Spring means tulips, little league, and fresh, tasty green vegetables. This week Savvy Vegetarian and the letter “D” (for delicious) bring you three of our favorite spring vegetables: Peas, spinach, and asparagus.

In addition to being delicious, peas, spinach, and asparagus are brimming with Vitamins and Minerals!

PEAS

Frozen peas are available year round so many people don’t realize that peas are in fact a spring vegetable. Gardeners know that peas can be planted long before the last frost. They are truly the first veggies of spring.

The freshest peas are those that you pick from your garden, but peas from the farmers’ market are a close second. Your children will love shelling them with you. If you can’t find fresh peas, don’t worry. Frozen peas are frozen fresh off the vine, and will make a good substitute. Just make sure you don’t overcook them for the best taste.

Peas are an excellent source of Vitamin C, iron, protein, folate, and more. Snap peas and Snow peas can be eaten raw in a vegetable platter served with a vegetarian dip or in a green salad. Snow peas are also delicious in stir fries.
Basic garden peas must be shelled before eating, try them in Indian Cabbage & Green Peas or Cumin Flavored Peas & Carrots.

ASPARAGUS

For most of the year asparagus is expensive and not very tasty. This is because it is shipped from far away and was generally harvested a long time before it hits your plate. Fresh asparagus is divine, old asparagus not so much. Spring is the best time to get really good, in season asparagus.

Make sure you select firm, brightly colored stalks with tightly closed ends for best flavor. While you can get it at any grocery store this time of the year, farmers’ markets may have a wider selection of different varieties for more adventurous asparagus eaters.

Eating asparagus is a great way to get iron, Vitamin K, magnesium, and zinc. Keep it simple by serving Simple Steamed Asparagus drizzled with lemon and melted butter or dress it up in Asparagus Pesto Pasta Salad.

SPINACH

Spinach is a nutritional powerhouse with 638% DV of Vitamin A, 159% DV of Vitamin C, 34% DV of calcium, 51% DV of iron, and 10 grams of protein in one bunch, which equals about one cup cooked.

Unfortunately the oxalic acid in spinach can interfere with the absorption of calcium and iron, which means spinach should not be considered a great source of either one. Cooking or pairing spinach with Vitamin C rich foods can lessen the effects of the oxalic acid.

Fresh spinach is available year round and really good spinach is available locally every spring, so there is no excuse for buying those brown/green blocks of stuff that they call frozen spinach. When buying spinach, avoid leaves that are yellow or showing signs of becoming slimy. Leaves should be crisp and brightly colored.

Bunches of full grown spinach are generally cheaper than the bags of prewashed baby spinach but require very thorough washing and stemming and are not ideal for salads. Time constraints and what you are using the spinach for will determine what type of spinach you buy. Bunched spinach works well in dishes calling for cooked spinach.

Spinach is very versatile and can be used in Spinach Salad, dips like Spinach Dip, soups like Double Green Cream Soup which also has asparagus in it and, delicious vegan versions of spinach classics, like Spinach Tofu Calzones and Spinach Tofu Quiche.

So what are you waiting for, veggie lovers? Get cooking some of these delicious vegan and vegetarian pea, spinach, and asparagus dishes, and dig in!

Sarah Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

Since I got the diagnosis of gestational diabetes, I have been in a brooding mood.

Frankly, I feel very skeptical about the diagnosis. I have not gained weight excessively, had mood swings, strange lack of energy, any of that stuff. I’ve also not had the sick feeling that comes along with a blood sugar spike.

Raised by the Savvy Vegetarian, I grew up learning to monitor my own internal state, and to make dietary and lifestyle changes in order to keep on an even keel. I’ve gotten pretty darn good at it by now, and have warded off many a cold with a nutrition rich meal and an early night.

So when all my internal sensors tell me I’m doing great, but the doctor tells me I’m not – well, the internal sensors have a longer track record.

Then self doubt pipes up and wonders if I’m not in denial about it. What if I’m feeling so skeptical because I really, REALLY dislike the idea of having any complication to this pregnancy. I don’t want to take any chances. So I will go to the diabetes class, consult the specialist, monitor my blood sugar, end my love affair with potato chips, etc.

I mean, with two months to go, it’s not much of a sacrifice to guarantee a healthy baby, right?

But I don’t like it. And I think they’re wrong about the diagnosis. I think the three hour test they did to get it is possibly the most stressful, unnatural treatment my body has received since my college drinking days (before I learned that it is much nicer to just drink half the bottle of wine/6 pack, and as a bonus, you will have some left for another day).

As a pregnant woman, I consider going without breakfast to be utterly irresponsible. Then to drink a giant dose of sugar on the same empty stomach is just stupid. I don’t even drink soda. Ever. Heck, I can make a quart of fruit juice last a month.

Next, to give four vials of blood in such a stressed state strikes me as a bad decision. And then to wait until eleven am to eat anything at all – Dumb dumb dumb!

But this is how they test you for gestational diabetes. Pfft! I would never do such a rotten combination of things to myself. Certainly, the way I felt at that point doesn’t reflect my natural state of health.

Given my love of chocolate and chips, you might think I’d be accustomed to sugar rushes. But I’m not. I have a limited grocery budget, and junk food comes last on the list, if there’s any money left. So the bag of Sour Cream and Cheddar ruffles has to last all week, and the Mint Chocolate M&Ms will stretch to two weeks. The ice cream I might buy in the same shopping goes untouched until I’m all out of M&Ms – and then it lasts a month between two people.

Compared to the average American diet, where breakfast consists of an energy drink and a roll of donuts, my junk food habit looks almost nonexistent. So might it not follow that it would take my body a few hours to overcome this giant, unprecedented sugar dump? My blood sugar was still normal by the end of the three hours. It was only the middle two that were elevated.

I will have to ask the doctor.

And there’s the root of another gripe. In all of this medical supervision, I feel like a product on a conveyor belt. I show up in the doctor’s office. I pee in a cup. They weigh me, take my blood pressure, listen to the baby’s heart, measure my belly. And they volunteer NOTHING about all this fussing. I have to ask what I weigh, for pete’s sake. I have to ask what my blood pressure is, and if that’s good or bad. I have no idea what they’re doing with all that pee. I have no idea what all tests they’ve done with all the blood they’ve taken.

I just know I’m doing OK because they would tell me if something came back abnormal. Then they would shuttle me off for more tests which they would also not explain. As if this is not all about me. As if this is not MY health we are monitoring here. As if I am not the most important person to keep in the loop.

I have been managing my own health quite well for a long time, and now I feel like a passenger in the most important health/life event to date. I am paying for this why?

Next time I go to the doctor, I would like to hear something about my pregnancy I didn’t already know. I wish I had a doctor who knew at least as much about nutrition as I do.

In fact, I wish they had started with nutrition and stuck to it. I didn’t realize that all pregnant women are glucose intolerant to some degree. It wasn’t in What to Expect When You’re Expecting. The doctor never mentioned it. I had to read about it online – after the diagnosis. It would have been a good bit of information to have. It would have influenced my food choices.

And really, you are what you eat. If you’re making a baby, they are what you eat. I would say that nutrition is THE most important aspect of pregnancy. The fact that my Obgyn has so little education in that area in really upsetting.

Basically, she knows what normal pregnancy looks like, and how to tell if mine’s not. She’s probably a darn good baby catcher, and can keep me from dying in childbirth – something I appreciate, or I wouldn’t keep showing up in her office. I would, after all, prefer not to die in childbirth. Bryan would be upset.

But excuse me, what about preventing things from going wrong in the first place? What about keeping me in the loop and educating me so that I can participate in making this go smoothly? What about some in-depth information about food choices that prevent complications?

If I look at it that way, I have to wonder if an Obgyn is really qualified to supervise a pregnancy. Not that I’m going AWOL, mind you. Having chosen to go the medical route, I’ll see it through. Next time, though, I’ll probably be looking for an alternative route. Anyone know a good midwife in Missouri?

Read Part One: Close Encounters Of The Medical Kind

Well, the other shoe has dropped. I knew this was going too well. It seems that if you spend enough time in Doctors’ offices, they will find something wrong with you.

I failed the one hour diabetes test. So they made me do the three hour one. It was awful. And I failed it. I am not used to failing tests. My ego is bruised. Now I have to see a specialist and go to diabetes ed. class. It’s like having to go to remedial math class.

Now they want to talk to me about diet. In the third trimester! Bit late, in my view. If gestational diabetes is so common and such a big deal that they have to test every woman for it, why not start with prevention?

The primary method of managing gestational diabetes is dietary. What about starting every pregnancy with a nutritional consultation, so a woman can be managing her risk all along? Oh wait, that would make too much sense. Never mind. Let’s wait until week 29, and do horrible tests instead.

The diabetes tests are Cruel and Unusual Punishment. The one hour test wasn’t so bad. They fed me nasty orange sugar drink and made me wait an hour before stabbing me with a needle to get blood. Of course, they didn’t warn me it was going to take an hour, so the wait was boring as heck.

For the three hour test, I brought a couple of books. I finished one and got halfway through the other.

This test is Misery. I was allowed no food after midnight and until after the test was over the next morning. You tell a pregnant woman she’s not getting breakfast and see how well she takes it. They fed me twice as much vile orange stuff, and they stabbed me four different times to get four different vials of blood.

In between stabbings, I spent three hours in a waiting room with no place to put my feet up. Whoever designed this place, I doubt they have ever been pregnant. I ended up dragging over a nearby chair. Complain about the footprints, I dare ya! Grrr…

When they were finally done torturing me, I rushed to the nearest bagel joint for lunch. Food helped, but I still felt lousy. In fact, my mood stayed rotten for two days. Thanks guys. I would never have done something like this to myself. No breakfast, blood loss, sugar binge – sounds completely irresponsible to me. Yet in the name of medicine, this is OK?

I’m not sick, I’m pregnant. And yet I think I’ve been to the doctor more in the past six months than I have in the past 20 years.

To date, they have taken ten vials of blood and endless cups of pee. They listen to the baby’s heartbeat every time, and they have to gone to some trouble to be certain I don’t have cervical cancer. Well that was nice to know. And apparently I’m not malnourished – except now that I’m in the third trimester, I’m a wee bit anemic. Well, duh. Amazingly, the little girl I’m hosting, who is getting ready to double in size, is using up a bunch of my nutrients. I am shocked. Just shocked.

They advised iron tablets, which make you constipated, setting the stage for hemorrhoids, and other general discomfort. I bought black strap molasses. Thanks for the advice, guys.

They also weigh me every time, and assure me I’m not gaining too much or too little weight. Well, I live in this body 24-7. I’m pretty sure I could have told them that.

It seems that between me and the doctor, she is taking more comfort in all the fussing than I am. Now she wants to see me every two weeks. Ugh. Can I just call her and let her know I’m feeling fine? It would save me a trip, and I’m sure the end result would be the same – One mom, one baby, no problem.

Read Part Two: Pregnancy As A Medical Event?

Message for Savvy Vegetarian:

I have googled protein count when sprouting and there doesn’t seem to be much difference whether sprouting or not? You say sprouting increases protein availability by 30% and carbs decrease by 15%. If this is the case that would be great!

I am looking to increase my protein with plant food rather than meat when I do high intensity exercise.

Could you give me the actual protein count for let’s say kidney beans and rice when sprouting or could you direct me to find it myself? I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you very much! Nettie F.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Hi Nettie, here are sprouting nutrition articles which will help answer your questions:
Health Benefits of Sprouted Grains
Benefits of Sprouted Foods
Sprouting and Nutrition

What sprouting does is to increase the bio-availability of nutrients which may be latent or bound up in the seeds, and doesn’t add nutrients which don’t exist in the seeds – except for minerals which may be found in high concentrations in the soaking water.

So when you sprout a high protein food (e.g. mung beans), it increases the bio-availability of the protein in that food, as well as many other nutrients.

Carbs are converted partially into other nutrients (to feed the plant), as they would be if the seed were planted in soil – that’s why carbs decrease in sprouting.

The effects of sprouting seem to vary a lot from one food to another, so results aren’t predictable across the board, but overall sprouting is highly beneficial in improving nutrition and digestibility, with a few exceptions.

Some seeds fare better with sprouting than others. Mung beans make excellent sprouts, but apparently, alfalfa seeds, sorghum and kidney beans release toxins when sprouted.

According to ehow.com: “Kidney beans should not be sprouted because they contain the high levels of the toxin phytohemagglutinin. When kidney beans are eaten raw or sprouted they can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other adverse health reactions. For this reason, you should always cook kidney beans before eating them. Black beans will not yield as many sprouts as other seeds, but you can still enjoy sprouted black beans.”

Thanks very much for your feedback! I’ve added the info I found for you to our article on The Joy of Sprouting

All the best, Judith Kingsbury

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With budget cuts and alternative college programs such as the adoption of online universities monopolizing the higher education debate, the discussion of college diets has been put on the back burner.

Dorm food has never promised delicious options. In general, college barely promises edible options for vegetarian college students. But today, a few notable schools are not only making good food…they’re making great vegetarian food.

If you’re considering your options as a vegetarian college student after high school, here are five schools that made PETA’s list of best colleges to attend meat-free.

Indiana University, Bloomington

Indiana University, a huge university in the Midwest, with over 42,000 students enjoying clearly marked vegetarian options in school cafeterias. Although sloppy joes have been traditionally reserved for the dietary decadent, the cafeteria’s faux-meat sloppy joes offer a pleasant escape for any die-hard vegetarian college student. As a dessert option, the school even offers vegan sugar cookies for their vegan students.

Humboldt State University

Humboldt has a long history of vegetarianism in its student body. In the 1970s, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi*, a famous holy man known for teaching transcendental meditation, lectured at the school for a month at a time to 3000 of his followers. The cafeteria cooked vegetarian meals for his students, and in the upcoming year, adopted the recipes into their regular scheduling.

This public school in northern California offers vegetarian, wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan food to cover the gamut of dietary needs for its students, and strives to maintain at least 50% local sourcing on their produce. And it seems to be working: the number of vegetarian college students at Humboldt increases by as much as 15% between the beginning of freshman year and the end.

*Savvy Veg Footnote: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi went on to found a small private consiousness based university, Maharishi University of Management, in Fairfield IA, which serves organic 100% vegetarian food in its cafeteria.

University of Puget Sound

For those interested in smaller schools than Humboldt or Indiana University, the University of Puget Sound, with 2,500 students, has an entire menu section dedicated to their vegetarian students. Their dining halls carry options ranging from African vegetable curry to vegan barbecue riblets to spicy sweet potato bean burritos.

Yale University

Yale has a thriving vegetarian community on campus, with groups like the Yale College Vegetarian Society holding meetings and events to support a vegetarian diet. This Ivy League university recently instituted meatless Mondays, which is exactly what it sounds like: on Mondays, the dining halls serve only vegetarian options.

Yale Dining’s director of residential options, Regenia Phillips, has supported keeping vegan options, like portabella fajitas and chana masala, in the school cafeteria, even amidst complaints from non-vegan students about the school providing meatfree options.

University of California at Berkeley

This campus, best known for student intelligence and sixties activism, is an easy pick for a top vegetarian friendly campus. The dining halls post weekly menus in advance so vegetarian students know what safe choices they can be sure of. The dining commons serve vegan pizza with soy cheese, vegan lemon poppyseed cake, and the salad, cereal, and sandwich bars fill in any other vegetarian needs.

So there you have it! If you’re a vegetarian considering your undergraduate options, be sure to choose a school that meets your dietary needs in the cafeteria.

Guest blogger Elaine Hirsch is a jack-of-all-interests, from education and history to medicine and videogames. She is currently working as a writer for various education-related websites and writing about relevant education-related issues.

So far, making a baby has been much easier than I expected. Aside from my lack of physical symptoms, which I talked about a couple posts ago , I expected to be much more mental.

The crazy pregnant lady stories are rooted deep in our culture, starting early in childhood with Rapunzel, the long haired chick whose mother could have avoided the entire kidnapping tragedy if she’d only been able to keep a lid on her food cravings.

(And by the way, I’d like to know why she didn’t have her own garden!)

Comedians make stand-up routines out of their wives’ pregnancy foibles, and men brag about midnight food runs. One friend told me about breaking the speed limit and a few other traffic laws to fetch a Happy Meal before the nearest McDonald’s closed.

Female friends and acquaintances (and complete strangers, unsolicited) tell me about sobbing at sappy movies, baby obsessions, raging mood swings…

People make pregnancy out to be nine months of temporary insanity that you can’t be medicated for.

Except my hormonal system hasn’t gotten the memo. I feel like I always do, only with a bump in front.

I expected to be overwhelmed by my hormones.

I pictured myself becoming firmly attached to the idea that the kitchen counters must be rebuilt NOW, and hounding Bryan over it, demanding that he drop everything and do my bidding. There would be tears, I imagined, and sleepless nights. I would become angry, and insist that if he loved me, if he really loved me … but no.

I still think the counters need rebuilding, but I’m totally cool with it if he finishes building the storage shed first. THEN he can redo the counters and paint the floor. And I can wait until he gets that stuff done to insist he put in a door at the top of the stairs…

Well, I am nesting a bit. In a reasonable way. One thing at a time. Although I would have thought he’d be done with the shed by now.

I’m not living my life swinging from one food craving to the next, or eating weird combos, like pickles and ice cream.

Yes, food tastes better than it ever did, and when I find something tasty, I go for it with extra gusto. But I haven’t woken Bryan up in the middle of the night, demanding specific foods immediately. OK, he did bake me a cake I craved, but that was voluntary, at a reasonable hour. And I haven’t had a food craving so strong since then. Nothing I couldn’t fend off until the next trip to the grocery store.

When I get to the grocery store, of course, I am an enthusiastic shopper. Still, it’s perfectly normal to bring home Mint Chocolate M&Ms, Chocolate Covered Raisins, and White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle ice cream all in one shopping, right? And equally normal to hide the first two from one’s spouse in order to avoid sharing. Ahem.

OK, I am a bit obsessed with food. Maybe this all just seems normal to me because I’m a bit strange to begin with. I’ve always been a treat fiend. It’s just that the treats taste even better now, and the need to eat them is more urgent.

But I’m not cranky like pregant women are supposed to be.

I don’t think Bryan and I have had a single argument since we realized I was pregnant. Not that we argue much. But I also have to be nice to people for ten hours at a time at my job. That’s not as awful as it sounds – I only have to be nice to any one person for a few minutes at a time.

I think I’ve managed quite well, considering! Even when random strangers ask me when I’m due (and other personal questions), I’ve resisted the urge to say, “Excuse me!?” as if I’m just fat, and watch them stammer and backpedal.

Such a tempting thought – I may yet break down and do it. And no strangers have tried to touch my belly, so I haven’t truly been tested.

I might actually be less prickly now than when I’m eating for one. What gives? Could pregnancy be a tranquilizer? Am I doing a better job minding my blood sugar than I usually would? Am I just one of those people who don’t get wound up without a good reason? Maybe, although I figured pregnancy hormones would BE a darn good reason.

I did have one low blood sugar incident, where I cried over a silly book, and had to eat Right Then. But since I realized that my blood sugar needs minding, I’ve been on a very even keel. Mellow. Easy to live with – as long as I’m fed regularly.

I’m not even soppy over the baby, really. I mean, I’m thrilled she’s in there, growing away. It’s neat to watch my body change shape and to feel her rolling around under my skin. Cripes! There’s a person in there! That’s just wild!

I do think about how amazing it’s going to be when she’s born, and how absolutely everything in my life is going to change, and how sweet it will be to watch Bryan be a daddy. I don’t cry about it, though. I don’t freak out. I don’t sob over tiny articles of clothing.

I just give my belly a rub, say, “Hi, Baby!” and go rustle up something to eat. Peanut butter on rice cakes, maybe. And carrot sticks with ranch dressing.

It’s not a weird combo if you wait a bit (like 10 minutes) between eating one and the other. It’s just two perfectly normal snacks.

Zoë Keeland

Spring has come early this year, and with great gusto! No nasty late frosts have come along to spoil things, so everything is green and growing. It seems like an appropriate time of year to be pregnant. There’s new life everywhere – why not in my belly?

Some of this new life is quite exciting to this increasingly hungry incubator. For one thing, my peas are up in the garden, about eight inches tall and just starting to grab the fence. I have been out in the garden admiring them while I dig up dandelions.

Yes, as well as feeding me while she visited, The Savvy Vegetarian helped me plant peas, so I could realize my dream of garden grazing. I have also, all by myself, created a raised bed for carrots. This is about the only way to grow carrots in Southern Missouri soil. It involves mixing dirt with sand, and pulling out rocks. And, er, if my doctor asks, we’ll tell her Bryan lifted the 50lb bag of sand that was involved.

So there will be carrots too! Tasty juicy carrots fresh from my new raised bed! You can’t get that taste from a grocery store. Some of these carrots may even make it as far as the house to be cooked. We’ll see. I may just brush them off right there and dine alfresco!

Speaking of grazing dreams, there are flowers on the blueberry bushes! Plus the wild black raspberries have buds on them! Soon there will be fruit! I am salivating at the thought. Oh! And my handful of strawberry plants have little green berries on them! If you have never eaten a ripe strawberry straight out of the garden, you have led a sad, deprived life. Commercial strawberries are a pale imitation, although organic strawberries can get much closer to the real thing.

I also have plans to put in as much basil as I have room for. This summer, I will be the pesto queen! Already I have acquired a five pound bag of cashews, and the garlic is going strong out in the garden!

It’s safe to say Mom passed the Mad Gardener gene on to me, and I suspect it’s one of those conditions made worse by each pregnancy. I speculate that before she had three children, she might have been a casual gardener, with a few tomato plants and some herbs in the ground – maybe a zucchini or two….Now she could quite easily add a gardening section to the site (in her copious spare time). I remember being thrilled when she discovered No-Till gardening. Guess who usually got the pleasure of pitchforking in the spring. Yep, that would be me.

While I wait for all this garden goodness to materialize, there have been some decent mangoes in the grocery store, as well as adequate (and cheap) strawberries. Bryan and I have been making Smoothies! We take one Greek yogurt, one banana, a small mango, about ten medium sized strawberries, and a handful of blueberries. We toss it all into the blender and pour in milk until it reaches the desired thickness. When the peaches aren’t so sad looking, we’ll throw in one of those too.

It usually makes two pint glasses of smoothie with a slightly smaller serving left over for later. The leftover serving won’t keep well at all beyond 24 hours (refrigerated, in a jar), but that works out well for me, as I feel completely justified in having it as an afternoon snack. It wouldn’t keep, after all. And Bryan can always make more. Besides, I’m the pregnant one – I need the calories more.

For those of you who are vegan, I know Savvyvegetarian makes an excellent non-dairy fruit smoothie, so don’t worry that you are missing out.

Unless you don’t immediately run and make one of these things for yourself.
Then you are missing out.
That would be sad.

Baby Veg loves these too, apparently. They are quite an energy boost. I drank the leftover serving after work a couple days ago, and then as I was lying on the couch, putting my feet up, she started to boogie. Normally I get a few jabs and a roll or two. This time, she was moving so much that watching my belly was like watching sheet lightening through thick clouds. She was rolling all over the place, poking and jabbing, stretching, rolling some more – it was quite a show. I gave up trying to read and just watched the action.

Message For Savvy Vegetarian:

Hey, I am a newly declared, sixteen year old vegetarian, and my parents simply do not know. . . . yet. They are super conservative and I have kept my vegetarianism a secret so far. Often times we’re not at the dinner table together, that’s how I’ve kept it a secret. My step mom cooks, then has something to do with one of my siblings and rushes out to do it. My dad gets home, on average, at about 6, 6:30 every night. Vegetarianism has come up in conversation before and they said, and I quote, “It’s stupid”. I’m terrified to tell them, any advice?

Logan G.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Hi Logan,

Congratulations on going vegetarian! Changing your diet like that takes courage and strength. It also helps to have a lot of support. So I’m sorry you fear your family will be unsupportive.

You wouldn’t be the first new vegetarian to face family opposition. It’s pretty common for family members to feel criticized by your different diet, and make things hard for you. They may also worry that you’ll be malnourished, and your busy stepmother probably won’t be willing to take on extra work to accommodate your veg diet.

So, you’ll need a plan. Just avoiding the meat dishes and making up for it with cereal and PB&J’s is not going to cut it. You’re still growing, and you won’t be healthy unless you eat well. And if you aren’t healthy, your family will have all the reason they need to insist you eat their way.

First you should do your research. Reading a few books on vegetarian nutrition will help you answer your parents when they worry about your health. You should know about protein, vitamins and minerals, and how to get good nutrition from your veg diet.

Start by reading:
The Savvy Vegetarian nutrition report,
and 10 Tips for Going Vegetarian.
and the article How to Get Enough Protein In Your Vegetarian Diet.

Excellent veg nutrition books:
Vegan for Life, by Jack Norris and Virginia Messina,
and Becoming Vegetarian, by Vesanto Melina, Brenda Davis, and Victoria Harrison.

The more you know about veg diet, the better you will be able to defend your choice.

But please, avoid the most common mistake made by new and enthusiastic vegetarians: Don’t preach! If you do, you’ll alienate your family, and any friends you try this on. I find I get a better response when I quietly follow my own diet and am ready to answer any questions from the curious – without being judgmental about their choices.

Of course you’ll have to learn to cook for yourself, if you haven’t started already. Get a vegetarian cookbook or three and start trying the recipes that look easy and edible. Being able to show your parents that you can and will feed yourself will show them that you’re serious about your vegetarian diet, and willing to work to make it happen.

A few good teaching cookbooks to check out:
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman,
30 Minute Vegan by Reinfeld and Murray,
the Everything Vegan Cookbook by Jolinda Hackett.

Remember, even though a recipe may be vegan, you can easily sub in dairy or egg if that’s your preference, or add them on the side.

There are also simple recipes in the basic recipe section on our website, that will tell you how to cook basic foods – a good place to start when putting together a meal.

While learning to cook, be considerate in the kitchen - you don’t want to wear out your welcome by leaving dirty dishes and crusty counters. Don’t just clean up your own mess, leave the kitchen in better shape than you found it. That will put you in the running for Most Popular Guy Ever!

You also want to make sure you don’t get in the way while your step mother is trying to make dinner for everyone else. In fact, you could make her life easier by volunteering to make some side dishes to go with dinner – cooking experience for you and less work for her. If you’re learning to cook, it doesn’t hurt to have your stepmother in a charitable mood.

Assuming you know next to nothing about cooking, if you can get your stepmother to show you basics like how to scramble eggs, how to cook rice, how to prep vegetables, it will really help you when you’re trying to learn new recipes.

The more you can show your family that you are serious, educated, and willing to do the hard work it takes to learn a new way of eating, the more likely they are to support you. The more support you can get from them, the easier it will be for you.

In the worst case scenario, where you do all you can to show your family that you’re serious, and their reaction is still negative and even hindering, you can still educate yourself, use your own money to buy ingredients, and wait them out.

It won’t be long before you’re in college, feeding yourself anyway. Learn to eat well now and you’ll be miles ahead of the other freshmen. I really wish I had paid more attention in my Mom’s kitchen. What a shock it was to leave home and realize I didn’t know how to cook most of my favorite foods!

Remember: Going vegetarian is a long term commitment, and the start is sometimes rocky, given family pressures and the steep learning curve that comes with completely changing your diet. Seek out friends, find resources for support, and don’t let the challenges get you down.

All the best, Zoe Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

News Flash: A healthy vegetarian diet does not make you physically fit.

SavvyVeg is living proof that you can be a long-time vegetarian or vegan and still be physically unfit.

Until my mid-forties, I never thought about exercise because I was hyper-active at least 12 hours a day – raising children, doing housework, gardening, cooking, making art, doing yoga, dancing, swimming, walking miles at a time, running, lifting etc – all in a days work. I tended to LOSE weight, mainly because I didn’t have that much time to eat. Those were the good old days!

Then I hit menopause, and about the same time, I stopped being a free-roaming housewife/artist, and became a desk jockey. That’s when the pounds started to pile on and I lost what modest muscle tone I had.

Now I’m 65, and my diet is healthier than it’s ever been in my life. I weigh 30 lb less than I did at 58, have no major health problems, and I look good for my age. But I spend too much time sitting, at my computer, or reading, and I’m not in great shape.

Until very recently, I’ve never been able to do even one girl push-up. I do a very low key yoga routine for a few minutes, most days. I can swim 2 laps in a small pool. On my infrequent visits to the gym, I go for the lowest weight settings, and the easiest workouts because that’s all I can manage. I can walk a mile, but it seems like a long way. One hour of gardening wears me out. My posture has always been S-shaped.

I know that if I don’t do something NOW about my physical condition, I’ll be a feeble bent-over old woman in 10 years. That’s not what I want for the rest of my life.

I’ve been exercising more the last few months than at any time in the past five years, my waist has shrunk 2 inches, and I can now do one girl push-up. Of course that’s only the beginning.

I secretly want to be one of those 75 year olds you see in ads, who look their age from the neck up, but have the bodies of 25 year old body builders from the neck down. Only I want the female version, nicely toned but not scarily muscled.

I know its possible to have a body like that, but you’ve got to spend half your time in the gym, lifting weights. And the rest of your time in other activities, such as running or bicycling hard for miles & miles every day, or doing 3 hour sessions of hot power yoga. I’ve got other things to do with my time – like eat, sleep and work on Savvy Vegetarian.

Realistically, I’d be glad to have decent posture, get rid of my arm flaps, have a firm instead of a squishy belly, be able to walk briskly for a couple of miles without needing a nap, garden for 2 or 3 hours without pain, lift my 3 year old grand-daughter without putting my back out, and avoid osteoporosis, diabetes, dementia and other conditions common to advancing age. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask!

There have been times during the last 7 years when I conscientiously exercised – walked, swam, went to classes, did yoga daily, cut out sugar, fat, chocolate & white flour (they always seem to go together). I’m farther ahead now than I was to start with, but not where I should be, because I would always backslide.

I think that exercising for most people is like dieting. It’s something you do for a while and then you stop, because it’s not part of your life, and you always will go back to your real life.

I’ve realized that I have to change my life to change my body, because my body is a result of the life I live. And to change my life, I have to change the way I think about my life.

That’s something I always sort of knew, but it was brought into sharp focus when I reviewed the book ‘Drop the Fat Act and Live Lean’ by Ryan Andrews – about eating healthy as a lifestyle with the side benefit of weight loss. That idea applies equally to fitness, i.e. ‘Drop the Feeble Act and Live Strong’.

Is fitness with visible muscles possible for a woman my age? Hell Yes! I’m 65, not 95!

My great-aunt Kate was still going bowling at 100, and I must have some of her genes inside me. I’m practical, optimistic, highly motivated – I know I can do whatever I need to do. Most important, I know what I MUST do to get physi-cally fit – and stay that way for the rest of my life.

But I admit I can’t do it by myself, and it’s good to have help. In my off-and-on quest for fitness, I’ve learned from reading books and articles, going to various classes, listening to other (fitter) people, plus taking care of my body in various ways.

One of the first helpful books I read was The Ab Revolution, No More Crunches, No More Back Pain, by Dr. Jolie Bookspan. I first read it about 6 years ago, and recently re-read.

As Dr. B. explains so well, it’s all about body mechanics – how you do, as much as what you do. The picture on the cover is kind of silly, as are a few others inside the book, but I can handle hokey pictures for life-saving words. Reading The Ab Revolution was the first time I ever understood what I was doing wrong with my body, and what I was doing TO it. I was so excited to know that I could actually do something about it. And it was pretty simple!

That understanding led me to Rolfing. I had 10 sessions with my friendly rolfer, who re-arranged my body parts while smiling sweetly, talking softly, and laughing merrily. Never has torture been so enjoyable! And beneficial. At the end, I was 1/2 inch taller, and my body could actually do the things I wanted, like stand up straight and balance on one foot. It may be time for more Rolfing.

Something else that has stayed with me is Yoga for a Healthy Back class, given by Eva Norlyk Smith and Terry Smith . Their classes introduced me to the practice of gently stretching my body into the shape it should be for optimal health and fitness.

When I spend a few minutes daily doing the back exercises I learned from Terry & Eva, everything else I do is easier, less painful, and I’m far less likely to injure myself. I’m also much more likely to proceed to the aerobic and strengthening exercises.

I love yoga, it’s my favorite way to exercise, and I especially love Mountain Pose, which I do throughout the day. It reminds my body what good posture feels and looks like, and it’s the basis for every other activity.

Other forms of exercise take me out of myself and away from my computer to other people and fresh air. I do weight bearing exercises, walk, or swim, with friends. That and classes are great for support, encouragement, and a social life. I found some great exercises on Pinterest, now on my Healthy Lifestyle Tips board (love Pinterest!).

What finally pushed me to a lifetime fitness commitment was an article by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, on the dangers of sitting too much. This isn’t the first time he’s written about this, and I even posted his article way back then. But this time I was ready to hear the wake-up call.

One unwanted side effect of my off-and-on fitness efforts is pain and stiffness.

My chiropractor and my massage therapist are life savers. It’s so much easier to exercise when my head is on straight, my hips and shoulders are level & loose, and my channels are clear. If I garden over-enthusiastically, or wreck my neck somehow, I know they’ll fix me. And Amla Berry tablets are wonderful for easing pain, helping build muscles, and many other benefits.

Another effect of pursuing fitness is that I’m more conscious of what I eat, because I can see the results right away.

If I eat dairy or sugar, I’m stuffed up, cranky, constipated and my joints hurt, so I’m less likely to exercise. If I over-eat, I’m dull and lethargic the next day, so ditto.

If I eat mostly good organic unprocessed food, like tons of veggies, beans & lentils, whole grains, nuts & seeds, then I feel clear and energetic. I WANT to get down on the floor and roll around, or go for a walk, swim, garden, even hit the gym!

If I get fresh air and exercise every day, then I’m really hungry for my meals, and my digestion is better, so I’m absorbing more nutrients. Plus I’m tired in the evening. I have to go to bed and sleep 8 hours instead of staying up late reading, feeling crappy the next day and good for nothing much.

Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t turned into Ms. Fitness Fanatic. I get that if this is going to last, I have to be balanced about it.

I still work every day at my computer, but only four hours on average. Some days, I don’t work at all (that’s new!). I’m a word addict, so I still read books – one a week, not three. I’ll always be a veganish vegetarian. But I’ll never go back to sitting on my butt for 12 hours a day.

Will I forget my fitness resolutions and backslide again? Maybe. I think getting fit is like being a beginning vegetarian. You tend to go back and forth until you’re established. The point is to persevere. I know I’ll always be more on than off my fitness program, because I want to be clear minded and doing yoga at 102. (sorry Aunt Kate – no bowling)

Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

When you get pregnant, it seems, you join the secret society of Women Who Have Given Birth. Now that I am nice and round, and it is too late for me to run to the condom aisle and prevent my fate, they are telling me STORIES.

You know the ones – the stories they don’t tell non-pregnant women because it might prevent the continuation of the species.

One woman told me she was 14 hours in labor and then had to have a C-section anyway. Another one was in a coma for three days, and unexpectedly lived. A friend’s wife had an epidural, and now has back pain because of it. An acquaintance was doing great with labor, moving right along, then had an epidural which stopped labor and was forced to have a C-section.

Those are just a sampling of the labor horror stories told to me whether I wanted to hear them or not. I could go on about this for the whole post! One man even got into the action, telling me what he saw when he peeked around the curtain while his wife was having a C-section. I will give no details, but it was gross. Really really gross. (shudder)

Ack! Lucky for me, I am not the type to lose sleep at night worrying. I tend to sleep just fine no matter what – unless I am very very angry, in which case, Bryan prefers the couch.

Actually, I’m sleeping better than ever these days. Still no nausea, I’m eating well, feeling fairly energetic, in good spirits, etc. I haven’t been moody at all – heck, I haven’t even been constipated. I enjoy certain foods more than others, but there hasn’t been anything I absolutely had to have this minute. No late-night food runs (yet), much to Bryan’s relief.

I’ve been baking, gardening, and generally carrying on with my life as usual. Rolling over in bed is a bit more awkward, and I do have to work around the belly. All told, I feel great, and sometimes I forget I’m pregnant for an hour or so.

The worst things that have happened to me are lightly swollen ankles (I stand all day in my day job, go figure), and one rather painful bout of gas. Raw veggies and dip as a late night dinner are NOT a good idea, no matter what your appetite is telling you. Please learn from my suffering.

What I’m trying to say is: I’ve had an awfully easy time of it and I’m starting to get suspicious. Where are the wild psychotic mood swings? The parade of strange, ill-timed food cravings? The litany of physical ills? OK, my back hurts a bit, but that’s from slouching at the computer, and it doesn’t hurt any more than it did when I practiced bad posture as a non pregnant person.

Is it my happy marriage? My decent (but not perfect) diet? My lack of prior emotional issues to magnify under hormonal stress? Good genes? Am I just one lucky woman?

Or, is the other shoe about to drop?!?!

If you get back to me in two or three weeks, will I be a moody, achy, sleep deprived, constipated, seething cauldron of unreasonable food desires? I seriously doubt it.

In late June, however, when it’s hot and I’m huge, and the baby’s got a foot in my ribs, I may be one angry whale. I’m not making any promises. Bryan has already been warned that he may come home and find it 60 degrees in the house and he’s just going to have to put on a sweater….and feed me.