Vegan/vegetarian meals and recipes

[Ehsan_Karam]

Thanks man.

[snoogens44]

im also a nutritionist (UF graduate). However, i believe the conventional knowledge taught in school is highly biased do to corporate interests in research studies. Ive been reeducating myself, ever since i graduated, with my own peer reviewed research. Accordingly i see vegan and vegetarianism, from a nutritional standpoint, inadequate and dangerous. there are various risks that i wont get into, but i will mention a few:
*vegetarians and vegans (as well as almost all americans) subscribe to the fallacy that saturated fats raise cholesterol, thus causing atherosclerosis, when in fact many saturated fats have protective effects.
*high cholesterol means little with regard to heart disease/atherosclerosis... this includes LDL (unless the individual has a certain type of small ldl sub particle)
*atherosclerosis is in fact highly tied to high poly unsaturated fat intake found in high GRAIN diets/sugar diets (seen with vegetarians and vegans)... polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable (except omega 3`s) and cause free radicals to damage arterial walls-> leads to inflammation -> leads to atherosclerosis
SOOOO...avoiding meat products is pretty senseless as long as they are organic/grassfed/free range AND IN FACT ARE ESSENTIAL TO A HEALTH PROMOTING DIET
HOWEVER, vegetarians and vegans have 2 saving features:
1)high phytosterol intake (antioxidant prevents inflammation and thus atherosclerosis)
2)High fiber in this diet regulates bowel movements and lowers risk of certain cancers

SOO WHATS BEST OF BOTH WORLDS? TAKE THE HIGH VEGES FROM VEGETARIAN DIETS AND COMBINE WITH ORGANIC MEATS = PALEO DIET....i will say though that SOME intake of carbohydrates is necessary and strict adherence to this diet is not ideal in that respect.

SORRY FOR THE LONG LECTURE... but nutrition is my thing... heres a video of a doctor lecturing about these vary topics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPYaVcXo1I

good books for more info: "the great cholesterol con"... "good calories bad calories:"... those should get you started and pissed (if you care)

[Bryan Brown]

Thank you guys for starting this thread, I like the Vegetarian/Vegan diet tips and meals because generally they are very healthy. Not getting political but I hope on this thread we can just have as many healthy dishes as possible so we can have a better understanding of good nutrition, and keep personal philosophy out. Since I'm Omnivorous I just throw in a little organic meats here and there. Everyone has the option to tweak dishes to their liking or personal needs, But thank you in advance for all who contribute. Having nutritionists around is freaking awesome.

[Thomas Rodriguez-Swift]

You get carbohydrates from fruits. Or anything with sugar. Like honey. And the meal tips are great, keep em coming

[Chris Odell (Datsusara)]

Great thread

I highly recommend Tim Ferriss' book "The Four Hour Body" for great info on the "slow carb" diet (basically paleo with beans added) and tons of other good info on diet, workout, muscle gain etc. It would be very useful for the jits crowd for sure.

[Matthew Stuart]

Does anyone have good information on breads/ carbs in general? It's one of those topics that everyone seems to disagree on.

[joe]

jar o salsa, package of ground round (like hamburg), and rice. Delicious, can make a bunch. Make rice, add in salsa and ground round ad the rice heats this up. You can then add things from there. Im not vegan anymore, but that was a good'n

[Enrique "Kiko"]

I love these too much to ever go vegetarian but there are some great vegetarian dishes out there.

Here's one of my favorite recipes for a vegetarian dish. Always a huge hit when I make it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/e...ipe/index.html

[Enrique "Kiko"]

Does anyone have good information on breads/ carbs in general? It's one of those topics that everyone seems to disagree on.

You absolutely 100% need carbs. Where most people mess up is the QUALITY and ratio of carbs to QUALITY proteins and QUALITY fats.

Good carbs: Sweet potatoes, brown rice, whole grain breads, bananas, Joseph's Bakery low carb pita bread rules

Bad carbs: white rice, white breads, I stay away from most carbs that have "enriched" flour, *most, but not all.*

[Christopher Piper]

Ingredients
•4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in cubes;
•4 slices bacon;
•1 medium onion, finely chopped;
•2 cloves garlic, minced;
•1 1/2 tbsp homemade or Dijon mustard;
•2 tbsp lemon juice;
•4 loosely packed cups baby spinach;
•2 tbsp lard or other cooking fat;
•Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste;

Preparation
1.Place the sweet potato cubes in a pot of cold water, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until tender.
2.In the mean time, cook the bacon slices over a medium heat in a large pan until crisp, about.4 minutes per side. Set aside
3.Add the onion and garlic to the pan as well as the additional cooking fat and cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Season liberally with black pepper.
4.Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and mustard.
5.Drain the cooked sweet potato cubes and place in a bowl.
6.Add the baby spinach with the sweet potatoes and combine well and pour the cooked onions with all the drippings on top.
7.Crumble the cooked bacon over, combine and serve.


MMMMMMMM PALEO DIET!!!