Living Without Meat

As my juice fast was coming to an on Sunday, my teeth were restless. All I wanted to do was chew something!

My morning started out with a breakfast juice of an orange and a couple of carrots. For my first snack, I made a digestive aid using 4 large carrots, some jicama, and half of a pear.

After these two juices, I was so ready to never see a carrot again, but equally enticed by the recipe that I had picked out for a cold carrot soup for lunch. I juiced a few carrots, then blended it with an avocado and some cumin. It was so creamy and satisfying, but I really wanted a cracker or piece of bread to go along with it. I stayed strong though.

The mocktail for happy hour was fantastic! With the juice of one tomato, half a cucumber, some fresh cilantro, and a chunk of lime, it created a fun version of a Bloody Mary.

Then it was time to drink dinner: a juice blend of apples, spinach, parsley, and lemon that is meant to target the colon’s cleaning needs. I am surprised to say that this was my favorite drink of the day. It was light and refreshing. However, for the first time during the day I felt hungry and headachy. It was the least fulfilling … I may have had a little homemade hummus with carrots and celery at this point.

Drinking so much juice, I wasn’t really thirsty and only finished about one tall glass of water. I did, however, brew a pot of detox tea and sipped it throughout the day.

To round the whole day out, I treated myself to a tropical taste of pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, and ginger juice, blended with a touch of soy milk and some ice cubes.

In the end, it wasn’t a whole day of nothing but juice, but there is no denying that I had a very healthy day, offering my body a replenishment of nutrients.

Protein will forever be a hot topic between meat eaters and veg*ns. When I first started Living Without Meat one year ago, in May 2007, I talked for a good number of days on the nutritional subject. I brought it up in my very first post - on May 17, 2007 - as I counted the most frequently asked questions that vegetarians encouter.

I then researched and wrote a two-part article all about proteins: What are They?, and How Much Do I Need? Still, I had even more to say. After analyzing my diet for two days (day one; day two), I finally pointed out that there is more to a healthy meal than just protein.

But out of all of these articles, I never once came up with the hilarity Vegan Soapbox did earlier this week in 10 Responses to “Where Do You Get Your Protein?” The list included the perfect mix of sarcastic and educated comebacks.

My favorites were: “The grocery store,” and “The same place you do. I get my protein from food.”

Now, go read the rest of the list oer at Vegan Soapbox!

I have always wanted to do a day of only fresh juice, but have never buckled down and actually done so. But with all of the birthdays, picnics, and celebrations going on this time of year, I am finally planning a fresh juice fast for this Sunday, followed by light raw vegan foods and more juice on Monday.

Today’s mission is grocery shopping in preparation.

MY JUICE FAST GROCERY LIST:

**All organic if possible**

* 5 red delicious apples
* 1 green apple
* 3 vine-ripened tomatoes
* 2 kiwi
* 1 pineapple
* fresh ginger
* 1 pack celery
* 20+ carrots
* 1 head romaine lettuce
* beets with greens
* 1 pear
* 1 avocado
* cumin
* 1 cucumber
* fresh cilantro, basil, and parsley
* 1 lime
* 1 lemon
* 1 orange
* 1 grapefruit
* 2 bunches of spinach

From a juicing book that I snagged at the Dollar Tree, I have a lot of great sounding recipes planned out for the day including a chilled juice soup and a bloody Mary mocktail.

Check back on Sunday for specific recipes and more.

With exotic health foods becoming trendy, I have noticed that I don’t know how to pronounce some of the things that I am eating. So I will use my ignorance and a bit of research to clarify a few pronunciations, and while I’m at it I’ll tell you what exactly they are.

* Açaí (assai) : a small, round, blackish-purple, palm fruit used with increasing frequency in juices and teas. This nutritionally packed fruit shows high concentrates of fiber, good fatty acids, phytosterol (a cholesterol reducer), protein, and antioxidants. (Shown in picture, click to check out a site all about the acai berry.)

* Cacao (kuh-kah-o, also kuh-key-o): a vegan’s delight! Cacao is the plant from which cocoa and chocolate come. When cacao is the ingredient, this means that you are getting pure, raw chocolate - no milk added (unless also listed as an ingredient).

* Goji berries: this one needs an explanation just for the name. Most cultures actually call this little red fruit a wolfberry. The origin, and thus pronunciation, of “goji” is uncertain. Possible connections would suggest gou-qi, but people probably won’t know what you mean unless you say go-gee.

* Quinoa (keen-wah): the part we eat are tiny seeds from this grain plant. It cooks up similar to rice or couscous, but with a chewier texture. Protein content is extremely high, and it contains a balanced set of essential amino acids which is rare for such a grain. It’s gluten-free and a good source of iron, fiber, magnesium, folate, and phosphorus.

Recently I came across an archived article, titled “Should You Become a Vegetarian? Think Before You Eat,” from Ebony magazine’s July 2003 issue. It’s a good read, and good press coverage of a vegetarian diet, but I’ve devised a quicker way to decide if you should become vegetarian or not.

Answer each question with a yes or no:

1. Do you want to be healthy?

2. Do you like living animals?

3. Do you respect your body?

4. Do you believe that you are what you eat?

5. Do you feel that no creature should live a life of torture, confinement, abuse, and general mistreatment?

6. Do you like to eat delicious, nutritious, colorful food without feeling guilty?

7. Do you want to feel physically, mentally, and emotionally better?

8. Do you hate touching and preparing raw meat?

9. Do you want to be trendy and jump on the green-friendly or educated-consumer bandwagon?

10. Do you want to be in the company of celebrities like Paul McCartney, Carrie Underwood, Kristen Bell, Emily Deschanel, and Tobey Maguire?

If you answered yes to at least one of these questions, then you should become a vegetarian! (And if you answered yes to all of them … what are you waiting for?!)

I wanted to share a picture of my dinner this evening, but the battery on my camera chose this moment to die. Plus, I was excited to begin eating my tasty meal.

Along side a half of a whole wheat pita pocket, toasted with margarine, I had a sauteed veggie medley and tofu crisps.

Into the oiled stir-fry pan went: onion, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, olives, red pepper, and portabello mushroom. Near the end I added sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, garlic, and Old Bay seasoning. (I grew up in Maryland where crabs run rampant. Yesterday, I passed a crab feast and was thus inspired to use some of the seasoning.)

While letting the seasons stew with the veggies, I began to heat some oil for the tofu. I sliced firm tofu into thin strips, and coated one side with the same four spices as used with the vegetables, plus a light sprinkling of bread crumbs. Into the oil, spice side down, went the tofu strips. Spices were added to the face-up side, then the tofu was flipped.

And that was my delicious meal, replete with healthy, vegan nutrition.

I am really starting to love Oprah. Here’s what she had to say yesterday:

MorningStar Farms has a lot of great meatless items to choose from, including several vegan options. My favorite from this company is the Meal Starters Grillers Recipe Crumbles, which act in place of sauteed ground beef (a.k.a. dead, chopped up cow).

Every time a vegan child passes away, or is found to be quite sick, the diet “forced” on them by their parents is blamed in the newspapers and by the law.

With previous headlines like “Death by Veganism,” and current quotes like, “the dangers of forcing children to follow a strict vegan diet needed to be highlighted,” the media’s point of view on this subject is fairly clear.

The most recent case takes place in Scotland, with a 12-year-old girl and her vegan parents.

The girl was taken to the hospital recently, and found to have severe bone issues - rickets, degenerative spine, and several that had been broken over her life. Her health problems were decided to connect to a lack of Vitamin D, which you can get your daily dose of just spending time in the sun.

But her “strict meat and dairy-free diet” is getting the blame.

If she had not been vegan, the conclusion would have been different, not blamed on diet at all. Lack of sun and broken bones? Sounds more like a physical abuse case to me. Or, perhaps the girl has a illness that effects her bones.

Regardless of what’s to blame, there is a 12-year-old girl in bad health and the doctors can’t look past her diet, which may or may not have anything to do with it all.

Oprah is wrapping up her first week eating only vegan food, and continuing to blog about her experiences. Here’s an interesting excerpt from her Friday entry:

“Tom [Cruise]’s chef prepared ribs and chicken for lunch. I had salad and corn on the cob with no butter and a kale salad, which was also offered. There were also home made chocolate brownies with marshmallow filling made by Tom’s mom, which I also turned down. I feel like I let Tom’s mom down …”

For some reason, I thought that Oprah would not experience the same things that average Jane vegans see everyday. Being Oprah, and having the world know that you are eating only vegan food for at least 21 days apparently doesn’t mean people won’t still offer you anything but.

You cannot tell me that Tom Cruise’s (I’m not on a first-name basis with him like Ms. Winfrey is) chef didn’t know. Furthermore, he served two meats? At one meal? That’s not a buffet, nor a large family dinner, nor a church gathering. Ribs and chicken for lunch?

What is wrong with people?

But it’s not just an odd meal because a vegan eater was present, it’s unhealthy regardless.

The New American Plate, a revised way to fill your plate by the American Institute for Cancer Research, suggests no more than one-fourth of your plate be filled with animal flesh. (The other three-quarters are recommended to be two servings of different vegetables, and one of a starch.)

If you were to put one small rack of ribs and one small chicken breast on a plate, one-half of your plate would easily be overcome with meat. People do not need this much protein, fat, cholesterol, blood, flesh, bones …

The snapshot shown here is of the New American Plate brochure; click on it to see a PDF version of the insides.

Blech! I am more and more disgusted with big business foodstuffs with every label I read. For instance, I could find but one brand of bread this weekend at ACME that didn’t feature high fructose corn syrup. Every whole wheat, multi-grain, or plain loaf had this nasty, falsified sugar in its first few ingredients.

Another place that high fructose corn syrup runs rampant? Sparkling waters. So why not make your own?

Jeffrey Morgenthaler - a wine and spirits, bartending writer - provided a doable step-by-step of “How to Make Your Own Tonic Water.”

As for bread, sprouted loaves were the only one that I found to be sugary chemical free. But don’t be wimp - try making your own bread, too. My friend Kelly has started making it regularly, and she’s got three kids under 6 and co-runs her own law firm. So if she can find the time …

Today, May 23, Ellen Degeneres is having Skinny Bitch co-authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin on her show to talk about the new cookbook Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. I look forward to … catching clips online because I forgot to set my VCR to tape it. Hopefully, Rory dresses a little better than she did while attending the Farm Sanctuary Gala.

Next week, on Wednesday May 28, Kathy Freston, author of Quantum Wellness and the nutritionalist that has Oprah on a 21-day vegan cleanse, will be visiting Ellen’s show.

Hmm … is Ellen the next to go vegan?

“I haven’t eaten meat for about fifteen years,” says Gwyneth Paltrow about her new diet, that turns away from her previous macrobiotic one.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s a vegetarian?

“I eat fish, a little bit of dairy – not much milk – but I love cheese. We’ll make chocolate chip cookies and eat them, but sugar makes me feel pretty bad. I have coffee and wine. I’ve got lots of lovely vices.”

Oh. Nevermind. She’s just one of those annoying people who seem to think that fish don’t count as animals.

It’s not just rare, it’s probably the first time ever that the two media networks that I keep up with - animal issues and fashion - are in agreement.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 is currently up for discussion - commonly referred to as the Farm Bill, or the $300 billion Farm Bill. It was passed in the House yesterday and received more than two-thirds pro votes, which is what they will need to maintain the bill if President Bush were to veto it.

Now, I’m not up on legal or farm speak, but both fashionistas and animal/vegan advocates are showng support for this act that sets to defend farmers and the environment.

For the fashion side: Women’s Wear Daily says that this “could potentially help retailers and apparel brands save millions of dollars.”

For the veggie side: There are food safety and labeling issues addressed, with country of origin becoming a mandatory label. Nutritional programs would get more funding and support. There would be tax deductions for farmers using renewable energy sources. There are positive implications for organic food, rural preservation, and general conservation of resources, too.

To read more, the House Committee on Agriculture has put together a one-page factsheet about the bill as a whole. Plus, there is a page dedicated to the bill where you can read a factsheet on each section, follow the legislative proceedings, and read statements from involved people.

I am not the type of vegan who starts lecturing people about their choices. Although I will gladly discuss my diet with anyone (unless I’m on the potty. Good grief why do people insist on talking to me while I pee? My bladder is shy, okay?), I won’t point at someone’s hamburger and tell them what was done to the cow and what that cow is now going to do to their body.

But, if you point at my food first all bets are off.

Enter my fave comeback to people questioning the health, nutrition, and even the taste of my plate full.

Boy: Ewww broccoli is so gross.

Me: (Silent restraint)

Boy: Do you even have any protein on that plate?

Me: Start talking about my food and I will start talking about yours.

Boy: It’s just that that doesn’t even look good.

Me: You know what doesn’t look good to me? The dead chicken on your plate that had to go through un-Godly lengths of torture just to get tossed into a deep fryer so that you could get fatter.

Boy: … okay.

Point Sally. Bring it.