Now that we’ve spent all this time reviewing key vitamins and minerals, it’s time I let you in on a little secret we registered dietitian nutritionists have—we don’t eat nutrients, we eat food. Food is made up of nutrients, of course (well, most of it is—I can’t make any promises about yellow nacho “cheese” or those gummy slugs you get at the movies). But when was the last time you said “ya know, I could really go for some beta-carotene and potassium right now!” I’m guessing never. It’s pretty likely, though, that a bowl of fresh cantaloupe on a hot summer day looks delicious—and as a result, you eat some of those nutrients.
There are many reasons why we choose the foods we do. Good nutrition does play a role, for some people more than others. As you progress toward a vegetarian diet (and the more restrictive you decide to be on the spectrum), the more challenging it can be to get the nutrients your body needs—and with that comes the added responsibility you have to yourself to pay attention to nutrition. The other factors that play into how we eat, however, will also have a great impact on your transition to veg. Let’s take a look at what those influences are and how you can work with them to make sure you’re eating the most energy-boosting, beautifying, strength-building (not to mention delicious) foods at all times.
• Availability: It sounds obvious, but if a certain food is not available, you’re pretty unlikely to eat it. Many low-income neighborhoods lack clean grocery stores that carry attractive, fresh produce, which is one of the reasons why people living in those areas have a harder time eating healthfully than people in higher-income areas—good-for-you food is just not easy to find.
– How it impacts you: You might have the best of intentions when it comes to living life as an über-healthy veg. But if whoever does the grocery shopping in your house buys loads of steak, pork, and potato chips and few vegetables, beans, and grains, you may have a hard time following through on your intentions.
– What you can do: Offer to help out with the grocery shopping or even volunteer to do it for your family. A simple trip to the supermarket or farmers’ market is truly the first step in eating and can alter the foods that are available to you. By influencing what goes into your family’s weekly shopping cart, you immediately impact what goes on everybody’s plates and ends up in their bellies. Before you go, make a list of the foods you’d like to have in the house (see page 96, “VegHead Shopping List,” for ideas)—experts say that having one increases your likelihood of coming home with nutritious foods and minimizes impulse buys (the candy display at checkout? prime impulse buy territory).
• Cost: It’s no doubt that money influences how we live our lives and particularly how we eat. For many people, making decisions about what foods to buy is less about nutrition and taste and more about how much things cost. I’m never going to argue that people should max out their credit cards to buy foods they can’t afford—they shouldn’t. But everybody can afford to eat a more plant-based diet. The reason: the healthiest foods are basic, inexpensive ones like vegetables, beans, and whole grains. And they all just happen to be veg friendly.
– How it impacts you: Many people have the misconception that it can be expensive to go veg or even to eat healthfully in general. The parental units that pay for your food may be averse to the idea for that very reason.
– What you can do: Assure them that, like any other way of eating, going veg can be more expensive. But it doesn’t have to be. If you load up on processed vegetarian foods like soy hot dogs, fake cheese, and vegan cupcakes, the cost is going to add up. If you stick with healthier whole foods (meaning items that come from nature rather than ones that have been dolled up in a factory—think carrots and celery instead of veggie chips, milk and frozen berries to blend your own smoothies with instead of premade smoothie pellets), your grocery bills are likely to decrease (see page 99 for more tips on being a “Budget Veg”).
• Culture: The part of the world you live in or your family comes from plays a major role in the way you eat. If you were raised in Spain, it would be typical for you to have a big lunch at around 2:00 followed by a siesta or nap, a light snack at around 5:00, and a smaller meal again after 9:00. If you were raised in the United States, you probably haven’t had a nap after lunch since kindergarten, and lunch is likely something small and fast like a sandwich, with dinner being your biggest meal of the day. Even within one country, there are loads of cultural differences in terms of food—I notice it all the time when I visit new cities. In places like Portland, San Francisco, and New York, veg-friendly options abound. Travel to Dallas or New Orleans, however, and meat and seafood are clearly king.
– How it impacts you: The culture in your family and city will undoubtedly play a big role in how accepted it is to go veg. If you are of Indian descent, you may be used to having a plethora of meat-free options at your fingertips—many Indians are lacto vegetarians. On the other hand, families from other countries may have a hard time accepting that a meal without meat is still a meal. One great movie scene sums it up perfectly: in the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the main character tells her aunt from Greece that her fiancé is a vegetarian. “He don’t eat no meat?” exclaims the auntie. “That’s OK. I make lamb!” In addition to your family helping or hindering your decision, the culture of the area you live in will also impact how easy or hard it is for you to shift to a more plant-based diet.
– What you can do: Well, you can’t choose your relatives. But you know them better than anyone else does, and you can figure out how to best help them get used to the idea of you going veg. Maybe you have a second cousin who has been a vegetarian; point her out to your mom as a reminder that she hasn’t shriveled up (yet). If you’re from a culture where skipping meat is simply not accepted, you need to feel comfortable enough in your decision to agree to disagree. Work on reaching an understanding with your relatives that you won’t try to change them if they won’t try to change you. As for the culture of the area in which you live—you probably didn’t choose that, either, unless you’re college-age. If you’re not in college, start researching now. Look for schools in a veg-friendly part of the country, with a culture that supports various eating choices, and put them at the top of your list (see page 147 for “Finding A Veg-Friendly College”). And in the meantime, if you’re struggling to find the support system you need in a place like Hereford, TX (aka “the beef capital of the world”), look for online societies that you can be a part of—a vegetarian group through Meetup or Facebook, or the website for this book, www.smartgirlveg.com.
• Positioning: The larger environment impacts the foods you eat, as discussed above in “availability.” But your immediate surroundings determine far more about the food you choose than you might imagine. How many times a day do you think you make a decision about food? Well there’s breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, so about four or five, right? According to Cornell University food psychologist Brian Wansink, that number is more like 250 per day. The reason why you probably underestimated is that we are completely unaware of most of these decisions. This impacts our health because we are all more likely to overeat or make choices we don’t really mean to make when food is served in bigger portions and when snack foods are just an arm’s length away (compared with food you’d have to stand up to grab a handful of).
– How it impacts you: The week I stopped eating red meat, I went to a friend’s bat mitzvah party. I was halfway through eating a mini hot dog before I realized I had just broken my resolution to never eat a cow again. Of course I knew that mini hot dogs had meat in them (well, sort of—who knows what’s really in those things!) and I never would have walked over to a server and requested one. But when a waiter came around to my group of camp friends with a tray of hors d’oeuvres, I mindlessly grabbed a hot dog and started munching away. Those sorts of unconscious decisions can make VegHead eating extra challenging: you might grab a hamburger for lunch because it’s the first thing you see when you walk into the cafeteria. But if your lunchroom offered California veggie wraps front and center, you would be more likely to choose the veggie option without even knowing you’re making a choice. Of course, deciding to go veg is a very active decision. But the placement of veg-friendly options in your home, school cafeteria, and other places you eat can make veg eating feel more or less like a challenge.
– What you can do: This is where that active decision thing comes in. After my mini hot dog gaffe, I never made that mistake again. The reason: not eating meat was in the forefront of my mind. I couldn’t control what was offered to me, so I had to stay in charge. The next time I found myself at a party, I stayed on the dance floor instead of around the food. You can’t change the positioning of foods you don’t want to eat, but you can change your position!
• Promotion: You’re too smart to be swayed by slick ad campaigns, right? We all think we are. But the reality is that fast-food companies alone spend more than $300 million on marketing aimed at teens and kids each year—the average teen sees about five fast-food ads on TV each day (and that’s not counting radio, Internet, and mobile ads or advertising through Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter that often don’t even feel like ads). This exposure has a huge impact on what teens eat, according to the experts who study food advertising and marketing. I actually had a summer internship once where it was my job to watch cartoons and kid movies to look for the ways they promote not-so-healthy foods. It. Was. Awesome. It was also scary to see firsthand how sneaky advertisers can be.
– How it impacts you: The ads you’re exposed to are sure to be influencing you to choose foods that are not so good for you as well as ones that don’t match up with your VegHead instincts. Those McDonald’s, KFC, and Subway promotions you see every day regularly nudge you to crave their food. And even if you know deep down their food is not for you, the constant barrage of ads you see may be undermining your efforts.
– What you can do: Limit your exposure. Watching less television—or DVRing your favorite shows so you can skip over the ads—is one way to do this. Also, be careful about advertising that you opt into. When a burger joint asks you to “like” them on Facebook and promises you free fries in return, yes, you get free food—but you also give that restaurant permission to market to you directly. Be sure you know what you’re getting in exchange when you “like” something on Facebook, “follow” it on Twitter, or “check in” to it on Foursquare.
• Taste: In my work as a registered dietitian nutritionist and as a professional eater (it’s one of my best talents), I find that this is the most important factor in the foods people choose. If it doesn’t taste good, they won’t eat it. Just as you are unlikely to pick a yogurt for a snack because “boy, I could sure use 150 mg of calcium right about now,” you are not going to select that yogurt if you just don’t like yogurt (or you’re vegan or lactose intolerant, of course).
– How it impacts you: It’s a sad reality—many people think that vegetarian food is boring or just plain bad. And when people perceive a food as unappetizing, they don’t want to eat it. Little do they know, though, that veg food is often more flavorful and interesting than meat foods. My theory: when chefs (professional or everyday ones) take meat off the plate, they are forced to be a little more creative with vegetables, herbs, and other ingredients. And creativity in the kitchen leads to delicious meals.
– What you can do: Don’t be discouraged by what “people” say. The Negative Nancies who say that vegetarian food isn’t good have clearly not eaten many meatless meals in their time. I’m not guaranteeing that you’ll love everything, but if you keep an open mind, you will find loads of delicious veg-friendly foods. And you never know—when Nancy sees your mouth-watering meal, she may be enticed to give veggie food a second chance.
We’ve looked at VegHead nutrition from the most miniscule of vitamins and minerals to the large factors that play a role in your diet. But as I like to tell my clients, “it’s not nutrition unless you eat it.” Getting delicious foods—that happen to meet your body’s needs for health and well-being—onto your plate and into your mouth is the ultimate goal here. So let’s talk food.
I want to introduce you to something called MyPlate, a healthy eating tool developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It’s really pretty simple, which is what I love about it.
In short, MyPlate encourages you to fill half of your plate with produce, one quarter with protein, and one quarter with grains. As a longtime VegHead, I was thrilled when the USDA introduced MyPlate—finally, a recommendation that puts vegetables front and center! In this country, it’s not uncommon to see a meal consist of a big hunk of meat, a starchy food like potato or rice, and vegetables that seem like an afterthought (a couple of beige pieces of oversteamed broccoli or a limp iceberg lettuce salad). I love that MyPlate nudges us to put produce first.
“Hold it right there,” you’re thinking. “Today’s lunch was veggie chili with a cornbread muffin, and I ate it from a bowl. And yesterday I ate a plain bagel on the way to school. Meals don’t only come on plates!” Fair enough, my friend. Meals come in all different forms. In order for it to be useful to your life, keep in mind that MyPlate isn’t a commandment, it’s a guideline. Use the fundamentals behind it—one-half produce, one-quarter protein, one-quarter grains—to help shape your meals, no matter where you eat them from. That veggie chili may already come close to those ideal proportions, while the bagel leaves much room for improvement (to put it on MyPlate, cut it in half, saving one side for tomorrow, top with peanut butter, and grab a banana—easy peasy!).
Here’s what you need to know about each section of MyPlate:
Produce: MyPlate separates fruits and vegetables. I combine them. Here’s why—in general, people have less trouble eating fruits than they do veggies. I like to gently nudge people to add vegetables to their meals, since that’s usually what they need encouragement with. Also, there are plenty of meals where you’d eat vegetables but not fruit or vice versa. My take is: fill roughly half your plate with produce, pay a little extra attention to vegetables, and it will all work out just right at the end of the day.
Protein: Ah, trusty old protein again. While other MyPlate followers can easily stick a piece of roast beef in their protein box, that may not work for you—and that just may be freaking out every adult you know. Tell them not to panic—veg sources of protein are easy to find, and since they only need to take up about one-quarter of your plate, it’s simple to add them to many meals. You can fill up the protein requirement of YourPlate with chickpeas, lentils, black beans, tofu, edamame, or tempeh; eggs, milk, yogurt, or cottage cheese (other cheeses can be a decent source of protein, but they are often so high in fat that you’re better off looking at them more as a garnish) if you’re lacto-ovo; fish like tilapia or salmon and seafood like shrimp and scallops if you’re pescetarian; and chicken or turkey if you’re a red head.
Grains: This is an easy category for VegHeads since all grains are inherently meat-free (sometimes the way in which they’re prepared can make them surprising sources of meat, though—check out Chapter 6 for more on that). The trick with grains is choosing the healthiest ones for you. In general, you want to look for whole grains—ones that have been minimally refined and still contain their outer layers that include stomach-filling, digestion-improving, heart-healthy fiber and other important nutrients. Often, whole grains are brown or beige in color—think of the difference between white rice and brown rice, and you’ll know how to recognize a whole grain. Other whole grains include oats, barley, wild rice, bulgur, and farro. One detail you should keep in mind about the grains category—it also includes starchy vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn (did you really think I was going to OK half a plate full of mashed potatoes?!). They’re super healthy for you like other types of vegetables, but higher in carbohydrates like grains, and eating too many can give you a quick energy boost followed by a major crash—so you’ll want to eat them with more restraint than, say, spinach and cauliflower.
Dairy: You’ll notice on the graphic of MyPlate that it includes a glass of milk, representing one serving of dairy. Obviously, this spells trouble for vegans and anyone else who chooses to not consume moo juice and other related products. Some nutrition experts argue that dairy does not deserve this sort of emphasis—there’s no proof that eating a lot of dairy protects you against osteoporosis, some dairy foods are loaded with heart-unhealthy saturated fat, and the nutrients that make lowfat dairy good for you, like calcium and protein, can easily be found in other foods, they say. If you are vegan—and even if you’re not, but you are wondering how you could possibly down a glass of milk with each meal—my advice is: don’t get too hung up on dairy. A serving of tofu or a cup of cooked collard greens both have more calcium in them than a cup of milk, for instance. And the protein that dairy foods provide can also be found in beans, nuts, and other vegan foods. You’re already making sure to get plenty of protein in your meals. As for the other nutrients dairy is a good source of, eat a varied, nutrient-packed diet (as discussed in Chapter 4) throughout the day as well, and you’ll be just fine. Oh, and if you do include one beverage with every meal, make it water (or unsweetened seltzer or iced tea—skip the sodas and juices). It will help keep you hydrated and avoid unnecessary sugar (even the natural sugar in fruit juice isn’t necessary—you’re much better off eating whole fruits).
Where’s the Fat?
One criticism of MyPlate is that it doesn’t explicitly include any fat. Fat, in case you don’t know, is an important nutrient, crucial for keeping your skin and hair vibrant, absorbing vitamins, making hormones that send messages throughout the body, and providing structure to all of your cells as well as your brain. So why isn’t there a fat section on MyPlate? The simple answer is that we tend to eat fat as part of our meal rather than as a standalone item. Dressing and avocado on your salad and the fats naturally found in protein foods like tofu, fish, nuts, and eggs all count toward your fat for the day. What you need to know about this nutrient: with the exception of the omega-3s found in fish, which you read about in Chapter 4, the fats you want to eat are the plantbased ones. You’re best off avoiding “solid fats” (aka solid at room temperature), which may come to you naturally as a VegHead since they’re found in foods like meat, cream, and butter. They’re also in veg-friendly foods like margarine, shortening, and hydrogenated oils used in many packaged foods. Instead, get your fat from plant-based sources like vegetable oils (like olive and canola), avocados, nuts, olives, and seeds.
MVP (Most VegHead Player) Grain Spotlight: Quinoa
This not-technically-a-grain grain (it’s actually a seed, though experts consider it a grain since we eat it like one and it’s nutritionally similar to other members of that family) is native to the Andes mountains and has had a huge increase in popularity over the last few years. People love quinoa because it cooks quickly, tastes great in a lot of different recipes, and is extra healthful—it’s also naturally gluten free, making it a super food find for people who can’t eat the protein found in wheat. The reason why quinoa is especially useful for VegHeads is that it’s higher in protein than most other grains. A half cup of cooked quinoa has about four grams of protein, while the same amount of brown rice has around half that much. It’s also one of the only plant foods that contains all of the essential amino acids your body needs (you’ll remember from Chapter 4 that it’s no big deal if you don’t get them all in one meal, but you can think of it as an added bonus). While it will give your meal a protein boost, quinoa is still a starchy food that you should use to fill the “grain” portion of your plate rather than the “protein” one. But if you’re feeling like your plate is a little light on protein, choosing quinoa can be an easy way to get more of the muscle-building, satisfying nutrient. In addition to plain old quinoa, look for the grain in other forms like pasta, flour, and hot cereal to give meals an unexpected protein boost. And keep your eyes open for the not-as-popular grains buckwheat and amaranth—they’re also good sources of protein that contain all nine essential amino acids.
You’ve heard people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And research shows that’s actually true. Teens who eat breakfast regularly eat more healthfully overall than those who don’t. They’re also more likely to be at a healthy weight (people who skip breakfast tend to get super hungry and overcompensate by eating too much later in the day; doing so may also negatively impact your metabolism). One recent study found that teenage girls who skip breakfast are twice as likely to have diets low in iron and calcium (among other vitamins and minerals), which makes it an extra important meal for veg-leaning teens who are already at an extra risk for not getting enough of these nutrients into their days.
Eating breakfast impacts more than your physical health. It plays a big role in your performance at school. Students who eat breakfast are more alert in class, have an easier time remembering things they’ve learned, and are generally in better moods. Oh, and they also tend to score higher on tests. If that ol’ sleeping with the textbook under your pillow the night before an exam trick hasn’t worked for you yet, try eating breakfast instead (and a little studying probably won’t hurt, either).
So explain to me why, with all of these benefits, 34 percent of girls age six to eighteen say they don’t eat a morning meal. The top two reasons I hear from girls about why they don’t eat breakfast are: “I’m just not hungry when I wake up,” and “I have no time to eat!” Here’s what you can do about both:
It’s hard to eat if you’re not in the mood—and there’s nothing wrong with listening to your body and respecting the cues it sends you. That said, there’s no denying that eating breakfast regularly is a healthy habit. While I don’t suggest forcing anything down your throat, here’s what you can do: eat later. There’s no rule that sitting down for breakfast has to be the first thing you do when you get up in the morning. Instead, wake up, take a shower, put the finishing touches on your math homework, and eat as you’re ready to head out the door. Or make a habit of packing an on-the-go breakfast or mid-morning snackfast (snack/breakfast) that you can eat in an hour or whenever you’re ready for it.
Allow me to be blunt. If you have time to hit the snooze button even just once, you have time for breakfast. If you have time to check Facebook, you have time for breakfast. If you have time to put on makeup or dry your hair, you have time for breakfast. None of these tasks take very long, and eating breakfast doesn’t have to, either. Before you go to sleep at night, make a mental note of what you plan to eat in the morning. If your breakfast of choice requires any preparation, do it before you get into bed. It may even help to get your breakfast ready to go, even if it doesn’t require much work. Set an empty bowl, a spoon, and a box of cereal on the kitchen table so when you see it, you have a reminder to sit down and eat. And if you really, really cannot manage to eke a couple of minutes out of your morning routine for eating, make sure your kitchen is stocked with portable foods that you can grab and go (see below for specific suggestions).
Breakfast tends to not be the most meat-heavy meal of the day. However, depending on where you find yourself on the VegHead spectrum, there are different issues you may face in finding the right meal for your life. Here are a few considerations for the various places you may eat in the morning:
FOR EVERYONE:
• Keep the pantry stocked with one or two of your favorite cereals; it’s hard to find an easier go-to breakfast, and research shows that people who eat breakfast cereals regularly get more nutrients in their diets overall than people who don’t.
• Do your best to sit down and eat. Yes, breakfast on the go is better than no breakfast at all—but stopping for a few minutes to focus on your meal helps your brain register that you’ve eaten and is a smart way to energize before you start your day.
FOR VEGANS:
• Choose a nondairy milk that is fortified with calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin B12. If you’re not using soymilk or a protein-fortified milk alternative, be mindful to get some protein in your breakfast from another source like nuts, seeds, or protein-rich cereal like Kashi GoLean.
FOR EVERYONE:
• You may be surprised to find that school can be a convenient place to grab a healthy breakfast. Some schools are part of the national School Breakfast Program, which means the morning meals sold must meet certain criteria determined by the government. In other cases, schools may sell à la carte options that are not held to the same standards. Either way, the options offered may not be all that veg-friendly. Look on your school district’s website for breakfast menus to decide whether or not eating at school is a good option for you.
FOR EVERYONE:
• The options you find at the dining hall are going to vary widely depending on your school. But reality is that even if the options are plentiful, finding time to stop at the dining hall for breakfast simply does not happen for many students, whether their first class is at 8:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. Instead of missing breakfast, be sure to keep some breakfast options in your dorm room. They don’t have to be fancy—a jar of peanut butter and some whole wheat bread and bananas lifted from the dining hall, dry cereal and the milk of your choice (either from the campus store or dining hall—you can bring it back to your room in to-go cups), or energy bars work just fine.
• If you are an early riser and do manage to get to the dining hall before morning classes, great! You’ll figure out quickly if your school is among those offering veg-friendly breakfasts (they can’t all be the University of Puget Sound, what with its tofu and spinach scramble, or the University of California, Santa Cruz, with vegan Mexican tofu Benedict). Perhaps you’ve found that your dining hall has plenty of cereal options but no nondairy milk alternative, or cooks veggie omelets in the same pans they use for ham and swiss ones—and as a result, your breakfast needs are not being met. Instead of stomping off to class cranky and hungry (bad combo!), speak up about what you’d like to see changed. Dining halls are a business just like any other restaurant, and the people who run it want to see their customers happy. Make your voice heard, whether by slipping a note into the “comments” box or scheduling a meeting with the school’s foodservice representatives.
FOR EVERYONE:
• If there’s one place where breakfast means meat, it’s a restaurant. If your meal comes with a side of bacon or sausage, as many breakfasts do, be sure to specify that you’d prefer yours without. And if you’re not sure what a dish has in it, don’t be afraid to ask—that’s what your server is there for.
FOR LACTO-OVO VEGETARIANS:
• Eggs and breakfast out are like peas and carrots! Mickey and Minnie! Peanut butter and jelly! If you do eat eggs, it should be easy for you to find a breakfast you’d like. And if all the egg options on the menu do contain meat (like Denver omelets and eggs Benedict do), ask for an “all-veggie omelet”—the kitchen will likely be more than happy to whip you up something special with the vegetables they have on hand and any cheese you may like.
FOR VEGANS:
• Be aware that restaurant breakfast standbys pancakes and French toast usually have eggs and milk in them—and may be cooked in butter.
• Oatmeal can be a good option, but sometimes it is prepared with milk rather than water. Consult your server.
*For more on restaurant dining, see Chapter 7, Eat Out Veggie!
FOR EVERYONE:
• The time to think about eating breakfast on the go is not, I repeat, not when you’re already on the go. Being prepared can take your meal from an afterthought to something nutritious that you’ll actually enjoy.
• It’s OK if breakfast looks more like a snack than a meal, as long as you are eating something before your day really gets going.
• On-the-go ideas: Baggies of homemade trail mix (toss cereal with dried fruit and nuts); Larabars; toasted English muffin with peanut butter and banana; yogurt (Greek, regular, or soy) and a pear; a homemade smoothie in a to-go cup (see page 173 for recipes).
• If you’re already out the door and haven’t so much as thought about breakfast yet (fine, I forgive you), try the following stops for healthy and veg-friendly breakfast options:
– Starbucks: oatmeal with nuts and dried fruit (vegan); spinach and feta breakfast wrap (lacto-ovo); veggie and Monterey Jack artisan breakfast sandwich (lacto-ovo); KIND bars (lacto-ovo); Two Moms in the Raw granola bars (vegan); fruit salad and bananas (vegan). Note: soy milk is available for all beverages and is an easy way to get some protein in.
– Dunkin’ Donuts: egg white veggie flatbread (lacto-ovo); Southwest veggie burrito (lacto-ovo); plain bagel with peanut butter (vegan); blueberry muffin (lacto-ovo).
– Jamba Juice: Five Fruit Frenzy smoothie (vegan); Mega Mango smoothie (vegan); Strawberry Whirl smoothie (vegan); Peach Pleasure smoothie (lacto-ovo); Caribbean Passion smoothie (lacto-ovo); steel-cut oatmeal (lactoovo; note that while it is made with soymilk, it contains milk ingredients); fruit and yogurt parfaits (lacto-ovo).
– 7-Eleven or another convenience store: bags of nuts and dried fruit (vegan); yogurt (lacto-ovo); individual cereal boxes with milk or soymilk (vegan or lacto-ovo); Clif or Luna bar (most flavors are vegan); Odwalla bars (six flavors are vegan); hard-boiled eggs (lacto-ovo); fruit salad cups or whole fruit (vegan); string cheese (lacto-ovo).
Let’s do lunch. If you’re like other busy teens, you probably welcome the opportunity to take a midday break from classes, work, chores, extracurricular activities, volunteering, and the other tasks that make life so hectic. But for many teens, it can be tough to make lunch fit into their schedules, not to mention finding foods that taste good and will give them the right balance of nutrients to fuel them until that final bell rings or soccer practice is over. Throw a dietary limitation like not eating meat into the mix, and everyone’s favorite class of the day can feel like more of a hassle than a chance for reboot. Here are some of the challenges most facing the VegHeads I spoke with:
Some schools make lunch a priority and don’t schedule any classes during the lunch hour. But other schools will let students register for as many classes as they’d like, which leaves many students with a superstar high school transcript, but no lunch period. And if you’re already in college, there’s no such thing as “lunch period.” If you have fifteen minutes between classes and a twenty-minute walk from Zombies in Popular Media (a real class at Columbia College Chicago) on one side of campus to Tree Climbing on the other (you’ll find it at Cornell University), there’s no way you’re getting a meal in and making it to class on time.
What you can do about it: rely on the kindness of others. Don’t assume that your teacher will be OK with you eating in class—it may be against the building’s policy, or it can be a safety hazard in a class like Tree Climbing (or more typical classes like biology or chemistry lab). But chances are the instructor will take pity on you and approve you to eat something inconspicuous during his or her class, even if your opportunity is restricted to the first ten minutes before you’ve put your helmet and kneepads on.
Some not-too-smelly, not-too-noisy lunches that you can eat out of your backpack:
• A hummus sandwich with shredded carrots and lettuce
• Regular or nondairy yogurt with berries and a bag of granola
• A thermos full of soup
• Dried fruit and string cheese
For many students who are lucky enough to have lunch scheduled into their day, the break comes at an odd time. Don’t get me wrong: it’s great to have time devoted to nothing but eating and socializing (OK, and finishing up French homework), but if that break comes at 9:25 in the morning, you can’t exactly call it a midday meal. Same idea if your lunch period is the last class of the day—it sounds tempting to get a break before afterschool activities start up, but if you’re not eating until close to when the final bell rings, you’ve probably gone a seven-or eight-hour stretch without any fuel. And that means you were fading fast those last few classes.
What you can do about it: you must, must, must plan ahead for a midday snack. Use your off period to eat a real meal, since you’ll have time to go to the cafeteria or off campus and actually sit and enjoy your food. But if your classes go for longer than a four-or five-hour stretch without a fuel break, you’re going to need a supplemental snack. Here are some lunch boosters to help you make it through your marathon o’classes:
• An energy bar—look for one without a lot of added sugar like Larabar, Pure Bar, or KIND bar.
• A small bag of nuts—pack it yourself or buy a prebagged one like Planter’s NUT-rition Heart Healthy mix or Blue Diamond 100-calorie almond packs.
• A dairy or nondairy yogurt with a Baggie of granola.
• One squeeze pack of Justin’s Nut Butter plus a banana or apple.
Like breakfast, the food options schools offer during lunchtime vary widely. Public schools that participate in the national school lunch program are under no obligation to offer vegetarian meals; however, many do because of the large number of students who prefer to eat veg. In Florida’s Sarasota County Schools, cafeteria staff offer students VegHead options like veggie pita delight with hummus and veggie taco salad with red kidney beans a few days each month. And in NYC, P.S. 244 in Flushing, Queens became what is thought to be the nation’s first all-veg public school cafeteria, serving dishes like braised black beans and plantains and falafel with cucumber salad. Of course, there are also schools where the best you may do is a cheese sandwich on white bread or a slice of greasy pizza (not exactly the best foods to fuel you through the afternoon, and not helpful at all if you’re vegan). If your school has veg-friendly choices, you are already well aware of them. Show your appreciation by buying them regularly and telling the foodservice staff how thankful you are that they are looking out for you. If veg-friendly lunches are not the norm at your school, here are some ways to improve your options:
• Ask, ask, and then ask some more. The people who make decisions regarding food at your school may simply not realize that there is a demand for vegetarian food. Some school foodservice operations hold regular meetings for students to voice their opinions about the cafeteria; see if your school has such meetings and ask if you can attend. Look for a suggestion box to write in requests too. And it couldn’t hurt to share some resources with your school’s foodservice team. The website www.pcrm.org/health/healthy-school-lunches is run by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an organization that promotes vegan diets, and is packed with resources (like meal ideas and vendors) and rationale (like information about the financial benefits) for including more vegetarian options that can help encourage decision-makers at your school to incorporate the foods you want into your cafeteria’s repertoire.
• Move them toward Meatless Monday. It’s a lot to ask your school foodservice team to offer veg-friendly options every day. But your district’s foodservice director might be more open to test-driving vegetarian food once a week—and if that goes well, you can nudge them to expand the program. Schools and universities all over the country have adopted Meatless Monday, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Visit www.meatlessmonday.com/meatless-monday-school-programs for more information including tool kits for K-12 schools as well as universities.
• Supplement what’s there. If your school has a salad bar, but there’s nothing but veggies on it (veggies are great, but you know that you’re going to need some protein to get through the afternoon), bring a bag of chickpeas or nuts with you to enrich your school’s attempt at vegetarian cuisine with the nutrients you need. Maybe your school has turkey and cheese wraps. You can get yours without turkey of course, but if cheese every day gets old (or you’re vegan), toss a single-serving container of hummus in your backpack in the morning. Order your sandwich with just veggies, unwrap it, spread on some hummus, rewrap, and you’ve got a vegtastic lunch.
The nice thing about bringing lunch to school is that you—or whoever is packing your meal—has more options available to them than whatever you’ll find in the lunchroom. That doesn’t mean that brown-bagging it is without issues though. “Because I was a vegetarian, my dad made me a PB & J every day for lunch for five years of grade school,” said Andy, eighteen. “I haven’t eaten a single PB & J since. BLEHHHHH!” When your options are even slightly limited, it’s easy to get into a rut. Here are some out-of-the-bag lunch ideas to help keep things interesting (check out page 167 for recipe ideas too):
• Use a thermos to keep hot soup or chili at the right temperature until lunchtime. Kleen Kanteen makes sleek-looking BPA-free insulated thermi (that’s the plural of thermos, right?) that keep liquid hot for up to six hours.
• Try a bento (lunch) box. Bento is the traditional take-out or home-packed meal in Japan that usually consists of some combination of rice, fish or meat, and vegetables, portioned in small boxes. Compartment-based lunch carriers are available here too (I like the ones by Laptop Lunches, www.laptoplunches.com), or you can use a few small Tupperware or Pyrex containers to cobble together your own. Put whatever you’d like in your boxes; just be sure it matches up with the guidelines outlined in MyPlate to ensure a balanced bento.
• Repurpose your leftovers. Sure, you can toss the remainder of last night’s Asian veggie-tofu stir fry into a container and call it a day (if you’re lucky enough to have access to a microwave for reheating). But how about revamping it into an Asian wrap? Simply roll into a whole wheat tortilla and you’ve got lunch made. Same with the Greek salad you had for dinner. Stuff into a pita and you’ve got a Mediterranean pocket lunch.
Raise your hand if you eat dinner with your family, at least a few times a week. You’re not alone—about 80 percent of parents with kids age eighteen and younger say they eat dinner as a family at least four nights per week, according to a 2005 Gallup poll. Making sure to eat dinner together is one of the best things families can do. Kids who eat regularly with their parents have healthier diets, are less likely to develop eating disorders, and do better in school, according to a growing body of research on the topic. As for the parents…well, they get to spend more time with their awesome kids, which is what all moms and dads want, right?
Benefits aside, dinnertime can be a difficult time of day for those on the veggie spectrum. When you’re out and about, you have the freedom to make the choices that are right for you. If Dad’s making dinner, your options may be more limited. And if your family isn’t super supportive, sitting around the table for some good grub and conversation may be the moment when you get the most grief over your dietary choices.
Here are a few strategies you can use to keep the peace and help adjust your family’s favorite meals so you get a dinner that tastes great and gives you the nutrition you need—without making Mom’s head pop off and do that spin-around-in-circles thing.
Your parents taught you as much, right? Awesome if you’re feeling proud about your dietary choices—you should! But it’s not your job to convert your family to your eating habits, just as it’s not their place to get you to change. So what does being polite entail? Well, you probably shouldn’t refer to the burgers on your parents’ plates as “flesh” like I did for the better part of high school (thank you again, Mom and Dad, for not killing me). And you might not want to make grossed-out, “blech” faces at their meatloaf. In other words, treat their food choices with the same amount of respect you want them to give yours—even if they don’t hesitate to give you a hard time. You know—be the bigger person and all. Set a good example and take comfort in knowing that if you just sit back, eat delicious, mouth-watering meals, and feel healthy and energized as a result, before long they will be asking if there are any extra black bean burgers you’re willing to share.
Does your dad ask you if you’d like some chicken, steak, or lamb—every single night? You have every right to be frustrated. But never let ’em see you sweat. Smile, say “no thank you,” and then ask Dad if he’d like some extra salad. Or ask him how his day was. Or how those Red Sox are doing this year (even if it’s football season). Just keep the conversation moving—and away from the topic of your diet. If you get agitated, it sends the message that you’re unsure of your decision to go veg. The firmer you are in your stance and the clearer you are in your message, the less likely people will be to try and knock you down.
While some meals your family eats may be completely off-limits to you (you can’t exactly take the ground beef out of a pot of five-alarm chili con carne), others will lend themselves to some mixing and matching. Ask whoever does the cooking to avoid mixing meat-containing ingredients with nonmeat ones, or ask them to set some pasta, veggies, and other veg-friendly items aside for you before meat is added in. Instead of eating just the pasta or rice—the trap that so many VegHeads fall into—replace one protein with another that is right for you. Here are a few simple swaps you can make to your family’s meat-based meals:
– Pop out…meatballs.
– Pop in…frozen meatless meatballs, defrosted in the microwave.
• Chicken stir fry
– Pop out…chicken.
– Pop in…cubed tofu, stir-fried in sesame oil.
• Hamburgers
– Pop out…beef patty.
– Pop in…a frozen burger that meets your needs (like Gardenburger or vegan BOCA burger).
• Roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and string beans
– Pop out…chicken.
– Pop in…white beans drizzled with olive oil and rosemary (microwave or heat on stove).
• Steak fajitas
– Pop out…steak.
– Pop in…black beans, tossed with barbecue sauce (microwave or heat on stove).
If Mom throws her hands up in the air saying, “I just don’t know what to make anymore!” tell her you have just the suggestion (this book is full of them—check out Chapter 10 for dinner ideas that even the most stubborn meat-minded eaters will love). You see, Mom may feel like preparing a meal that makes everyone happy is her responsibility—and maybe up until now, it has been. Recognize that the decision you’ve made is your decision alone, and you can’t expect everyone to instantly change to accommodate you. (If you do have super supportive parents who started making and eating veg-friendly dinners without batting an eyelash, great! But know that you’re lucky. Not everyone has such support from the start.) Instead of making this Mom’s burden, carry some of the weight along with her. In addition to sharing ideas from this book, keep your eyes open for recipes and meal ideas from newspapers, blogs, and more (check out Chapter 9 for useful resources). Oh, and the assistance you offer doesn’t have to end there. Even if your parents love cooking, they will probably not mind getting a day off every now and then. Offer to make dinner for the whole family, just once, or once each week. If Mom and Dad are hesitant about eating meat-free meals, the trade-off of having dinner on the table when they get home from work may be just enough to convince them to give it a try. And no doubt, the delicious recipe you’ve chosen combined with your burgeoning cooking skills will make their appetites for veg grow.
In addition to your school, your household can also make the decision to start each week fresh with one meat-free day. Share the Meatless Monday website with your family so they can see some of the benefits of nixing meat one day per week. Explain that you’re not trying to alter the way they eat; rather you’re showing them how tasty and easy eating vegetarian can be—and wouldn’t it be great to make a difference as a family by agreeing to this one small change? You can also offer to cook dinner for everyone on Mondays, to make it just a little more palatable for your parents to jump on board with this plan.
If you’re a lacto-ovo vegetarian, extras like munchies, beverages, and sweets shouldn’t cause much trouble for you—I mean, when was the last time you had a cake with meat in it? (You may want to check out Chapter 6 for surprising sources of meat-based ingredients; however, those examples are the rare exceptions.) If you’re transitioning to being vegan, however, there’s a lot of potential that the foods you eat may contain ingredients that you’re actively trying to avoid. Here are a few tools to help you ensure that the extras you’re eating are vegan-tastic:
In a move toward making products more natural, a number of companies are using ingredients like cane sugar, agave, and honey to sweeten foods and beverages instead of high-fructose corn syrup, which is made using a chemical process. If you avoid honey since it comes from bees, this could spell trouble for you. You may also be staying away from sugar that’s been whitened by bone char. (Say what? See page 110 for more details.) Be sure to read ingredient lists for sweet foods—even if they’re benign-seeming ones like iced teas and sauces—to make sure you’re comfortable with all of the ingredients.
If your friends are chowing down on buttery chocolate chip cookies, it’s reasonable that you might not crave a Baggie full of carrot sticks or apple slices. Fresh fruits and vegetables are always vegan, yes—but they may not feel like the foods you want to munch at an all-night Twilight marathon sleepover (of course—nutrition nerd alert here—if fruits and veggies do satisfy your snack tooth, more power to you!). If it’s got to be junk, here are some PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) approved vegan options you’ll find at mainstream grocery stores around the country:
• Vienna Fingers
• Nutter Butter cookies
• Unfrosted Pop Tarts
• Entenmann’s single-serve snack pies—cherry, lemon, and apple
• Fritos
• Lay’s Classic Potato Chips
• Jolly Ranchers
• Sour Patch Kids
• Fruit by the Foot
Some cities have an assortment of vegan bakeries to choose from (see Chapter 7 for a sampling of sweet spots you can visit around the country). In other places, though, shopkeepers will look at you like you have three heads if you ask if any of their cookies are egg and dairy free. Regardless of where you live, however, you can turn your kitchen into a vegtastic dessert factory. Added bonus: your homemade treats will cost a lot less than professionally made vegan baked goods, which are notoriously pricey. Not to mention you get to eat cookies, muffins, and more fresh out of the oven. Check out Chapter 9 for recipe resources, along with the recipes in Chapter 10.
Vegpreneur: Nia Froome, Founder of Mamma Nia’s Vegan Bakery
Think you’re too young to put on an apron? As a seventeen-year-old high school student, Nia Froome had little experience baking. She had also never run a business before. But inspired by a lesson in an entrepreneurship class about cookie queen Mrs. Fields, Nia decided to develop a business plan for a vegan cookie company. While Nia is not a vegan herself, she chose to make her company vegan as a tribute to her parents who had gone vegan ten years before, when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Mamma Nia’s Vegan Bakery took off, with Nia eventually winning a nationwide youth entrepreneur contest that granted her a $10,000 prize and an opportunity to meet President Barack Obama at the White House, among other things. Nia’s advice for veggie and other teens who are starting to experiment in the kitchen: Be persistent. “Don’t be afraid of failure,” she says. “You’re going to mess up before you get a recipe exactly the way you want it. But it’s not hard if you enjoy what you’re doing.”
As you’ve read, eating well as a vegetarian often depends on being prepared. Making sure your kitchen is stocked with the right foods is going to determine how easy or hard your transition to veg is. And whether it’s you or a parent who does the grocery shopping in your house, at some point somebody has probably thought “well, what the heck do I buy now?” This guide is designed to take the guesswork out of grocery trips. Choose your favorite foods from each category for a complete kitchen.
EVERYONE:
• Fresh produce (choose one or more of each, depending on your family’s needs)
– Salad greens: romaine lettuce, mixed greens, baby spinach, arugula
– Leafy greens for cooking: kale, chard, spinach, escarole
– Cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, broccoli rabe, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, red cabbage, green cabbage, napa cabbage
– Starchy vegetables: potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn
– Other vegetables: carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, avocados, eggplant, bell peppers, garlic, onions
– Herbs/spices (fresh or dried): basil, parsley, rosemary
– Fruit (vary based on season, cost, etc.): apples, pears, bananas, melon, berries, citrus
• Beans
– Your favorite beans, canned or dried: chickpeas, cannellini beans, kidney beans, black beans
– Hummus or other bean dip
– Tofu or tempeh, if you like them
• Grains
– Whole-grain pasta
– Quinoa
– Bread: whole wheat English muffins, sandwich thins, loaf of bread
– Rice: brown rice, wild rice
– Tortilla: corn or flour
– Other grains: millet, amaranth, grits, polenta, oatmeal
– Boxed cereal like Cheerios, Kashi GoLean, Shredded Wheat, granola, and more
• Dairy or dairy alternatives
– Lowfat milk or alternative milk: soy, almond, coconut or other
– Yogurt (recommended: Greek yogurt) or alternative
• Nuts/seeds
– Whole nuts: walnuts, almonds, peanuts
– Individual packets of peanut or other nut butter
– Tahini
• Oils
– Olive
– Canola
• Snacks
– Bars: Larabar, KIND bar
• Frozen
– Amy’s meals
– Frozen fruit bars
– Frozen vegetables
• Condiments
– Mustard
– Barbecue sauce
– Ketchup
IF YOU’RE LACTO-OVO, ADD:
• Milk: lowfat, organic
• Yogurt: regular or Greek yogurt like Oikos
• Eggs: pastured or organic
• Cheese: your favorites like mozzarella, swiss, or grated parmesan
IF YOU’RE PESCETARIAN, ADD:
• Fresh fish
• Canned fish
– Sardines
– Salmon
– Tuna
• Nondairy milk alternative
• Nondairy yogurt
• Chia seeds/flaxseeds (for use instead of eggs in baking, see Chapter 10 for details)
• Nutritional yeast
Budget Veg
As you may have already learned, many people subscribe to the misconception that vegetarian foods are expensive. Of course, you know that cost depends on the choices you and your parents make at the grocery store. Vegetarian ingredients—vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, eggs—are not super pricey, especially when you compare them to the cost of meat (expensive, especially if you look for higher-quality conscious carnivore meat options like organic and grassfed varieties). Vegetarian products, on the other hand—veggie burgers, fake meats, soy cheese, frozen meals, coconut milk “ice cream”—can really add up, price-wise. Here are some strategies for keeping grocery costs down:
Focus on whole foods. Convenience comes at a cost. Buy foods in their least-processed state as much as possible—kitchen staples won’t break the bank, while premade foods just may. Think a sack of potatoes rather than a bag of frozen roasted potato wedges—you or your parent can easily slice, toss with some oil and salt, and roast away.
Shop on sale. Pay attention to discounts offered at the grocery store, and mix it up according to what’s on special. It’s not important to buy the same things from week to week—in fact, it’s healthier if you vary the specific foods you eat so you get a range of nutrients. If you want to buy organic fruit, don’t commit to berries or bananas. Simply pick up the one that’s a better value. And stock up wherever you can when you see discounts on pantry staples that won’t soon go bad like pasta, sauces, and condiments.
Be a coupon queen. If there’s one thing packaged food companies love, it’s getting you to try their products. So while you may not see many coupons for items like carrots and milk, you’re very likely to find ones for things like frozen bean and cheese burritos and meatless meats. Look for coupons in the circular that comes with the weekend newspaper, on company websites (if there’s a new food you’d like to try, visit their site to see if there’s a coupon you can print), on coupon apps or websites like couponmom.com, or in the newsletter that you can pick up when you enter the grocery store. Whole Foods is one grocery chain that offers loads of discounts on veg-friendly foods.
DIY it. Instead of springing for frozen veggie burgers that cost $5.00 per box, make your own for just pennies per patty. You can even prepare them ahead of time and store in aluminum foil in the freezer for the same convenience of store-bought frozen burgers. Check out Chapter 10 for one great meatfree burger recipe.
Save up for splurges. You’re probably not going to figure out how to make meatless bologna at home, and that’s OK. But cut costs where you can. For instance, canned beans are an inexpensive food—but dried beans are downright cheap, and the savings can really add up if you eat beans as much as some VegHeads do (it also doesn’t hurt that beans you’ve hydrated yourself often taste a lot better than the mushy ones you’ll get from a can).
Hydrating Beans
Using dried beans is super easy, saves money off your grocery bill, and makes beans taste way better (if you’ve never liked beans before, try them this way before you sign them off for good). There are two methods you can use:
QUICK SOAK:
Put beans in pot with double the amount of water as beans. Bring water to a boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to soak for 1-2 hours. Drain liquid. In a pot, boil twice as much water as you have beans. Add beans and cook for 1-1.5 hours or until soft.
SLOW SOAK:
Cover beans with twice as much water and soak overnight, anywhere from 8-18 hours. Drain liquid. In a pot, boil twice as much water as you have beans. Add beans and cook for 1-1.5 hours or until soft.
What The Heck Are…tofu, tempeh, and seitan?
You’ve heard of tofu. But that’s not the only meat mimic you’ll see popping up on vegetarian menus. Here’s the lowdown on these replacement products:
Tofu: Created by a process similar to the way milk is turned into cheese; this protein-rich Asian staple is available in the U.S. in several different textures—extra firm, firm, and silken—and can be used in a wide range of different ways.
Tempeh: Made from fermented soybeans, this grainy, nutty cake (you can slice it or crumble it) is rich in filling fiber as well as protein.
Seitan: Often sold as “mock duck” or “mock chicken” in Asian restaurants, this fake meat is actually made from the protein in wheat known as wheat gluten. Some vegetarians don’t like it because its texture is too meaty!