Almost Vegan, but can't eat Soy, Quinoa and very little Seitan - What to do?
I've been a "vegetarian" for about 15 to 18 years (Some time in college, but I can't remember). I put vegetarian in quotes, because I was one of those " I gave up meat, but I replaced it with sweets and dairy, but not necessarily a lot of veggies" people. That explained the 30 pounds of weight gain. I finally started eating soy, but can't remember when. I have had stomach problems for many years now, but don't remember when it started. I recently came out of denial (July/August of 2008). I can't eat soy or dairy, except for a little butter. I still use some butter in my cooking (on veggies & bread), but otherwise, I don't eat dairy unless it is in baked goods. It's been hit or miss with seitan, but mostly misses, so I will rule it out for now. Since my change in diet, I have lost almost 20 pounds.
Is my life going to consist of beans, beans and more beans for lunch and dinner in order for me to get my adequate amount of protein? If this is so, I can live with it, but God knows if there are other ways, please let me know. Otherwise, I will continue with the wild rice and various beans and veggies for lunch and dinner. My beans are flavorful, but they are still beans. I am thankful for this website.
Ericka
I saw the subject heading and thought, great, I'll mention beans... ::)
I don't buy a lot of soy, I hardly ever make seitan, and I have had quinoa twice. Is your concern protein? It's really easy to get enough. Otherwise there are tons of things to eat. There are all sorts of things you can eat, but I'm a bean person so I can only think of bean recipes. Mixing it up helps.
You can use bean spreads as veggie dips.
Substitute lunch/dinner rice for breakfast oatmeal.
There's a thread here What Did You Eat Today. You might find ideas there.
What about nuts and peanuts? I don't like soy very much and can't have wheat so I use them a lot. Also, there are a lot of other grains out there besides rice, try barley, millet, amaranth
brown rice pasta is good, no wheat in there.
Is it just wheat, or gluten too, if so then stay away from barley and only eat GF certified oats. Bob's Red mill sells them.
Why are you so intent on protein? You don't need much..
Its not easy to break out of the Standard American Diet. Even if you have been a junk/dairy vegetarian for so long. Meals cooked by those eating SAD are a large portion of meat (we will call it protein), carbs and a tiny amount of veggies. Growing up eating that type of dinner can cause one to have certain expectations and hang ups about a dinner plate and how it should look. Just know that you can safely change how you see meals and how your plates should be.
Replace the idea by making casseroles, one pot meals and simple salads. Beans are so fantastic. Cook with brown rice in all the amazing varieties, millet, amaranth and other excellent whole grains and even pasta like couscous. Make two veggies rather than a starch.
I just wrote down a whole weeks worth of menu ideas for someone who could not eat soy, and for someone who could not eat gluten. Check them out. Your options are limitless if you go about trying to change you ideal of how a meal should look.
I'm allergic to soy, wheat, corn and dairy. and I am vegetarian. It is not as complicated as it seems once you get used to it. I cannot have any "fake meats" other than one brand of veggies burgers.
I eat a lot of beans (mostly chickpeas!) and brown rice. I eat brown rice pasta. And lots and lots of veggies. I use nutritional yeast to replace cheese (its quite good).
I am not saying it is easy to give up things, just that its possible. and to live happily doing so. :)
Lentils!
I third the brown rice pasta, though I'm not sure if you're allergic to wheat/celiac disease or just not a fan of seitan.
There are multiple tools online to track your daily nutrient intake.
I use:
http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/
and I think http://www.nutritiondata.com/ has that tool too.
I like the pyramidtracker because it compares your intake of most nutrients with the recommended for your gender/age/etc. Just by eating "regular," I've found, I get more than enough protein every day, and I don't usually eat soy stuffs (restricted to what's served at the school cafeteria...). It's interesting because there are things that you hear that veg people or people in general don't get enough of - protein, iron, omega-3, etc - but I've found that I have no problems getting these without making an effort to eat protein/iron-rich food and no flax seed.
I have found that I generally need more calcium and potassium :(
I just don't want you to fret about getting more and more protein without the need. Generally people don't need extra protein in addition to the regular recommendations (which some think are still set too high) unless you're healing from something major or are a super serious athlete.