A Star Is Born: Vegetarian Meets Low Carb

I grew up in a vegetarian family. As a child, I had more grains,
vegetables, and soy products than most people will eat in a
lifetime. When I was about 16 years old, I had had enough–I
wanted to eat meat! At first, it was strange cooking with real
meat. After all, I had never touched meat before, so I was a
little repulsed by it at the beginning. But over time, I learned
how to cook meat and found that I really loved cooking. But, I
never really felt quite right about eating meat. Since my
formative years were spent living a healthy vegetarian
lifestyle, the new meat-eating me felt sluggish and unhealthy.
Sluggish or not, I continued to eat meat into my adult years. I
knew I needed to make a change in my diet, but I wasn’t sure
exactly how to go about it. How could I have ever guessed that
my daughter would be that catalyst for a change that I’d needed
since I was a teen myself?

One of the unique joys of motherhood has been nurturing a mutual
relationship with my children: I inspire them, and they inspire
me. As they grow into their own personalities and pursuits, I am
constantly amazed–and sometimes caught entirely off guard–by
their independence and self-declarations. For example, a short
while ago, my eldest daughter stood up at the dinner table,
after stirring her food around on her plate for a while, and
announced that she wanted to be a vegetarian. I was surprised at
her announcement. I was not surprised at all, however,
when–without any arguments–the rest of the kids and I decided
that we would all “go vegetarian” together as a family. I’d been
considering it for quite some time, but wanted the kids to
decide for themselves.

The impact of that decision was bigger and better than I could
have ever imagined. I quickly realized that, not only was I
reducing injury to the health of our planetary body and our
animal friends, I was also starting to see an amazing difference
in my own body. Within weeks, my digestion improved; I had more
energy; and, the insomnia I had suffered from for so many years
was suddenly gone! But, with all this positive affirmation, I
was quite surprised to find that I wasn’t experiencing the kind
of weight loss I had anticipated when I returned to my
vegetarian ways. Frankly, I was disappointed because–health
aside–I wanted to lose weight.

I began my search for the perfect, veggie-friendly weight loss
solution. As have so many others, I read extensively on the most
popular low carb diets on the marketplace today, including the
Atkins Nutritional Approachâ„¢, the South Beach Diet, The Zone,
and other low-carb diet plans. Although I could readily see the
benefits of living the low carb lifestyle, I found no low carb
diet plans available in the marketplace that would be acceptable
to vegetarians. Meat is at the center of each and every low carb
plan.

If I wanted to lose weight by using a low carb diet, I would
have to either be A) willing to eat meat, or B) put my research,
cooking, and vegetarian skills to good use and develop a plan
that allows vegetarians to successfully lose weight without
compromising their food and lifestyle ideals. Since eating meat
was not an option for me or my family, I chose Plan B!

To those ends, I was particularly interested in the G.I. Diet, a
book by Rick Gallop, which emphasizes a healthy, low carb diet
plan that doesn’t completely exclude carbohydrates from the
daily meals. The diet is more focused on the process of reducing
and/or eliminating foods in the diet that increase blood sugar
while increasing foods that are low on the Glycemic Index scale.
This combination leads to effective and healthy weight loss.

The G.I. Diet asks people to consider changing the way they
think about themselves, the foods they eat, and dieting in
general. As such, if the commitment is made, the diet is
sustainable and nutritionally-viable so one could reasonably
maintain it long after the weight has come off. However, the
G.I. Diet is not vegetarian.

So, with research in hand, I began thinking about how I could
merge the valuable contributions of Gallop and a low carb diet
together with a vegetarian lifestyle. After extensive trial and
error in the kitchen–some things just don’t taste right no
matter how good they are for you–I created a series of fun,
easy, and amazing ways to re-design some of the most delicious
recipes to make them both low carb and vegetarian. I’d finally
found a way that I could lose weight, be healthy, and live well
as a vegetarian.

When my family and friends saw me lose over 20 pounds in less
than 3 months, the questions started pouring in:

How did you do that?

What are you eating?

How do you make vegetarian chicken parmesan and vegetarian beef
stroganoff?

Where’s the meat?

Where do you get your protein?

How can you eat low carb when you aren’t eating meat?

My answers to those questions and the countless recipes that I
scribbled down for my friends and families became the backbone
of this FREE book, Living La Vida Low Carb: The Vegetarian Way,
which can be found for free at
http://www.VegetarianLowCarb.com,that I share with you now. I
can’t tell you that you’ll experience the same results as I did.
I can tell you–with pride and honesty–that these recipes can
help you achieve a healthier, more balanced diet. And,
thankfully, the book demonstrates that losing weight as a low
carb vegetarian no longer means peanut butter and tofu at every
meal! Good luck and good health!

Ready to learn more about this revolutionary way to eat healthy,
without sacrificing taste? Visit

http://www.VegetarianLowCarb.com/Article_Vegetarian-Meets-Low-Car

b.html

============================= GET 400 MORE FREE TIPS AND RECIPES
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GET 400 MORE FREE TIPS AND RECIPES: Incorporate health-filled,
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http://www.VegetarianLowCarb.co

Sylvie Charrier is a busy work-at-home mom, and she discovered
simple ways to get more results from her low carb diet. She
shares her recipe makeovers, fitness and health tips on her
website http://www.VegetarianLowCarb.com

Alternative Tastes – Vegetarian Food Guide

 

This vegetarian food guide will try to describe to you two things. One of them is the typical vegetarian foods that people consume and what makes up a vegetarian food diet. The second part of this article will recommend to the vegans and partial vegetarians out there where to find good vegetarian food in Singapore. Vegetarian food is made up of several things. The first is whole grain foods, which come in the form of stuff like cereals, corn, wheat, oats, rice and products that include pasta, bread and even the Mexican tortilla. They also include legumes like beans and peas, soy’s and pinto, kidney beans and garbanzos. They can come in the form of soy products like drinks and perishable food, friend and naturally prepared tofu and protein foods and can be served as ‘mock meat’

The best examples of vegetables that taste like meat are soy products and brinjal – when carefully prepared, can give the meat taste to vegetarians. Other things include fruits, nuts and seeds, a whole host of monounsaturated and vegetable oils, dairy products, eggs and sweets. There are two types of vegetarians in the world today, those who conform to a strict vegetable diet only, which means they do not eat eggs and dairy products because they come from animals, and the more causal vegetarians who eat eggs and milk – with some of them even eating fish and white meat. Whatever the case, these vegetarians do what they do and eat what they eat based upon the fact that they have a belief and philosophy in life, or wish to pursue a healthy lifestyle.

Many Hindus and North Indians in Singapore are vegetarian, which explains the sheer amount of North Indian and South Indian vegetarian restaurants all over Singapore. There has also been an ‘organic food’ explosion, with many organic restaurants opening up in Singapore, touting products and food that is one hundred percent all natural with cooking methods that do not include any sort of use of oil or animal products. This clean and green eating style has been gaining massive popularity in Singapore of late and more and more people have been patronising these eating houses. Just a quick stroll through Orchard Road will reveal many such places.

Their prices range from affordable to fine dining prices, and some vegetarians shy away because of the price. But not to worry, the suburbs of Singapore and the small rural neighbourhoods have a collection of vegetarian eating houses of all ethnic and sometimes international influences that are sure to offer you something that appeals to you. From strictly all natural eating houses to casual vegetarian restaurants, there is something for everyone. Chinese, Malay, North Indian, Mediterranean and even European influenced eating houses are there are your disposal and the good thing is, they are very descriptive when it comes to cooking methods and ingredients used, because they recognise that vegetarians are very particular about what they eat. For those with alternative tastes and need a vegetarian food guide, look up online and you will find plenty of places to dine at.

Singapore is a beautiful country located in South East Asia. Besides being well known for its Singapore Tourist Attractions. You must also try out Singapore local food whenever you visit Singapore. Visit Singapore Chinese restaurant to taste authentic Chinese food in Singapore.

The Good Foods That you Can Eat From the Vegetarian Food Pyramid

 

The food pyramid is used by many people from all walks of life to find the best foods for a healthy lifestyle. To further help you with your investigation into good foods you can look for food pyramids which detail the different foods that you can eat. One of these pyramids that you will find is that of the vegetarian food pyramid. This pyramid is in many ways different from the vegan food pyramid.

 

In the vegetarian food pyramid you will find there are four tiers where you can choose the food that you want. The top section will show you salt, sweets, vegetable oils and fats. These items are ones that you should eat sparingly.

 

In the next tier you will see that this tier is divided into two parts. One part holds low fat or non-fat milks. You will also find cheeses and yoghurts that you can eat to help your keep you healthy. The other part of this tier is the meatless section.

 

Here you will find meat substitutes, various types of nuts and seeds, and certain types of legumes. With both of these sections you will find you can eat in moderate amounts. The general serving portions for this section can be seen as 2 to 3 servings.

 

Below this section in the vegetarian food pyramid you will find fruits and vegetables that you can eat. As with the top section this part is also divided into 2 parts. The serving portion for these sections is between 2 to 5 servings. You can eat generously since these are the main food types that you are eating from this food pyramid.

 

The vegetables that you can find in one part of this vegetable tier is that of cabbages, carrots, broccoli, pumpkins, corn, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplants and many others. With the fruit section you can eat pineapples, papayas, grapes, oranges, bananas and many others.

 

At the bottom of the vegetarian food pyramid you will find staples that have the ability of providing you with much needed energy. As with the regular food pyramids you can eat about the same amount of food servings. This portion of the vegetarian food pyramid will allow you to eat between 6 to 11 servings.

 

With this final tier you will find that you have different cereals, pastas, rice and whole grain bread that you can choose to eat. These foods you can eat as much as you need in order to keep your strength up. By eating the right portions of these foods you can stave off any large scale hunger pangs that will make you eat fast and junk foods.

 

The different food pyramids are the keys to having a good diet. For a healthy but meatless diet you can choose to use the different foods which can be found in the vegetarian food pyramid.

 

Muna wa Wanjiru Has Been Researching and Reporting on Vegetarian Cooking for Years. For More Information on Vegetarian Food Pyramid, Visit His Site atVEGETARIAN FOOD PYRAMID