I need to find a balance between eating halal and staying at an appropriate weight but I'm not sure how to do it. I have thought about adopting the protein shake again but there is a good chance that those may not be vegetarian, I'd have to read the ingredients. However, they work like a charm to keep my weight where it needs to be. That extra protein is all I need!
Other issue is I eat too much cheese and pasta now which isn't getting me what I need. I no longer can eat frozen chicken strips and other frozen food items because they are not halal. I don't want to cook a full meal when I get home so I end up with cheese pizza. Not very filling or nutritional. I try to cook enough on the weekends to last the week but it doesn't always work out.
Any suggestions? I'd like to start this full time but I just don't know the best way to do so.
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Try to get more protein by adding beans to your diet. Another thing I would recommend is cooking with coconut milk. There are a lot of both Thai and Indian curries with this. They also freeze well for meals on the go.
ReplyDeleteI have a recipe for Korma curry on my blog that you might want to try. Might want to eat more eggs when you can't get halal meat too.
Stacy: Oh good ideas! I didnt know that about coconut milk, I'll check our that recipe. Yes eggs would be a good way to go.
ReplyDeleteOne word: SEAFOOD! All fish with scales are halal in all the schools of thought, and in a couple of the Sunni schools anything from the sea is halal, even predatory animals like sharks. Seafood is also relatively easy to find in restaurants (most food places, even fast food places, have at least a tuna sandwich or a fried fish sandwich). Stacy's idea of beans is also good. And don't underestimate the importance of dairy products! Of course, anytime you do have access to halal or kosher meat, jump on it.
ReplyDelete*puts down projectile* So...ignoring the fact that I *hate you* ;) if you tend to go vegetarian, what about tofu? I can't eat it, so I don't know if it meets the nutritional needs you have, but isn't it what most vegetarians use as meat substitute? (*hackspit* Vegetarianism...so useless... what's the point without meat?)
ReplyDeleteAnne: I do eat seafood but sadly I get tired of it very quickly and I'm picky. Plus it tends to be expensive :(. However, I heart my sushi and salmon terriaki :) Kosher isnt really more accessable than halal. Except that I can order from a kosher deli...its SUPER expensive though! $15 for chicken strips and fries is absurd! Guess I will be eating food off of halal carts lol
ReplyDeleteAmber: I eat A LOT of tofu. Bad part about it is you are hungry like an hour later. Same with Sushi. Thats been my issue. I love vegetarian food but Im so hungry like an hour later. Not enough meat protein and iron.
I could never be strictly vegetarian. I'd be too hungry all the time lol! Thats what I need to do is find food that keeps me from being hungry. I have a bad habit of getting hungry at work and going after the candy. So much so I now have a cavity which I have not had since I was 6! Protein shakes are probably the way to go. I just learned they are vegetarian :) They were my solution in college where the food was so bad I would basically only eat pasta and salad. Got rather sick because of that and the protein shakes fixed the problem.
Or maybe Im just not ready to let go of resturante food yet LOL
Yeah, that's the problem with kosher delis; the food is great, but it's always way overpriced. And sushi FTW! I love salmon teriyaki too, but do be careful of what kind of teriyaki sauce is used; some brands, like Kikkoman, list wine as one of their ingredients. :(
ReplyDeleteMore protein will make you feel less hungry. That's one common way to LOSE weight, though. If you're looking to generally eat more to put on some weight, eat more carbs.
ReplyDeleteI want to eat more protein to lose weight and control my blood sugar (reactive hypoglycemia) but my problem is I love carbs too much. :)
Sarah: haha it would help if I wasn't hungry all the time though. I just eat junk which is very unhealthy and tends to mess horribly with my hypoglycemia. Like, I dont eat less per meal with protein shakes. I just eat less chips and crackers LOL. I dunno, it never makes me loose weight just helps me to maintain it. I also have an issue where sometimes I'll be hungry but there is nothing I want to eat so I just won't. Then I get a headache and its too late. But I can always guzzle a protein shake if need be.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger and skinnier, I even managed to practice bodybuilding while being veg. I managed to do it by eating 4 meals a day and using a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein. I had found that protein shakes didn't help as much as I had hoped, but the diet tweak did work, and I even managed to gain weight - which back then was close to impossible.
ReplyDeleteAt that time, I ate a lot of soy in the form of dried soy cubes put into the sauces of my dishes. The problem with that form of soy is that it contains a high proportion of isoflavones (plant estrogens). It can cause you to have very heavy periods if you eat it as much as I was.
To make things even worse, my gynecologist either didn't know or didn't think to ask about my diet, prescribed progesterone replacement to get my period back on track, and... I ended up with breast cancer within two years.
From what I have been reading, that may not have been an accident. Apparently the combination of both estrogen and progesterone can particularly increase your risk of cancer. I have not reacted that badly to such things as soy pate or tofu. Those might be better solutions. Bottom line - gotta be careful about using soy as a replacement for meat.
What I normally use for protein nowadays are chick peas. Normally I pair a dish made with them with either whole wheat pasta or brown rice. And now that my metabolism has slowed down, I have been able to ease back on the amounts of rice and pasta I need to keep my body mass up. So take heart, this problem will probably not last forever. In the meantime, there are a few ideas for you.
PS You are quite right, you definitely do have to eat a greater volume of food if you go veg, in order to maintain your body mass.
ReplyDeleteCaraboska: Thanks for the advice! I often forget about chickpeas but they are so delicious
ReplyDeleteI used to always be really skinny (before I got married I never weighed more than 115 (and I am 5' 2")! Now, since I got married I have gained some weighed (a little more than I want) and don't know how to lose some of the belly fat (u know, when ur belly gets so big ur shirts become really tight?)On the oppisite end DH has LOST weight since we got married. His friend's think I am starving him;( I used to have a very high motabolism) (I wasn't allowed to sit in the front seat of the car until I was like 13 or 14 I was soo tiny!) ).
ReplyDeletewow sounds like me lol. I couldn't sit in the front forever!!!!
ReplyDelete