Try to make healthy dishes using fresh ingrediants.
If you don't have time try Whole foods deli as many of thier dishes
there are vegan and very tasty. Get all dairy out of your diet - every
molocule of it. It's one of the biggest causes of disease - even in
small amounts. Replace meats with the fake meats ofr go "no turkey"
right away -it's not that hard.
Shopping: It takes 10
to 13lbs of milk to make a pound of cheese. What is left over is Whey
- a milk protein that contains 75% Lactose. Because there is so much
"leftover" it is very cheap. Food companies interested more
in profits than your health put whey in many many products. Breads,
crackers, croutons, potato chips, drinks, soups, boxed and prepackaged
foods. It's one of the most common ingrediants beacause it's cheap
filler.
Here is a list of other things to watch out for when shopping: Hint bring a magnifying glass as some ingrediant lists are so small they don't want you to know whats in it. I don't list the obvious here like egg whites, milk, milk powder, butter, cream, buttermilk, nonfat milk, lard etc.
Whey - a milk protein that contains 75% Lactose. Lactose is what makes people allergic to milk. It is estmated that 50% of Caucasion people and over 85% of African Americans are allergic to Lactose.
Caseine - a milk protien- is a glue like protein that makes cheese meltable - they use it in Soy based cheese to make it melt. I would not feed it to my dog! Some studies have shown it to be cancer fertilizer.
Ingredients that may contain milk protein
- ammonium, butter, artificial butter, butter
solids/fat, calcium, caramel color, caramel flavoring, casein, caseinate,
ammonium caseinate, calcium caseinate, hydrolyzed casein, iron caseinate,
magnesium caseinate, potassium caseinate, rennet casein, sodium caseinate,
sodium caseinate solids, zinc caseinate, cheese, cream, curds, flavoring,
high protein flour, lactate, lactic acid, lactalbumin, lactalbumin
phosphate, lactoferrin, lactaglobulin, lactose, magnesium, margarine,
milk, buttermilk, milk derivative, milk fat, milk protein, milk solids,
skim milk, powdered milk, dried milk, dry milk solids, sour milk solids,
hydrolyzed milk protein, natural flavoring, Opta (fat replacer), Simplesse
(fat replacer), sour cream solids, whey, delactosed whey, demineralized
whey, whey protein concentrate, whey powder, and yogurt. Those
"natural flavorings" will get you every time. When contacting
manufacturers, you will usually be told that the "natural flavorings"
are "proprietary." That means, secret. The same individual
will not know whether or not they are "dairy." Often times,
neither will the food scientists, since natural flavorings are manufactured
for food processors by third parties. In other words, avoid those
foods with natural flavorings. These chemicals do not do the body
any good.
Hydrongenated oils - Although not an
animal product its best to avoid foods with these "thickened"
oils as they will clog your arteries the same as animal fat. Mostly
in cheap snack foods and cookies.
Overwhelmed? - Don't want to spend hours
reading the ingredients of everything you buy? I understand. As a
vegan your best and tastiest options will come from dishes you make
from scratch. If your food comes from a factory it is likely not a
healthy option for you. Shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joes will
give you more choices as more of their products are dairy free as
they cater to the more "educated" consumer.
Its OK to slowly move into a healthier diet if you have
no urgent health problems. You can buy the fake meat products but
don't include them in your long term plan as they are highly processed
and laden with unatural chemicals. If you are suffering from a degenerative
disease then I suggest you go right to the healthiest diet possible
which is at least 85% RAW organic, 15% cooked organic, no sugars,
white flour or processed foods or salts, no added oils. It's not that
bad. I recommend joining the Cincinnati
RAW FOOD MEETUP GROUP where you will meet many great people who
will help you get started and when you experience the food that everyone
brings to each meeting you will begin to believe that this is a very
satisfying way to eat.
Go to YouTube and search for RAW or Vegan foods and
you will see many free videos to teach you how to cook new and interesting
dishes.
Eating Out: This
is the toughest challenge unless you pick a restaurant that you know
is vegan friendly. The fast food and chain restaurants are profit
driven and make very little or no effort to have Vegan options. Here
are a few options for fast food. Subway's vegetarian sandwhich - no
cheese, Quiznos vegetarian sandwhich - no cheese, Jersey Mike's vegetarian
sandwhich - no cheese, Chipolte vegetarian burrito - no cheese or
sour cream.
Most chain restarants have very few options, maybe
you can get a salad or vegetable side if they are not premade with
butter. Better restaurants almost always have a vegetarian dish that
can be made vegan. A note here: Vegetarian's don't eat meat but still
eat dairy products. They are fooling themselves into thinking this
is a healthy way to eat - it's not. Milk is liquid meat. Use the word
Vegan when talking to restaurant staff and specify no meat or dairy
of any kind. If they can't tell you if a dish is vegan (even if it's
description seems vegan) I recommend you get the manager and leave
if they can't tell you if it is or isn't.
See our list of Vegan friendly
restaurants here. Sorry the Loving Cafe is the only Raw friendly
place I know of in the city other than salads that are available widely.
I also recommend joining the local Earthsave organization. They have
Vegan potluck meetings and you can learn a lot there as well as meet
helpful folks who will coach you. local Cincinnati
chapter.