Variety and Your Vegetarian Diet

A vegetarian diet includes grains, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, herbs, nuts, and seeds. It is important to keep your vegetarian diet filled with a mixture of diverse, and nutrient rich foods. With some creativity, and planning, you will be amazed how much variety you can enjoy.

Nuts and seeds are a good place to get high quality protein. I only like to eat them whole, halved, sliced, puréed, ground into flour, chopped, toasted, roasted or raw. Cashews, Brazil nuts peanuts, walnuts, almonds are some of my favorites. Sunflower and sesame seeds are outstanding for sprinkling over salads and other vegetable dishes.

A good substitute for meat in dishes like casseroles is beans. Beans have many health benefits, and they should be eaten often. Some of my favorite beans are kidney beans, split peas, haricot, red, green or brown lentils, black beans, and chickpeas.

Some of my favorite ways of eating beans are refried beans and guacamole, baked beans with cranberry sauce, beans with collard greens, just about any beans with butternut squash, and beans with green chilies. My crock pot just about always has something cooking with beans.

Beans, peas, lentils and other dried legumes need to be eaten with grains such as rice, barley or wheat, which also contain protein, because only together do they contain all the essential amino acids that are found in meat and other animal products.

Soy beans are special among beans in containing all the essential amino acids without the addition of grains. Soy beans products are important for that reason. There are many ways to eat soy. There is soy milk, yoghurt, cheeses, tofu and soy meat substitutes.

One way to add variety is to explore ethnic vegetarian dishes. Mexican, Italian, Caribbean, Greek, Cajun and especially Indian all have many vegetarian recipes. Many of the meat dishes can still be cooked with only slight variations. Pasta with tomato sauce, bean burritos, tacos, tostadas, pizza, beans and rice, bagels, baked potatoes, vegetable soups, whole grain bread and muffins, sandwiches, macaroni, stir-fry, salads, veggie burgers with French fries, breakfast cereals, pancakes, and waffles are a few of my favorite dishes that are great without meat.

Many grocery store freezer sections carry a collection of meat substitutes such as veggie bacon, hot dogs, burgers, and breakfast sausages.

Dairy products can be replaced with soy milk, soy margarine, and soy yogurts, which you can find in health food or Oriental food stores. Nut and rice milks can be made by blending nuts or cooked rice with water, blinding and straining.

Vegetarian diets are low in saturated fat, high in fiber, and full of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants and lots of goodness. There have been many studies that show that vegetarian diets have significant benefits and can help prevent certain horrible diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

George B. Siba