Like the rest of the world (cf. the multi-billion dollar breakfast cereal industry), I like grains in the morning. But cold cereal is either unhealthy (Froot Loops, Peanut Butter Bumpers), or boring (AllBran, Total). So what's a South Beach Vegan to do?
1. Embrace toast! A slice or two of whole-grain bread, smeared with any one of a variety of nut butters, or guacamole, or hummus, or whatever, really sticks to the ribs, and takes about 2.5 seconds to make. Don't limit yourself to margarine and jam (though that's tasty, too). They key to this is opening your mind about what constitutes an appropriate topping.
2. Use leftover grains. For dinner, if you make brown rice, or quinoa, or whole-wheat couscous, or any other grain, make a few extra servings and stick the leftovers in the fridge. In the morning, scoop out about a cup of the grain into a cereal bowl, top with a milk substitute like soy, almond, hazelnut, or oat milk (unsweetened is best, but a little sweetener won't kill you), and mix in some flavorings. My faves: ground almonds, a pinch of cardamom, a pinch of nutmeg, and a packet of splenda. Or, cinnamon and chopped apple. Or, blueberries (frozen is fine) and 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract. Use your imagination: any nuts, fruits (dried, fresh or frozen), jams, or sweet spices will do. Nuke the concoction in the microwave for a minute and a half, and you have a breakfast that takes less than five minutes to make but tastes like you spent all morning on it.
This kind of breakfast will easily hold you over until lunch.
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Friday, July 16, 2004
Too much soy?
Like most vegans, I get a disproportionate amount of my protein from soy sources. There are two reasons for this. One, soy is one of the few (in fact, one of only two that I know of--the other being quinoa grain) vegan sources of "complete" protein. That is, it contains all of the essential amino acids your body needs. The other is that soy is simply convenient. Soy protein powder (for smoothies) is easy to find, and cheap. Soymilk is ubiquitous now, and is the only commercially-prepared milk-alternative I have ever found that is sometimes sold without sweeteners. Tofu, of course, is everyone's idea of the classic vegan ingredient, and most meat-substitutes use soy as their base. (Textured vegetable protein? You got it--it's soy.) Now add in most burger, cheese and ice cream substitutes (virtually all of which are made with soy), and you've got some serious soy action going on.
In fact, I sometimes find myself eating soy three times a day, as when I have a soymilk-based smoothie (sometimes even fortified with soy powder!) for breakfast; a vegan frozen meal made with soy-meat or -cheese substitutes (like the delicious Celentano Italian options) for lunch; and a tofu stir-fry for dinner.
Is there a problem with this? Maybe. For one thing, soy is mildly "estrogenic." Basically, this means that soy acts like a weak form of estrogen. In some body tissues, soy will mimic estrogen; while in others, it will block it. This may have implications for breast cancer--but it depends on the type of tumor. Some breast cancers seem to be exaccerbated by estrogen, while others are mitigated by it. (If you are unlucky enough to have the "breast cancer gene" mutation called BRCA, for instance, type-1 of this gene leads to breast tumors with no estrogen receptors, where a type-2 mutation generates tumors that feed off estrogen.) In other words, it's not at all clear whether soy will prevent or help you to avoid breast cancer. Probably, it does neither... but if you're eating it in massive doses (and I have no idea whether 3 servings a day would be "massive"), then maybe you have reason to pause.
Another possible reason to worry about soy is even more speculative. Estrogen also plays a role in healthy brain functioning. One very small, uncontrolled study showed that in a population of older persons of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii, those who ate a lot of soy were more likely to suffer from memory and other cognitive problems than their counterparts who ate a more traditional Western diet. This isn't much data, but again, it *might* give you reason to consider not eating soy by the bucketful.
On the plus side, soy is an excellent protein source, a good source of unsaturated fat, and a helpful way for vegans to survive gracefully in a meat-centric culture. There is some evidence that soy protects against heart disease by lowering cholesterol, and may reduce hotflashes in newly-menopausal women.
So what to do? Well, I can tell you what I've decided to do: eat soy, but eat less of it. I aim for no more than one serving a day. I do this by replacing soymilk with other milk-alternatives (such as nutmilks or grainmilks) in smoothies and cooking whenever I can--sweetener be damned. And I emphasize a wider variety of beans for lunch and dinner than I did before. I also am more likely to substitute seitan (a meat-substitute made from wheat protein) for tofu in stir-fries, or even do without the tofu altogether. I also find that many of my recipes for which I previously used Gimme Lean or other soy-based meat substitutes, can be made using some other bean. The "meatloaf" recipe I posted a while back can be made by substituting lentils and lots of spices for the Gimme Lean, and it makes a very nice dish. It's cheaper, too! The other advantage to this moderation is that I get a wider variety of food products, which is always a healthier way to eat than overemphasizing a single ingredient.
In fact, I sometimes find myself eating soy three times a day, as when I have a soymilk-based smoothie (sometimes even fortified with soy powder!) for breakfast; a vegan frozen meal made with soy-meat or -cheese substitutes (like the delicious Celentano Italian options) for lunch; and a tofu stir-fry for dinner.
Is there a problem with this? Maybe. For one thing, soy is mildly "estrogenic." Basically, this means that soy acts like a weak form of estrogen. In some body tissues, soy will mimic estrogen; while in others, it will block it. This may have implications for breast cancer--but it depends on the type of tumor. Some breast cancers seem to be exaccerbated by estrogen, while others are mitigated by it. (If you are unlucky enough to have the "breast cancer gene" mutation called BRCA, for instance, type-1 of this gene leads to breast tumors with no estrogen receptors, where a type-2 mutation generates tumors that feed off estrogen.) In other words, it's not at all clear whether soy will prevent or help you to avoid breast cancer. Probably, it does neither... but if you're eating it in massive doses (and I have no idea whether 3 servings a day would be "massive"), then maybe you have reason to pause.
Another possible reason to worry about soy is even more speculative. Estrogen also plays a role in healthy brain functioning. One very small, uncontrolled study showed that in a population of older persons of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii, those who ate a lot of soy were more likely to suffer from memory and other cognitive problems than their counterparts who ate a more traditional Western diet. This isn't much data, but again, it *might* give you reason to consider not eating soy by the bucketful.
On the plus side, soy is an excellent protein source, a good source of unsaturated fat, and a helpful way for vegans to survive gracefully in a meat-centric culture. There is some evidence that soy protects against heart disease by lowering cholesterol, and may reduce hotflashes in newly-menopausal women.
So what to do? Well, I can tell you what I've decided to do: eat soy, but eat less of it. I aim for no more than one serving a day. I do this by replacing soymilk with other milk-alternatives (such as nutmilks or grainmilks) in smoothies and cooking whenever I can--sweetener be damned. And I emphasize a wider variety of beans for lunch and dinner than I did before. I also am more likely to substitute seitan (a meat-substitute made from wheat protein) for tofu in stir-fries, or even do without the tofu altogether. I also find that many of my recipes for which I previously used Gimme Lean or other soy-based meat substitutes, can be made using some other bean. The "meatloaf" recipe I posted a while back can be made by substituting lentils and lots of spices for the Gimme Lean, and it makes a very nice dish. It's cheaper, too! The other advantage to this moderation is that I get a wider variety of food products, which is always a healthier way to eat than overemphasizing a single ingredient.
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