A low veggies vegan

[yemenmocha]

How unhealthy would a vegan diet be that consists of mostly:

grains
legumes
nuts
fruits (in the form of juices mostly)
fortified items such as breakfast cereals

almost no veggies, except when dining out (Indian or Thai).

[Teejay]

It would still probably be healthier than the average meat-eating diet, but you need the veggies for specific vitamins, only some of which will be in the fruit. You need leafy greens for iron, zinc, calcium etc.

However, the things you listed are all good things to eat.

You can take a vegan multivitamin if habits are really hard to change. It's not the perfect answer, but it can't hurt.

[Erin Pavlina]

Kid Bear makes a veggies vitamin. It's totally cool. All the vitamins from veggies in it.

Check it out at www.kidbear.com.

[yemenmocha]

Sorry I didn't put this in the health thread. I now realize it would be more suitable there.

Well if you haven't guessed the person with this hypothetical diet is me.

I just don't like vegetables unless it's in Indian cuisine or Thai. I've tried making that stuff at home and it's just too time consuming and the results are never decent. Plus, you can't make that naan/paratha bread at home without the special clay oven.

But otherwise I just don't enjoy vegetables. I can rarely get myself to eat them.

That makes me worry that although I do take a vegan multivitamin and eat the fortified foods mentioned above (I always get enough B vitamins, iron, etc. from these foods, at least if the labels are accurate - without the vitamin that is. But I still take the vitamin anyway).

Thanks for your responses.

[Erin Pavlina]

How are you cooking your veggies?

Here's something fun we do that tastes fantastic and is fast and easy. I slice zucchini into strips, dredge them in wheat germ, cook for 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven, then dip em in Creamy Garlic Dressing (like a Ranch dressing). It's sooo good and full of vitamins. I can put this together in just five minutes.

Try frozen stir fry mixes if you don't like to chop. I don't like to chop either, and when I'm in a hurry I eat frozen veggies. Sprinkle some soy sauce on there or make a peanut sauce. Yum! Frozen veggie still retain their vitamins.

[yemenmocha]

Where do the vitamins come from in your zucchini treat?

Do you happen to have any vegetable recipes that involve breading and frying them?

The zuchini one sounds tasty as you described it.

[Erin Pavlina]

The vitamins are in the zucchini itself. And the wheat germ is very high in iron. All natural, all good.

Believe me, it's really tasty. I usually sit down and eat four large zucchini this way. The Creamy Garlic dressing is key. It's made by Follow Your Heart. Do you get that brand in your health food store?

[yemenmocha]

I haven't seen that brand in my store but I will look more closely. I don't eat salads at home so we rarely buy much dressing. I do have lots of great mustards, ketchups, BBQ, and hot sauces for dipping.

But creamy garlic sounds quite nice. I LOVE garlic.


From your earlier question - the only veggies we ever really cook are a few frozen items (peas, corn, carrots) and they're served as a side item to something like Gardenburger Riblets. Other than that, we sometimes do summer squash or zucchini sauteed in oily garlic stuff or on the grill as a shishkebob.

[Erin Pavlina]

Ah, okay. You've got to start getting into sauces. I make a fantastic Hawaiian stir fry, it has a great sweet and sour sauce. The recipe is in Lean, and Luscious and Meatless. The sauce is so easy to make. It consists of soy sauce, pineapple juice and spices. I can whip it up really fast too. I'm all about fast.

[yemenmocha]

Hawaiin stir fry sounds tasty. I'll order that book with my Xmas gift certificates for bookstores that I always receive.

Any other books at the top of your list? I'm more interested in short, easy recipes than the more time consuming ones.

Thanks
Aaron

[Erin Pavlina]

You might like Simply Vegan by Debra WAsserman then. Her cookbook limits each recipe to like 4-6 ingredients. It's very fast.

some of the recipes are better than others, you'll have to find the ones you like most.

I also like both PETA cookbooks. They offer what I feel are really delicious foods. The neatloaf recipe takes me 5 minutes to prepare and get into the oven. if that! I love it! All you need is tofu and spices. So fast. And my toddler loves it with ketchup.