FF ricotta. Think I'll make that soon.

Thanks for the inspiration.

[Robin120]

Hmmm...favorite recipes (for summer)?

Tofu pudding- just toss cocoa, tofu and sweetner in blender and then chill.

Baked beans!!!

BBQ marinated tofu and then baked until crunchy on outside

Hummus and veggies

Iced green tea lattes- I mix 3 cups iced green tea, a little agave and 1 cup unsweetened almond milk. Yum! Iced chai lattes are excellent this way too. And, of course, iced coffee lattes!

Roasted eggplant

Broccilli and/or zuchinni shreds with marinara and nutritional yeast(a little strange I know), but it really does the trick when Im in the mood for pasta. I think it's the sauce that I like more than the pasta!

[lorka150]

my description of "south beach friendly" differs from mosts, so i'm not going to post.

but i am wondering other's thoughts (other than budboy... thanks) on the casein article.

[BudtkaBoy2000]

Other than to say that I just posted a chocolate mousse recipe on my blog, I will agree with Lorka and shut up.

[auburnlocks]

but i am wondering other's thoughts (other than budboy... thanks) on the casein article.

I thought it was interesting but I feel like I need to read more about it before drawing any conclusions. I would like to read the actual study. The China Diet has been on my "to read" list for a while now so maybe I will pick it up. The milk protein thing is something I keep coming back to in my head because I don't think milk is necessary or all that healthy for adults. I mean, that seems like common sense. Babies obviously need it (preferably from their mothers of course) but we are the only adult mammles who consume milk products. We do need calcium yes, especially women, but the milk lobby and advertisers are the ones who seem to want us to think that milk is the only good soucre of it. But then on the other hand I love yogurt and cheese and I'm not sure I want to give them up. Need to read/think on it some more. If I could find a soy yogurt and cheese that didn't taste like a** I might have better luck.

Also...Thought it was interesting that 20% protein was thought of as a "high protein" diet. If all of the protein is coming from milk sources that does seem high but it doesn't seem high overall do you think? I mean, higher than 5% yes but I would bet a lot of the meat eaters on this board clock in at a lot more than that. I enter everything I eat into fitday and mine usually comes out to around 20% of calories (from a 1200-1600 calorie a day diet) from protein and I had thought my protein intake was pretty moderate. The majority for me is plant based (lots of soy and nuts). The only significant daily sources of animal protein for me are yogurt and eggs as I don't eat a lot of cheese and I don't drink milk (and I do think of yogurt as a protein even though SB does not. I don't get that either. But I usually add flax or almonds to make it more filling) . Anyway, the averages for me seem to be 50% of calories from carbs, 50% split between fat and protein with the range varying slightly depending on the day. but 30% fat, 20% protein is pretty typical.

I do think that most americans emphasize protein, especially animal protein a lot more than is needed. There are a lot of plant protein sources that seem to get ignored, including some grains which are naturally high in protein. When people talk about the typical 1 protein, 1 starch, 1 vegetable meal they are almost always talking about meat as the protein source. I remember sitting down to eat a a salad with beans and sunflower seeds for lunch when I was at work and this guy I was sitting with was like, don't you worry that your meals don't have protein. I pointed out the beans and nuts and said, I do have protein, and he was like, well that isn't "high quality" protein. Um, okay? And I'm sure your mystery meat fast food burger is "high quality". Whatever.

But, since I have started emphasising adding more protein in general, especially soy, I am not hungry all the time the way I used to be pre-south beach.

Gosh, that was a long winded rambling answer wasn't it. Sorry. Just been thinking about this stuff a lot lately and feeling like I need to find some more good stuff to read about nutrition that ins't influenced by various food lobbies, interest groups or the hardcore vegan contingent (no offense to the vegans here. just find some of that stuff as biased as the info on the other side) I just want some facts and hard research without all the special interest interpretation. If anyone has recommendations for futher reading I would love to hear them.

[auburnlocks]

okay and a few questions...

Agave Nector... is it any good? I bought stevia a while back looking for a more natural alternative to sweeten my coffee and hated it. Right now coffee is the one thing I am still using splenda in since I now use fruit or fruit juice concentrate to sweeten my yogurt and honey for my tea. I would like to find a natural alternative for that too. And the Stevia wasn't cheap so i want to avoid that mistake again. If I can't find anything I may just go back to using sugar but it would be good to have another sweetener choice.

Tofu and tempeh on the grill...any advice or good recipes. I haven't had either work out just right yet.

[lorka150]

auburnlocks, to answer your questions (and questions for you).

why don't you make your own cheese and yogurt?
have you tried Follow Your Heart cheese? A lot of people lik ethat one.
My mom likes Silk cultured soy, but I can't have it, so I've never tried it.

Stevia differs per brand. Also per type (powder vs. glycerin vs. alcohol). Also, it isn't expensive, really, because you use so little.

Agave is just like honey... If you are a honey fan, then you'll like it. It has a lower GI.

Regarding the grill question, depends what sort of tastes you like? Do you have a food genre in mind?

[auburnlocks]

Hi Lorka, Thanks for the answers...

I haven't tried soy cheese or yogurt in a long time. I tried to go vegan about 4 years ago and tried several brands then but really didn't like any of them. I am no longer interested in going vegan 100% but do like to find non animal alternatives whenever I can. I will look into the brands you mentioned. I had never considered making my own...will have to do some research on that. Do you ever make your own soy Kefir? I love Kefir and saw cultures at whole foods the other day but i would have to do some research. Have no idea where to start...

The stevia is definitely not expensive...if I liked it. I think I paid 7 or 8 dollars for the bottle I have and I really hated it so I have only used it once so far. Maybe I'll give it another shot in something other than coffee which is kind of bitter to start with. I love honey but not in coffee...do you think the agave would work in coffee or would that be weird? Maybe I'll try it anyway if I can use it in tea and cooking.

As far as the grill...anything really. Spicy, sweet, aisian influenced, mexican...I like it all. The only thing I really don't like is smoked flavor...like anything resembling bbq sauce flavor. Too meaty.
I would just like to have an alternative to veggie burgers as we host a lot of bbqs in the summer and I'm getting bored with my usuals. I do make tofu kebobs sometimes. I marinate the tofu in teriyaki sauce but I have never been really thrilled with the results. It's okay...but not great. Thanks again.

[lorka150]

i made some lemongrass skewers yesterday (see my link below) with scallops, but you could make them with tofu or tempeh.

i love curry, and make tofu with it all the time... or tofu ice cream.

i recommend the uncheese cookbook.