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You Eat Chicken, Don't You?
For breakfast, get used to a high protein cereal like Cascadian Farms or Kashi Go-Lean Crunch. Eat it with vanilla soy milk (so much yummier than real milk) and a banana. You will be satisfied for hours. DO NOT COUNT CALORIES OR FAT GRAMS! Plant based foods will not make you fat if you are not eating potato chips and cheese everyday for your vegetarian diet. Peanut butter or any nut butter on toast rocks and keeps you full. Anti, it takes a while to make this change, and you don't have to do it overnight. I didn't! Make a few substitutions here and there. Slowly incorporate things into your diet. Costco has a great butternut squash ravioli that I love! I don't normally shop there, but lately they have been offering a LOT of organic items, and they sell Boca Burgers in bulk. They also have these great frozen organic bean and rice burritos by Cedarlane that are fabulous in a pinch, when you are hungry and don't have time to cook. Amy's organic soups are great as well, and beans are a fantastic source of protein. This link has useful information, but there are so many out there. Go to www.goveg.com as well. http://www.vegsoc.org/info/goingveg.html And promise me you will read Fast Food Nation. It starts out slow, but once you get into it you cannot put it down. And every word of it is true. I had some of the same health issues you described and changing my diet from a meat and dairy based one to a plant based diet has had a remarkable effect on my health. Keep me posted on your progress!— December 12, 2008 3:42 p.m.
You Eat Chicken, Don't You?
It's just a matter of learning how to incorporate meat substitutes that taste good. I agree with you about those fake meat strips. Stay away from them. Get a good curry recipe, and sub in cubed tofu at the end instead of the meat it calls for at the beginning of the recipe. Cook some brown rice and serve the curry over the rice. You will NEVER miss the meat. You will actually become a better cook because your plate will have a variety of things on it - garlic, onions, ginger, curry powder, mushrooms, broccoli, tofu, veggie broth for liquid, whatever you want to add to your curry. I am not saying curry is all you can make. As you get better, buy soy crumbles for ground meat. Smart Meat makes a great one. Saute in a pan with onions, garlic, one can organic tomatoes, cumin, chile powder, salt and pepper. It makes taco meat that even your diehard meat eater friends will not know the difference if you add it to a shell with lettuce, cheese (if you want) and salsa. Trader Joes has a soy meatball that my husband goes nuts for. He likes it better that real meatballs! Plus he can eat two meatball subs for less calories that one made with real meat! All you need to do is put the meatballs in a frying pan with some organic tomato sauce, cook until they are hot and maybe a little browned, split a couple rolls, spoon in the balls, put a little grated motz on top, broil till melted and brown. You will be shocked at how good these are. Just try a few of these. Boca Burgers are great with saute'd onions, pickles, cheese, lettuce and tomato on a whole grain hamburger bun. You can't tell the difference once you get used to them. They are actually really good. I also make sweet potato fries in the oven to go with them. Slice sweet potatoes like french fries, mix in a bowl with a little olive oil and seasoning like a Cajon one (Tony's) put on a cookie sheet greased with a little more olive oil and bake at 450 degrees until crispy. Turn once. TO BE CONTINUED....— December 12, 2008 3:39 p.m.
You Eat Chicken, Don't You?
Try reading Fast Food Nation. That was really the book that did it for me. It is nothing like the movie. Only one chapter is devoted to the slaughter of animals, the rest is how the government controls our food and due to mass production of food what you eat has very little resemblance to real food grown in a field. It all boils down to money. Trust me on this. You will be horrified at what you are eating. It is difficult at first to become used to cooking a vegetarian diet. You have to be patient. Start slow. I actually did not become a vegetarian to lose weight. It was a pleasant side effect. Do not be afraid of nuts or avocados. These are foods I used to shun because they were "fattening". Not by a long shot. They keep me full and they taste great. Avocados are actually listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the most nutritious whole food. Soups with split peas, lentils, you name it are satisfying and delicious. Balance your meals with only whole-grain carbs. I eat only whole-grain breads and pastas. Whole-grain foods have lots of protein. I know that most folks are afraid of carbs. Once you change your diet, you will never feel that carb-crappy feeling again, because you will be mixing healthy carbs with vegetables and meat substitutes that taste great. Soyrizo is eaten by my Hispanic friend's FATHER! He is from Mexico and he loves it! Chop up a couple of potatoes and onions and fry them in olive oil for about ten minutes. Add one-half tube of Soyrizo (more if you want) and fry it up until it is crispy and the potatoes are cooked through. It is crazy good. TO BE CONTINUED...— December 12, 2008 3:38 p.m.
Dems and GOP fail to be frugal
"The civic equivalent of food, shelter, clothes, and a job is infrastructure and social services for the less fortunate." This can be accomplished by changing the dynamics of how non-profits are organized and how they are required to spend their donations. Dan Pallotta wrote a great book called "Uncharitable". In it he describes various restrictions on non-profit contributions, including the inability to advertise. Look at these huge stadiums we have. Banks, beer, investment firms advertising everywhere. Habitat for Humanity? No where to be found. The Humane Society? Ditto. The American Cancer Society? Who cares? Aids in Darfur? Not so much. Great pains are taken to make sure that donations given to non-profits are used in a manner that would not be conceived as improper to their benefactors. But because of this inability to reinvest or advertise, the opportunity to generate income to actually pay the caring individuals who work for these organizations is cancelled out. Our greatest minds of this generation are being seduced into the giant corporate maw of the America for-profit sector because it pays. Non-profit work does not pay squat. Why is this? He indicates that if you make a million discovering a cure for cancer you are a parasite. If you make millions selling violent video games to kids, you are a genius. I know lots of people do not agree with him, but this book is a great read, especially right now when non-profits are needed more than ever, and our tax dollars are being used to bail out giant corporations who never shared a dime with us, only enticed us to buy their now valueless stock and want us to share in their failure.— December 12, 2008 1:02 p.m.
Metallica
Hey, magicsfive, the latest issue of Bust Magazine had a feature about rock gals who dig metal - it was totally cool and when I read it I thought of you. Check it out, it may be on-line by now.— December 11, 2008 5:12 p.m.
Dems and GOP fail to be frugal
My horoscope from the Union-Trib yesterday had this line: You could go from hoping you'll strike it rich to knowing that you have it all. I live a great life. I did not start my life as a rich person, but I worked my way into a fairly comfortable life. My mother taught me to work for what I want, not borrow for it. She also taught me that good credit is something that will serve you for your entire life. Credit is earned, it is not a right. I do not over-spend, I am not seduced by luxury cars, I put all my expenses on a miles credit card that gets paid every single month, in full. I travel for free based on these miles, I walk for exercise instead of paying for a gym I never use, I drink wine at home with my husband instead of spending hundreds in a bar. I have one quality purse I bought years ago that I still get compliments on. I do not need, nor do I want 30 purses to impress strangers. Learn to cook. I learned to cook at a young age. I love to cook. People don't like to cook because they do not know how. I know people that eat EVERY single meal out because they not only do not know how to cook, they have no concept of how to shop for food. Teach your kids to cook instead of mainlining McDonalds into their impressionable young veins. I make a pot of coffee every morning. It costs maybe six cents. Stop going to Starbucks for "coffee". You know it is not coffee. It is a six dollar milkshake, which is going to make you fat. Americans are responsible for their own predicaments. We have become so used to everything being available to us that we have no idea how to do without. I did escrow for a living for years and I paid off millions of dollars in debt that people used the equity in their homes to finance. Cars, clothes, makeup, trips, furniture, hair, nails, plastic surgery, you name it. It disgusted me. Their are ligitamet reasons for being broke. I feel for the folks that got screwed in a refinance deal, or people who are REALLY poor, who lost their jobs while no one was paying attention to the economy and corporate America. Not the guy that can't make the payments on his Hummer, or the gal who can no longer afford her hair extensions. When we have everything we could possibly want, we move on to something else. We want to be recognized and noticed, therefore the need to present to the world a wealth that is not only NOT within our means, but is completely false and unnecessary. Reality TV with unrealistic means. Stop trying to be something you are not. Once people get this, it's as if the weight of the world has been lifted from their shoulders. If you have shelter, clothes, a job and food, your needs are met. It is all the other crap that is killing us.— December 11, 2008 7:36 a.m.
Woman Jumping from Coronado Bridge
Thanks for setting me straight. I should have said "some" Christians. My grandmother is a Christian and she is the best. Practice what you preach, right? I guess there is a little room in heaven where all the "good Christians" get together to do lines and bong loads. Just as long as you don't do "you know what".....— December 10, 2008 6:38 a.m.
Woman Jumping from Coronado Bridge
A purer example of hypocrisy I could not have found. This is why so-called Christians scare the crap out of me. They have a do as I say and not as I do attitude that boils down to class consciousness, because their being a Christian protects them from the ramifications of their actions. Jodi Foster's character was just some white trash slut that deserved what she had coming to her, while your pure as the driven snow ex was above same said punishment because she is "Christian". And you are a gentleman. Imagine if you were not. Her attitude might be completely different.— December 9, 2008 8:22 a.m.
Who Needs Grass?
What was I to do? We were out of cheese and they were hungry! And I hate to be selfish. Hopefully this next one will grow up to be just like his parents, since I seem to have misplaced the last two...or was it three? Whew, that's some really good weed.... MRS GRANT BORDELLO QUEEN— December 9, 2008 7:22 a.m.
SDPD -- Got An Attitude?
"The riders were moving southbound on 30th, while some fellow cyclists were doing what’s known in Critical Mass circles as “corking,” that is, blocking traffic on side streets by standing in front of the cars. Motorists, you may have guessed, aren’t always pleased about having to wait for thousands of cyclists to pedal by." If motorists have never encountered that wonderful, community service oriented group know as Critical Mass, they have no clue WTF you are doing. This is not the same as being denied candy.— December 8, 2008 7:25 p.m.