Anyone a Vegitarian, or near vegitarian?

I've had a couple minor issues with my health and now am on a regulated diet for the next few months. But I'm now on a very low sodium very low fat, nearly vegitarian diet (3oz of meat or fish 1 day a week).

I'm not complaining, and I'm actually sticking to the diet, but my goodness the food is very bland! Even spiced up with herbs, I find I miss salt terribly.

So here is my question, if you limit salt, dairy and fat, how do you get flavor?

Receipes PLEASE . . . !

If all goes as planned, I will be back on a nearly "normal" diet by the end of summer, but I guess my old way of eating was not really "normal" by dietary standards. Anyway, I need a bit of help from you folks.

Any reciepies for veggies, pasta, rice, etc that are low fat/salt/dairy?

Hmmm . . . no salt - that's hard.

Yup - you're screwed.

Whoever tells you there is life without salt is living an empty life.

However, I suspect that over time your tastes will adjust. It's just a matter of how much time and how long you can hold out.

Good luck,

PB

I hear that a low salt, vegetarian diet gives one a 98% chance for turning into a liberal democrat. Time to buy the tie-dyed Hawaiian shirt, gold peace symbol medalian, Berkenstock sandals, and incense. Do you want to borrow my "Kerry for President" t-shirt?
Bone

Bob, I started the salt free thing two years ago. I was getting older and thought it was the right thing to do. What I did was substitute regular black pepper for salt. I still don't eat salt and don't miss it much with one exception, I still put salt on fries, but because I don't use salt any where else I don't need much. The down side is, a lot of prepared frozen or canned food is now way to salty for my taste. Good Luck

I arent a fan of salt, so I just dont use it.
Curry is good, pasta and sauce, fish, roast meals......Get foods from the animal or plant, not from a can or packet. Unsalted butter, unsalted crisps (or none atall), the list goes on.
Most meals can be eaten without being ruined by salt.

On the other hand, I do like a bit of salt, to raise the blood pressure to erode the fat in my arteries

Roadking, I find that too, those microwave meals are very salty. Pity, because I eat alot of them.

RoadKing said:

I still put salt on my fried

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Hmmm. . . I never eat fries (well OK I do, but maybe only twice a year) But I suspect that I will end up thinking that everything is too salty when this is done.

Bonehead said:

"Kerry for President" t-shirt?

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Well I already have several pairs of Birkies, we have incense in several rooms of the house (the non-burning liquid wicking stick variety) and I have some tie-dyed Hawaiian style shirts. But I have to draw the line at the gold peace symbol and any T-shirt with a donkey's butt on it.

Mith said:

Get foods from the animal or plant, not from a can or packet...

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Mith, I'll agree with you but my diet is currently very restrictive. No animal or fish except for 3oz 1 day per week. Very restrictive dairy on this diet (and that is made worse by the fact that I am lactose intolerant even without this diet). No animal fats, so butter is eliminated.

We do grow our veggies organically, and I have no problems eating lots of fruits and vegetables. But it seems like I am lacking decent receipies that give me a good variety of flavors.

Mrs. Dash salt substitute can add some flavor to the bland items if it is allowed in your dietary plan. Otherwise you may have to buy the VW bug bus, put on the peace sign and join a vegetarian commune.

Could all that cabbage and other strange items you have been telling us that you eat, brought any of these problems with real food?

But always remember, change is good.....or just tasteless......

mtntopper said:

Could all that cabbage and other strange items you have been telling us that you eat, brought any of these problems with real food?

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I can still eat cabbage!

B_Skurka said:

I can still eat cabbage!

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Jalepenos!!!!!!

BoneheadNW said:

I hear that a low salt, vegetarian diet gives one a 98% chance for turning into a liberal democrat. Time to buy the tie-dyed Hawaiian shirt, gold peace symbol medalian, Berkenstock sandals, and incense. Do you want to borrow my "Kerry for President" t-shirt?
Bone

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Just smoke a little weed Bob; everything will taste good then and you'll turn into a Libertarian and lobby for legalization.

Seriously though, I don't eat much salt either. I consume lots of olive oil instead of butter for cooking and dipping; it adds flavor to lots of dishes. I'm kinda hooked on it; must have been Italian in a previous life. I don't even salt my scrambled eggs. You really will get used to it over time. I didn't cut back salt for a health issue, I just decided years ago to start tasting my food before salting it and wound up using less and less over time.

Fresh garlic, cloves, cilantro, fresh jalapeños, and just about any fresh herbs you like can minimize the need for salt.

I do have one salty indulgence, and that is sunflower seeds in the shell. My daughter is pitcher for a fast-pitch softball team and they help calm the nerves of this anxious dad when the game’s on the line and everybody knows my kids the pitcher. I only eat ‘em at the ball park where I can spit unobstructed.

am a vegetarian an theres loads a stuff to make lol i eat alot of stir frys!! when u dont eat stuff with salt for a while..food with salt in it then makes u feel ill lol always happens to me

Boy, thats a tough one...... No meat or salt..... I' be thinking about an antifreeze topping..... The first thing that comes to mind is hot sauce, but thats got sodium too... Maybe you can do alot of label reading to figure out what has the lowest.. Jalapenos are a good idea, dont say you cant have spicey things, I'd have to just quit eating all together .. I feel for you man, the pepper and other spices the guys mentioned can help too.. I've come to use allot more pepper to reduce the salt as well, just because I know the salt can be bad in high quantities.. Good luck, sorry I dont really have the silver bullet for you..

The lack of meat has really not been too big of an issue for me. But the elimination of salt and oils really does cut into the taste of things. It would be easy enough to give up salt if I didn't also have to give up oil. But the combination seems to be a 1-2 punch to the lack of flavor!

Stir Fry is great . . . but requires oil so I can't eat it. Soy sauce is also common on stir fried food and soy sauce is basically liquid sodium (salt) so that again knocks it out.

Anti-freeze topping!!! YIKES, no I'm not ready for that (yet). I actually ate 4 or 5 potato chips yesterday (not allowed) and they did not even taste good. But I sure could go for a nice blueberry muffin. Can't have them. So my wife made me a batch of 'health muffins' that are basically edible?

Here is what she did.
2 bananas
1 cup pear
1 cup blueberries
1 T cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice for a more complex flavor)
2(?) cups plain oatmeal

The bananas and pear contain quite a bit of moisture, they need to be crushed and mixed with a blender. The cinnamon and oatmeal are beaten in. At the very end the blueberries are added and gently folded into the mixture.

The mixture is then placed into a muffin cups and baked at 350 for about 20-25 mintues. It sets up and looks like an unrisen muffin. It can also be formed into bars or made in a loaf pan and cut into cubes.



BTW my weight is down to 185#. I will wither away if I have to stay on this diet for much longer!

Man, that just sounds tough... Couldnt immagine actually doing it... Have you been told to "cut back" or quit altogether for a period to see how it works??

When you mentioned the muffins, I thought of some bannana bread muffins my buddies wife makes, their great... But they are cooked with butter and have nuts(oil and salt)... I might be able to cut back, but I dont think I could quit unless I was stranded and didnt have a choice.. I truely feel for you..BTW, I wont tell you about dinner

I cheated. A hamburger from HOOTERS for lunch today. No fries. No wings. No salt. No beer.

But I was back on the diet again tonight. So one little lapse isn't soooo bad is it?

If all this works out, and it looks like it is based on some tests taken already, I will probably be off the diet by the end of July. This is a short term clensing type thing to get all my meds in line (basically I am a health mess but nothing that will kill me) then at the 'end' of the diet I get to start to introduce my normal eating habits slowly. There is obviously something that throws off my blood chemistry so once that is isolated then that will be eliminated but I'll be able to eat everything else. Nothing is seriously wrong, it is just sort of the doctor's way of poking me in the eye and saying we can do it the easy way or we can . . . So I figured I'd do the diet for 6 weeks, clean up my system and then work to get back to as normal as I can get.

B_Skurka said:

I cheated. A hamburger from HOOTERS for lunch today. No fries. No wings. No salt. No beer..

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Must be like watching TV and closing your eyes or listening to music with ear plugs........

I actually found out a couple years ago my meds were screwing around with other things in my body and it was not the food and diet as much as just the meds I was taking. Maybe you need to look at other things beyond just your food and diet????? Stress levels are also a problem in many people with high profile jobs.

mtntopper said:

I actually found out a couple years ago my meds were screwing around with other things in my body and it was not the food and diet as much as just the meds I was taking. Maybe you need to look at other things beyond just your food and diet????? Stress levels are also a problem in many people with high profile jobs.

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You are right, and the diet is part of an overall evaluation of everything. There is essentially a process of elimination going on. Work too is stressful as I recently purchased another company and unfortunately the timing to merge the businesses could NOT have been worse. It is the start of my busy season and the height of the new companies busy season, so I'm stuffing 2 companies together when both are running at full capacity. I had been working 6 day weeks and averaging 65 hours at the office but stopped weekends in at Memorial Day and promised my wife I would not work antoher weekend in June (and I need to get some crews in this weekend but . . . ) I've had to rent additional warehouse space and am not happy with that either. So now I'm operating 2 businesses out of 3 locations in 2 counties until I can figure out how to get all of it into 1 facility. Not always fun. I come to the Forums to forget about it!!! But I'd do it again if given the opportunity. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.