Giving veg. a go again, and some other musings

[Jainarayan]

I could have put this in the Journals or Personal Living areas but since it's almost exclusively Hinduism-related, I think few non-Hindus would be able to relate, especially given the spiritual nature of it.

So yeah, I'm trying veg. again. It's been close to, if not past, a week since I had mammal flesh. I figure that saying "mammal flesh" covers anything with hair, fur, nipples or mammary glands (platypuses have mammary glands but no nipples).

I've had fish and a couple of eggs. I don't think it will be difficult to give up eggs because I'm not all that crazy about them anyway. And I'm tired of chicken (except chicken parm). Seafood, especially salmon and shrimp are another matter and a challenge, though I don't have them all that often.

I found it's really not that hard to put veg. meal choices together. You just have to think outside the box. Last night I made a small sub sandwich of sliced provolone and Swiss cheese, sliced tomato, and an eggplant relish. It was quite filling, albeit a little high in fat.

Possibly under the heading of TMI, someone suggested to me during some conversations, that I try brahmacharya for 1 week. The person suggested I combine it with strict (I suppose lacto-)vegetarianism for 1 week. This may be difficult, which I guess is the point given that I have little discipline and willpower. I'll probably start (stop? ) Sunday.

It's time to clean up my act and get my spiritual **** together. Wish me luck.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

Good luck and I hope it works out for you <3

Check out recipees of indian cuisine ! You'd be surprised how easy some pure veg meals Can be to cook: palak paneer for exemple (paneer is love, paneer is life)

And with meals like a good old thali you're assured to have everything checked nutrition wise.

Keep your health in check tho eh ? :0 Hope you feel a bit better these days

Aum Namah Shivaya

 

[Jainarayan]

Good luck and I hope it works out for you <3

Check out recipees of indian cuisine ! You'd be surprised how easy some pure veg meals Can be to cook: palak paneer for exemple (paneer is love, paneer is life)

And with meals like a good old thali you're assured to have everything checked nutrition wise.

Keep your health in check tho eh ? :0 Hope you feel a bit better these days

Aum Namah Shivaya

Thanks.

I have quite a few Indian recipes. I fall back on a couple... aloo matar, matar paneer, palak paneer, biryani (usually chicken but it could be vegetable), red and yellow dal, basmati rice, and a bunch of others. And of course there are Italian dishes that are vegetarian.

I'm slowly beginning to feel better. I had that scare a few weeks ago and was in the hospital. They thought it was congestive heart failure but it was my thyroid. My heart is in great shape (stress test, ECG, EKG). I'm also hoping I can drop some weight. My doctor, who came very close to having some himsa perpetrated upon him, says very loudly in the office in front of his staff and other patients I need a lap band or other gastric bypass. I don't.

 

[Valjean]

Sounds good -- but I never understood why anyone would find going veg problematic.

 

[Jainarayan]

Sounds good -- but I never understood why anyone would find going veg problematic.

I think mostly cultural and familial, at least in my case, Being Italian.. meatballs, sausage, lamb, pork. Yeah basically anything with fur or nipples. Left to my own devices, I would not have had a problem in the past. I'm definitely going to have to navigate the rocks especially when I see my family.

 

[ajay0]

Jainarayan, it is said that your vibes in your mind affect your food too. The idea of prasad lies in this.

Try making your food while chanting your mantra or in prayer or mindfulness. You will find that your food tastes better, and it will also help your vow of brahmacharya better.

For this reason, some monks and spiritual aspirants, for the sake of faster progress, make their own food themselves or that made by spiritually adept people, and do not eat from restaurants.

It is also better for health due to larger presence of prana in it.

 

[ajay0]

Most of us prefer mother's cooking or home cooked food, because we can feel or detect the higher prana levels in them.

Same goes for food made with a prayerful or loving heart or mindfulness.

I have read of a muslim man suffering from a chronic ailment, getting healed after eating food given to him as prasad by a female enlightened sage called Mata Amritanandamayi. He had given a report of his healing in a spiritual magazine. Imo, the healing can be attributed to the very high prana levels in the food.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I don't romanticize my food, or give it spiritual qualities. I just eat it.

Still , there's nothing that beats a real home-cooked meal either economically or health wise. It's all good whether a person thinks it will save their soul or not. ;0)

 

[ajay0]

Imho, this may also be the reason why it is said that a good nurse is also a critical element for healing as a good doctor!

A good nurse can transmit her prana better to the patient through loving kindness and positivity, imparting positive energy to a usually cheerless patient made despondent by disease or ill-health.

 

[Jainarayan]

Try making your food while chanting your mantra or in prayer or mindfulness ...

I especially like this idea. I never thought of it.

 

[Jainarayan]

For no other reason than I'm bored, and well, y'all know I like to spill my guts and I talk too much.

I'm still trying my best to eliminate animal flesh. I had one, possibly two slip-ups wrt mammal flesh:

1. Husband made sausage that was in the freezer. I actually don't remember if I ate one or not. I remember saying I wish he hadn't defrosted it.
2. Pizza with bacon and sausage the kids brought. It was there and I was hungry (it's also why I'm almost 240 lbs). I could have eaten something else, but well... learning experience.

I'm not entirely off eggs, chicken and fish, though I've only had them a couple of times in the past few weeks. I don't think it will be all that difficult to give them up entirely. In fact, I'm actually looking forward to it. I need to apply myself a little more strenuously. I'm feeling better about it and finding things that are vegetarian-friendly. I promise I'm not going to be one of those holier-than-thou vegan/vegetarian types we all dislike. I haven't faced a fraction of the challenges I probably will.

I decided to get another tulsi neck mālā to wear, not do japa with. I have several of those too. Every neck mālā I've had has broken. But I read somewhere that's actually a good thing... it's a sign that you're making spiritual progress. I've read conflicting things about wearing one:

1. Can't wear it unless you're completely vegetarian.
2. Anyone can wear it; the point is that it helps you make progress:

• Importance of Wearing Tulasi Mala By Mahanidhi Swami
• "Even if the vilest sinners worship Me with exclusive devotion, they are to be considered righteous, for they have made the proper resolve." BG 9.30 (Swami Mukundananda).

Point #2 notwithstanding, a little part of me is still feeling a little guilty for not being completely veg. yet and wearing the mālā. Incentive to push further. We Sicilians are a stubborn people.

 

[Valjean]

Were the sausage and pizza the only foods available when you became hungry?

 

[Jainarayan]

Were the sausage and pizza the only foods available when you became hungry?

No, they were just more convenient, i.e. they were right there on the stove. Lazy is as lazy does. If they weren't there I would have gone into the refrig to get sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, breaded and fried zucchini slices, sliced an Italian roll, poured Italian sub sandwich dressing on the bread with some pesto sauce and made a vegetarian sub sandwich, as I have done several times. But noooo!... they had to leave the pizza right in my face!

 

[ameyAtmA]

In fact, I'm actually looking forward to it. I need to apply myself a little more strenuously. I'm feeling better about it and finding things that are vegetarian-friendly.

Namaste

Hope you had a nice JanmAsTami/KAlAshTami/GokuLAshTami/Nandotsav

1. Get an electric tortilla maker if you don't have one - for an almost instant freshly made roti, chapati, spinach-paratha, etc. so as to reduce intake of rice and refined flour.

3. Veggies available for 5 min sabji recipes - baby spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, (add pre-pressure-cooked corn to spinach ). The veggies go well with paneer if not cheese.

6. 10 min oven-baked sweet potato w/ olive oil and sea salt.

2. Sprouted Legumes - twice a week. Soak on Monday, drain after 12 hrs, ready on Wed (summer), Thu (winter). Tie in cheese cloth for faster sprouting. Repeat with another legume - cycle with a variety of 4-5 legumes. (Temper oil in pan, add dry cumin/corriander, turmeric, saute legume, add salt, sugar, garam masala / chhole masala, add water to cook.)

4. Mung daal with green shell - for a light nutritious and quick daal.

5. Pressure cooker with 2 compartments -- to make protein dishes like tuvar daal, black eye peas, and simultaneously sides like corn on cob, baby potatoes, green beans, etc.

7. Instant products in the pantry with urad daal (such as vada or idli) can be microwaved in 4 mins.

 

[Jainarayan]

Namaste

Hope you had a nice JanmAsTami/KAlAshTami/GokuLAshTami/Nandotsav

Yes, it was nice... went to temple around 9:30 pm, left almost 1 am. Large crowd but less than in previous years. This was manageable and navigable.

1. Get an electric tortilla maker if you don't have one - for an almost instant freshly made roti, chapati, spinach-paratha, etc. so as to reduce intake of rice and refined flour.

Good idea, there's a large Hispanic population in the area. Should be no problem finding the tortilla maker.

3. Veggies available for 5 min sabji recipes - baby spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, (add pre-pressure-cooked corn to spinach ). The veggies go well with paneer if not cheese.

6. 10 min oven-baked sweet potato w/ olive oil and sea salt.

2. Sprouted Legumes - twice a week. Soak on Monday, drain after 12 hrs, ready on Wed (summer), Thu (winter). Tie in cheese cloth for faster sprouting. Repeat with another legume - cycle with a variety of 4-5 legumes. (Temper oil in pan, add cumin/correander, turmeric, saute legume, add salt, sugar, garam masala / chhole masala, add water to cook.)

4. Mung daal with green shell - for a light nutritious and quick daal.

Yep, I got containers full of different kinds of dal, got the spices. I never sprouted legumes, sounds interesting.

5. Pressure cooker with 2 compartments -- to make protein dishes like tuvar daal, black eye peas, and simultaneously sides like corn on cob, baby potatoes, green beans, etc.

7. Instant products in the pantry with urad daal (such as vada or idli) can be microwaved in 4 mins.

We have a bunch of pressure cookers. I did learn that some dals can make a mess coming out of the steam vent. I have the instant vada and idli mixes. I have an idli tree for one of my 6 qt. pots. They come out good. I tried the soaking, grinding and fermenting. I got wallpaper paste. Idli with different chutneys and relishes is a blast.

 

[ameyAtmA]

Good idea, there's a large Hispanic population in the area. Should be no problem finding the tortilla maker.

or Amazon.

I did learn that some dals can make a mess coming out of the steam vent.

Not if you use the well-fitting double-stack containers inside the cooker, with a lid on top. The protein dish can go in the bottom container. The top can have harmless things like corn, potato, green beans (or brown rice/quinoa) that just has water and salt, so even if you do not cover the top , only steam is let out.

In any case, the sprouted legumes or mung daal do not need pressure, and can replace the pressure cooked daals.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

Namaste

1. Get an electric tortilla maker if you don't have one - for an almost instant freshly made roti, chapati, spinach-paratha, etc. so as to reduce intake of rice and refined flour.
.

Vanakkam

Okay, just to say two things:

1) I never thought of this
2) WHY DID I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THIS it's absolutely genius

You changed my life, thank you

Aum Namah Shivaya

 

[Vinayaka]

No, they were just more convenient, i.e. they were right there on the stove. Lazy is as lazy does. If they weren't there I would have gone into the refrig to get sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, breaded and fried zucchini slices, sliced an Italian roll, poured Italian sub sandwich dressing on the bread with some pesto sauce and made a vegetarian sub sandwich, as I have done several times. But noooo!... they had to leave the pizza right in my face!

Definitely easier if spouse is also vegetarian, and there is no non-veg in the house. I might break down as well, in your situation. My son does admirably well though, (he's veg, she's not) but I do notice his fridge is always full of all kinds of things. I snack while babysitting.

 

[Jainarayan]

Definitely easier if spouse is also vegetarian, and there is no non-veg in the house. I might break down as well, in your situation. My son does admirably well though, (he's veg, she's not) but I do notice his fridge is always full of all kinds of things. I snack while babysitting.

Yes, it’s much easier but I’m realizing it’s not impossible. It’s partly my fault because I haven’t come right out and said I’m going veg. He’s cool with whatever I do, respects my beliefs, and so on.

I’m also beginning to think outside the box about food choices. For example, except for the sugar in the jelly, there’s nothing wrong with a PB&J on whole wheat and a glass of milk. Believe it or not that’s actually filling for me.

 

[Valjean]

Me, I make a couple dozen burritos and freeze them, or I make a 12 quart pot of stew on Sunday and eat all week. Lazy man's fast food.