On Oct 6, 2008 11:51 am, BogusRed said:
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 You should probably talk to your doctor before starting any special diets or taking any of our advice.

But I agree with part of what HurricaneIslandheart said. It's possible that you don't like vegetables because of the way you've had them prepared. I hate cooked spinach but love it raw in salad. Salad is one of those really easy and healthy things that you can make. Just chop up some lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, add some spinach and dressing and you are good to go.

But its not entirely true that raw vegetables are the healthiest. Some neutriants are lost in cooking and also some health benefits are gained from cooking. So its best to diversify (eat some raw and eat some cooked). It depends on how its cooked also. Steaming vegetables is one of the healthiest ways to cook them and you can do this very easily by placing the vegetables in a microwave safe glass dish, place a few tablespoons of water in the dish, and cover it (the cover probably needs to be glass as well) and then cook in the microwave on HIGH from 4-6 minutes (depending on if fresh or frozen veggies and the power of your microwave).

Using the right vegetables also is important. Don't get canned vegetables. The color is usually not good and it has a lot of additives to preserve them longer. Plus the frozen vegetables taste much better. Instead buy fresh or frozen. Both of these work well with the microwave steaming technique. Just add a little salt and pepper and they are good to go.

I also second what Hurricane says about the oils. I can't eat anything that is fried in Rice Bran Oil. For some odd reason my body reacts poorly to it. They use it at my work because its a healthy cooking oil. Ugh it makes me really sick.

Anyway good luck with everything!

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I actualy know a guy, (My brother) who was a Base medic in Iraq or somethign liek that but im still proud of him glad he came back but still wishing the army thought him soem maners! I thknk asking a doctor is best but you ight wnt to go into detale on what is going on it could be like my dad the preservatives.

I know this is an old thread, and that everyone here has already given really good advice, but I have an intense interest in diet and nutrition so I couldn't help chiming in. If you are concerned about your overall health as influenced by your diet, you should of course consult with your doctor, or, better yet, a nutritionist (stress, medications, and other health issues usually are the culprits when it comes to the sudden inability to eat certain things!) -- but adopting a vegetarian diet is, for many, easier than it sounds. I've been one for six years -- I started out much the same way as you, by giving up meat in bits and pieces to see if I would become healthier -- and I can attest that after the first month or two, you'll find your taste preferences have greatly altered to suit your new diet (I also lost 12 pounds in the first three months, but that's another story!). Roast beef was always a favorite of mine, whereas I wouldn't go near anything green, but nowadays I find beef sickening and broccoli to die for! That's just our biology looking out for us, I suppose. :)

I'd recommend Recipezaar.com for recipes - they have a cool sifter tool that'll let you filter out all the recipes that aren't vegetarian, low-fat, or anything else you're looking for, and I've found the quality of their veggie recipes to be far greater than most of the other websites I've been to. Indian food, if it suits you, is always a really tasty way to get some veggies in (palak paneer, aloo gobi, or my favorite - a broccoli dal curry, all served over rice - yum!); certain fish are a great way to get in lots of protein and healthy oils; nuts and beans are other excellent sources of protein, as is dairy (Protein tends to be the biggest concern for vegetarians-to-be, but its less an ordeal than everyone thinks. Most people get far too much anyway! Just make sure you vary your sources up throughout the day - don't get all your protein from milk, for example... try whole-grain breads spread with peanut butter, snacks with nuts, and a bean-laden dinner or the like.). Olive oil is always great to cook with; it provides healthy fats with more benefits than vegetable oil, and works the same way.

My favorite way to get all my fruits in is to make smoothies. I'll usually make a big one after dinner for a soothing "dessert" - one banana, a cup and a half of frozen strawberries, a cup of milk or fruit juice (orange, apple, you name it), and 6 oz of any matching flavored yogurt, with more or less added to taste and preference (I like my smoothies thick like ice cream, so tend to add more fruit and less juice) - will get you a pretty good amount of your daily fruits as well as a serving or two of dairy. Add honey if your sweet tooth needs further satisfaction, or - better yet! - a bit of chocolate syrup for a chocolate-strawberry smoothie... Yum! The recipe is so versatile too that smoothies almost never get boring... the possibilities are endless!

I know I just rambled everyone's ears off, so I'll stop there. ;) Best of luck with everything, I know its been a while since the topic was posted so... maybe all of this is moot. I'll take my chances. :D

if you like the taste of meat, Boca burgers are the closest burger substitute in terms of taste. and I love them!

Hoping this is still kind of on topic, but I just spent the month of October taking a 30-day vegan challenge as a promotional tie in for a new book at our store.  While it was hard for me to eat enough food (a problem I have no matter what my diet), I found one very important result, and that was an improvement in my mood.  Going back on the omnivore's diet I noticed stress much more frequently.  I noticed it because it kept producing an aggressive response.  On the vegan diet, that didn't happen.  Either my stress response was so subtle I didn't notice it or I didn't have as much stress to begin with.

The reason I went on the vegan challenge was to take a month and think about my body and my diet.  It wasn't health so much as political -- the idea that 7 billion people are going to be able to eat Egg McMuffins, Big Macs, and Chicken Strips three times a day is ridiculous.  Until those freaks at MIT come up with meat protein you can grow in a vat, we are stuck with the system we have.  The more demand there is for meat, the more concentrated and monocultural the production of it will become, and the more it will require antibiotics, hormones, supplements, and, eventually, lobotomies or piggy Prozac.  The more concentrated the production, the more stressed the animals are.  It's not unreasonable to think that when you eat meat, you are eating the animal's history, whether it's pastoral or industrial.

Now I'm just trying to get the balance right.  My body loves burning the heavy fuel, but I have to watch the emissions.

My current diet is a weird version of vegetarian ( I'm not allowed uncooked fruit / veges O.o ) and I find that I'm alot healthier, but I can't tell how many of my positives truely are positives cause I'm doing this due to an auto immune disease I have, so I have negatives that I can't tell are due to health or diet. I dont' apprear to be difficient, and I only get low energy if I eat the wrong foods. I can see it's working. I'm not vegan though cause I'm allowed egg.