Reasons Become Vegetarian Nutritional Info

March 11, 2009   ·   Vegetarian Nutrition   ·   Be the first to comment

Vegetarians can have piece of mind knowing that plant based foods are loaded with nutrients, and contrary to meat eating propaganda, ample protein, iron, calcium, vitamin D, zinc, iodine and Omega-3’s .

Just like any other diet the key is to include a wide variety of different foods into your diet. No one food source is nutritionally complete by itself. Vegetarians have a wide variety of food groups to add to their die, including: grains, vegetables, legumes (beans), nuts, seeds and fruits. Whole unrefined foods are always the best choices, while eggs and dairy are optional.

By adapting a plant based diet you will be assured of obtaining nutrients from sources high in fiber, and low in saturated fats and cholesterol.

Thoughts on protein

In the typical Western diet, the average person consumes twice the amount of protein that their body needs. The main source of protein is from animal products which has the negatives of fat and saturated fats. Most people are surprised to hear that protein needs are much less than they normally consume.

In the past, high protein diets were promoted for weight loss, prevention of disease, and enhanced athletic ability. However there is little scientific research to support this. Study after study has shown that the healthiest diet is high in carbohydrates, low in fat, and moderate in proteins.

High protein diets are un-healthy, however we all need moderate amounts to maintain muscle and body tissue. The amounts of protein that we require can easily be found in a Vegetarian Diet by following the following guidelines:

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Reasons Become Vegetarian FAQ

March 8, 2009   ·   Reasons Become Vegetarian   ·   Be the first to comment

So What Exactly Does “Vegetarian” Mean?

Vegetarians refrain from eating at least some animal products - usually meat. The term is usually related to what types of animal products a person does not eat, If any. ie. lacto vegetarians eat dairy products but not meat and eggs. ovo vegetarians eat eggs but not dairy or meat, etc.

There are many reasons for adapting a vegetarian lifestyle. Some do not eat meat due to religious dietary restrictions. Many people become vegetarian out of concern for the environment, since meat production is so destructive and inefficient. Others do not like the thought of animals suffering, while many do it for health purposes.

What Does Being “Vegan” mean?

Vegans are a type of Vegetarian that strives to avoid all animal products as much as possible. In addition to not eating meat, dairy or eggs, Vegans typically will choose cruelty free alternatives to leather, wool, silk, or feather stuffed items, or anything else that comes from an animal. The motivation for the majority of Vegans has less to do with diet, and more to do with reducing unnecessary suffering from industrialized agriculture.

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Imagine A Vegan World

March 6, 2009   ·   Vegan   ·   Be the first to comment

Let’s imagine if only for a few minutes that everyone on this planet were Vegans, and consumed no animal products. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the typical consumer gets 28% of their calories from mostly meat and dairy products. For countries that are still developing this stat is about 8%, so lets take the average of 15% for the world.

The worlds grain harvest for animal feed is 45% of the entire world and 60% of all grain that is produced in the United States. A study was conducted by Vaclev Smil that concluded that if we take 1kg of vegetable matter to equal 1kg of gross energy consumed, then converting the 1kg consumed product into milk, it would require 4-5kg of vegetable matter, pork, 5-7kg vegetable matter, chicken, 7-10kg of vegetable matter, and beef, 20-25kg of vegetable matter.

Simply moving from beef to chicken would provide a 65% savings in the amount of vegetable matter required to produce the final food product, and even more if we switched from no meat to only dairy. With Beef at25% of global meat, pork at 39%, poultry at 29% we can get an average of 11.2kg of vegetable matter required to produce 1kg of food energy for the whole world.

Based upon the UN studies this means that the global average of 15% calories from animals requires twice as much vegetable matter as the 85% of non-animal calories consumed worldwide. Therefore if we all went vegan we would only need one third of the cropland that we use now.

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Vegan Baking Recipes

March 5, 2009   ·   Vegan Recipes   ·   Be the first to comment

One of the key problems in Vegan baking recipes is replacing the eggs with something that creates a similar binding effect. We need something of a similar consistency that will give structure to our baked goods.

Lets start with common ingredients that are non-vegan, which are used in baking that we will need to find substitutes for. We have already mentioned one of the most important ingredients, eggs, so lets start with that one.

Egg Substitutes for Vegan Baking Recipes

Ener-G is a commercial vegan egg replacer which can usually be found in health food stores, and many larger grocery chains. I found that Ener-G works best with cookies or cakes, and is best used when only 1-2 eggs are required. The more eggs that are required seems to give the recipes a chalky taste when using Ener-G, although some have said that more water is needed than the Ener-G package instructions require.

Bananas are a great egg replacement for baking sweet recipes. Just smash up or blend about half of a banana per egg that is required in your recipe.

Tofu in my opinion is the best ingredient to replace eggs with when creating a Vegan baking recipes. Tofu can be used in sweet recipes as well as casserole type dishes. Silken tofu is best used in baked goods, just use 1/4 cup of silken tofu with your liquid ingredients until the tofu is smooth and creamy.

Tofu tends to make your baked items on the heavy side, so it is best used in brownies and pancakes, and not so well in light and fluffy items like angel food cake.

Next let’s tackle another baking ingredient that we will need to replace, and that is milk. This is the easiest to find replacements for, since there are many milk substitutes on the market. Soy milk is easy to find in just about every grocery store that you happen into these days, for the adventurous you can also try rice milk or almond milk, which can be found in your larger chains and most health food stores.

And last ingredient that is non-vegan that we will need to find a substitute for in most Vegan Baking Recipes is butter. This is another easy ingredient to find replacements for, in fact many of you are using a replacement for it everyday and probably didn’t realize it, margarine.

When using margarine to replace butter, you will need to cut your amount of margarine down 1/4 of a teaspoon per stick of butter that your recipe calls for.  So there is the solution to vegan baking recipes, feel free to substitute these ingredients in your normal baking recipes, for a vegetarian friendly diet.

Another thing that I prefer to replace butter with is Canola Oil, although any vegetable oil will suffice. You will need to cut the amount down similar to using margarine as a substitute. If a recipe calls for one stick of butter which is equal to half a cup, you will use 1/3 cup of oil instead.

So there you have substitutes in your favorite Vegan baked goods, I mean why should we give up all of our favorite desserts just because we choose not to use animal products, and if your like me you hate being stuck with just vegan recipes.

It is very simple to develop your own egg and dairy free versions of your favorite Vegan baked goods by using some of the hints I have given you and a little test baking. Good luck on the following Vegan baking Recipes.

Coffee Cake

For the cake you will need:

4 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 tbl of baking powder

1 tsp of baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp of allspice

1/4 cup of canola oil

1/2 cup of vanilla soy yogurt

1 cup of maple syrup

1 1/2 cups of plain soy milk

1 tsp of vanilla

For the topping:

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3 tbl of brown sugar

1/4 tsp of cinnamon

1 tbl of canola oil

1 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F, and lightly grease or spray a 9 by 13 baking dish with non stick cooking spray

Make your topping by sifting the flour sugar and cinnamon together. Drizzle the oil a bit at a time and mix with your fingers until crumbs form. Add the walnuts and mix.

Next make the cake by stirring the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients until well combined. Add the wet to the dry and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the topping over it.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

There are many other vegan baking recipes that you can find on the internet, take it as a challenge to perfect this art of vegan baking.

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Easy Vegan Recipes

March 1, 2009   ·   Vegan Recipes   ·   Be the first to comment

There are many easy vegan recipes on the internet although if you are like me, many of the ones I have tried are not really written that well or they just don’t turn out right.

Maintaining a vegan diet can be a routine in boredom by eating the same dishes over and over until you are ready to scream. I have been there and have taken steps to keep a fresh and exciting vegan lifestyle by collecting many easy vegan recipes to add to my meal rotations, and your in luck because I am going to share some with you.

Not only did I choose vegan recipes that were easy to prepare, but also tasted great and were nutritious. I hope you will get some inspiration from this article on adding new vegan recipes to your mix.

The first easy vegan recipes I will share is a fruit recipe.

Frozen Fruit Delight

2 ripe bananas

juice of one medium lemon

1/2 cup of unsweetened apple juice chilled

2/3 cup of unsweetened frozen strawberries or unthawed raspberries

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• Reasons Become Vegetarian
• Vegan
• Vegan Recipes
• Vegetarian Nutrition

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