Vegetarianism : Vegucated....help needed :)

lickthelid

Lives here....
Has anyone else seen the documentary Vegucated? I'm watching it right now and I have made the instant decision to give up meat and, as far as possible dairy and eggs. I have never felt so sick as when watching this and it has really made me re-evaluate my food choices. I cried watching certain parts.

I'd really like to hear from any of you who do SW whilst vegetarian or vegan? I know green days are the best option. But what do you use as popular substitutions? I already only have quorn sausages.

Im not planning on going wholly vegan. But will be cutting back on eggs and the only dairy I really have is one yoghurt a day and maybe some
cottage cheese. Since switching to green tea I don't have milk anyway.

I guess what I'm asking is how do you manage to make the best choices SW wise?? TIA! X
 
I am no expert, and I am sure there will be other people here who will be helpful - but I think the two things you need to be sure about is getting enough calcium and also getting enough Vitamin B12. But there is loads of information online about non-animal sources of these.
 
I'm thinking of trying soya products on place of dairy to keep my calcium up and will research the vitamin b12, thanks :)
 
I've been considering going back to vegetarian for a while, I don't really eat a lot of meat as it is, and actually prefer Quorn most of the time, but think I'd struggle with dairy and eggs. We have a friend who has chickens so get eggs from them, which I'll admit makes me feel a lot less guilty than buying eggs from a supermarket, is there anyone near by for you to do that with or would you like to cut down in general?

Oddly, I think the more you think and try and "replace meat" the harder it becomes to find vegetarian recipes, as you're consciously thinking of meat. Have you tried other Quorn products or are you looking for other options? I practically lived off their mince when I started SW!
X
 
I've been a vegetarian for 21 years now and I find SW is the only diet that actually thinks about and works well for vegetarians. Green days are the way forward. Your free foods are made up of good healthy staples such as rice, pasta, potatoes, pulses, grains and starchy veggies. Super free is pretty self explanatory.

For your HEAs if you are wanting to go dairy free then you can have certain rice milks and almond milks you can also have lactofree cheese. HEBs are not just restricted to breads and cereals, you can included nuts, canned and cooked fruit and some tinned soups.

I don't eat a lot of meat substitute products but they do have place in my diet just not a large part. The majority of my meals are made up of tons of veggies cooked in different spices or in different ways, mixed with rice, topped on pasta, or baked with some grains.

People always ask me what I eat and they are always stunned when I say vegetables! For lunch today I had a home made bean salad of 5 different beans, mixed with sweetcorn, cucumber, tomato, onion, spring onion and topped with fat free Italian dressing. I'm absolutely stuffed. Tonight for dinner will probably be home made special fried rice with quinoa (instead of rice), spring onion, mushrooms, peas, sweetcorn, leeks, courgette and soy sauce.

The main things to check is that you are getting enough of the nutrients you need. I regularly have my iron levels checked as I am a little aneamic. Raw green veggies (like broccoli) are a good source of iron and if you are wanting to avoid eggs and cheese something like quinoa is a great source of protein. You can of course take supplements but I don't believe there is any need to as long as you are aware of what foods contain what nutrients.

Good luck if you do decide to take the plunge and don't be afraid to be adventurous with food!
 
I don't think I'm looking to replace so much as swap? Does that make sense? I don't need the texture of meat to make a meal complete in that way. In the past I have had a roasted squash in place of meat and not missed it. I don't want it to become a chore or expensive in buying a load of meat replacement products. Quorn mince yes Id buy, I already have their sausages. Possibly the fillets too bit otherwise id like to try genuinely vegetarian things rather than things that are for those that miss meat. I kind of know what I mean but may need to find my way a little. Like tonight for example my husband is having sausage and chips. I would already be having the quorn alternative. Tomorrow if he wants chicken I'm ready thinking if there is something tasty I can make with the tin of chickpeas in the cupboard. :)
 
Chick pea, spinach and potato curry! Always a winner and just chuck in some diced chicken breast right at the end after you have taken your portion out and there's hubby's dinner sorted too!
 
Sounds lovely for me :) although hubby doesn't eat much in the way of spicy stuff. Definitely one to try but my problem for tomorrow is that I don't have any spinach in. I'm at work all day as well with no chance to pop to the shop. I'm thinking of making chickpea burgers. There are a lot of recipes online that I could fudge according to what I have in the cupboard and they all need resting time so I might make them tonight and cover them in the fridge for tomorrow. Mmmm quite like the idea actually :)

I swapped my food diary to a green day today and had extra cheese (something I will have to phase out rather than go cold turkey on as I can't do it all at once and am not aiming for veganism anyway:)) so that was nice. I might get on eBay later and look for some recipes. I have a copy of "whole food" by Judith bleureu somewhere in the house so might start there :)
 
I have been vegetarian for 30 years and SW works brilliantly for me. An added bonus is that on Green days you get two Hex A's and two Hex B's. I eat a lot of pulses - most veggie curry recipes can easily be adapted for SW. I also eat a fair amount of tofu - I know a lot of people don't like it but prepared and cooked properly it is delicious. To be honest, my basic meals didn't change much when I started SW - I just had to cut out the (very) unhealthy sweets/treats I was having way too many of and cut back on the oil.
 
8 years a veggie here and SW can work brilliantly! I use a lot of beans of various sorts and a variety of veggies in my cooking - plus Quorn for quick meals too if I fancy sausage and chips for example. Some of my favourite SW friendly meals are Quorn mince and bean chilli, baked chickpeas, garlic and broccoli, lentil bolognaise, roast BNS risotto, spicy root veg soup... I'm not cooking much at the mo due to adapting to life with my 3 month old son but I'm looking forward to getting back to it!

For low fat vegan recipes which are also suitable for veggies (and omnis with good taste), may I recommend the book 'Appetite for Reduction'? Most of the recipes can be made SW friendly very easily and it's a fun book to read and cook from.

Enjoy your veggie experience :)
 
I'll look that up thank you :) I've made my burgers for tomorrow. They actually smell delish...right I'm off to eBay to look up that book! :)
 
Ooh it looks good. Right that's my 4st award sorted right there.....
 
Ooh yes, Appetite for Reduction is great! The Masala Baked Tofu and the Basic Tofu Scramble are two of my go-to recipes.
I also forgot to say, if you are on a budget soy mince is good - cheaper than Quorn and you can just rehydrate as much as you need.
 
Ooh yes, Appetite for Reduction is great! The Masala Baked Tofu and the Basic Tofu Scramble are two of my go-to recipes.
I also forgot to say, if you are on a budget soy mince is good - cheaper than Quorn and you can just rehydrate as much as you need.

Oh I will check that out! I'm all for making it cheaper. Like I said I don't really want a load of expensive replacements I'm happy to use things like the dehydrated mince and lentils, beans etc. maybe that documentary affected me more than I realised but I watched another one last night called fat sick and nearly dead and although it's predominantly about juicing for health it had the same basic principles about taking care about what we put into our bodies. I'm looking to improve this In my case and hopefully in time in the cases of my husband and daughter (who may take some
time to come around and I'm not going to be preachy about it)
 
When I went veggie I found it better to have a half day trip to the library and set myself up at a table with lots of vegetarian cook book and bookmark ones I wanted then photocopied those ones. The photocopies at the library aren't massively cheap generally, but then you end up with a nice slim ringbinder full of recipes you want rather than a book shelf full of ones you don't.

Most of the recipes have syns in the oil or dairy generally, which can be worked around. Rather than cooking 2 meals, could you try giving your other half some of what your main meal is as a side to a piece of meat? Otherwise it's going to get quite hard work. I used to cook a few staple veggie meals which I've been meaning to find the recipes for again as my OH (meat eater) has been hankering after them after not having them for a while. If I can find them I'll upload the recipes. One was aduki bean sheperds pie, anothe one was similar but had mushrooms and brown rice for the bottom of the pie. Then I used to do veggie chilli (no meat substitute, just beans and lentils and lots of veg) and spicy chickpeas with rice. Thinking about them I quite fancy a green week myself!

Oh - and don't forget the good old SW quiche as a standby!
 
That's a good idea :) I might just do that. Or spend some time printing some out at work. My husband isn't very adventurous with food so I'm quite often doing two different meals...three if you count little one and her fussy palate, so that's not so much of a concern. I think that when I do make it as most recipes are for 2 or 4 people I'll freeze half. For example I made four burgers last night, 2 for tonight and two either for tomorrow or for later in the week if I wrap them up and pop them in the freezer. I look forward to a time where my husband hankers after something different like that. With him it's very softly softy catchy monkey. If he thinks its HIS idea to try it, fine. As soon as it's mine its a no go. Much like a child really.... ;)

Those meals sound delish so any recipes very welcome! I love chickpeas. Particularly slow baked in Cajun spice as a snack. Yum yum
 
When I went veggie I found it better to have a half day trip to the library and set myself up at a table with lots of vegetarian cook book and bookmark ones I wanted then photocopied those ones. The photocopies at the library aren't massively cheap generally, but then you end up with a nice slim ringbinder full of recipes you want rather than a book shelf full of ones you don't.

. . . . .

Excellent idea. I've lost count of the number of times I get funny looks from people when I suggest going to the library rather than buying a book! I always check our library's online catalogue before buying something I might only want a small bit of information from, or which I am not sure I will want to keep.

If we don't use our public libraries, we will lose them!!
 
Excellent idea. I've lost count of the number of times I get funny looks from people when I suggest going to the library rather than buying a book! I always check our library's online catalogue before buying something I might only want a small bit of information from, or which I am not sure I will want to keep.

If we don't use our public libraries, we will lose them!!
This is a really good point. I'm planning a trip to our bigger library maybe next week when I have a morning off and to myself (ie no small child in tow) so I can look up a few and maybe copy them down. Actually sounds a pleasant and QUIET way to spend a couple of hours!!! Plus it's right by an area with an abundance of charity shops and an oxfam bookshop in particular so Ill trawl them too :)
 
How are you getting on? I was vegetarian for 15 years and have been vegan for the last 9 months (and done SW for just over 18 months) and I find doing it vegan just as easy as doing it veggie although not quite so much stuff is free, but I've got things pretty much worked out now :)
 
Ahh thanks for checking in :)

Its going really well actually. I am finding I have doubled my superfree intake as I was determined not to rely on quorn style substitutes although they certainly have a place. I've been rehydrating different beans like chickpeas and kidneys beans and making burgers which have been yummy to varying degrees. Tonight I had a gorgeous meal of couscous cooked in tandoori spice so it soaked it all up with a stirfry type meal made up of mushrooms, onions, spinach, smoked garlic, green peppers and quorn pieces.

The one problem I am having is having my syns!! I gave up sugar for lent and have to keep falling back on savoury snacks like crisps. Because I can have 2 hex b where I would normally syn EVOO thats now a hex!!
 
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