Anyone have any good Vegan recipes--main dish etc.??
 

My orthoped dr. urged me to go vegan to lose the weight I need to in order to have hip surgery. Have been researching it and it seems a bit overwhelming! Are there any vegans or vegetarians here?

I am not a vegetarian, but I would recommend Weight Watchers. This worked well for me to take off 50 pounds about 4 years ago. Have done good at keeping most of it off.

I'm surprised that the ortho would recommend a particular diet. My suggestion is that you see a nutritionist and have him/her walk you through your new diet and provide menus that are geared to you, your current health and your goals. Assuming you have health insurance, your insurance may cover the nutritional counseling.

If you can't afford to see a nutritionist, then keep a log of everything you eat - every morsel that passes your lips should be written down. Some people find that extremely helpful in realizing just how much they eat every day - and exactly what they are eating, too.

Meanwhile, try these changes to your existing diet.

a) drink water - eliminate soft drinks, diet or regular from your diet. Make sure you drink a full glass of water with every meal.

b) remove what I call 'white food' from your diet - bread, white potato of any kind, minimize cheese, no pizza, pasta once a week, no chips of any kind, no ice cream (a true hardship for me!) and so on

c) dessert once a week

d) Have raw veggies available and ready to snack on every day. Cucumber, zucchini, carrot, sugar snap peas, broccoli, tomato, salad greens. Use only a small amount of dressing as a dip for the veggies, and then only if you must.

e) Eat raw fruit, lots of it.

f) Learn what a serving size is. You will be utterly amazed to learn how small serving sizes are.

Good luck to you!

Why does your Dr. feel that following a vegan diet is going to give you weight loss success?

You're right ... switching to a vegan diet can be overwhelming!!! There is a huge education curve to it. In order to eat vegan, in a healthy way, nutrition can be a huge issue and concern.

Please note, I am not saying, do not go vegan, but to do it in an informed way, knowing why you are doing it, and understanding the basis of it.

I have several friends that are vegetarian or vegan, and several have said that eating "healthy" is actually quite difficult to ensure balanced nutrition is met. Also, that following either can make it difficult to maintain their weight, let alone lose weight. Thus why I asked the reasons your Dr. is urging you in this direction.

As already suggested, talk to knowledgeable people before making the decision. Working with a Registered Dietitian can help you to not only make the decision, but to also put together your meal plans, keeping nutrition in mind.

I am vegan and would never go back to being anything else. I changed three years ago for health reasons. Dr. Neil Barnard has a good website and articles. There was a learning curve to begin with but once you get started it is easy to adapt some recipes and you can also google vegan recipes. Many of the Gardein brand meat substitutes found in the frozen food section are vegan. More than once when I have had people for dinner they were surprised at the meal served because they thought we were vegetarian and are shocked when I tell them they have just eaten a vegan meal. You can also do weight watchers and be vegan too. Not all vegan food is low calorie. Oreo for the most part are vegan. A strict vegan would not count Oreo because they contain sugar and sugar is processed using charred animal bones. Dr. Barnard has a kick start program which is free and aimed at weight loss. Here is a website to start looking at things. http://www.pcrm.org/health/ Your computer and Google will be your best friend in your journey. Message me if you want more information.

My best "go to" vegan meal is spaghetti squash...you can bulk it up with mushrooms, olives, tomatoes...anything you're in the mood for.
You do really have to learn a lot before just diving into vegetarianism...you will need B vitamins for sure, as they are very hard to get in sufficient quantities without red meat...
On the brighter side...hardened arteries will actually heal themselves with a proper vegetarian diet, so don't give up. It's not hard to do, you just need to know what you're doing. Maybe an on line group could help you, I'm sure there are some out there.

Thanks for the encouragement! I will ck out Dr. Barnard...have heard of him...he was on Dr. Oz. I checked out PETA's site too and they have a lot of info there, also found some lists of things that are vegan, e.g. frozen dinners and one of foods you'd never think were vegan---mostly snack food, point being like the Oreo, not the best vegan! The dr. recc I read two books: Forks over Knives and The China Study (both have cookbooks also) and they're pretty convincing. I've decided for now to go on a 2 week program on Dr. Oz's site that someone mentioned in a thread on Low Carb eating. I think that probably the transition will then go to vegetarian. Can still have some fish and chicken and dairy. Then work my way from there.

The dr. is a passionate vegan and after reading his resources, I'm sure his motive was not only for me to lose weight but to get healthier overall too. I did look at Weight Watchers and lost weight with them many years ago but I guess a big part of me believes I need more of a change food-wise that it seems to offer. We'll see how it goes!

Ditto what she said. You need protein to keep your stamina up.

Oven Roasted Chickpeas
Ingredients:
1 15.5 oz. can of Chickpeas [garbanzo beans]
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
olive oil, for coating chickpeas
salt/pepper to taste
hot sauce or other spices (curry) optional
Method of Prep:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Drain, rinse and pat dry the Chickpeas
In medium sized bowl, toss Chickpeas in olive oil
Add spices, salt & pepper and coat Chickpeas thoroughly
Spread out on a parchment lined sheet pan
Place in the oven for 40-50 minutes. stirring around the Chickpeas every so often to ensure proper browning.
Remove from oven and let cool entirely before eating.
We never need to store this tasty snack because they are all gone in a hurry. But if you do, an air-tight container with a little rice in the bottom will ensure they stay crispy and fresh!

Lime Quinoa

1 cup Quinoa (rinsed)
2 cups Water

Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, lower heat, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. (Cool)

2 cloves Garlic (sautéed with a little olive oil for two minutes)
3/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
5 Green Onions (sliced thin) or 1 Shallot (chopped fine)
1/2 cup fresh Cilantro
1 cup Cherry Tomatoes (cut in half)
1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/4 cup fresh Lime Juice (about 1-1/2 limes)
1 Avocado (diced)

Stir the cooked/cooled quinoa and remaining ingredients together. (Combine the lime juice and avocado in last to prevent the avocado from turning brown.)

Serves four.