August 5, 2009

Keeping It Healthy Wednesday

Vegetarianism

I decided to start up my Keeping It Healthy Wednesday series in response to the rave reviews on my 8 Reasons to Love Your Body post. To see old Keeping It Healthy Wednesday posts click on the Health and Fitness tag at the bottom of this post.

This week I would like to discuss Vegetarianism. Almost 2 years ago I decided to become a veggie diva and refrained from eating all meat, poultry, and fish. I did continue to eat dairy and eggs.


My first few weeks as a veggie diva were horrible. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a chicken lover and not eating chicken for lunch and dinner was unbeknownst to me. I remember feeling like a Lioness watching Coco Puff eat chicken one day. He was so scared!
So my first hurdle was figuring out what it was that vegetarians ate.


I went to the library and checked out 2 books. The first book gave me the philosophy on Vegetarianism. It really helped me to understand what motivates people to commit to vegetarianism, it explained the different levels of vegetarianism, it explained how to eat as a vegetarian, and how to respond to meat eaters who bombard you with questions like "do you only eat salad?"

The second book was a cookbook with 101 vegetarian recipes.
I studied these books front to back and joined a few networks of vegetarians to have support.

Through the year that I followed the vegetarian diet I learned how to cook many interesting dishes, I learned how to feel full without being gassy, I also learned how to keep my protein levels up to remain energized, and what I loved the most was losing 20 pounds!

Following a vegetarian diet is expensive, because you tend to eat more fruits and vegetables to remain full. These items must be purchased at least 2x a week to get the best quality (6 day old grapes and bananas are over ripe). Fruits and Veggies are expensive in and of itself. You can fill yourself up on rice and pasta, but too much starch is not good for you.

My favorite dish was Black Bean nachos with salsa and mexian cheese.

My favorite snack was apples with reduced fat Skippy peanut butter.


Please feel free to not only respond to my experience but share yours and ask any questions.

7 comments:

QueenBee said...

Not eating chicken...Oh my! I think chicken is my 2nd cousin on my fathers side. Everybody has to do what they all think is right to them. I loves myself some yard bird though.

.נazzy. ♥♥ said...

i have a friend who is a vegan. well she was a vegan for about a year. but she's still a vegetarian.
i dnt know if i could become a vegetarian. guess you never know til you try huh???

Alli said...

I do a lot of veggie stir fries and I incorporate a good TOFOU. I admit I still like my chicken and fish. Other meats we donot eat. I will prepare them for guests

Roc said...

Lol @ QueenBee..

Did you go the vegan route to lose weight though??

Or you just happened to lose weight while becomeing vegetarian?

Jenell : BlakIzBeautyful said...

QueenBee

LOL, it was soo hard. I love chicken. I'm happy when I eat chicken... LOL

Jasmyn

Its not something you just do, its a lifestyle you adapt to. You have to have a purpose or its going to be a wasted cause.

Roc

I became a veggie diva to get my weight in control. I had no idea I would lose so much.

Luv said...

i have toiled with the idea and a month ago i had decided that i would just eat meat once a day but that plan sort of went to the wayside.. i don't eat pork, really..just bacon from time to time..but i do like my tacos and well i don't like tofu so... i think the meat once a day will have to do for me..but i did feel better not eating so much meat

MOMSWEB said...

I don't eat beef, chicken, or pork, but I do eat fish. I enjoy the soy burgers, soy hot dogs, soy chicken patties, soy milk, soy nuts...should I continue? Have you tried the Boca Burgers? Tasty! Oh yea, girrrrl, you can do some things with tofu!

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