Making a Meal Out of Sides

   Today I found myself eating in a chain restaurant with friends where the food is generally reheated rather than served fresh. My first glance at the menu led me to believe there was quite a selection for vegetarians. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that three of the vegetarian meals were the same cauliflower cheese dish that had been included under different course options. The only main I could find that included no animal protein was a jacket potato with baked beans. Tinned beans aren't ideal, I know, but sometimes you have to cheat a bit. With all the will in the world, a jacket potato with beans is never going to be an exciting meal. So, I decided to add a side of flat mushrooms to make it a bit more interesting.
   Making a meal out of starters and sides is a skill that I picked up whilst living in Greece. Whereas Greek main meals generally revolve around meat, the starters (or mese dishes) are usually vegetarian, and a lot are plant-based.
   If you are finding it hard to make a plant-based choice when eating out, why not order a combination of starters and sides instead? It gives you much more variety and your dining companions will no doubt be jealous of your personal buffet!

Do We Lack Nutrients?

A few weeks ago I talked about Rip Esselstyn and the Engine 2 Diet. On his website, Rip answers what I believe is one of the most frequently asked questions about plant-based diets.

Ever since I became a vegetarian, people have told me that I’m unhealthy. Usually while they’re munching on an incredibly unhealthy beef burger, I might add. The common misperception is that if you don’t eat meat or dairy products, you lack protein, iron and calcium. They literally look at you like they expect you to drop dead in front of them. People are quite often surprised when I say I’m a vegetarian, as I don’t look permanently ill. Believe it or not, I have survived without meat now for almost twenty years, and I intend to do it for a lot more years to come.

Spinach, mushrooms, beans, oatmeal, wholewheat pasta, corn and potatoes are all healthy sources of protein. Iron can be found in lentils, beans, leafy vegetables, pistachios and tofu. Green leafy vegetables such as collard greens, kale, bok choy and romaine lettuce are great for calcium, as well as nuts, oranges, kidney beans, lima beans, whole grains, lentils, raisins, broccoli and brussel sprouts.

As Rip explains, the only nutrient that you may develop a deficiency in on a plant-based diet is vitamin B12. If this is a concern, you can get your daily supply from two tablespoons of nutritional yeast, a glass of fortified soya milk, a bowl of fortified cereal or a 500 milligram B12 supplement. That’s not bad compared to the number of omnivores who can eat anything they want, but choose to eat only the bad stuff and therefore develop lots of deficiencies.

Deficiencies are sometimes unavoidable, no matter what you eat. Both my father and I have problems giving blood due to our iron count being ‘at the lower end of the normal scale’ (the story of my life!). I eat an iron-rich plant-based diet, and he eats meat.

Before I stopped eating dairy I was told by a dentist that I had a calcium deficiency. One of the solutions was to drink more cows milk. No matter how much milk I drank, it didn’t seem to make any difference. Since converting to a plant-based diet, my calcium levels are fine.

So, next time you meet a vegetarian, please don’t look so surprised that they’re still able to stand.

An extra note about the blood donation and my apparently low iron count – a quick jog around the car park before I take the iron test seems to get my blood moving faster and I pass with flying colours, so I’m not so sure it’s my actual iron that’s the problem. I think my blood is just a bit slow.