Recipe - Switching To Lowfat Vegetarian Eating

E *****

THINGS WE DID THAT MADE SWITCHING TO VEGETARIANISM EASIER.

1. Get a good Vegetarian cookbook. One with lots of recipes, but also
other information on the elements and rationale for a vegetarian diet, that
can be used as a reference book on your new cooking style.

Our favorites are Dean Ornish's "Program for reversing Heart Disease", and
The New Laurel's Kitchen" by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flanders, and Brian
Ruppenthal.

2. Get a "Cooking program" for your PC. We got MasterCook II for Windows,
but there are a number of them out there. A popular program for DOS
machines is MealMaster. It is shareware, and is very widely used. These
programs give you a convenient place to record new recipes that work for
you, and to add your own lowfat adaptations to old favorites.

3. Do weekly meal planning. Since the cooking is more involved than we
were doing previously, and the ingredients are more varied, this is
required to make the week go smoothly.

We try to involve the whole family. On Friday nights we look at cookbooks,
recipes, and MasterCook II to try to plan out a week of meals. Once that is
done, on Saturday morning, we do the food shopping. Then the rest of the
week is simply executing the plan.

4. Prepare meals together. We have found that our new cooking style is a
bit more work than it was before. Working together on chopping vegetables,
measureing rice, etc. spreads the work, gives us a bit more time together
each day, and involves everyone with the meal, which somehow seems to
enhance the dining experience.

5. Get some regular input of new information on vegetarianism and/or low
fat eating. We subscribed to the Internet newsgroup alt.food.fatfree on
our PC. You could also subscribe to a vegetarian magizine. Keeps new
ideas coming in.

EATING AT RESTAURANTS

This has been the most difficult part of becomming a VLF Vegetarian, and I
doubt it will ever get easy. Except for the occasional "enlightened"
restaurant (like those in some Hyatt Hotels), most do not offer much for
those who insist on eating a Very Low Fat Vegetarian diet. At many
restaurants, finding a suitable meal can be like a survival excercise,
requiring "foraging" through the menu. You may not be able to find an
interesting meal, and may not be able to stick to "fatfree" items, but can
usually fill yourself without seriously compromising your diet.

1) Assemble a meal from appetizers and side dishes. The following are
usually available at most "meat palaces"

Salad Bar (and fatfree dressing if you are lucky) Baked Potato (fatfree
salad dressing tastes great on these, too). Vegetable of the day (yes, its
usually overcooked, but at least in water). Fruit Plate (usually WONDERFUL
after an otherwise boring meal). Bread (not all bread is fatfree, but most
normal bread is lowfat).

2) Check out Ethnic Restaurants. Most cultures have lower fat diets than
the typical American diet. Pasta with Marinara sauce is usually pretty
safe. One of the best lowfat menu's I ever saw was at an Ethiopian
Restaurant.

3) Ask for modifications in the menu. (This is only feasable at
restaurants that don't massproduce their meals). Many restaurants have
lowfat menus, and all you have to do to the dish to make it VeryLowFat is
have them hold the meat. Ask for stir fry in broth or wine (or at least in
half the oil). I hear if you can call ahead a couple of days, restaurants
will often invent VLF dishes (I wouldnt know, as we haven't tried that).

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

1) Make LOTS of food. Most recipes we have found make 4, 6, or 8 servings.
But there are only two or three of us at each meal. We make it all anyway.
These recipes are typically so low calorie that you can eat several
helpings without worry (Although you should watch out for fat or
colesterol intake getting too high for multiple helpings of recipes using
tofu, or lowfat dairy products). And leftovers make good lowfat lunches.

2) Have lots of Fresh Fruit around. Its a great fatfree snack, and
satisfying (if you will just wait a little while after eating it, for your
blood sugar to adjust).

3) Don't overuse FatFree Junk Food (like FatFree Cakes, FatFree Pretzels,
or FatFree chips, FatFree Ice Cream, and (worse) FatFree Margarine). Just
like regular junk food, they contribute no real nutrition. AND they are
significantly less satisfying then their fatfull counterparts. Many get
their "FAT FREE" rating by keeping their fat content just below the legal
limit for a smallish portion, so multiple portions CAN contribute
significant fat.

Just keep these for a treat now and then, and eat along with other foods
that DO supply nutrition.

From: Emory!rahul.Net!watson@sunshine.Edate: Fri, 25 Mar 1994 07:48:43

File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/mmdja006.zip