well hello....happy to find this forum
Hi all,
Its me Linda...incognito. Love coming up with cute little nicknames, this is one I use on Yoville too.
Anyways, I am a new vegan. Was vegetarian for over a year and decided to kick the cow (milk products) outta my intake all the way. Do I ever feel better as in healthy wise. It was weird just after turning 48 meat (fish, red, fowl, eggs and BACON!!!! :o) tasted like totally ironey and bitter. To this day thinking about eggs my stomach flips out. Anyways, I am obese and trying to change my life style. So far I have lost weight, but mostly in my feet and legs. (Not one of my target loss areas) Also found out my thyroid was sleeping on me. Got on the meds so its time for my body to wakey, wakey!!!
OK...food...so I love almond milk, the new Dark chocolate makes my toes curl, I swear! Trying to find tofu recipes especially since I found cute little teeny tiny baby size cartons of firm silken tofu on sale for 39 cents each. ;)b (Bought all 22 of them shelf life good until 3-11)
Gee these little emoticons are quite cute. 8-)
Anyways please PLEASE feel the urge to post easy happy recipes for me on this thread. I am finding it hard to come up with good protein sources. I did however did some reading and purchased nutritional yeast (my doggies loves it too) and flax seed powder....ohhhhhhhhh and some raw sesame seeds to make homemade TAHINI. heheheheh yay for me.
I hope this gives you an idea of who I am a bit. I should bring up that I am a wanna be artist and have 5 grown children, eh? Thanks for reading this, I know it was alot!
Nice to meet you! Welcome!!!!
The current thinking in veg*n nutrition is to relax about protein sources, because if you're eating a wide variety of foods to include fuits, vegetables, whole grains (key word whole, and try quinoa which is a complete protein sourcew), nuts and seeds, and soy products, then you have nothing to worry about. You're getting adequate protein. People tend to overestimate their protein needs anyway.
All the best.
Eating any variety of beans, nuts and seeds should do the trick. Have some mixed nuts around and snack on them, or make a peanut butter sandwich from time to time. Mexican food is also easy to throw black, red or pinto beans into. It can be as simple as sauteeing black beans with your veggies and seasonings of choice until heated thoroughly, and putting it all on a warm tortilla with salsa, rice and lettuce.
Quinoa is also an excellent protein source, and can be used in the place of rice; it's a seed which can be used like a grain, which makes adding protein to meals where you don't want to use beans or nuts very easy.
Though, to agree with Tweety, the emphasis that our society and media put on protein is pretty unnecessary. The best thing you can do to stay healthy is eat lots of fruits and veggies, and not eat too many processed foods. If you're having tofu, or any of the previously mentioned sources, on a somewhat regular basis, your protein is most likely fine.
Good luck and congrats on taking the plunge!
Hi & welcome! Always glad to see more of the 'folks with grown children' typesl here... the younger whippersnappers have us outnumbered! (but they're nice, so it's ok.) ;)
Absolutely, what Tweety & TLB said re: protein! humans only need 10-12% of their calories from protein... that comes out to about 0.36 grams per pound of body weight per day. So, basically, if you only ever ate potatoes, & were eating enough calories for your body's metabolic needs: you'd have many vitamin deficiencies... but would get enough protein! So don't sweat it... eat a variety of whole foods, & you're good. One thing that some new veg-heads don't realize is that many times it's fat (not protein) that makes you feel full & satisfied... & many veggie dishes are low in fat (a good thing, overall! but still)... so if you're looking to make a dish heartier/ more filling, try adding a small to moderate amount of healthy fat: flax oil, hemp oil, olive oil, avocodo oil, coconut oil, walnut or sesame oil, etc.
As to recipe recommendations... You've gotta try Dragonfly's Bulk Dry Uncheese Mix (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7126.0), Kale Chips (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=16634.0), and Butternut Tofu Stuffed Shells (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=29652.0)... these knocked my socks off, when I first discovered the amazing bounty of delicious VW recipes! Yummy Lentils & Spinach is also highly recommended (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=15546.0).
Anyway... glad you're here, & look forward to seeing you about!
:)