[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Elsi

For several years, I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian. Now, I'm not a full-time vegetarian, but I do consume more non-meat meals than most. I enjoy eating at some of the Vegan restaurants in the area, and when I am outside of the USA, I avoid all meats, though I do eat eggs and cheese.

I think the biggest problem when one is converting from a traditional "American" style meal to vegetarian is that we tend to still look for the one *main dish* with supporting vegetables.

in french cuisine also a lot of people (particularly from older generations) expect meat to be at the center of the meal. they are sometimes quite flustered when they learn i don't eat meat, as if there weren't anything else that was actually food.

That kind of thinking leads to overconsumption of milk and/or egg products if you're still eating those. I think a much better approach is to make sure that each meal includes a variety of small servings instead. Vary the textures and colors and you'll automatically be including most if not all of the essential nutrients at each meal. The Japanese recommend 5 colors at each meal, and it can be fun trying to plan your menu around a visually pleasing presentation as well as taste.

i've never really thought about it much (as i said, i've been doing it my whole life, so i didn't have to adapt) but i really like the idea of 5 colours. of course, that could be difficult sometimes as i generally don't make very complex meals with a lot of different courses. on the other hand i do like to cook with a lot of different vegetables when i make things like soup or ratatouille or such. maybe that counts.

Today's news presented new diet recommendations which I think are still not agressive enough. They said to eat less animal-based foods and more vegetables. 1.5 cups of fresh fruit weekly. Oatmeal once per week. Reduce alcohol intake to less than 1 glass of wine per day. No saturated fats or trans fats. I've looked for an online source of what was mentioned on the morning news, but I can't find it right now. I like the UK Government's promotion of 5-a-day (http://www.5aday.nhs.uk/ ) which seems to have been picked up by the CDC in the USA (http://www.5aday.gov/ ).

i like oatmeal. i add it to soup as a thickener, and when i'm feeling under the weather sometimes i make that for dinner. i like the "5 a day" idea as well although i don't know whether i'm disciplined enough to actually keep track...

i'm not really a big alcohol drinker but i do like to have wine with my dinner (not every day though) and i drink when i go out. but some days i don't drink at all. it probably averages out to one glass a day or maybe a bit more, but i'm not sure. then again i've heard red wine is good for your heart so i'm not going to worry too much.