Vegetarians Unite...And Make Delicious, Economical And Nutritious Food

[Wifezilla]

Isn't vitamin C available in fish and/or large aquatic mammals? The Inuit people survived without veggies somehow.

There are two vitamin C precursors available in meat. Cooking meat at high temperatures destroys these.

The "brutish and short" info on the Inuit is very inaccurate. If you really want the info on their diet and lifestyle before becoming westernized (and eating sugar, flour and smoking), please check out the works of arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson...

"Stefansson is also a figure of considerable interest in dietary circles, especially those with an interest in very low-carbohydrate diets. Stefansson documented the fact that most Inuit lived on a diet of about 90% meat and fish, often going 69 months a year on nothing but meat and fishessentially, a no-carbohydrate diet. He found that he and his fellow European-descent explorers were also perfectly healthy on such a diet. When medical authorities questioned him on this, he and a fellow explorer agreed to undertake a study under the auspices of the Journal of the American Medical Association to demonstrate that they could eat a 100% meat diet in a closely-observed laboratory setting for the first several weeks, with paid observers for the rest of an entire year. The results were published in the Journal, and both men were perfectly healthy on such a diet, without vitamin supplementation or anything else in their diet except meat.[10]"
http://drbass.com/stefansson1.html

A little more on C...
"Vitamin C is needed to hydroxylate the amino acids lysine and proline into hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline- connective tissue. That is why scurvy is characterized by a degeneration of connective tissue. However, unknown to most, red meat already contains hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline which is absorbed into the bloodstream when eaten. Thus, less vitamin C is needed to hydroxylate proline and lysine, because they are already present in the blood in the hydroxylated state."

And while I do get most of my nutrition from meat, I never turn down a nice ripe strawberry or some cantaloupe. Veggie-wise, my love of red bell peppers, jicama, and broccoli have me well covered (All are high in vitamin C)

I use sliced jicama instead of potato chips for dipping and as a taco shell replacement. Slice them thin in big rounds and load them up like you would any regular taco, fajita, or burrito. Depending on my mood, queso dip or blue cheese dressing are my favorite jicama dippers.

For you Top Chef fans, a few seasons back, one of the chefs won a challenge by using sliced jicama as a burrito wrap.

 

[DianeB]

Isn't vitamin C available in fish and/or large aquatic mammals? The Inuit people survived without veggies somehow.

There are two vitamin C precursors available in meat. Cooking meat at high temperatures destroys these.

The "brutish and short" info on the Inuit is very inaccurate. If you really want the info on their diet and lifestyle before becoming westernized (and eating sugar, flour and smoking), please check out the works of arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson...

"Stefansson is also a figure of considerable interest in dietary circles, especially those with an interest in very low-carbohydrate diets. Stefansson documented the fact that most Inuit lived on a diet of about 90% meat and fish, often going 69 months a year on nothing but meat and fishessentially, a no-carbohydrate diet. He found that he and his fellow European-descent explorers were also perfectly healthy on such a diet. When medical authorities questioned him on this, he and a fellow explorer agreed to undertake a study under the auspices of the Journal of the American Medical Association to demonstrate that they could eat a 100% meat diet in a closely-observed laboratory setting for the first several weeks, with paid observers for the rest of an entire year. The results were published in the Journal, and both men were perfectly healthy on such a diet, without vitamin supplementation or anything else in their diet except meat.[10]"
http://drbass.com/stefansson1.html

A little more on C...
"Vitamin C is needed to hydroxylate the amino acids lysine and proline into hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline- connective tissue. That is why scurvy is characterized by a degeneration of connective tissue. However, unknown to most, red meat already contains hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline which is absorbed into the bloodstream when eaten. Thus, less vitamin C is needed to hydroxylate proline and lysine, because they are already present in the blood in the hydroxylated state."

And while I do get most of my nutrition from meat, I never turn down a nice ripe strawberry or some cantaloupe. Veggie-wise, my love of red bell peppers, jicama, and broccoli have me well covered (All are high in vitamin C)

I use sliced jicama instead of potato chips for dipping and as a taco shell replacement. Slice them thin in big rounds and load them up like you would any regular taco, fajita, or burrito. Depending on my mood, queso dip or blue cheese dressing are my favorite jicama dippers.

For you Top Chef fans, a few seasons back, one of the chefs won a challenge by using sliced jicama as a burrito wrap.

One year study is not a lifetime. Louis Leaky noted that the longest lived people in the world ate less than 20% of their diet from animal products. He also noted that it is not important what others ate in the past but what we need to eat in our own environment.

Would never refer to the Inuit as brutish. I said that the Europeans called them Eskimo and savage as a way to take their land. Please, read all of what I write if you are going to argue.

What I don't understand is if you think carbohydrates are so bad why you would bother to be on a thread about vegetarian food.

To be honest, I just erased a long response to your above statement. I am tired and don't want to argue. I want to discuss vegetarian meals and meal planning. You know the main reason for this thread.

 

[DianeB]

Has anyone tryed the raw diet? It seems like everyone who is on it has nice glowing skin, beautiful hair, are thin and very energetic. Avoided this on the principle that we were developed to eat cooked foods and some foods become more nutritionally available when cooked. However, some aspects of it seem appealing. A lot of fresh produce, eat as much as I want and still thin, energy and nice complexion. Imagine it would be very expense, though.

 

[dragonlaurel]

I try to have some raw food each day, but warm foods are a comfort thing for me sometimes. I like fruit best raw or dried.

 

[DianeB]

I use to eat dried fruit all the time. Stopped because their is way more calories per pound of dried than fresh. Not very good at portion control It is also bad for your teeth if you don't brush right afterwards.

When I first started to eat an unprocessed vegetarian diet, ate tons of fruits and veggies. Boy, did I have energy. As went to the bathroom quite a bit until my body adjusted to the fiber and water

Still trying to eat more produce. It is usually pretty expensive. Starting a garden tomorrow. Going to grow some greens, peas, carrots, beets and turnips. Also thinking about going to the nursery to buy seed potato. The only problem is CA is in an El Nino winter. The warmth and rain could smell disaster for my potatoes. This last spring I practically had no potatoes, but nice tall green plants.

The good news about common fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and legumes is that they have some pretty powerful phytochemicals and antioxidants. Who could pay for Acai or Goji berries? Have you checked out the world's healthiest food website. Sorry, I have a problem linking so you will have to google it.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Get Goji berries at Oriental grocery stores. The prices are much cheaper.

 

[sylvie]

Has anyone tryed the raw diet? It seems like everyone who is on it has nice glowing skin, beautiful hair, are thin and very energetic. Avoided this on the principle that we were developed to eat cooked foods and some foods become more nutritionally available when cooked. However, some aspects of it seem appealing. A lot of fresh produce, eat as much as I want and still thin, energy and nice complexion. Imagine it would be very expense, though.

I tried the raw diet. A book that I would find indispensable
if I had to chose only a few in a disaster would be "RAW".

I did not find the raw diet sustainable long term for myself. The preparations are time consuming, some ingredients needed for basics are difficult to find, with many recipes calling for the majority of items non local to Ohio. We had a health food store nearby that stocked well for raw, but changed owners and became a rural GNC clone. That's when I quit experimenting with raw.
I tried to apply the raw principles to the ingredients available to me. It didn't always translate well.

I found the recipes followed exactly were very good and satisfying. I thought the raw diet extreme as a stand alone diet, but a plus when blended into a generic vegetarian diet.

If a raw restaurant popped up in my area, I'd be there in an instant, though!

 

[sylvie]

Is this the site?
http://www.whfoods.com/

(It sounds like you are having the same problems linking that I had until I switched to Firefox for my browser.)

 

[FarmerChick]

never did raw food---couldn't ---it just isn't me and will never be me..LOL

I saw where parents fed a newborn baby raw food and it died as a direct result. They were charged with manslaughter.

Terrible situation.

Goes to show you should never push a "wanna be diet for yourself" on infants, children or pets without truly knowing what foods must be eaten by those kids or pets.

cautious is always best.

 

[sylvie]

never did raw food---couldn't ---it just isn't me and will never be me..LOL

I saw where parents fed a newborn baby raw food and it died as a direct result. They were charged with manslaughter.

Terrible situation.

Goes to show you should never push a "wanna be diet for yourself" on infants, children or pets without truly knowing what foods must be eaten by those kids or pets.

cautious is always best.

Didn't that baby actually die of DiGeorge Syndrome, a birth defect?
I do think they were misguided in feeding the baby raw, taking it to almost a religious extreme.