Meatless

My aunt once called me meatless...she had been a vegetarian for years and declared that my dietary choice simply made me meatless and not a vegetarian. I'm pretty sure I was indignant about her statement and got defensive, but have since conceded that ah, she was probably right!

I've been "vegetarian" most of my life. When my mother became vegetarian, I decided around age 5 that I too, wanted this lifestyle. I remember inquiring about a meal, and stopped eating it once I learned it wasn't vegetarian. She informed the rest of the household (my grandmother); that evening she came home to find me chewing on fried pork courtesy of my grandmother. Yeah that message wasn't received! 

Many studies/reports like this one and this one and for good measure this one  assert that vegetarians live longer, have better health outcomes, and are possibly happier. A recent study from Austria rocked this a bit, suggesting that the opposite was true of the Austrian vegetarians studied: those vegetarians are in fact "less healthy" than their meat enjoying counterparts. The vegetarians had elevated risks of cancer, allergies and mental problems (depression, anxiety, etc) and were more likely to avoid preventative check ups and vaccines. From a public health standpoint, this is a very confusing message and there are so many confounding factors that could contribute to these findings. From a real life vegetarian experience, this study probably rings true.

There's a myth that vegetarians are automatically healthier and will probably outlive meat-eaters. This has the potential to be true, however being a vegetarian in a meat-filled world means compromise and lots of carbohydrates.

As a child, I did not like any cooked vegetables...at all. I preferred my veggies raw or nonexistent.
When I signed onto becoming a vegetarian, this didn't change. But it was fine growing up in the kitchen of a vegetarian caterer - my mom incorporated veggies as I would tolerate them. Outside of her kitchen however, things were slightly different. My best friend in 2nd grade shared a meal of corned beef and rice every lunch period, for the whole year. She knew I was vegetarian; I didn't know I was eating corned beef. For her birthday, she brought cake which she assured me was vegetarian...yeah ok. We laugh about it today. I didn't spend much time in other people's homes because what would they feed me? And the few times I did, I had to pack an extra bag of food...really, what child wants to do that.  In a land of meat and more meat, I was firmly the odd one out.

I thought, as most of us assumed, that the U.S would provide me with more vegetarian options. I soon learned what those options were. My lunch at school consisted of french fries, cheese pizza and soda. I don't remember very many other choices, but I was also very drawn to foods that I had only experienced in books! When I started packing lunch, it was granola bars, bread, crackers, chips and maybe a fruit. Oh bread, a vegetarian's staple! Then off to college, the land of unlimited trips to the cereal bar, ice cream bar, pizza bar, taco bar, all the french fries you can eat, potato with anything you want on it, and yeah the salad bar, but who goes there? In the dorms I became champion of cooking pasta in the microwave. When I would go out with friends, it was always a challenge and we often ended up at the one Chinese restaurant that had tofu which I often ate with....very white rice.

The reality of being a vegetarian is that we are often faced with choices that might lack meat, but do not contain vegetables. And though health-conscious, we often have such limited choices that we end up carbohydrated out! We are often told to just "eat around the meat", or "have a salad". I remember going out for breakfast, and the only option I had was an "vegetarian" omelet without the eggs...which left me with....onions and tomatoes!

When done properly, being a vegetarian ushers you into a world of healthy, tasty choices that doesn't weigh you down and keeps your organs functioning at their best, which I will discuss in the next post.  However, in a world filled with meat and more meat, sticking to a strict vegetarian diet requires some creativity and eating at home before heading out with friends! 

So have you tried being a vegetarian? Was it challenging? Did you change much in your diet other than dropping the meat? I would love to hear from you.

Veggie on!
Half-stepping diva

What you eat

I treated myself to some fruit slices last week; they were quite delicious! Then I made the mistake of reading the ingredients: corn syrup, sugar, modified food starch (corn), natural and artificial flavors, artificial colors (red 40, yellow 6, yellow 5, red 3, blue 1). Let’s break down this list…it has corn syrup which is sugar, more sugar, a corn derivative, flavors and colors….so where exactly is the fruit?

I can't talk about putting the right things into our bodies without addressing what those things are.

I bought ice cream a few weeks ago - a specific
brand that promises ingredients I can read, you know, milk, sugar, cream, etc.  Upon closer examination, I realized that I had bought a “frozen dairy dessert”. So wait, I bought a dessert that has milk and is kept in a freezer, but it's not ice cream? So what exactly is in it? As the list reads, I had bought a concoction of milk, sugar, more sugar, more milk, cheese by-product, fatty acids, a thickener, another thickener, yet another thickener, natural flavor (what does that mean?), vitamin A, a thickener, and fudge twirl sauce which contains milk, sugar, sugar, cocoa, cheese by-product, cream, a thickener and salt. Not quite what I had in mind when I wanted ice cream! 

www.kraftrecipes.com

There have been several other foods that I've learned have a bit more than I expected. For example, the cheese slices I had come to love after moving to the U.S were actually a "pasteurized prepared cheese product"....so wait, is it cheese or not?

Ahh bread, a staple in most of our homes has quite some ingredients including hydrogenated soybean oil, sodium stearoyl, lactylate, datem, defatted soy flour, extract of malted barley, dextrose, calcium propionate. Goodness, what happened to flour, water, salt and yeast?!   

And don't get me started on peanuts...why does my dry roasted peanuts have sugar, gelatin, torula yeast, cornstarch, dried corn syrup, and maltodextrin?

Our food is slowly morphing into science experiments and projects. And unfortunately this trend is expanding worldwide. I was quite dismayed to see that the fast food, pre-packaged food lifestyle has seeped into the Ghanaian life and is slowly taking over.

We have created a world in which every moment of our day has been filled with something to do. This often means that good food is the last thing on our minds. But we cannot survive and thrive without making the investment of healthy living.

So this week, I challenge you to read more food labels; see what you're actually putting into your body. Show your body love, and make an effort to eat more whole foods...your investment will certainly pay off!  

Happy eating real food!
Half-stepping diva

 

Garbage in...

Yesterday, I had a rousing conversation with someone who took my Zumba Fitness class for the first

time. She wanted to know if the hour of movement she'd just completed could have possibly burned any of the cheeseburger, fries, onion rings and Coca-Cola she'd consumed during the day. I, of course could not provide her a true answer since I didn't know: how much she'd moved, the intensity of her movements, her weight, how much food she'd consumed, etc. But I had to let her know that she could not outrun a bad diet!

I get it...I have often convinced myself that I could eat something I really wanted since I was planning on working out later. It was usually something chock full of sugar which means that, I would have a "sugar crash" shortly afterwards, and unless I had a scheduled class would not want to do any kind of activity. Or when I did make it to the gym would put in only half the effort.

March is National Nutrition month (I'm not sure who comes up with these and why we buy into them, but hey, I read it somewhere) so I figured it would be a good time to talk about food, food, food.

We all love food...why not. I personally prefer my food dipped in chocolate and fried. Or doughy, cheesy and gooey...and dipped in chocolate and fried. Even though I'm vegetarian, I don't particularly care for the taste of vegetables (bean sprouts ewww...ok truthfully I've never tasted it, but it just looks
weird!), and it just takes so much effort!


But clearly my dietary choices have not particularly served me well and I've become more conscious of what I put into my body. GIGO works in the computer world as it does in our bodies: Garbage in, garbage out.

Or if you prefer, what you sow is what you reap.

Which  means that we can't eat foods high in simple sugars (chocolate, sodas/soft drinks, pastries, juice, candy, white bread, white rice, white pasta, white flour, etc) and unhealthy fats (deep fried anything)  and expect a beautiful heart forever. Or a pancreas that will continuously pump out insulin in an effective manner, or young looking beautiful skin. At some point, the garbage will come out, and health will be affected.

We are often surprised when athletes and people that are constantly in motion, are diagnosed with serious medical problems, but I've learned that oftentimes athletes are just as guilty as the rest of us in indulging in quick, unhealthy meals that do not support optimal body functions.

So I challenge you today to be mindful of what you eat....add a vegetable or two to each meal (yes even your breakfast). Increase your fiber intake (all fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes etc), and drink more water. Decrease your sugar, fat and sodium intake; avoid processed foods which are generally higher at least in sugar and sodium. And most importantly, savor each meal.

Happy healthy eating!
Half-stepping diva

P.S. Happy 58th Independence day, Ghana!