Day Thirty-Four: Vegetarian & Vegan

I've known a lot of people who go vegetarian and then order their nachos with everything...hold the meat. I'll see vegetarian meals that are less nutritiously dense than meals that include meat because of one's food choices.

A vegetarian diet is one that excludes the flesh of another animal. Basically, it means consuming no meat of any kind. I've heard it said, "Eat nothing with a face." A vegan diet is a vegetarian diet that excludes all animal products including all dairy and eggs. Things like cake, cookies, & regular breads are excluded from the diet because they've got eggs or milk in the mixture. There are vegan breads, cereals, and cookies that can be found at health food stores, and many of them taste amazing.

I like to go vegetarian & vegan at different stages. We can go to GNC and purchase a detox system, or we can go vegan and do the same naturally to our system. As you can imagine, this probably works considerably better. I usually don't do either for more than a few days to a week, and I wouldn't consider myself either a vegetarian or a vegan. It works very well after the holidays, when you've eaten foods that make you feel yucky and you want to get back quickly to a level blood sugar and a feeling of balance.

There's a lot to consider if one is making the food choice to do either of these. Watching factory farming videos may very well make you want to go vegan. There are a number of resources out there including cookbooks, books, websites, & videos. Regardless of whether or not you choose to eat meat, eggs, or neither; it's important to recognize that junk is junk, no matter what it is. Don't sit down to a plate of fries, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a coke.

Do: If you're interested in getting more info about vegetarian & vegan diets, check out some of the following resources http://www.tryveg.com/ , http://www.exploreveg.org/, or the blog http://www.veganspoonful.wordpress.com/ which has some amazing & healthy recipes, vegan cookbook reviews, & a whole network of other websites and vegetarian/vegan blogs.

Try: Quinoa - quinoa has been around for about 6,000 years. The Incas actually called it the mother of all grains. It is highly appreciated for its nutritional value as it has a high (12-18%) protein content. It also contains a balanced set of amino acids, making it a complete protein. It is high in fiber & is gluten-free. I like to cook my quinoa like rice in water. I let it dry out & then saute it with olive oil, onions, garlic, and a host of vegetables.