Not sure what I'm missing

2505 Views 45 Replies 18 Participants Last post by GhostUser, Jan 18, 2008

sn87

Discussion Starter · Jan 15, 2008

I've been vegetarian for a little over half a year, except for ocean'y foods, I can't resist salmon, shrimp, sushi, etc. So, I guess I'm technically not a vegetarian...but I'm close. The main reason I try to be a vegetarian is because I want to get all my nutrients in my food without vitamins and it feels like every vitamin and mineral is in plants. Most of what I eat is grain and fruit, maybe some nuts occasionally, very few vegetables. I tend to base it on what's on the food labels, which is how I've been lead to make cereal the base of my diet since they contain a rediculous amount of vitamins and minerals. I eat a lot of post raisin bran, eating 2 25oz boxes or more in a week is a regular thing for me. I eat it straight from the box, no milk, just a spoon and a box. I then tried to think of the stuff missing in raisin bran and just try to get that from other foods. I drink a lot of Tropicana Orange Juice for vitamin C. I eat almonds for vitamin e, extra minerals, and essential fat (I know it contains a lot of not-bad fat, but I'm clueless as to how much of its fat is o3 or o6 etc, is it anything like a walnut or is this mostly o6?). I have a kiwi every now and then, it has to be the cheapest fruit I've ever seen at 33 cents a fruit. I also have whole wheat bread with smuckers peach preserves often (I think I should quit that, not sure that's too good for me). If I had less bread, it would be more cereal, figure it adds variety...sorta. I don't know too much about vitamins and minerals, just what I see on the nutrition labels and the things that they claim I don't get enough of is calcium (is it even possible to reach 100% without going near a cow's utter?), maybe vitamin a (raisin bran has 10% per serving...i don't know if anything else I mentioned contains any at all), vitamin d (this one I'm not too worried about since supposedly I get it just by seeing daylight, but more info on this would be good). The questions I mentioned about almonds giving me essential fat also bothers me, which is why I eat salmon every couple of weeks. That also eases my concerns about protein, but I don't really know if I need it. You can probably tell I like the taste of grain and the taste of sugar, which vegetables don't really give. I'm trying to eat foods that I enjoy so that I'll maintain it throughout my life, so if possible avoid the veggies, but I'll eat what I have to. Also, although I enjoy what I eat, I feel like no one out there eats like me, that kinda bothers me. Anyone knowledgable about this stuff want to help me out?

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jeneticallymodified

· #2 · Jan 15, 2008

wow. erm... yeah.

you really should be eating lots of the veggies. they've got seriously loads of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc in them, and fibre, water... loads of good stuff.

why do you want to avoid veggies? don't like the taste? try different ones, cooked different ways. try adding them to smoothies, soups, etc. veggies are your friends!

jenna

· #3 · Jan 15, 2008

(Just an FYI: Your post is a little hard to read since it's not broken up into paragraphs.)

I agree with HCJen that you definitely need to start adding in veggies as well as leafy greens and fruit.

So are you a pescetarian because you're worried about getting enough protein? If you're eating a balanced veg*n diet, you're getting more than enough protein. Here's a link that could help you out with that. http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm

You can also get plenty of calcium without eating animal products. Here's a link on calcium: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm

GhostUser

· #4 · Jan 15, 2008

you should consult a registered dietitian. at least in my case, the dietitian i spoke with actually knew much more about nutrition than my doctor and was all for vegetarian diets. she told me just to get a wide variety of different foods - fruits, nuts, veggies, grains, seeds, legumes... some of everything. it sounds like you might need to do more of that if you want to get all your nutrition from food, even if you continue eating fish ;-)

SupersonicSheep

· #5 · Jan 15, 2008

Be careful basing your dietary choices on what appears on food labels. The foods themselves are not always nutritionally balanced e.g. cereal may appear to be a healthy option but most cereals are loaded with too much sugar and salt.

cloudcovering

· #6 · Jan 15, 2008

sigh... eat vegetables. they are way healthier for you than raisin bran. all the vitamins & minerals in raisin bran are added; it's like taking a multi vitamin! sweet potatoes have lots of vitamin A, i think.

Bells

· #7 · Jan 15, 2008

ONE carrot gives you 270% of your daily value of vitamin A.

Libellula

· #8 · Jan 15, 2008

Eat your vegetables, even if you think you do not like them, try making them in a new manner. My boyfriend doesn't like a lot of vegetables, and I just fix them in new ways and in things so that they don't taste so vegetabley.

Vegetables don't have to mean salad or plain steamed veggies, you can add kale to potato soup, puree vegetables into your pasta sauces, grill or roast your vegetables after marinating them in balsamic vinegar and olive oil, sautee them with garlic and onion. There are so many different ways to prepare your veggies!

Lucious

· #9 · Jan 15, 2008

I don't think it's safe to eat all packaged and processed foods. They lose their nutritional value because they're not fresh and have been processed and are sitting on shelves for months at a time.

You will get so much more out of whole foods and fresh foods because they will have a wide variety of vitamins and minerals in them. If you're eating an isolated part of a food (such as orange juice, as opposed to a whole orange) you're missing out on a lot. Look up some recipes, there's so many amazing ways to incorporate whole fruits and veggies into your diet.

Remember that you are eating to nourish your body, the pleasure in eating is secondary. You need to eat quality foods, to ensure quality energy outputs so you can be the best you.

rabid_child

· #10 · Jan 15, 2008

That sounds like a pretty lousy pescatarian diet. I don't even know where to start. First off, you need to eat vegetables. How do you expect to get your nutrients from food when you're leaving out an entire food group? There is no possible way you've tried every possible preparation of every vegetable in existence. Get cracking on that. Second, cereals (i.e. raisin bran) are usually fortified with vitamins/minerals, so you are, in essence, taking a vitamin in a carton. This isn't a bad thing, fortified foods can be a healthy part of a diet, but you're contradicting yourself. If you want to get all your nutrients from food you need to eat a varied diet, and you aren't. An occasional kiwi is not sufficient fruit. A pound of apples costs me $.75. 3 kiwis do not equal a pound (and cost more), thus they are not the cheapest fruit. Go by volume of fruit per pound, not by price of individual piece. Are you so impoverished that you can't afford assorted fruits and vegetables? They're going to do you a lot more good than salmon every few weeks. Ground flax seeds or flax oil will also give you healthy fats and are vegetarian, as well as walnuts and canola oil and hemp seeds/oil if you can find them.

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sn87

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 15, 2008

I never thought about raisin bran that way, maybe it is just a big vitamin. I thought it was because whole wheat was healthy...sigh. Alright, what's an easy way to transition some vegetables in? I would like to do as little cooking as possible, since I currently do none and I'm fond of that. I once bought this thing of ground flax seeds, but I have no clue what to do with this powder...I tried putting some on brown rice using a rice cooker, but it doesn't really mix in, just sorta float and stick to the pot...I still ate it though, I like brown rice. I have difficulties biting into apples, kiwi is so soft...I don't know if I should buy apples, but how much kiwi would I have to eat a day to be enough. Oranges are rediculous to eat because of their bitter thick skin, I wouldn't eat it if it wasn't a juice, so I don't know what to do about that. I can afford fruits and vegetables...if i can afford seafood, of course I can afford fruits and vegetables, haha. Do walnuts taste anything like almonds? I really like that crispness in the almonds, never really had walnuts.

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Brandon

· #12 · Jan 15, 2008

You can cut up the apples. And peel the oranges.

Walnuts are different than almonds in flavor.

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rabid_child

· #13 · Jan 15, 2008

Bran cereals are healthy because they contain a lot of fiber. They're also heavily fortified.

If you aren't willing to do anything by way of food preparation, then honestly, your diet is going to suck. Even raw foodists who do not cook don't just eat bags of lettuce. They do actually *prepare* balanced meals.

You should be getting 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. 1 kiwi = less than one fruit serving. One fruit serving = 1/2 cup fruit, so unless you're buying very large kiwis, you're not even getting one serving from that. 1/4 cup dried fruit = one fruit serving as well, so you *may* be getting that from raisin bran depending on how many raisins there are in it. JUST eating kiwis isn't a good idea either because you aren't getting a variety of nutrients. If you want soft, easy to eat fruit try buying berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries) or grapes (seedless). If you want an easy to peel fruit (though Naval oranges and tangerines are really easy to peel) then try bananas.

You don't want to cook ground flax seeds because they get kind of slimy and you ruin the nutrients if it gets too hot (the sliminess is what makes it a good egg replacer). Sprinkle 1 tbsp on whatever it is you're eating... after it's cooked. Cereals are a good choice because flax seeds have a nutty sort of flavor. Walnuts do not taste like almonds. Have you always had such a limited diet?? I'm surprised you've never encountered a walnut.

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Dirty Martini

· #14 · Jan 15, 2008

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabid_child

How do you expect to get your nutrients from food when you're leaving out an entire food group?

Like meat, eggs, and dairy?

Sorry, I couldn't resist

Seriously, though, sn87 - pick up a "Nutrition for Dummies" book or something. That and Vesanto Melina's "Going Vegetarian" book were my first two books on nutrition and they're both pretty good. They break down what you need to know by carbs, protein, fiber, calories, vitamins, minerals... good stuff.

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Seusomon

· #15 · Jan 15, 2008

I agree with what others have said.

I'd also like to step back and say a few things about the big picture here. A healthy diet isn't really about playing some numbers game so that all the vitamins and minerals add up too 100% RDA each day. Eating the same things over and over (especially if they are processed foods) is not a good idea, even if the vitamin and mineral numbers add up. There's a lot more to food than that. The most often recommended approach is to eat a variety of different grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruit. If you do that, you are almost guaranteed to get nearly all the nutrients you need. Unless you have reason to believe you are suffering from a nutrient deficiency, you will not need to seek out that particular nutrient in your food choices.

I can understand not wanting to cook, but I think preparing a certain fraction of your own meals is an important practice to get used to. Restaurants become expensive, and packaged foods often go through damaging processing (which they try to compensate for by adding vitamins and minerals back at the end). Also, both restaurant meals and processed foods tend to go for taste appeal at the expense of health - with fat, salt, sugar, etc., added beyond recommended levels for a day-to-day diet. Cooking doesn't need to be elaborate. Rice, pasta, sauteed veggies, etc. - pretty quick and simple to do.

I don't know what your background is (for example, what sort of food you were raised on, or what your original motivation was for your present diet). It may be you are just new to thinking about nutrition and relying on package labels to help you figure it out. But sometimes focusing too much on nutrient numbers and avoiding variety can signal an eating disorder of some kind. (It's hard to imagine someone with reasonably varied eating habits not knowing what walnuts taste like, for example.) I bring this up because you mentioned feeling a little uneasy that your eating habits seem different from those of others. They strike me as "different" too, at least just going by what you have posted. Perhaps hanging out with other people who cook a lot of their own meals could help you pick up some ideas or new habits.

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GhostUser

· #16 · Jan 15, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seusomon

I agree with what others have said.

I'd also like to step back and say a few things about the big picture here. A healthy diet isn't really about playing some numbers game so that all the vitamins and minerals add up too 100% RDA each day. Eating the same things over and over (especially if they are processed foods) is not a good idea, even if the vitamin and mineral numbers add up. There's a lot more to food than that. The most often recommended approach is to eat a variety of different grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruit. If you do that, you are almost guaranteed to get nearly all the nutrients you need. Unless you have reason to believe you are suffering from a nutrient deficiency, you will not need to seek out that particular nutrient in your food choices.

I can understand not wanting to cook, but I think preparing a certain fraction of your own meals is an important practice to get used to. Restaurants become expensive, and packaged foods often go through damaging processing (which they try to compensate for by adding vitamins and minerals back at the end). Also, both restaurant meals and processed foods tend to go for taste appeal at the expense of health - with fat, salt, sugar, etc., added beyond recommended levels for a day-to-day diet. Cooking doesn't need to be elaborate. Rice, pasta, sauteed veggies, etc. - pretty quick and simple to do.

I don't know what your background is (for example, what sort of food you were raised on, or what your original motivation was for your present diet). It may be you are just new to thinking about nutrition and relying on package labels to help you figure it out. But sometimes focusing too much on nutrient numbers and avoiding variety can signal an eating disorder of some kind. (It's hard to imagine someone with reasonably varied eating habits not knowing what walnuts taste like, for example.) I bring this up because you mentioned feeling a little uneasy that your eating habits seem different from those of others. They strike me as "different" too, at least just going by what you have posted. Perhaps hanging out with other people who cook a lot of their own meals could help you pick up some ideas or new habits.

the whole post:

as for elaborate... heck no, cooking doesn't have to be elaborate or difficult. it's not any harder to make a whole wheat sandwich wrap with veggies than it is to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

mmmm... hummus on whole wheat wraps, a layer of spinach and some brown rice... NOM NOM NOM...

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Dirty Martini

· #17 · Jan 15, 2008

Also worth mentioning - frozen fruits & veggies are often more nutritious than fresh (especially if they're out of season) because they are frozen when harvested, rather than trucked hundreds of miles while ripening.

RetroHousewife

· #18 · Jan 15, 2008

Have you had couscous? Boil water, add couscous, turn off water, wait 5 minutes, eat. It is very easy to prepare, and easy to add veggies and beans to. Top it with some veggies, either saute some fresh veggies (I like zucchini, carrots, peppers and spinach) in olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Or, buy a bag of frozen veggies and zap them in the microwave. You can top the whole thing with your favorite sauce, or salad dressing, or salsa, whatever.

DirtyMartini is right, frozen veggies are often more nutritious than fresh veggies (go figure!), and usually quite cheap, but often the flavor and texture of fresh veggies is better, IMO.

And, why not get a less sugary cereal than raisin bran and add bananas and berries and soymilk to it? That is a much more well-rounded meal.

rabid_child

· #19 · Jan 16, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirty Martini

Like meat, eggs, and dairy?

Sorry, I couldn't resist

Seriously, though, sn87 - pick up a "Nutrition for Dummies" book or something. That and Vesanto Melina's "Going Vegetarian" book were my first two books on nutrition and they're both pretty good. They break down what you need to know by carbs, protein, fiber, calories, vitamins, minerals... good stuff.

Ahhh you got me. I was thinking of the vegetarian food pyramid. Funny how I don't even consider meat food...

sn87

Discussion Starter · #20 · Jan 16, 2008

I look at the ingredients in raisin bran compared to bran flakes (which has 5g of sugar per serving, although the serving is about half the colories, that's still half as much sugar per calorie compared to raisin bran), and the ingredients are in the exact same order, just raisins added to it. So if the additional 14g of sugar is from the raisins, isn't that alright since fruits are made of primarily sugar? It doesn't look like Post coats their raisins or anything, it's just a raisin. It's like taking bran flakes, which no one calls high in sugar, and adding raisins. If I'm thinking about this wrongly though (as I probably am with my luck), tell me. I'm going to buy walnuts to try them and frozen peas+carrots (one legume and one vegetable, right?) and some brown rice and start making use of the rice cooker. How would be the best way to add them, before the rice starts cooking? Would it be a good idea to replace fruit preserves with unsaturated vegetable spread with omega 3's added? I saw it in Walmart at some point, but havn't given it a chance yet. I'm going to look for blackberries to replace kiwis, I hope I find them.

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