Chewing!

Belle · #1 07-09-2015, 07:31 PM

This is a stupid sounding thing to say ! I'm doing ok with my vegetarian diet. Probably about 2 months in now. I am not sure when I started. But it's good and I feel happy about it.

The one problem I am finding is that I can't find food where I have to have a really good chew before swallowing. And I miss that. I miss the process when the saliva glands are galvinised into action by the chewing and similarly, I don't feel as full from vegetarian food as I did from a simple piece of meat.

Can anyone offer any ideas? What I might cook?

Tobi · #2 08-09-2015, 01:51 AM

I don't know....personally I have always enjoyed chewing all food. And sensing the different flavours and textures. I am by nature a slow eater.
Everything gets chewed and appreciated. It's just an instinct.

Hunger is a good thing. It doesn't make you bolt your food, it makes you salivate at the simplest treat, and savour it. Even a piece of plain bread without butter.

Mushrooms are quite 'chewy'....so are nuts....apples....etc etc Apples are not so filling though. But you can certainly get your teeth into a good tasty nut roast with brown rice gravy and vegetables.

Silver · #3 08-09-2015, 02:07 AM

I love broccoli and if it's cut in pieces with plenty of the stalk, that would be one idea to get more chewing action in, ha ha. The mushrooms - those big ones - the portobello's, making burgers out of them or something - casseroles or stews/soups with big hunks of them in there. I'm a meat eater, so I do appreciate where you're coming from. It's something about the texture, isn't it.

Belle · #4 08-09-2015, 05:45 AM

Maybe I need to take more effort and masticate (I think that's the word) properly and mindfully. I find a lot of the vegetarian food I buy is actually a bit "mush" and I am aware of the importance of chewing in digesting.

I'll cook my greens a bit more al dente ! And I will try a few Portabellos.

But I fear this could be the make / break in the vegetarian world. Like you say Silver - texture.

LilMariposa85 · #5 09-09-2015, 07:21 PM

I can't say I'm vegan or vegetarian, but I can appreciate vegetarian dishes.

I'm a huge sucker for almonds. White Diamond has a smokehouse flavored almonds(which I'm pretty sure doesn't actually have anything involving a smokehouse in it) that are like nut crack really. Otherwise, you might be able to marinate them in an olive oil and herb/spice blend and bake them for 5-10 minutes on a fairly low setting and come up with something awesome that way.

Or OOOOH! Tofurky or something sauteed with sliced almonds, olive oil, and seasoning might be the bomb.com.

Tobi · #6 10-09-2015, 12:49 AM

Almonds toasted are WOW! Nicely chewy. Hazelnuts the same. Peanuts, cashews.....

For vegans, toasted nuts with Quinoa (maybe with a few lentils added) and salad is a good mix of different flavours and textures.

mogenblue · #7 15-09-2015, 08:58 AM

To get more chewing experience you might cut the veggies into larger parts. That requires to chew more.

Seitan is an alternative for the bite in meat. Seitan is fried gluten. It is made from wheat. You can marinate it, but when I open a can it usually goes right into a bowl, some soy sauce over it, and then I eat it up. Too impatient. ;-)

A vegetarian diet will never give a full digested feeling like with meat because by nature a vegetarian diet is easy digestible. Meat takes much longer to digest. It may be nice to feel so digested, I can remember it from when I still ate meat, but actually it's more healthy if the food digests quicker.
I feel my food minutes after my meal coming into my bloodstream. I'm very content with that. Also I feel happy about NOT feeling so digested anymore. I didn't like that blowup feeling in my belly anymore. But that's how I feel about it.

knightofalbion · #8 15-09-2015, 11:00 AM

Celery is good for that. Though for something cooked, as has already been mentioned, broccoli stems. (Very nutritious - yet most people throw it away!) Also carrots.

mogenblue · #9 15-09-2015, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Belle

But I fear this could be the make / break in the vegetarian world. Like you say Silver - texture.

If you have problems with make/break for texture, what I did in the past was to put the benefits of vegetarian beside the benefits of meat.

Like you rightfully said: texture. There are some meats that I really enjoy for the taste, the texture: roast beef, a juicy bratwurst or meat ball. They can really make my mouth water.
But when I put that against the benefits of no meat:
- improved body health
- improved well being, feel lighter and happier
- animal well being
then the decision for me always goes to vegetarian. My age moves on and my health noticably deteriorated. Since I went vegetarian many of my problems disappeared. So the benefits, for me, are too important to start eating meat again.

I have been looking around on the internet and found many professional opinions about a relation between meat and various forms of cancer. In my own neighbourhood I regularly, from time to time, hear about people getting cancer. In my own family two people have died from cancer. That is a sign on the wall for me.

It is up to you of course to make your own decision. If you go vegetarian it doesn't mean you can never eat meat ever never again. It's your body, your diet. You make your own rules. There isn't really much harm in taking once a week or once a month a nice juicy piece of meat. If you still like it so much maybe you shouldn't wear yourself so much out and give in to it.
Everybody that changes from a meat diet to a plant based diet does it in their own way.

In my case, after I made the switch, I didn't buy it anymore at all, but if like my neighbour offered me some food with meat I didn't refuse it and accepted it gratefully and enjoyed the food with good taste.

Look for the picture in the long run. Don't worry too much about incidents. You set the rules.
If you could enjoy a good quality piece of meat once a month I could maybe be a bit jealous of you. Maybe............... ;-)

When I long for meat I take the memory in my mind of when I had a good experience of meat. I remember very clearly some times when I was on an open market and had a bratwurst with fried onions on a sandwich. That is one of the few things that can still pull me back. But then I keep thinking about it in my mind until I am saturated by the thought in my mind. And then it is over and done with again. So I excercise a mind trick to get over it. It works for me.

Good luck. Bon appetit! :-)

Belle · #10 16-09-2015, 06:03 AM

I went for the chicken soup the other day! It was organic, free range. My body felt alive like it hadn't done for ages.

Either I'm doing nutrition incorrect but I'm not coping on veggie food per se. Odd bits of sneaky meat will have to come into the equation here and there. But I'm sourcing ethical farming, ethical slaughtering, etc.