Hello all,<br><br>
My name is Rob and I am interested in learning more about vegetarian diets. I have been trying to learn how to optimize my diet for about 5 years now. I was 135 in high school, in shape, but not very muscular. Im also 5'6. After high school I got to 150. I have a 6 year old daughter and during her pregnancy I blew up to somewhere past 190 lbs. I stopped counting once I saw 190 and it was probably another 6 months before I decided to do something about it. I got the weight back under control, down to 150 - 160, and over the years of learning how to eat a proper western diet, I have learned much about the health of the food.<br><br>
Over the past year or so, I have watched many documentaries that have got me thinking about what I have put in my body over the years. King Corn, Fat Head, Fork From Knives, Food Matters and so on. All of them have some of the same topics in them, and I realize some of them are probably vegan advocate documentaries, but when you look through the propaganda, you can see the underlying truths.<br><br>
Over the last year I have recently taken up karate/MMA and since then have been trying out different diet effects to see how they play a role in performance. When I first started I can barely last 5 minutes, but dropping some weight, building some muscle and introducing more plant based foods into my diet has dramatically increased performance. I have also heard recently many professional athletes claiming how much better they perform under plant based diets.<br><br>
I have began to experiment with more plant based meals. A couple of months ago I also did 30 days of bolthouse green goodness and chicken. While this does not technically fall under vegetarian by any means, it has been the highest introduction of green foods and protein with no "junk food" in my diet for a period of 30 days straight as well as the only way to get almost all non GMO fruits and veggies. I have to say that my energy and performance doubled to tripled during that time frame, however closer to the 30th day I began to feel fatigued, possibly due to low calorie intake.<br><br>
That experience has made me want to learn how to eat purely or mostly plant based foods, well that combined with some research of low cancer rates in india (most vegi diets), low heart disease rate in crete (high fat diet from olive oil), and some low stroke rates in france (not sure exactly why as of yet). I believe all of these health effects are due to diet and more so, down to GMO foods and meats.<br><br>
I have started to read about vegan and the the different types of vegetarians. I will probably end up a lacto-ovo-vegi, since I love cheese, eggs and dairy products. Not really fond of milk however. I can go months without having an ounce of that, but cookies and cakes go really well with milk.<br><br>
I am not interested in going vegan due to animal slaughter... to be honest unfortunately, I really dont care. If killing the cow myself ensured a healthy diet, free of cancer, heart disease, and increased energy, I would do it myself. I enjoy a good filet mignon and if they served it to me right off the cows back, I would probably eat it. However I realize the meat we get these days is unhealthy, corn fed GMO and hormone induced cows that is reaking havok. Finding grass fed cows is virtually impossible or very expensive. Finding non GMO fruits and veggies is inconvenient but at least possible and affordable.<br><br>
What I am finding it hard to understand what to eat! or where to start. I have seen many recipes, but to be honest, Im lazy and dont have time to cook. My diet consists mostly of eggs, sandwiches, juices (such as bolthouse) and properly portioned fast food. Most of the vegetarian meals are exhaustive of prep time and ingredients. I need to be able to whip up something in seconds.<br><br>
What do I eat and where do I start. I need easy, lazy recipes and fast food that I can mostly eat on the run and dont take hours to prepare. I dont mind an occasional meal that take 30 to 1 hour to make, but I cant do that for every meal.<br><br>
Any guidance is appreciated
My name is Rob and I am interested in learning more about vegetarian diets. I have been trying to learn how to optimize my diet for about 5 years now. I was 135 in high school, in shape, but not very muscular. Im also 5'6. After high school I got to 150. I have a 6 year old daughter and during her pregnancy I blew up to somewhere past 190 lbs. I stopped counting once I saw 190 and it was probably another 6 months before I decided to do something about it. I got the weight back under control, down to 150 - 160, and over the years of learning how to eat a proper western diet, I have learned much about the health of the food.<br><br>
Over the past year or so, I have watched many documentaries that have got me thinking about what I have put in my body over the years. King Corn, Fat Head, Fork From Knives, Food Matters and so on. All of them have some of the same topics in them, and I realize some of them are probably vegan advocate documentaries, but when you look through the propaganda, you can see the underlying truths.<br><br>
Over the last year I have recently taken up karate/MMA and since then have been trying out different diet effects to see how they play a role in performance. When I first started I can barely last 5 minutes, but dropping some weight, building some muscle and introducing more plant based foods into my diet has dramatically increased performance. I have also heard recently many professional athletes claiming how much better they perform under plant based diets.<br><br>
I have began to experiment with more plant based meals. A couple of months ago I also did 30 days of bolthouse green goodness and chicken. While this does not technically fall under vegetarian by any means, it has been the highest introduction of green foods and protein with no "junk food" in my diet for a period of 30 days straight as well as the only way to get almost all non GMO fruits and veggies. I have to say that my energy and performance doubled to tripled during that time frame, however closer to the 30th day I began to feel fatigued, possibly due to low calorie intake.<br><br>
That experience has made me want to learn how to eat purely or mostly plant based foods, well that combined with some research of low cancer rates in india (most vegi diets), low heart disease rate in crete (high fat diet from olive oil), and some low stroke rates in france (not sure exactly why as of yet). I believe all of these health effects are due to diet and more so, down to GMO foods and meats.<br><br>
I have started to read about vegan and the the different types of vegetarians. I will probably end up a lacto-ovo-vegi, since I love cheese, eggs and dairy products. Not really fond of milk however. I can go months without having an ounce of that, but cookies and cakes go really well with milk.<br><br>
I am not interested in going vegan due to animal slaughter... to be honest unfortunately, I really dont care. If killing the cow myself ensured a healthy diet, free of cancer, heart disease, and increased energy, I would do it myself. I enjoy a good filet mignon and if they served it to me right off the cows back, I would probably eat it. However I realize the meat we get these days is unhealthy, corn fed GMO and hormone induced cows that is reaking havok. Finding grass fed cows is virtually impossible or very expensive. Finding non GMO fruits and veggies is inconvenient but at least possible and affordable.<br><br>
What I am finding it hard to understand what to eat! or where to start. I have seen many recipes, but to be honest, Im lazy and dont have time to cook. My diet consists mostly of eggs, sandwiches, juices (such as bolthouse) and properly portioned fast food. Most of the vegetarian meals are exhaustive of prep time and ingredients. I need to be able to whip up something in seconds.<br><br>
What do I eat and where do I start. I need easy, lazy recipes and fast food that I can mostly eat on the run and dont take hours to prepare. I dont mind an occasional meal that take 30 to 1 hour to make, but I cant do that for every meal.<br><br>
Any guidance is appreciated
