I am going vegetarian, voilà, I said it!
I have never been a big meat eater and my meals were already including soja, soja milk, soja yogurts, tofu, tofu steaks, lots of nuts (almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, macadamia...), brown rice, whole weat pasta, cereals, vegetables and fruits.
But I grew up eating fine French food and that includes delicious stews, sausages... and I liked the taste of it a lot even if it was not on a daily basis.
So it took me a while (until now so quite a while lol) to reach that point when I can say I am going vegetarian. The trigger seems to be the animal killing I cannot bear to be a part of anymore. They don't show those awful videos on TV with the cows or pigs screaming like crazy...
It is like a new life starting now and a whole universe to discover. I will still eat dairy products for the moment, milk and eggs and maybe someday I will go vegan. My concern is to eat healthy and to avoid any lack (iron, proteins, D vitamin, calcium...) because last December my doctor said I was having anemia and prescribed iron tablets. And I would rather not have those tablets but eat healthy.
To celebrate the day, I had:
For lunch
- a fresh carrot and leek soup
- two cereals bread slices
- oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar
- my first homemade dal with green lentils
- tender dried figs from the market
- Cook the green lentils (3 cups of water per 1 cup of lentils) for 25 min in cold water + add 1 tea spoon of baking soda
- Diced 1 potato and 1 carrot and cook them (I microwaved them with water for 7 min)
- Heat 2 table spoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add 1 chopped onion, then 1 big tomato chopped bite-sized, 1 minced garlic clove. Add the potato and the carrot. Add spices (ras-el-hanout powder, fresh coriander).
- Add the drained lentils to the mix, reduce heat and simmer for 10 min to blend flavors.
- Pour some coconut milk and simmer for 2 min.
Looks very tasty
ReplyDeleteThanks Alex :-) I don't know if you're saying the truth and I know you're a meat eater but that's very very kind!
ReplyDeleteOh! And I realize I had already posted something about going vegetarian last June in A Butterfly Effect.
ReplyDeleteHey Vanyallo!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I'm not a vegetarian. But I have a decent knowledge about nutrition. Seems like you have a great thing goin' on judging from this meal :) Hopefully I'll be able to contrubite with a minor detail.
Since you'll be able to eat eggs and dairy you pretty much got your protein part cut out for you. Sure, there's quorn - but it get's pretty boring if you can't alter it with something. So, that's great :)
Since you wont be eating any fish it's important that you get a sufficent amount of omega 3, 6 and 9. Since the vegetable omegas are more difficult for the body to utilize I'd recommend omega supplement from fish - and if that's no good for you I'd go for some crushed flaxseed. 1,5g omega 3 per day is recommended.
The same thing goes for iron; it's harder for the body to utilize it from vegetables then from animals. So make sure you get enough vitamin C to help your body utilize your veggie iron.
The really tricky part for vegetarians is B12 since the best source is meat/fish - but if you'll be eating eggs and drinking milk it's all good. Else you'd need some B12 supplements. Same thing goes for vitamin D and calcium.
Another tip is not to mix vegetables with fruits in the same meal scince the body digest vegs/fruits at different rates; which will lead to gases and such if eaten simultaneously.
Hope that helps a little at least. Good luck! :)
// MW
Thanks Michael, yes that helps a lot!
ReplyDeleteGlad I could help! :)
ReplyDelete// MW