Animal Writings

Done with talking about beans? What was I thinking?

• Chili! Kidney beans and pinto beans are classic, but black beans work great, and look around and you'll find recipes for chili that use every kind of legume imaginable. In the DC area or Raleigh, NC, try Hard Times Cafe's vegetarian chili, which is delicious and made with peanuts.


• Black beans, pinto beans, refried beans—all these work great in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and quesadillas. Try the vegetarian fajitas at Chipotle with black beans. Or try local burrito-type shops that make decent veg stuff — or ask if they do. In the DC area, for example, try the spinach burrito with black beans at Burrito Brothers. Hearty, tasty, and filling!


• Class project! I was looking for an easy, tasty red beans and rice recipe that we could all enjoy. Here's what I found. It's from 1995. Is this like the oldest thing on the Internet? Anyway, it says you can use either use Cajun seasoning or a combination of chili powder, cumin, a bay leaf and oregano. You can find Cajun spice blends in most medium or larger grocery stores. But I'm going to guesstimate that I'll use about 3/4 tablespoon of chili powder, 3/4 tablespoon of cumin, and 3/4 teaspoon of oregano. Black pepper is also one of the ingredients. I figure, about ten shakes or a half a dozen cranks, then taste it and go from there. If you're in the DC area, come on over and dig in—just give me some warning so I have enough!

Next: Meat substitutes—the heart of the series.

To be continued...

Labels: black beans, chili beans, cooking, diet, legumes, red beans

[Updated 6/14/08 2:13pm]


A few miscellaneous items:

• Administrative note: I added a counter on the right that shows how many animals in the U.S. have been killed for food since you entered this site. It's pretty alarming: One of our biggest industries is killing. But on Internet Explorer, at least my copy, every time the numbers update, the browser scroll bar flashes. So everyone move to FireFox. Just kidding. I'm trying to fix the problem; but if I can't then I'll drop this feature.


• Neva's comment par excellence in the last post—plus writing about black bean soup and black beans and rice—got me to looking for a hearty—and simple—black bean dish that was sort of a combination of soup and stew last night. And I found one. Back to that in a minute. First I wanted to share some additional tips from Neva, and some of my own thoughts, to help turn you all into master soup makers. :)
  
  The blender of which she speaks is an immersion blender. I had never even heard of an immersion blender six months ago. But now I read about them all the time. They seem very handy: the power of blending but with much more convenience. If you want to puree something that's already cooking in a pot, with a conventional blender or food processor you have to transfer everything from the pot to the blender. And you may have to do it in stages. With the immersion blender, you just immerse the apparatus into the dish and blend away.
  
  I have one of those ancient electric mixers. I wonder how that would work. Possibly it would create a mess of titanic proportions. Neva says that if you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a potato masher to make the soup creamy, although that way you may have some lumps. Which I'm okay with. Actually, now that think of it, I have used a potato masher for this exact purpose, and it works pretty well. It's a very DIY feel.


• I forgot to mention one other thing you can do to reduce the chance of bean side effects. When you open a can of beans, pour them into a colander or strainer and rinse them off well. Bonus: You'll reduce the salt content, too. So many canned and frozen foods, and many deli and restaurant prepared meals, contain too much salt. Among other things, high salt intake may contribute to high blood pressure and bone loss.


• Here's the recipe I found the other night for black bean soup. I made a few changes:
  
  
  • I only used one can of beans instead of two. I wanted it to be more of a bean-potato-vegetable melange, rather than beans with accoutrements.
  
  
  • I didn't peel the potatoes. (I used two medium redskin potatoes; couldn't see any good reason to peel them.)
  
  
  • I took it easy on the Tabasco sauce. You can always leave it on the table for people who want extra hotness.
  
  It was delicious—right on the money.
  
  Which reminds me... In an earlier post, I mentioned that one measure you may be interested in taking, if you're new to beans as a main ingredient in your main courses, is watching your portion sizes. One great way to do this is to start off the meal with a nice-sized salad. Not some tiny pathetic bowl of lettuce and three token cherry tomatoes. (See the earlier posts in the series about simple ways to vary salads.) Put a couple small sprigs of parsley in there. Got some Smokehouse almonds around? Throw a few in the salad. Make simpleton julienned carrots by cutting baby carrots in half lengthwise. Sprinkle on some lemon pepper after you add the dressing. And so forth. Keep the salads interesting and you'll eat more of them. And the fiber (and calories) from the salad will settle in by the time the main course is ready, and you won't eat so much. It all works out very well!

Next: Are we ready for meat substitutes? That's what gave me the original idea for the series.

To be continued...

Labels: animals killed, beans, black beans, diet, legumes

Here are two tips to get more beans in your diet:

• Black beans are the "gentle beans." A good starter bean if you're new to beans. They are amazingly versatile and quite tasty. They are a mainstay in so many cultures. Another incentive to expand your culinary horizons.
  
  If you buy a can of black beans, it may very well have a recipe for an easy black bean soup on the side. If not, do an online search for "recipe vegan easy black bean soup" and have at it. Basic black bean soup recipes usually call for rice, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, corn, and some spices. But the variations on this dish are amazing. It's like 10,000 dishes in one.


• Beans and rice. OMG. I could practically live on this. The variations are ENDLESS. Black beans and rice are a wonderful South of the Border staple. Red beans and rice—we're talking New Orleans. But that's just the start.
  
  You might remember during the interview with Dino I said I would mention Better Homes and Gardens (BHG)? If you go to the BHG recipe page and enter "beans rice" (without the quotes) in the search form, you'll get back over 70 recipes, about 60 of which are true beans and rice, or—bonus—beans and some other grain, like orzo, couscous, or bulgur. Most are vegan or can be veganized very easily. You cannot get any more mainstream than BHG! It's great to see beans and rice representing so well in the heartland. Cheap, tasty, super-healthy, tons of variety, very decent eco-footprint -- please enjoy liberally—even if you're a conservative!

Oh, also, black beans are another common main ingredient in homemade veggie burgers, which we'll get to this year, I promise.

Labels: black beans, diet, legumes

I may be biased toward lentils because I used to live in the lentil capital of the world. (Do you know where that is?) In any case, they're an excellent source of cheap protein. Their nutrition profile is almost unbeatable. I highly recommend them. They're tasty and filling and go well with all kinds of foods. If you're the type of person who likes your main dishes hearty and wants a nice, full feeling after your meal, definitely take a close look at lentils as a regular staple in your diet.

Lentils are simple to cook:

• Measure out your servings and pour the lentils into a strainer that does not have large holes.


• Rinse off the lentils. I use the "spray" attachement on the sink for this. The lentils will sort of stick together in a large mass, which prevents them from falling through the strainer.


• Pour the lentils into a pot. Add the water according to the package directions. Usually it's about a 1-to-2 ratio of lentils to water.


• Bring the water to a boil. Cover and turn the heat down to low. Check after about 20 minutes. You want the lentils to be soft but not mushy. If you do overcook a little, don't worry; they'll still be delicious.

Some recipes vary this process. For example, you might find a recipe in which you sautee or brown the lentils in oil before adding water or stock and boiling them. It's all good.

Here are a few ways you can enjoy lentils:

• Lentils and rice is an amazingly satisfying dinner considering how ultra-simple it is. It's also one of the cheapest meals in the world to make. Add a little non-dairy margarine and soy sauce and you're good to go. Or you can fancy it up in all kinds of other ways.


• You can't beat lentil soup when the weather turns cold. You can buy it in the can, make it yourself, or order it at many restaurants.


• Indian cuisine shines when it comes to lentils. There is a huge variety of Indian dishes that feature lentils. I urge you to try them if at all possible. If you live in a large metropolitan area, you may have access to Indian restaurants that specialize in dishes from specific regions of India. Sample this diversity for a real taste treat. But whether or not you go to Indian restaurants, just do an online search for Indian lentil recipes and you'll be presented with a plethora of super tasty and healthy options. You may want to add "easy" to your search terms.


• Lentils are an excellent filler for homemade veggie burgers. I'm going to talk about this later on in the series. You don't want to miss this!


• Do an online search of "recipe vegan easy lentils" and you'll have enough satisfying and highly doable recipes for a lifetime. I'm not kidding. Be sure to try out international flavors as well as more down home lentil soup / lentils and rice mainstays. I think you'll really like how lentils fit into your overall meal plan.

To be continued...

Labels: diet, Indian, Indian cuisine, Indian food, legumes, lentils

Let's start with the humble chick pea, also known as the garbanzo bean.

• Throw a few chick peas on your salad when you're at the salad bar.


• Hummus is a great product. It has a hippie / granola legacy in the Western world, but it's come of age; it's very mainstream now. Today, in any large grocery store, besides regular hummus, you can find hummus with roasted red peppers, jalapenos, extra garlic, basil, pine nuts, and who knows what else. Classically, you use hummus as a dip with pita bread. Although I'd say for a healthier option, use it as a dip for vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, and broccoli.
  
  I actually prefer hummus in a sandwich. Again, pita is the classic, and that works great, but also try it with whole wheat or pumpernickel. Add a mix of lettuces like you find in the packaged salad mixes or salad bar, and you've got a tasty, filling, and easy sandwich. But feel free to add all sorts of stuff: Sprouts, cucumber, tomato, radishes, avocado—the sky's the limit.
  
  Some people make their own hummus. For the rest of us...If you want to taste the best hummus, go down to a Mideastern or Greek restaurant that serves it. A pizza shop or little corner cafe will do; it doesn't have to be fancy. You'll see what I mean; the hummus at these places is definitely a cut above.


• Speaking of Mideastern restaurants, have you had falafels? If not, you must try them! Get yourself over to a Mideastern restaurant that serves falafels this week; next week at the latest! Falafels are wonderful. They're usually served in, or with, pita bread and topped with tahini, a sesame seed-based sauce. Such excellence from the humble chick pea. You can also make falafels yourself—it's actually not that hard—and some stores sell frozen falafels (which aren't nearly as good as ones made from scratch, but will do).


• Indian restaurants often do some wonderful stuff with chick peas (and chick pea flour). Another chance to broaden your culinary horizons—enjoy!

To be continued...

Labels: chick peas, diet, garbanzo beans, legumes

Legumes includes peas, lentils, and beans—including soy products. For this section of the series, I'm going to focus mainly on lentils and beans, but not soy products like tofu and veggie burgers. We talked about peas back in the vegetable section, and I'll get to the soy stuff later.

Why should you eat legumes?

1. They are extremely healthy. They're low-fat and high-fiber, rich in vitamins in minerals, and have lots of protein. They're also loaded with complex carbohydrates, which supply energy to muscles and the brain. Repeated studies show that when people include legumes as a regular part of their diet, their health improves and they lose weight.


2. They're tasty and versatile. They fit into tons of dishes—salads, soups, side dishes, and main courses—and are featured in a million recipes.


3. They're cheap. If you're on a budget, you definitely want to look at ways you can add legumes into your daily food regimen.

Worried about the side effects? Take note of these strategies:

• Buy Beano or another enzyme product, to help you digest. Beano in particular has a good reputation and is easy to find. There's no shame in purchasing this product!


• Don't gobble down your food. One trick: heat up the plate, so your food doesn't get cold. Another tip: If you're using a serving dish, put relatively small amounts on your plate. Chew and don't eat so fast. Relax and enjoy.


• Control your portions. Make them moderate, not humongous.


• Gradually increase the amount of legumes in your diet; let your body adjust.


• Use the following spices (not all at once): fennel, turmeric, dill, oregano, rosemary, cilantro, and bay leaf.

Often meat-eaters ask vegetarians and especially vegans how they get enough protein. This obsession with protein is sort of amazing. The American diet tends to have, if anything, way too much protein and far too little fiber and certain vitamins and minerals. In any case, legumes are a great source of protein. (Food for thought: Studies suggest that eating lots of animal protein, i.e., meat and dairy, contributes to bone loss. On the other hand, in a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, volunteers who cut their animal protein intake to zero, and got all their protein from plant sources, cut their calcium loss in half.)

Next: Some tips on how to increase the amount of beans and lentils in your diet.

Labels: beans, diet, legumes, lentils

That's a serious deficit.

Now step back a minute. How much do we spend looking for a cure for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes? Billions when you add it all up. What are our medical bills from those diseases? How much do we lose in productivity when people are stricken with these diseases? How much do we spend on long-term care? What about the emotional toll on patients and their families?

According to repeated studies in respected journals, we might cut our risk for those diseases—at least some forms of those disease—by roughly up to a third, simply by switching to a fiber-rich diet as recommended by nearly every health and medical group in the country (probably the entire world). The bottom-line net cost for this powerful preventive measure: zero.

You get fiber from a variety of plant-based foods, including whole grains, and they're as close as your grocery store shelves or local farmers market.

Why isn't the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studying ways to get people to increase their fiber intake? Maybe because there's no prestige in it?

Overwhelmingly, the commercials during prime time are for appallingly unhealthy, low-fiber foods, such as fried chicken, pepperoni pizza, and bacon cheeseburgers. The purveyors of these products know that high-fat, high-salt food is tempting, especially when they present it in the most tantalizing and inviting ways possible. You better believe they spend no small amount of time and money carefully crafting every image, every action by every actor in the commercial—everything; they want you hooked, regardless of what it might do to your health. In between these commercials are a flood of spots for drugs: heartburn pills, weight loss formulas, high blood pressure medications, you name it—conditions that may come about from eating an unhealthy, low-fiber diet. They've got you coming and going. Why doesn't the USDA or NIH promote fruits, vegetables, and whole grains during prime time, and tout these foods' heart disease-, cancer-, and diabetes-fighting potential?

Well, you don't have to wait for the government to change its policies. You can start increasing your intake of fiber-rich foods immediately. Did I say the net cost was zero? I was wrong. It's probably way less than zero once you consider that you'll probably have a much lower outlay for long-term meds and hospital procedures. And the side-effects of more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes in your diet are almost exclusively positive ones, such as more energy, lower blood pressure, improved regularity, weight loss, and overall better health. It's a no-brainer!

I hope the tips in this series for increasing your intake of high-fiber foods help you integrate these natural miracles and potential life-savers into your daily lifestyle.

Here are a couple of tools to help you approximate your individual daily fiber needs and daily fiber intake:

Daily Fiber Intake Requirement
Figure out how much fiber you need per day, roughly (no pun intended).

Fiber Content of Common Foods
Estimate your actual daily fiber intake, in grams. For foods that aren't on the list, pick something close.

Two more tips when increasing your fiber intake:

1. Do it gradually, to let your body adjust.


2. Drink more water. Fiber is like a sponge.

Labels: diet, fiber, fruits, legumes, vegetables, whole grains

Not every suggestion here will please, or be relevant to, everybody. We each have individual tastes and unique time, budget, and accessibility constraints. What I'm going to try do, for most of this series, is present suggestions and recommendations that will be applicable to most people, most of the time.

Every reader is going to already know some of what I say here. My hope, and my goal, is that there is enough new—and usable—information in this series to make it worth your while.

Feel free to comment (or email me) on this series. I try to answer all non-spam correspondence.

For the most part, and within reason, I'm going to ignore cost. In general, you can feed yourself with nutritious food and be perfectly satisfied more cheaply on a vegetarian diet than on a meat-heavy diet. And that's before you get into the long term costs from increased risk of obesity and deteriorating cardiovascular function when you eat too much meat and cheese—heart bypass surgery and lifetime prescriptions are expensive.

But there's something to said for convenience, for which you usually pay a premium, so I'm not going to overlook items such as takeout meals, frozen dinners, and prepared dishes from the deli.

There are a few general rules for saving money on food purchases:

• Eat at home more. Even instant meals are cheaper than most restaurant meals.


• Eat more of these foods: Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts. With few exceptions, these are extraordinary values.


• Use up what you buy. A giant bag of mixed greens may look like a great bargain, but not if you end up throwing half of it out. I'll provide hints later in the series on how to easily prevent waste.


• If you never cook, reconsider. You may enjoy it and have an aptitude for it. Also, the more you do it, the better—and more efficient—you get at it. There are additional potential advantages to cooking, which I'll get into later.

• Watch less TV. At least change the channel or get up and do something when commercials air. TV food advertising during prime-time and sporting events is dominated by fatty, unhealthy products. (There are also lots of advertisements for heartburn medications and erectile dysfunction medications, to partially offset the effects of eating too many bacon cheeseburgers and pepperoni pizzas.)
  
  The advertisers use every technique possible in TV commercials—including camera angles, lighting, backgrounds, facial expressions, use of likeable personalities, music, carefully crafted dialog, and excruciating attention to detail in how the food is presented—to draw you in. McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, and other corporations spend huge sums on TV advertising because it works; it increases demand. You may not be as immune to these schemes as you think.


• Start each dinner with a salad. A healthy salad, that is, with lots of greens and other vegetables. Aim for a pleasing variety of colors, flavors, and textures.
  
  The fiber from the salad fills you up and is a hedge against gorging later in the meal.
  
  The bag-o-prewashed-salad products that have become popular in recent years may be a godsend to salads. Just pull the stuff out of the bag and you're ready to go. You don't have to eat a huge salad, but please eat something bigger than a dinky "side salad." For one thing, you're more likely to use up the salad ingredients before they go bad that way.
  
  You can add all sorts of healthy ingredients to salads that work really well: walnuts, dried cherries, steamed asparagus, orange and grapefruit sections, avocado slices, olives stuffed with pimientos—you name it. I'll go into more detail on salads further down.
  
  If you're pressed for time, use the salad bar at your local grocery store. In fact, shop around; some salad bars have much more healthy variety than others. Resist the temptation to add mayo-saturated options to your salad; that nearly defeats the purpose. On the other hand, the salad bar is a great place to try new food selections, or partake of foods that you like only in small doses or on an occasional basis. You can add one beet to your salad, or one cube of fried tofu.
  
  At restaurants, order a salad and, if need be, ask that it come out before the main course. Pass on the parmesan cheese and ranch or blue cheese dressing. While we're on the subject, try not to fill up on bread, either. However, at a Mexican restaurant, you could do a lot worse than eating a bowlful of chips and salsa that they typically give you as soon as you sit down. The chips tend to be fried and fairly limited in nutritional value, but salsa is actually very healthy.


• Where feasible, hang out with people who eat better than you do, especially at mealtimes or at events where food is involved. The influence rubs off.


• Prefer, or at least try out, restaurants with more than the average proportion of vegetarian selections. Ethnic restaurants, especially Asian or Indian, are often a good bet. Greek and Mideast restaurants will usually have a range of vegetarian offerings, including falafels, hummus, and babaganoush—all of which I'll explain later. You can always get pasta with marinara sauce, and sometimes other meatless tomato-based sauces, at Italian restaurants. A couple of chain Mexican restaurants that come to mind that make mighty good burritos free of animal ingredients are Baja Fresh and Chipotle.
  
  If you live in a large metropolitan area or college town, you probably have access to one or more restaurants that cater to vegetarians. Please consider these. In some cases, they are real eye-openers. You may be able to try vegan versions of quiche, General Tso's chicken, steak and cheese subs, cheesecake, and a thousand other dishes that may or may not have a meat and/or dairy counterpart. Some areas of the country, such as DC , Baltimore, Illinois, and Ohio, have guides to veg-friendly eateries, markets, and bakeries in that area. Often you can order a free or cheap printed version of the guide. These are really handy to have in your car, brief case, or coat pocket. Highly recommended.
  
  If you live or are traveling elsewhere, just search on the web for "vegetarian restaurant" and the name of the city or region in which you're interested, and you're almost certain to get back results that point you in the right direction. Frequently—especially for establishments in larger cities—you'll be able to read reviews as well.
  
  If you're not used to dining at vegetarian restaurants, feel free to tell your server that you're new to this, and you like such-and-such types of foods, and ask what he or she would recommend.

Next: Overall tips to increase the amount of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, respectively, in your diet.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, food, fruit, legumes, meat, restaurants, vegetables, whole-grains

These next few posts are for meat-eaters and (to a lesser extent) cheese-eating vegetarians who don't cook much—because they don't like to or don't have time, or for other reasons.

The main theme is replacing meat in your diet but—to the fullest extent possible—not giving up your comfort foods, not changing your routine, not having to transition to a completely new cuisine. It's a big topic, so it will require multiple posts. In fact, I may write individual posts piecemeal. If I do, the end of the post will say "More to follow..." until the post is complete. Posts will end with "To be continued..." until the series is through.

Now, down the road, I heartily recommend expanding your diet to include a wide range of new tastes, including some of the world's magnificent ethnic flavors. And toward the end of this series, I'll give some tips on how to ease into that. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Why drop meat from your diet?

First, there are the health considerations. The data is in—in spades: A meat- and cheese-heavy diet is unhealthy; a vegetarian diet that focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and a moderate amount of plant-based fats is healthy. When I say "unhealthy" I mean it can debilitate and kill you—slowly, through chronic diseases that start as early as pre-teens and develop and worsen as you age.

Granted, there are exceptions. There are some people who can eat Big Macs every day, and never eat vegetables, and their cholesterol is perfect and they're hearty and vigorous at 70. Just like there are heavy smokers who never get lung cancer or emphysema. But those are the exceptions. The problem is, you don't know in advance if you're going to be an exception. But don't bet on it.

In general, a meat-heavy diet has too much of the bad stuff and not enough of the good stuff. Probably the best-known villain in meat and dairy is saturated fat. Hundreds if not thousands of peer-reviewed clinical and epidemiological studies in mainstream scientific journals show that animal fat intake correlates with heart disease, diabetes, several cancers, and other deadly diseases. But fat isn't the only bad guy in animal products. You also have to worry about cholesterol, chemicals released during cooking, hormones and toxins that accumulate in animal tissue, and bacteria such as salmonella, campylobacter, and e coli.

The good stuff that meat and dairy pushes out include: fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, and about a million micro-nutrients that seem to fight off cancer, heart attacks, and other chronic, debilitating, deadly conditions.

Please note: You may have heard a lot about cutting back on fat in your diet. Be aware that in terms of your health, there is a difference between animal fat and plant fat. Perhaps this is best illustrated by example: In a 2003 study of nearly a hundred thousand women, Harvard researchers found that intake of animal fat, especially from red meat and high-fat dairy products, during premenopausal years had a significantly greater risk of developing breast cancer. There was no relationship between the consumption of vegetable fats and breast cancer found. (Here's the original study: Cho E, Spiegelman D, Hunter DJ, et al. Premenopausal fat intake and risk of breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2003;95:1079-85.)

There's more where that came from.

(By the way, relatively healthy plant sources of fat include olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, flax seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, almonds, avocados, and coconuts. There are many more; these are just a few of the best known and most widely available ones.)

In sharp contrast to the ton of data affirming the harmful effects of meat and dairy, controlled studies (again, published in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals) show that diets free of animal products may reverse heart disease, prostate cancer, and diabetes. That's powerful. Where on the spectrum do you want to be?

One more thing. There are vegan ultramarathon, triathlon, weightlifting, and Olympic champions. Throw out misconceptions of vegetarians as weak. As a rule, they're healthy and virile.

Yes, you can mess up a vegetarian diet by eating nothing but potato chips, saltines, and frosted flakes. But with a decent balance of whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, and "good fats," you will probably be much healthier than the rest of the population, and stay fit well into old age, unless you are very unlucky. Get some exercise, employ some stress-reduction techniques of your choice, be kind to others, rotate your tires, take in an occasional monster truck rally, and you'll likely have a satisfying and meaningful life.

OK, that's health.

To be continued...

Labels: comfort foods, diet, disease, fruit, grains, health, legumes, meat, vegetables