Nutrition tips for Vegetarian dummies like me
Since I started to take yoga seriously, I decided to become a vegetarian. Not only because I want to practice Ahimsa, but because I feel that I have to be more responsible to take care of my own health and my family.
Giving up meat means that I had to give up the usual meals that I enjoyed in my life time. Also I had to be more conscious on my daily diet to get the right balance of nutrition.
As someone said- when one door closes, another door opens. Giving up the meat dishes means I have entered to the new vegetarian food world and I would explore the new kinds of dishes! Moreover I started to realize that there are more different kinds of vegetables that I do not know how to ‘use’.
So I have thought about what basic rules I need to follow to get the balanced vegetarian diet and made following 4 rules for kitchen.
1.Harmonize the ingredient. Each ingredient has a different kind of nutrition and sometimes it becomes more nutritious when it’s combined with other ingredients. The example is a tomato and olive oil. The substance called lycopene in Tomatoes is more effectively absorbed to the body when it’s combined with a fat such as olive oil according to the study from Ohio University. Also remember some ingredients are not compatible with other ingredients, it’s simply a bad combination such as cheese and fruit.
2.Cook properly. Back to the example of tomatoes, grilled or pan-fried tomato with olive oil is even more nutritious than the raw tomato. When tomatoes are cooked, the wall to cover the cell is broken down so more lycopene is released.
3.Consume whole grains. Many studies shows whole grain provides many health benefits, it provides fiber, minerals and more vitamins. More importantly whole grain contains Phytochemicals, which is a chemical compounds that has been generated within the plant itself naturally. It is like an immune system that the plant builds by itself. So taking the whole grain means we are taking the grain with its immune system which is also beneficial for human body.
4.Enjoy cooking! Vegetarian food doesn’t have to be boring and doesn’t have to be a salad all the times! I recently bought one of the vegetarian cook book from Japan and it introduce incredible recipes to cook vegetables so I dive myself into the vegetable cooking nowadays. When you cook, you will actually learn how to appreciate the taste of each ingredients – like we always say, live life completely and eat completely!
200hr weekend YTT
Jieun