Vegatarian diet?!
Vegatarian diet?
I would like to try being a vegetarian but am always hungry. Also on a very limited budget. Ideas?
Answers:
Dried beans and legumes(peas, lentils). 1lb. supermarket packages cost less than $1.00 and give 3-4 meals. Try adding ingrediants like garlic, onion, parsley, chili pepper, oils, tomatoes, and basil to give flavor and carrots, celery, and other fresh vegtables for sustance.
Brown rice, barley, and dried pasta all cost $1.00 or less and provide 2- 5 servings.
Tofu is less than $2.00 , provides 1-2 meals and is less costly than meat.
Fresh vegtables vary, buy what's in season and on sale. Greens(Collard, Turnip, Mustard, etc.) and cabbages cost $00.50 to $1.00 a pound. 1 bunch or head lasts 2-4 meals. Potatoes and apples are also similarly priced.
5lbs. bags of un-bleached flour and granulated sugar + vegtable oil , egg replacer(tofu is one) and soy or rice milk makes loads of cookies, cakes and pies.
Buy a soy milk maker. It's an intitial investment, like $90.00, yet it will save you a ton, as it cost like a fraction of what soy or regular milk cost at a store.
Buy the yogurt packages. Eat three yogurts a day. I lost 591 lbs. that way, but the down side was, I turned into a real @ss, because I was on edge because I was hungry all the time.
Go to Aldi
for every animal u dont eat, i'll eat three
tofu, dairy, pastas, and lots of fruits and veggies. you can do so many things with those ingredients.
Make sure you are including protien and fiber rich foods such as beans, whole grains, peanut butter, nuts and seeds, potatoes. They will help you fell fuller longer. Oatmeal makes a great filling breakfast. Also be sure to drink lots of water throughout the day, sometimes thirst masks itself as hunger pangs.
Look we were made of meat. We are omnivorous. Staying really healthy on a vegetarian diet is complicated and not really easy. Nor is it really for a limited budget.
Why don't you skip the vegetarian idea and try just reducing the animal protein in your diet.
First, do some research and decide what kind you want to be first. Some people go as far as giving up all eggs and dairy. Some still eat fish (and yes call themselves veggie).
Also make sure you get all of your nutrients because too many people fall back on living off cheese pizzas and junk food. It's an easy way to gain weight and become depressed from vitamin deprivation.
Good luck.
add potatoes, sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread and lots of fruits to your diet. they wont harm your low fat low carb low cholesterol veggie diet.
I eat a lot of soy based immitation meat products. I like morningstar the best, and I eat 'taco salad' a lot- prettymuch it is morningstar ground beef in seasoning and lettuce, salsa, chips and cheese. YUMMY! The 'beef' is pretty expensive (almost as much as normal meat) but there are alternatives. You can crumble bread or oatmeal into kernals and cook it similarly because the seasoning is what makes the meal. Personal choice, though. I am a big pasta fan, but some people avoid 'starches'- there are plenty of good 'whole wheat, high fiber' pastas but you really need to 'overcook' them (more than the directions indicate) for it to have a good texture. My husband enjoys what we call 'fakon'- it's morningstar meatless bacon and it is as good or better than the real thing! Vegetarian sushi is good, simple and SUPER CHEAP if you make it yourself. Plus it's filling. Eating stuff with beans (chilli, burritos, fajitas and those types of things) are good for filling you up if you want to avoid pastas.
Being a HEALTHY vegetarian is NOT CHEAP. You must make sure you are getting all your oils, because you are replacing meat. You need to stock up on "Omegas-3, 6 & 9", you also need to incorporate extra virgin olive oil into most of your meals. You need to eat plenty of dark leafy vegetables, and make sure you eat brown rice, and not white, stock up on lots of tofu, and soy milk, make sure you eat all your grains, plenty of nuts (nuts are expensive). Good luck!