Gave up sugar!!!!

[Deleted member 541]

@shatter eyes I detest all 3 of those, so I will stay away!!!!!

 

[Deleted member 541]

Ok @Tornadic Thoughts as you know on top of giving up sugar, I have also gone vegetarian. Soooooo. Today I bought some tofu... WTF do I do with it?????? LOL!!!! I bought the firm kind. Looks like a brick of solidify scummy milk. YUCK!!!!! I'm trying to get in more protein. Chick peas and eggs just aren't cutting it for me.

I also bought plain greeek yogurt. OMG!!!! That is an acquired taste. Talk about pucker power!!!! I'm not one that has tried (let's say) eating outside of the box. The box being meat, potatoes and some veggies. So, I have a limited amount of tolerance for different textures, and I'm kind of leery about new and different foods. OK! So I'm sort of picky and scared to try new shit, because of the way it looks or the sound of it!!!!

I need help!!!!!!! Thank you!!!

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

I don't do yogurt, so I'm of no help there. Never was a big fan of it even when I was still eating dairy products. I know some folks like to make smoothies and stuff with it, or add sweet fruits to it. I've heard of folks using it to make sauces for pasta and stuff, too.

The only thing I ever use those blocks of tofu for is to occasionally do a tofu scramble since I don't do eggs. I always drain it, wrap it in some paper towels, press, and dry it out as much as possible, then saute some onion, garlic, and bell peppers and crumble the tofu into the pan and add some greens (spinach, kale, etc.), nutritional yeast (has a cheesy flavor), and any other seasonings I may want. Salsa and black beans are good to serve on top.

I've had damn good tasting tofu in restaurants and at festivals and such. I think they just chunk it up and marinate it in whatever they want it to taste like. It could be used in stir fry dishes, too, I would think...or chili...or stew...or soup, etc. I use Liquid Aminos in place of soy sauce and marinate mushrooms in that quite often. Wishing you much tastiness in your new adventures!

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

Here's some ideas:

6 Ways To Flavor & Cook Tofu (Vegan)

Oops....I hit the send button too soon...my bad:

CHEAP EASY VEGAN TOFU RECIPES
SOUL FOOD VEGAN : SOUTHERN FRIED TOFU

 

[Friday]

I'm trying to get in more protein. Chick peas and eggs just aren't cutting it for me.

Any Legume + Grain = Complete Protein. They have to be in the same meal, or the chemistry doesn't happen, and you start digesting muscle tissue to compensate.

Rice&Beans (Creole -Redbeans&Rice, Hoppin'John-, Mexican, Indian, Argentine, Cuban, etc.)
Hummus&Pita
Bruschetta w/ Cannelini Beans
Tortilla chips & bean dip
Black bean soup & crusty garlic bread
Pasta w/any sauce & a salad w/ chickpeas
Mochi filled with red bean paste
Samosas
Tamales
*Stuffed Pasta Shells

(wheat is a grain, which probably sounds "duh" but people tend to forget that tortillas, bread, flatbread, pasta, etc. count as a grain).

In addition to flesh, eggs, legume+grain, nuts are another complete protein... And you can pulverize them into various sizes and add them to a whole lot of things. Basil Pesto, for example, almost always has either pine nuts, wallnuts, or almonds. So if you make a cold pesto pasta salad (or hot pesto sauce), AND have a salad with chickpeas? You're actually getting 2 sources of complete proteins (legume+grain & nuts) in the same meal.

One of the tricks with going vegetarian or vegan is to LOAD up on both complete proteins and weight/tooth. IE, make a Burrito or PB&J or Mac'n'Cheese or Lasagna... Solid, filling, huge mouthful meals, loaded with whole protein foods in the beginning... Before eating lighter foods. You won't lose weight, because they're still calorific monster foods, but it trains your body to stop looking for "the meat". Then transitioning into lighter things, with lower calorie loads.

**

Spoiler: One use for tofu : Basil Soy Ricotta

I grew up in Asia, so I use tofu in a helluva lot of things, but my favorite WESTERN foods to use tofu in are pizza/flatbread/lasagna & stuffed pasta shells, as a ricotta substitute. If you have a blender or food processor, it's wicked easy. Dump everything in, pulse, and store in a mason jar for up to a few weeks. Whole thing only costs about $3 in tofu & seasonings, so if you don't use it all up, it's not like it's painful to throw away after a couple weeks.

1 box of firm (silken firm is best, but hard to find) & 1 box of silken/soft), 1TB of dried basil, 1tsp minced garlic, big pinch of kosher salt (about a TB, or about a tsp of iodized salt), 5TB / 1/4 cup lemon juice, about a tsp ground pepper, (& a few leaves of fresh basil IF you have them around. I rarely do, I've usually lobbed them into pesto so they'll keep). Blend until it's as smooth & creamy as you like. It will get a LITTLE crumbly once cooked, so generally stop pulsing it a little bit creamier than you want it to be. Some people add a pinch of sugar or a pinch of nutritional yeast or both. Feel free to mess about with proportions. Love garlic? Go for it. Etc.

A super awesome / fast meal is to smear a piece of flatbread with cillantro/spinach pesto or basil pesto, spoon a couple dollops of soy-basil-ricotta, and top with fire roasted tomatoes or red peppers (from the jar / can). I'm the only one who doesn't eat dairy in this house, but everyone else insists on the soy-basil-ricotta instead of real ricotta in Italian & small plate cooking. It's good stuff.

 

[shatter eyes]

Pan fry firm tofu with taco seasoning.

Greek yogurt add fruit jam or local honey.

I did before is good.

 

[Deleted member 541]

Ok, so I pan fried the tofu with salt, pepper and lots of garlic power. Topped it all off with sautéed button mushrooms and spinach. Not bad, I wouldn't write home about it, but it was doable. Going to continue looking up (or asking) how to or what to use, or whatever. I hope I don't become too much of a pain in the ass!!!!! Thanks everyone!!!!!!!

 

[One step at a time]

A little late to the party, but:
Yes, I like to cut the block of tofu into cubes, and pan-fry in a bit of oil with spices - recently, chili and lime - until the cubes are sorta crunchy brown on the outside. Sometimes this takes a while. Then I put them on rice or in salads or pretty much anywhere I might use chicken.

Also I like making a peanut sauce (basically mixing hot water, peanut butter, and optional stuff) and pouring it over pasta and pan-fried tofu. Add some scallion or cucumber if I'm feeling fancy.

 

[relm1]

Hi She Cat, how do you define sugar? Sugars are in fruits, wheat, starches, and vegetables. Onions are loaded with them so I assume you mean you gave up processed sugar additives? Stay away from corn syrup that they put in all processed/packaged food and sodas.

I gave up salt cold turkey once and found it nearly impossible to get salt intake to zero. Salt is in our water, all baked goods (for example normal bread might have 150 mg of salt, low sodium bread might have 120 mg and that difference makes one delicious and the other taste like card board). So going to a low salt diet was a shock to the system and resulted in rapid weight loss due to no water retention and much healthier eating. Salt is also a preservative so this meant everything I was eating was natural and did not full of preservatives/additives. I got much healthier with that diet. Eventually I stopped it because this was to try to get my cholesterol down to normal and it ends up 90% of cholesterol is genetic and can't be changed by diet so eating a very bland meal for life wasn't doing enough to fix my bad cholesterol so I take medication for that now and can eat more normal levels.

 

[Lori0122]

That's a huge improvement. Wow! People have no idea how much our food actually effects our bodies. I didn't either before I changed my diet. My kids have food sensitivities and they're on the paleo diet and I've been a vegetarian for a long time so it's a tough mix but we all feel so much better and although it was hard at first, I'm so glad we have found a better way to eat. I know I feel so much better when I eat well.

 

[Deleted member 541]

@relm1 I'm not going nuts on the sugar thing. I will still eat fruits, as I love all fruit and I believe it's important for a healthy diet. I'm talking all sweets, you know, cakes pies, candy and any other source.... I'm trying very hard to eat clean, but not going overboard with it.

I haven't used salt in ages, although yesterday I used some when I cooked tofu. But I don't cook with it and I don't add it into food. I always try and look at sodium content when buying food too. My BP is very good so I don't have to worry, but my sister on the other hand.... She really needs an overhaul on her diet, but "thinks" she eats healthy. Hahahahahaha. NOT!!!!!

I wish you well too....

 

[Cannottakethis]

@She Cat have you tried Stevia? It's a natural non artificial sweetener and I went from 6 blue packets to a couple of drops of stevia in the last 2 years. I recently gave up my Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee as well But feel way better for it.
I just had my 7 year anniversary of quitting smoking and it's about 4 since I stopped drinking, both cold turkey as well.
I get my stevia at Trader Joe's if you have one by you but i know you can get it elsewhere.