Today I had alphabet soup for lunch, and the one cookie I had after lunch (Girl Scout cookies are NOT "food", but they are dairy-free) had more calories than the soup. Something about that makes no sense. But there was also very little protein in either. On the days when I have seafood, obviously the protein is no problem. But on other days if I don't have a dish that is heavy on beans, AND some nuts at some point during the day, I'm short on protein. And even if I eat both I just barely make my RDA.
OTOH, if it weren't for the cookies (and that oil-popped popcorn the other day), my diet would be quite low fat! So I'm not having troubles keeping calories down to a minimum. And there's no shortage of fiber in my diet for the first time in a long time -- between the oatmeal and the beans, I'm in good shape. I know as I expand my options I'll get better at having a complete diet, and that if I stuck with this permanently I'd be healthier overall (and would spend less money -- if one eats vegan, one can AFFORD to eat organic!), but, golly, I miss dairy products!
6 comments:
I understand what you mean...I'm not dairy free but I don't think I really eat THAT much dairy. This no meat thing has really forced me to expand my horizons on Fish and seafood. I have Fish EVERY night! I can't make beans in my house b/c my DH "thinks" he is allergic to them...he is a mess! I do add black beans to salads and other dishes just for me but beans are not a major diet item for me.
I'm also working with low carbs...so the pizza would be out!
Good luck with adding protein, I know it can make a huge difference! I try to make sure every meal I eat has a good source of protein and a good source of fiber...it has really helping me
I'm not sure if I was helpful but good luck with your no dairy sacrifice :)
Have you tried tofu? It's bland and boring itself, but it picks up flavors easily so it's really versatile. It comes in a lot of different textures, too, so you can use it in place of meat or even blend it into smoothies for extra protein.
Hummus is also a fabulous and yummy source of protein. There's very little that it yummier than hummus, tomato, cucumber, and spinach on pita or a tortilla.
And have you made the Hearty Bean and Pasta Stew recently? That's a recipe I got from you a million years ago and it's a regular part of our diet now. You'd have to make sure to use egg free pasta, or replace the pasta with rice, but otherwise it's completely vegan.
Sarah! YOU ARE MY NEW BEST FRIEND! I totally forgot about hummus and I LOVE HUMMUS! I'm getting all that stuff for my lunch today at Wegmans to make that pita!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Also, could you please post or email me the stew recipe?
floyda@tessco.com
Oooh! I forgot about hummus -- I've done that previous Lents (and other times) but I haven't had any lately. That's something to look for! That's a great idea!!
The bean and pasta stew is on my list for this week -- Daniel had vetoed it many years ago but I told him already that he's going to have to put up with it this year. He figures he can drown it in Tabasco and then he won't mind it so much. The kids have never had it, and I suspect they'll like it. And then I can eat the leftovers for lunch, and that will expand my options again.
I really, REALLY don't like tofu, and from what I've been reading, it's also a pretty bad idea -- it is about as far from "food" as you can get, since the beans come out off the plant toxic and they MUST be processed to be edible. They touted soy as a lifesaver a few years ago but the subsequent research is looking very, very bad. Naturally, I read this article this morning -- AFTER having had a really good veggie burger for dinner last night. So I went and googled it and read about fifteen more articles and they all said the same thing -- soy is pretty bad for you, and only the traditionally fermented forms should at eaten, and even then only in moderation. Sigh.
I wouldn't put too much credence in what you read. I could google it and find 15 articles on the health benefits of soy.
It seems that the concerns are primarily about the toxicity of the uncooked beans (why would you eat a food that could kill you if eaten raw?) and the effects of soy on your thyroid (also a bit about the estrogen effect, but that doesn't seem to be a concern outside of feeding soy to babies). But if you think about it, the toxicity issue isn't that rare. Uncooked potato skins are toxic, as are uncooked kidney beans, and that doesn't even get into the bacteria we'd consume if we ate raw pork and chicken. Some foods NEED to be processed in some way to eat them, and the need for cooking with wet heat to kill the toxin in soybeans doesn't seem like a good reason to pick out the edamame from a salad.
The other concern seems to be about the impact of soy on your thyroid, but if you're worried about that, you should stop eating all of the goitrogenic foods out there. Start with those strawberries you've been enjoying. There's a huge list of foods that can affect your thyroid, and most of them are very common foods (including the sweet potatoes and spinach I'm having for lunch).
If you don't like tofu, don't eat tofu. But saying that soy is actually dangerous and that tofu is about as far from food as you can get (when the grocery store shelves are full of cheeze-puffs and that ice cream that doesn't melt) just reminds me too much of the anti-vaccine crowd out there.
OK, point taken about the cheese puffs. But there's a long way from soy sauce (almost certainly beneficial) to the fake-meat-substitute products that imitate real ones (almost certainly bad for you), and there are far more of the latter (as there are far more cheese puffs than whole grain pretzels). About a decade ago they said we should ALL have LOTS of soy EVERY day and it should be replacing just about everything else in their diet, and as I noted in my comment above I read a wide range of articles on this, and even the most positive (at least, of the non-sensationalist in either direction) said that there are concerns worth noting. More detailed articles identified those concerns as being for those with thyroid problems, a family history of gastrointestinal cancers (which my kids now have in their family tree), and fertility issues (me, and the family tree), not to mention children (so much for the wonders of soy formula). So I think it is not a good idea for us, and since I hate it (except soy sauce! And actually I liked roasted soy beans as a kid -- but those aren't very processed, either), it's not an issue anyway.
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