By July Gerstein, courtesy The Daily Green: Interview with Jill Carle, co-author of  ‘College Vegetarian Cooking’

Being vegetarian in college can be difficult, but Jill Carle, 23, wouldn’t know. She’s the author of College Vegetarian Cooking but she’s not vegetarian. She never has been — but her sister and the book’s co-author Megan Carle, 25, is. Still, she knows quite a bit about the trials and tribulations of vegetarian living away from home.

“I have so many friends that are vegetarians that have such a hard time. Finding something healthy and veggie on campus is pretty difficult,” she told The Daily Green in a recent phone interview from the campus of Arizona State University, where she’s pursuing a graduate degree in political science.

Jill and Megan’s book aims to give vegetarians simple yet testy recipes that satisfy vegetarians and meat eaters alike. We spoke to Jill about her book and what college vegetarians can do to stay healthy and happy while in school.

A lot of kids decide to go vegetarian in college. What should they know before they take the plunge?

I think one of the most important things is knowing what’s out there. When my sister became vegetarian in high school one of her friends also did, and for the first two weeks, she only ate pasta and potato chips because she didn’t know what else she could eat.

There are so many things out there for vegetarians, and it really is fun to try different things. So much of the time people think of vegetarianism as limiting your diet, but it’s really not – it opens up your diet to more things that you otherwise would not try.

Because a lot of times kids are eating in the dining hall – what should vegetarian students reach for and what should they avoid?
I know that most dining halls have salad bars and stuff like that, and for some, that’s the extent of their vegetarian food. Most of the time you can get pasta and stuff like that and that’s not such a bad option. The problem with dining halls, pasta is often the only grain they offer for vegetarians.

Another good tip: Remember the first three letters of vegetarian are v-e-g – the same as vegetables. So remember to actually eat vegetables. So much of the time, it’s so easy to say, “okay, I can eat French fries or cheese pizza.” But you have to be more adventurous and that can be really hard, because we think we know what we like even if we’ve never tried it.

What’s the biggest mistake vegetarian college kids make?
I think it’s getting stuck in a rut of eating the same things every day. That makes being vegetarian harder because it limits your options. They think they can only eat salad and ramen and pizza — and that’s too hard. If you know what’s out there, it can be pretty easy.

Any tips and tricks for eating well when living in the dorms?
In a lot of the newer dorms they have kitchens on each floor with a microwave and oven and people can make their own food — though they can still be pretty hard to cook in. Get one basket that you can bring down to the kitchen.

As far as keeping snacks in your dormroom, have a limit on the number of bad-for-you snacks you can have. You can get stuck feeling like “it’s so much easier to eat in my dorm room” than in the dining hall. Have granola bars, yogurt — things that are snacks that you might like but aren’t as bad as they could be.

What’s your absolute favorite go-to recipe in the book?
I just made the stuffed shells yesterday! There’s a great recipe for pasta primavera. One of my favorite things that I really liked was the sloppy joes made with textured vegetable protein. Sloppy Joes are my all-time favorite foods, and I was skeptical about using textured vegetable protein, but I really like them.

You have 15 minutes before class and you’re starving – what do you eat?
I’m a big advocate of making stuff ahead of time and reheating it. I’d reheat something I’ve already made.

Any tips for beginning vegetarians?
Figure out what you like and don’t worry about following a recipe exactly. Figure out what you want to make and how you like to make things. If there’s something you don’t like and another that you do, you can use that instead. Cook the way you like, instead of the way a recipe says.

It’s especially good advice for vegetarians, who are used to adjusting recipes. It’s the same thing for vegans. If there’s something with cheese in it, make it without cheese or with soy cheese. Know that a recipe isn’t a static thing. You can make whatever you really like without it being a big deal.

Check out a few delicious recipes from the book.

Tips for delicious low-budget healthy eating on a vegetarian (or vegan) diet

From our own experience, we know it’s possible – and relatively easy – to have an excellent vegetarian diet on a low budget. You’ll also eat much healthier. It is a bit more work – you have to think and plan more, and be a creative opportunist.

It also takes more time, which may be in short supply, if you’re like most people. But it’s time well spent, and pays you back in so many ways for your whole healthy life. There’s always a trade-off, and we think this is a good one: spend less time chasing $$, and you might have less $$, but you’ll have more time to spend on eating healthy for less.

7 tips for healthy vegetarian meals on a low budget:

1. A pressure cooker to cook beans, soups and other foods -  one of the best vegetarian investments you’ll ever make, and will save you TONS of Time. A good one costs about $120, and will last 20 years or more. We recommend the Fagor brand. Are you due for a gift from someone who can afford it?

2. Crockpots or slowcookers are also great time savers, and inexpensive. Put supper on to cook, leave the house for the day, and come home to a cooked meal. What a brilliant invention! It’s handy to have both 4 – 6 qt, and 8 – 10 qt. sizes.

3. Get a good chef’s knife with a sharpener, to chop veggies, and learn how to use it. Otherwise prepping veggies is time consuming and difficult, the main reason most people can’t be bothered. But being a healthy vegetarian means eating vegetables! A good chef’s knife will last your lifetime, and you can get a 1st class knife for around $30.  My favorite is Victorinox – it’s one of the best & cheapest, recommended by Cook’s Illustrated.

4. Have at least one excellent all purpose vegetarian cookbook, with a large, informative ingredient section, nutrition information, cooking methods, and a vast array of delicious recipes for a varied vegetarian diet. Find used books in excellent condition online for half the price. See SV cookbook reviews.

5. Make extra, and freeze for later: beans, grains, soups, stews, breads, etc,. Not quite as nutritious or tasty as freshly made, although far better than most of the alternatives. Most of us can’t tell the difference, and don’t have time to cook three meals a day from scratch!

6. If your budget allows, buy bread, yogurt, sprouts, and other basics, such as canned beans, tomatoes, and frozen veggies like peas, corn, or spinach, to supplement what you make yourself. You’ll pay  more, but the time saved for other activities, such as earning money, may be worth it to you. Getting these things through a food co-op, or shopping sales, will save quite a bit, but the trade off again, is your time.

7. Shop Around For Fruits & Veggies: Prices can vary widely for produce from store to store. The cheapest fruits and vegetables are usually in season, and they also happen to be the freshest and healthiest. Basics like cabbage and carrots are always cheap and nutritious. Apples oranges & bananas are the least expensive fruits in winter. When foods like asparagus or peaches are in season, they’re relatively cheap, so go for the treats! Shop carefully at the local farmer’s market, and if you can, grow some of your own veggies – super cheap, but again, the trade-off is your time.

I have just become vegetarian, I hate to cook. How can I have a healthy vegetarian diet? Use cooking gadgets, stay away from processed foods. Two of many tips.

Message for Savvy Vegetarian:

I’ve recently become vegetarian, but I hate to cook. I would like to buy pre-packaged foods, pre-made foods, etc.  What do you suggest?  Where do you suggest I go?  I love tofu and that’s my main source of protein. Help! Thank you, K.H.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Hi K.H. – If you want to have a healthy vegetarian diet,  you’ll need to eat healthy: whole grains, beans and lentils and fresh fruit and veggies. You also need other sources of veggie protein than tofu.

So please try to overcome your cooking phobia a little bit. The nutritional benefits and increased variety in your diet will make it worth the sacrifice.  :-)

This list of 10 tips will make your vegetarian diet healthier without chaining you to the stove

1. Make full use of cooking gadgets: juicer, blender, food processor, rice cooker, crock pot, or pressure cooker to make any cooking you need to do quick and easy.

2. It’s extremely simple to cook whole grains, and you can make enough to last several days and put them in the fridge or freezer.

3. For beans you can use canned beans, and add them to things.

4. Many root veggies, like potatoes, yams, winter squash, carrots, beets, parsnips can be roasted in the oven or crockpot or baked in the microwave.

5. Steam  or microwave frozen veg or mixed raw veg packages to eat with a grain and some canned beans and a prepared sauce.

6. Raw veggies and fruits can be juiced or added to smoothies made with non-dairy milk, protein powder, nuts etc.

7. Make a crockpot soup once a week and freeze it in serving size containers to microwave or heat up on the stove.

8. Thaw and add a serving of brown rice, noodles or quinoa to a salad with some nuts or seeds or beans for a complete meal.

9. Make pasta or noodles, eat with fried or baked tofu or seitan, steamed frozen veg and a prepared sauce.

10. Stock your fridge and cupboards with foods for quick healthy meals with little or no cooking. Here’s a grocery shopping list of convenience or quick & easy foods you can buy at any well-stocked supermarket, or natural food store:

• Pasta and instant whole grain noodles
• Whole grain tortillas and breads
• Canned beans, refried beans, soups
• Tomato sauce and other prepared sauces
• Whole grain crackers and blue corn chips (blue corn isn’t gmo)
• Hummus
• Nut butters: almond, cashew, tahini
• Nuts and seeds
• Dried fruit (soak to make them easier to eat)
• Trail mix or energy bars (watch out for excess sugar)
• Washed salad mixes, baby spinach, mixed baby greens
• Raw veg like avocados, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, sprouts, mushrooms
• Washed and chopped veggie mixes
• Fresh fruit
• Granola
• Dairy or non-dairy milk, yogurt, sour cream, cheese
• Frozen veg
• Frozen or dried organic vegetarian entrees
• Tempeh, seitan, baked tofu, miso
• Falafel or veggie burger mixes
• Frozen veggie burgers
• Fake meats
• Artichoke hearts, water chestnuts, etc.
• Condiments like curry paste, mustard, mayo, ketchup, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, salad dressing

Cautionary Notes:

Processed foods tend to be full of things that are Bad For You like excess sodium and fat, preservatives, flavor enhancers like MSG  (sometimes called natural flavoring), high fructose corn syrup, and toxic chemicals, so you should choose carefully what you eat. Read labels.

Buy organic and whole grain foods as much as possible. Avoid foods with corn and soy products as these are mainly Genetically Modified foods, have many proven health risks and aren’t even close to adequately tested before being approved by the FDA.

Consider taking supplements such as a one-a-day multivitamin, Vit. B12 and Vit. D to fill nutritional gaps. Plus buy enriched non-dairy milk and other packaged foods.

All the best, Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

Restaurant Survival Skills: Before you get to the restaurant, understand what healthy food really is

Jeff Novick, MS. RD. LD. LN,, is Director of Health Education for the National Health Association and nutritionist/dietitian for the prestigious McDougall Program in Santa Rosa, California. The following quotes are from his article, Restaurant Survival Skills

“Healthy food is unprocessed unrefined whole fresh fruits, vegetables, starchy vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, and in limited amounts, nuts, seeds, avocados, and if you choose to include it, lean animal protein. Unhealthy food can’t be transformed into healthy food by a chef. Therefore, you will need to look for restaurants that offer these foods and have them available to you. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for failure.”

“Once you get practice in how to obtain a healthy meal, you should be able to use these principles and eat at almost any restaurant in the US.”

That’s the kicker! From Savvy Vegetarian’s dining out experience, the biggest problems eating in restaurants are:

1. Huge servings of refined carbohydrates (e.g. white rice, pasta, bread)
2. The generous use of transfats, saturated fat, and other fats of dubious origins e.g. genetically modified
3. Excessive additions of salt, sugar, and cheese
4. ‘Hidden’ ingredients – i.e. flavorings (such as MSG), preservatives and food coloring – quite toxic and IMO found in 99% of all restaurant food

99% of the time, there are no whole grains available (maybe some token ‘wheat’ bread) in restaurants. Ditto nuts, seeds, avocados, fresh fruits and legumes. Forget about organic!

My husband and I ate at a lot of restaurants on a recent three month road trip. We weren’t realistically able to plan ahead, as we didn’t usually know where we might stop, and had no time to research, or hunt around in strange towns for just the right place. Gas station employees and motel owners were occasionally helpful, and sometimes we got lucky!

We found, as Jeff suggests, that chefs and servers are often happy – or can be persuaded – to accommodate special dietary needs (e.g vegetarian or vegan), depending on what foods they have available. The safest and tastiest places we found were locally owned ethnic restaurants where you can special order something that the restaurant workers might actually eat themselves.
More about eating healthy on the road

Restaurants are in the business of selling food, and they’ll do whatever it takes to make it tasty. That means truckloads of calories! On our trip to California, I gained ten pounds that I’m having trouble losing. I blame it on restaurants, but it might also have something to do with my tendency to eat lots of tasty food. Whatever restaurants you visit, my advice is to go heavy on the veggies and light on the carbs. Skip the fried foods and dessert. Avoid all sauces and dressings unless after quizzing the cook, you’re satisfied they’re safe – better yet, assume they’re not.

Jeff Novick suggests, make it your business to know all the restaurants in your area, where they are, what they serve and what they’ll do for you. That way you’ll be prepared when your family or friends want to give you a treat and take you out to a restaurant!

If you have to eat out on business, you can impress your colleagues with your restaurant knowledge and suggest several delicious options. Or, you could be one of those obnoxious people who makes a big fuss until everybody gives in and lets them choose the restaurant. If you really want to stay fit and healthy, work for yourself at home, cook your own meals, exercise daily, and don’t eat at restaurants at all unless there’s no way you can get out of it!

When travelling, I take along a travelling kitchen and prepare my own food as much as possible. It’s by far the cheapest and most nutritious way to go anywhere. I’ve make cooking in motel rooms into a high art!

Question For Savvy Vegetarian:

I’ve recently been thinking about moving to a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet for a few reasons: because I’ve heard it’s cheap, healthy, and more environmentally friendly.

I just graduated University and during that time I picked up some pretty awful eating habits that include LOTS of Pepsi and other sugary items, which I know are not good for me (and may be harder to give up than meat!).

Assuming I’m being aware of getting a balanced nutrient diet as I slowly transition away from meat eating, what would be your biggest piece of advice as I move towards a veg lifestyle? Thanks! – J.W.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Hi J.W., Darn! You only want one piece of advice? Don’t know if I can do that, but I’ll try.

I guess the most important thing is to make every calorie count, nutritionally. Yes, that does mean weaning yourself off the sugary junk food, laden with empty calories – which not only make you fat, but actually cause malnutrition. My theory is that since these calories are empty, they pull nutrients from your body on the way through your digestive system, replacing the good stuff in your cells with toxins and fat.

For most people on a typical North American fast food diet, that’s all that holding them together. That’s why I recommend that people transition gradually to a veg diet, to give their bodies a chance to detox slowly. If you’re going to continue eating garbage while going veg, you increase your risk of malnutrition considerably.

I don’t know if that’s ‘good science’, but it works for me!

I don’t mean you should never have a treat – you have to reward yourself for all that virtuous behavior. Maybe once a week you could eat a cookie and a pepsi.

To help you get started, download these two vegetarian reports: Vegetarian Nutrition and Ten Tips For Going Veg

Thanks for writing! :-) J.K

From the 3.15.09 issue of Dr. Mirkin’s Health and Fitness Ezine

In this issue, Dr. Gabe Mirkin talks about exercising over 50 to live longer. Savvy Vegetarian hears from a lot of folks with questions about going vegetarian to lose weight, get fit and improve their health.

I tiresomely repeat over and over that eating right is only part of the story. We need to exercise daily to lose fat and build muscle, particularly after 50, to avoid dying prematurely. The study referenced in the following article used men, but of course the findings apply equally to women.
“Men who start or increase their exercise programs after age fifty live longer than those who remain at their present activity levels, according to a study in the British Medical Journal (March 2009).”

“More than 2200 men were checked at ages 60, 60, 70, 77 and 82 years. The greater the increase in exercise duration over that span, the longer their lives were extended. The reduction in early death from increasing exercise was the same as for men who stopped smoking.”

“Lack of exercise is associated with obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, osteoporosis, and cancer. Exercising regularly more than halves your chance of dying prematurely (Archives of Internal Medicine, December 2007). Yet more than 50 percent of North Americans do not exercise.”

“Exercise prevents disease and increases life span by many mechanisms. The major benefit probably comes from the contracting muscles themselves.”

“A high rise in blood sugars and fats after meals damages cells. When blood sugar levels rise too high, sugar sticks to the surface of cell membranes. Once there, it can never get off, eventually killing the cells and leading to blindness, heart attacks, strokes and the other consequences of uncontrolled diabetes.”

“Contracting muscles draw sugar and fat so rapidly from the bloodstream that they usually prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. This effect is maximized during exercise. The effect is maintained for about half hour after you stop exercising and gradually tapers off until it disappears after about 18 hours.”

“That explains why you get maximum benefit by exercising every day (rather than three times a week), and why greater benefit is gained by exercising more intensely for longer durations.”

Dr. Mirkin doesn’t specify the kind of exercise in this article, but there are many other fitness articles on his site.