For nearly 3 year years I have been able to maintain a vegetarian diet that includes neither eggs nor fish nor meat. It has been surprisingly easy. I think that this is mostly because I have always cooked flavorful meals and meat was never the center of my cooking. Once in a while I miss a few things but there are non-meat substitutes that come close to that flavor. (Buffalo wings for one) . I even found veggie dogs at Whole Foods that I swear are the real thing. That sauerkraut on a bun with mustard and a dog (with a snap) is something I never thought I would miss.
Being a vegetarian does not automatically make me a healthy eater. There are many non meat ways of eating unhealthy and on the other side you can eat a healthy diet with meat and fish in it. It is my belief, however, that a well managed vegetarian diet is much better for you than a meat/fish eating one. Unless you are strict with what types of fish and meat you eat, a non-vegetarian diet will entail eating large amounts of animal fats, and this is not a good fat to consume.
The struggle with many vegetarians is to ensure that they consume enough protein, calcium, iron, zinc and B12. Understanding the sources of these are important because they generally would come from meat. I weigh 158 pounds, and according to my sources I need about 50-60 grams of protein a day. In order to achieve this, the following could be in my diet each day in order to satisfy my protein needs.
Rice and or Pasta (both white and whole wheat/brown)
Beans (Black, White and Red) - make many home made veggie burgers.
Tofu
Soy based cereals
Peanut Butter (in small quantities )
Cheese (in small quantities)
Nuts (mostly almonds)
Lentils (mostly in home made Dals)
Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
Chick or Garbanzo beans
Soy Milk
Whole Wheat bread
Oatmeal (Multi-Grain)
Avocado
What I need to be careful is not to consume too much cheese as it does contain a large amount of animal based fats. I would love to remove all dairy from my diet, but that has not been easy to achieve. I do love cheeses in small quantities and non-fat Greek yogurt is good in meals and as supplement for breakfast.
Today, for instance, my today my diet consists of
Breakfast
1/2 cup oat meal
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup mixed berries
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
Calcium enriched Orange Juice
Lunch
Mixed spinach based salad with broccoli, peas, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers. Vinegar based dressing.
2 cups homemade veggie black bean chili
Dinner
1/4 pound (dried) rigatoni (will be mixed with tofu, tomatoes and Asparagus garlic and oil)
4 ounces tofu
2 tbs Olive Oil (garlic fried in it)
1 tablespoon Romano Cheese
Another (but larger) mixed salad broccoli, peas, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers. Vinegar based dressing.
While it is not easy to correctly calculate the exact amount of protein intake,
Soy Milk 8
Oats 4
Greek Yogurt 4
Flax Seeds 1
Chili 10
Salad 1 - 2
Rigatoni - 7
Tofu - 10
Salad 2 - 4
Cheese 1
Spinach 6
Total - 57 grams not including additional protein (small amounts from carrots, tomatoes, asparagus etc) from things I did not count.
So we see I have a low fat, protein and vegetable rich diet without meat. Only a few items are prepared before I used them (Soy, Yogurt, Tofu and Pasta) but in this world and with my schedule, I cannot see making my own tofu and making Yogurt and Pasta is time consuming. What is also important to note is that I have replaced lettuce with raw spinach and for two meals have a very large raw vegetable salad. 1 cup of raw spinach has 6 grams of protein. I cup of most lettuce have zero grams of protein. I have also included some olive oil for fats in my meals (it is the main source of all my fat) and use a bit on my salads as well.
