Technorati Tags: Becoming a Vegetarian

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This is a great real life story.

What happened? Well, it started when I was 13 years old with one whitehead right in the middle of my chin.
I’d previously vowed to wash my face twice a day when I got acne for the first time. What followed was four years of trying every cleanser on the planet. I even tried taking medication one summer but to no avail. Covering my entire face, neck and back, by the time I was 17, were blackheads, whiteheads, and a thick layer of oil, possibly enough to fry eggs in.

As you can probably imagine, my frustration grew worse each year until the bare mention of my skin problems set my head alight. I was operating on a heavy dose of ignorance, trying everything I could to ignore how people were wiping their fingers on their clothes after touching my skin or avoiding my cheek while giving me a hug. The one thing that made the situation bearable was how my family and friends still loved me for who I was and didn’t give me a hard time about my acne; they knew it was considerably worse for me than for everybody else, and I didn’t need them adding to it.

When I was 18, I started taking vitamin B5 supplements, also known as pantothenic acid. Taking ten 500mg pills three times a day resulted in a significant improvement. Within a few months, my face was looking relatively clear, though I still had the occasional blemish and redness. Blackheads were still a problem and my back didn’t see much change at all.

I kept taking the B5 until I was 22. My acne was getting progressively worse. Perhaps my body was building up a resistance to the pantothenic acid. Whatever the case, it became clear that it was no longer working. Whilst it was keeping my acne at bay, if to a lesser degree than at first, it certainly wasn’t a cure. My fears at this point were really bringing me down. I had two words, “adult acne,” ringing in my ears. Whenever I caught a peek at myself in the mirror I thought, “Oh, God, am I going to have to deal with this for the rest of my life?”

The conventional wisdom on acne that I’d heard for the better part of my life boiled down to some relatively coherent stuff concerning hormones and a couple of anecdotes about fatty foods and chocolate. Everyone had their own special tips but they all agreed that it was just something caused by an individual’s body chemistry. In other words, there’s no known cause and no known cure – you just have to live with it.
That’s what I’d believed until my best friend went to a health shop one day to get me some more vitamin B5 tablets. The man who was running the store asked why she needed so much. After surprising him with her answer, the man revealed that he himself had had acne problems throughout most of his life. He said that he took vitamin A & D as well as some zinc to keep it under control. Most importantly, however, he said that his acne was caused by consuming dairy products, and he was certain that I’d see improvement if I cut dairy out of my diet, too (apparently we had similar acne).

Now, bear in mind that if doctors had tested my blood at any time between the ages of 10 to 22, they would have discovered that it was at least 60% milk. I drank at least two pints a day, often more. It was my favourite drink, and I loved drinking it. Having said that, hate is a potent enemy of love, and when my friend came back and told me what the man had said, I was sick enough of having problems with acne that I stopped drinking milk right then and there. Since that day I haven’t willingly consumed any dairy products whatsoever, although some food really tries hard to hide the fact that there’s milk in it.

At first, the improvement was astounding. For the first time in five years, I could stop taking vitamin B5 without my face becoming a sticky solar panel. I was overjoyed, to say the least. The fact that my favourite drink was “illegal” – as it’s now termed by my friends and me – didn’t affect me much at all. In fact, giving it up turned out to be something positive to me.

I learned about what was actually in the milk that I’d consumed so freely for so long. In addition to the hormones that are in it for the sake of the child that it’s intended to feed – not unlike the hormones found in human breast milk (or indeed any mammalian lactation) – there are also man-made hormones injected into the cow in order to keep it pregnant and lactating, not to mention the pustules that grow and multiply, turning it into a foul-smelling greenish spew within a matter of weeks.

There was also the issue of casein, which is the most abundant protein in mammalian milk (up to 80% of the protein in cow’s milk). This animal protein is on the list of ones that can cause cancer. This forms part of the hypothesis that the consumption of animal proteins – primarily those found in red meat and pork – are the actual causes behind most chronic degenerative diseases. Whilst many people dismiss this theory as vegetarian/vegan propaganda, it has a lot of medical and statistical evidence behind it, both from dietary and environmental perspectives.

Unfortunately, it didn’t cure my acne. After a while, my skin stopped improving. Quite suddenly, I became concerned once more that my skin problems would persist for decades to come. Luckily, the substantial improvement that I’d experienced had opened my eyes to the idea that diet was a major cause of acne.

Almost as if by fate, I’d stopped eating bread for a week because of a concern that the raising agent used contained milk. The coming weekend I tried eating home-baked bread that we could know for sure didn’t contain any milk products. I had lots of it, many slices, with two bowls of wheat-based noodles. That week, I’d seen an improvement that we at first contributed to our suspicion that there was milk in the store-bought bread. My skin was less oily than before, but the next morning my face was once again covered in a layer of grease.

At first, my thoughts were limited to “what the hell is this?” and general displeasure. I had even more bread that day, and a couple of hamburgers that night for dinner. The following day, my skin was even worse. My first instinct however was that there was something in the burger buns, namely milk, but then I remembered the massive dose of wheat & gluten that I’d consumed the previous few days.

After a couple of internet searches, it became clear that I wasn’t the only one to suspect wheat as a culprit for oily skin. I revealed this to my friend and she mentioned that the man at the health store had indeed suggested that wheat & gluten would be next on the list of allergens. Just like the dairy, they caused a rash on my skin, like a mild form of eczema, which made it vulnerable to infection. Safe to say that since then, wheat & gluten have a spot on the list of illegal foods.

Then there was a long period without any new discoveries. My face was healing slowly but surely. At one point, I had to stop using a certain oil-free moisturiser because, well, it made my skin oily – the very opposite to what it was designed to do. One of the ingredients was lactic acid. It’s debatable whether it’s actually derived from milk but combined with the noticeable effect it had on my skin and the fact that it was applied topically was enough for me to stop using it.

Instead, I tried a specially made moisturiser for people with sensitive skin. For a while, I thought it worked, but before long, I noticed it had the same effect as the previous one. A couple of months later when my skin was clearer and a lot of the eczema had healed, I tried it again, thinking that maybe my skin didn’t like it because of the eczema. Safe to say, it didn’t work, but it yielded an important clue for later on. Other than that, I was confident that I’d found the dietary causes of my acne and was waiting for my skin to clear up.

I continued to see steady improvement for a few months but after a while, I started to wonder if my face was healing slower than I would expect. I had new blemishes almost every day even though my face looked better overall. It didn’t concern me that much, anyway, because before long I had two weeks when my face was completely free of oil. It was matte, not shiny as it’d been for the better part of a decade. This made me very happy, as you can probably imagine.

The next allergen was harder to pin down. Not much unlike with the wheat & gluten, my face was suddenly oily one morning. Again, I thought, “now, what the hell is this?” and my spirits sank to the floor. However, my first instinct this time was to investigate my diet again. I was quite sure that there was something left in my diet that my skin didn’t like, but probably something that I ate in smaller amounts.

I knew exactly what I’d recently introduced into my diet. It was something I hadn’t had in a very long time – cornflakes. Well, golden nuggets actually, but they’re made from the same stuff – corn. By this point, I was already persuaded, but I couldn’t leave it at that. An internet search discovered that more people had linked corn and corn-derivatives to their acne. I went to my best friend and told her about this. She revealed to me that the yummy new wheat & gluten free pasta I’d had lots of for the last few days is made from corn. I went into the kitchen and checked the ingredients of the chicken nuggets I’d been eating several times a week for months, and what did I see? Maize flour.

You would’ve thought that I’d be quicker to adapt to this new information given my experience with discovering major food groups that I’m unable to eat. However, I wasn’t very happy. I took a couple of minutes to centre myself, and whilst I was comforting myself using the notion that I could still have rice (which remains my saving grace through this whole ordeal), something else popped into my mind.

That specially made moisturiser I told you about, the one that didn’t work? It proudly presented a very natural and organic ingredient, used to control shine throughout the day – corn starch. In a way, I felt as if the entire food and cosmetics industry was pissing in my face. Over the course of 6 months, I’d discovered that through a combination of can’t and shouldn’t, I could no longer eat red meat, pork, dairy, wheat & gluten and corn – almost every modern food group on the planet. Odds are, if people didn’t eat it 2,000 years ago, I can’t have it, unless I want my face covered in blemishes.

In some ways, I’m still glad for all this. As I said, hate is a good ally if you’re trying to fight love. I’ve always loved eating chicken nuggets at McDonald’s, enough so that I could barely keep myself from eating them more than twice a month. Because I really hate having acne, I now have a powerful card to use against cravings for foods that I shouldn’t be eating anyway. There really is no contest – there is not a single thing in the world of which eating I would value higher than having clear skin. Pizza, cheeseburgers, tacos – they all lose. I still want to eat them but I have so much reason not to that I have no difficulty giving them the proverbial middle finger. Even simple stuff like bread and ready-made meals, stuff that we all know we shouldn’t be eating, allergies or no allergies, gets the shaft. My food sensitivities saved me from a bad diet. That shame we all feel for indulging in bad eating habits? It’s gone, along with the bad food.

It’s been a month since I stopped eating corn. I’ve seen a slow but steady improvement and the only new blemishes I’ve gotten have appeared after shaving, something I do as seldom as possible. My face is still red because of the many fading scars left behind by a long history of acne problems, but they are fading every day, along with the frustration I’ve felt for so many years.

I’m told I shouldn’t expect a complete recovery until 6 – 12 months have passed. The eczema caused by the food insensitivities takes several months to heal and then the acne blemishes themselves have to take their own time. But that’s ok. Every day I notice one more faded scar, one more smooth patch of skin.

10 years of acne has given me some scars. Many of them are lessons on how to treat yourself. Some are superficial that they say give me character. The most important one is the new knowledge that diet rules the body chemistry, and that it is the first place to start whenever something isn’t right.

Best wishes on your journey,

The Accidental Vegetarian

The first time I became vegetarian was in 2007. I was watching an interview on The Today Show with Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, authors of Skinny Bitch. I didn’t really think anything of it at the time; just another interview on my favorite morning show. A few weeks later, I was in a book store and there it was on display, front and center. I bought a copy. Because I saw the interview, I knew the book was really about living a plant-based life; not getting skinny.

I finished the book in two days. By the last page, I had decided to stop eating meat. It was that quick. No transition. There was only one problem. I never researched what to eat in place of meat. I committed the classic rookie vegetarian mistake – I replaced meat protein with more carbs. Bad move. 10 months later, I reluctantly returned to eating meat.

Fast forward to October 2010. I was at a weekend yoga retreat at stone circles at The Stone House in Mebane, NC. All of the meals during the weekend were vegetarian. The best vegetarian meals I have ever had. Ever. I returned home from the retreat and needed to go grocery shopping. I thought to myself “I haven’t had any meat for the past 3 days. Why start now? Maybe I should give this vegetarian thing another try.” I was ready. My only concern was the food I had in the refrigerator. To my surprise, I did not have one piece of meat (fresh, frozen or canned) in the house. And so the journey began. I celebrated my 1-year vege-versary last month.

What was my main motivation for going veg?

For me, becoming vegetarian (both times) was more about my feelings on the unnecessary killing of animals for my benefit. Those who know me might be surprised by this. It is well known in my circle of family and friends that I am not an “animal-person”. The health benefits are an added bonus.

Being vegetarian, do I miss meat?

Not really. Every now and then, I will smell a delicious burger or BBQ ribs and want a bite. Then the moment passes and I move on. During the year, I have learned how to be a better vegetarian. I now replace meat protein with… non-meat protein. As long as I’ve eaten a sufficient amount of protein, I don’t crave meat.

How did my family react to my vegetarianism?

They’ve been quite supportive of my decision; as they have been with all of my life decisions. I also think seeing that I didn’t completely waste away has helped.

Natasha Crawford
Health Coach
Nia Wellness Solutions

Website/Blog: NiaWellness.net
Twitter: @natashacrawford
Facebook: Nia Wellness Solutions

Technorati Tags: Becoming a Vegetarian, Real Life Experiences

It is always fun to enter competitions, even more so when they are on topics that you can relate to and that come along with meaningful prizes. My Dish is holding a competition at the moment based around nostalgic food. They ask you to submit the name of your favourite nostalgic dish, and in return you are entered into a prize draw for £100 of M&S vouchers (only open to UK residents – sorry). You can enter here, the closing date is 20 November so you need to hurry.

My moto of the moment is nothing ventured nothing gained i.e. if you don’t enter then you won’t win so I submitted my favourite 1970’s vegetarian nut roast dish! It is a classic nut roast but not at all heavy because it is made with pine nuts. Tastes great served with roasted vegetables and vegetable gravy or my easy to make tomato sauce.

Nut roast is sadly neglected these days, especially in my household, but I may just start a “bring it back” campaign. My mum used to make this version of nut roast for me – not too sure how kind it would be on the pocket these days as the price of pine nuts has shot through the roof – all to do with sustainability issues and techniques that large agriculture has been using to farm the produce.

I adore pine nuts; they are delicious with a creamy texture and a gentle sweetness to their flavour. They are one of my favourite seeds. They are distinctive, not overbearing, and most importantly light. Nut roasts can be very heavy but this version is not. I use European pine nuts although US pine nuts are just as good. I have never tried using the Asian versions in this recipe and, in fact, with the concerns surrounding Asian pine nuts, I don’t cook with them at all. Check the packaging for the country of origin. The Chinese species of pine nuts are the ones that seem to cause problems.

Pine Nut – Nut Roast Recipe (US quantities as usual)

Ingredients

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

Garlic to taste, minced – usually 1-2 cloves or you will overpower the pine nuts

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

1 cup carrot, grated

1 ¼ cups vegetable stock

3 cups breadcrumbs

1 ¼ cups of pine nuts

2 tbsp. parsley

1 lemon, juiced

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Method:

Gently fry/sweat the carrot, onion, celery and garlic in a pan with the oil.

Add the stock to the mixture and simmer for around 10 minutes. To this, add the pine nuts, parsley, lemon juice, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs – as you stir it in the mixture will firm up.

Turn out the mixture into a greased 2lb Loaf tin and bake in the oven at 375F, 190C for 40 minutes. You’ll need to check on it occasionally to make sure the tops doesn’t over cook i.e. you will need to baste it. Rest for 10 minutes slice and serve.

Don’t forget to enter the competition here for a chance of winning the vouchers, good luck!

I’ve bumped into tons of people over the last few days that have succumbed to that first batch of Autumn/Winter viruses. Offices, stores and public spaces seem to breed them and pass them around; it doesn’t matter how healthy you are – occasionally you get sick. Personally, my sinuses are always clogged up when the weather turns colder, and the central heating is first switched on. The best thing that you can do is to take it a little bit easy and keep your fluid consumption up -no not alcohol! Fruit juices, water, smoothies (no milk that just makes more mucus, as far as I can tell) and soup. The idea is to make sure that you are replacing any liquids that you are losing so that you remain hydrated but that you also take in a burst of nutrients that will power you through it.

So are you feeling under the weather or just need some cheering up as the winter heads our way? Here, are some good veggie soups that really pack a punch and will help you on your way to feeling much better!

Will Wheaton’s Sinusitis Can Suck it Vegetable Soup

I have actually just made this soup; I can smell it from here and it smells delicious. I’m going to serve it with some lovely sesame seed encrusted bread from the Turkish store on the corner. My eldest daughter and her boyfriend both have stinking colds, hope this will perk them up! Ed. That went down really well they thought it was gorgeous.

Leek and Potato Soup with a Twist

Now this one surprised me, I am very fond of traditional leek and potato soup, so I was not entirely sure that the ginger would add much value to the whole dish. However, being the time of year where a little fortification is required, I thought I would give it a go. Do not try this with regular potatoes! Sweet potatoes are obviously the magic ingredient that makes this flavour blend work.

A Wholesome Traditional Brown Bean Soup with Tofu

Comfort food is often the answer when you are under the weather and this particular soup reminds me of growing up in the 1970’s. I used thin strips of smoked tofu – not the chunks that you see in the picture alongside this recipe. Warming, comforting, wholesome, packed full of nutrients and delicious with some bread with olive or sunflower spread.

Getting Those Memories Flowing with a Holiday Reminder – Corn Chowder

Taking yourself back in time and recalling memories of great holidays can really pick up when we are feeling blue or ill. Visual reminders like looking through photographs can be great, but I find that smell and taste are much better senses for evoking memories. Corn Chowder (my eldest daughter would opt for clam) evokes some of my best holiday memories. The best Corn Chowders I have ever had were from San Francisco, California and Tokyo, Japan. I love this recipe, which can be adapted to suit the entire family – veggies and clam-o-holics alike!

The above soups are some of my favourite, nourishing, comfort foods for when the cooler weather starts to set in, and you feel that you need something to fortify your spirits. What are the soups that you turn to for this or do you eat something else? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

When you first set your mind on becoming a vegetarian the task of transitioning over can be a little daunting. With a little planning and support you will be off and running in no time. Generally we subconsciously know what our diet should consist of because it has been trained for years by our parents, schools and the media. When you convert to vegetarianism you just have to retrain your brain. So to start off you will need to have a plan and organise your meals to make sure that you are getting all of the nutrients that you need. These topics are covered here and here.

There are of course many different kinds of vegetarianism; I am not vegan because I occasionally consume dairy products but the recipes below are based around someone that is vegan – you can swap in dairy products and maybe even have an egg on your toast for breakfast depending on the type of vegetarianism you are aiming for.

Often when people decide on becoming vegetarian they think that this means that they no longer have to watch their diet. This is entirely wrong being vegetarian can be highly calorific and unhealthy if you eat the wrong foods. Don’t bulk up on carbs, though they should be the main building blocks of your meals. It is also very easy to go overboard on dressings as well if you add too much fat in the form of oil. Another thing to watch for is relying too heavily on ready made meals. As with any food regime variety and moderation are the key.

On another note before we jump into the recipes your protein intake must come from a variety of sources to ensure that you are obtaining the right nutrients so each week you need to be using pulses, nuts, seeds, soya (we will debate that further), Quorn and wheat type protein.

And so without further ado, here is a vegan diet plan that I have put together for one day of meals that will help you get the idea… just choose one item from each section.

Breakfast

Vegetarian Summer Breakfast
Vegetarian Winter Breakfast

Lunch

Corn Chowder
Vegetarian Couscous Salad

Dinner

Roasted Vegetable Couscous
Green Salad with Tofu Cakes

Snacks

Snacking Tactics

Why not share how this worked for you or how your daily routine differs, so that others in the community can try those out as well…

Technorati Tags: dairy free, meat free, Vegan, Vegetarian Diet Plan

This one is pretty easy as well, it will take you no more than 2 minutes to pull together and will certainly keep you going until lunch with, maybe, a handful of nuts mid morning.

A glass of fruit juice

Some prunes or fruit salad with plain vegetarian yoghurt, you can of course substitute in regular yoghurt if you eat dairy.

1 slice of wholemeal toast with a teaspoon of jam or marmalade.

Technorati Tags: dairy free, meat free

On a cold winter’s morning there is nothing that I like better than a steaming hot bowl of oatmeal or Scottish porridge oats. My mum and grandma are probably turning in their graves as they always cooked theirs with salt but I prefer mine with a sweeter taste. You can change this up in lots of ways with different fruits, preserves or spices like cinnamon or nutmeg.

On the Menu

A glass of Orange Juice

A bowl of Porridge/Oatmeal

Raisins or a sliced banana

To make the porridge:

1 measure oats

1 measure water

1 measure rice milk (you could use almond, oat or soya)

It’s then as simple as putting it in a jug or bowl and heating it up in the microwave. I usually cook it for 90 seconds then open the door to let the mixture calm down and then heat up for another 60 seconds. If you like you can cook in a pan on the hob/range for 3 to 4 minutes. I then let it stand for a minute before adding banana, raisins, honey or a little brown sugar and a dash of oat milk.

The porridge may or may not be wheat and gluten free… you have to be careful. Oats contain a type of gluten but it is not the same as wheat gluten but you may still be sensitive to it.

Technorati Tags: dairy free, meat free, Vegan

The greatest soup in the world corn chowder! I seriously love this soup. I’ve eaten it home made for years having first tried it in Tokyo and then again many years later in San Francisco. Words cannot describe quite how comforting I find this particular soup. Best of all eating it at lunchtime does not make you at all sluggish.

I don’t attempt to make it like the San Franciscans because I probably wouldn’t do it justice and I am busy on the go so, during the week a classic corn chowder would take me longer than I have available (this serves 4 or makes 4 meals):

Ingredients

1 small can of vegetarian approved celery soup (condensed if possible)
300 ml rice milk
200g of sweetcorn (corn) tinned or frozen
Optional 100g of vegetarian cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Method

This is just so easy to make put everything, other than the cheese, in a pan and heat it up. Once it starts to bubble add the cheese if you want it (it does taste good). Keep stirring as the cheese melts and then add some more liquid if you want it thinner. Season to taste. You can either eat it as it is or blitz it to make it thick and smoothe.

I would normally have a green leaf salad with a teaspoon of oil and lemon juice as dressing and some croutons or a small wholegrain roll.

Technorati Tags: dairy free, meat free, Vegan, wheat free