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I bet your daughter can make the transition better than you can. So many teens nowdays are turning vegetarian/vegan because it's trendy. In this case peer-pressure is actually a good thing (:
I would start by making a vow to have a huge bowl of salad 5 times a week. Pre-washed bagged salad mix is fine. Also, go vegetarian one or two days a week. There are plenty of Indian recipes that eschew meat & are very spicy & tasty so you won't feel like you're fasting. As far as snacks, try different protein bars because they're more healthy than most carb-laden snack foods. I've gotten back into nuts/trail mix since my good-eating kick, but for some ppl it just reminds them of airplane snacks. Snack food is sooo personal: you basically have to test bag after bag to see what you like. Oh, one more thing is to get rid of all the soda/soft drinks in your house. Those are just empty calories that don't even fill you up!
I am such a pizza and taco person...will the sign say: eschew?
What is that?
smokinggun- my daughter made a comment to me while visiting the store last week to check it out- Mom! Everyone in here is so thin and trim!
She said it!
While I was checking out the organic style doritos and orange koolaid- you are right...it may be harder for me!
Well the first thing I'd recommend is doing it gradually. The quickest way to get turned off by something is by making a dramatic change all at once. It's the same with diets, how many people go on a diet only to jump off the wagon after a few weeks? Work the healthy stuff in by gradually replacing the processed food snacks with healthier alternatives. It's easier to ween yourself off than go cold turkey.
Next, when shopping for organic produce, make sure it is pesticide free, otherwise there is no health benefit to eating organic. Most organic fruits and veggies are treated with organic pesticides which are just as harmful as chemical pesticides. Look and ask for pesticide free.
I am such a pizza and taco person...will the sign say: eschew?
What is that?
smokinggun- my daughter made a comment to me while visiting the store last week to check it out- Mom! Everyone in here is so thin and trim!
She said it!
While I was checking out the organic style doritos and orange koolaid- you are right...it may be harder for me!
by eschew, i mean Indian recipes that don't have meat. Which brings up another point that you can also substitute soy protein (fake ground beef) for things like tacos or chili. It takes a bit getting used to the lack of greasiness in foods but the payoff for your heart & waistline is worth it.
by eschew, i mean Indian recipes that don't have meat. Which brings up another point that you can also substitute soy protein (fake ground beef) for things like tacos or chili. It takes a bit getting used to the lack of greasiness in foods but the payoff for your heart & waistline is worth it.
Going organic has nothing to do with eschewing meat. Whole foods sells delicious (organic) meat products like steak, poultry, etc. Their sushi is not bad either.
I think you misunderstood the OP - she didn't say she wanted to go vegan/vegetarian, she wants to switch to organic.
VegasGrace - you'd be surprised how much info you can find on the Whole Foods website. They have lots of suggestions/ideas on preparing and serving the foods that they sell. They also have food guides to help you learn about items you may not have included in your shopping trips before, and categories for all sorts of special diets.
As far as making the transition - buy the things you would normally buy in a regular supermarket. If the issue is budget, then I would add one or two new items per shopping trip for experimenting, like say quinoa and whole wheat couscous (I just picked these because they are items I don't usually find in 'regular' grocery stores). As you may have noticed, you don't have to foresake much since there are so many organic and HFCS-free choices in a whole foods store. What are the bigger concerns you have with making the transition? It seems like you're worried that if you have to prepare your own meals instead of rely on prepackaged "snack foods and sweets" that you'll "fail" - I think you'll do just fine if you start with simple, easy to prepare recipes and work your way up.
I have a pretty decent stockpile of food but I'm replacing with organic as I go. I'm going to have to rethink how we eat, also, because we eat meat with every meal and hormone/antibiotic/free range/grass fed meat is very expensive.
I have a pretty decent stockpile of food but I'm replacing with organic as I go. I'm going to have to rethink how we eat, also, because we eat meat with every meal and hormone/antibiotic/free range/grass fed meat is very expensive.
We make it go farther by limiting portion sizes. It also helps with weight maintenance. One portion of protein is never more than 3-4 oz/person per meal.
Another trick we use to keep costs down is checking the clearance section in the meat department, as we've found many times organic poultry for 50%. We buy it all up and freeze it for use later.
Meat replacements a couple of meals a week also helps - veggie burgers, beans/legumes, tofu stir-fry, and the like.
We make it go farther by limiting portion sizes. It also helps with weight maintenance. One portion of protein is never more than 3-4 oz/person per meal.
Another trick we use to keep costs down is checking the clearance section in the meat department, as we've found many times organic poultry for 50%. We buy it all up and freeze it for use later.
Meat replacements a couple of meals a week also helps - veggie burgers, beans/legumes, tofu stir-fry, and the like.
Excellent thing to point out. Our view of proper protein size is horribly skewed in this country, especially since restaurants routinely serve 16 oz or more per person! When one starts thinking that a piece of meat, chicken etc should be roughly the size of a deck of playing cards, the cost of eating decent meat drops significantly.
by eschew, i mean Indian recipes that don't have meat. Which brings up another point that you can also substitute soy protein (fake ground beef) for things like tacos or chili. It takes a bit getting used to the lack of greasiness in foods but the payoff for your heart & waistline is worth it.
If you really read up on soy protein, you would not be recommending that people eat it. Personally I will not touch a food item that is a by-product of chemical waste. (Previously only used as cardboard filler, soy protein is the waste product you get when you extract oil from a soy bean using a toxic solvent called hexane. Yes, there is hexane residue in soy protein products such as meat substitutes and food-replacement bars) No soy protein for me, only "old fashioned" soy foods like tofu or tempeh. PS - Indians don't eat soy protein either.
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