This week I decided that I would try a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. Lacto-ovo vegetarian's don't eat any meat or fish, but they can eat eggs and dairy, they are one of the most common types of vegetarians. Lacto comes from the latin meaning for milk, and ovo meaning eggs.
Examples of daily lacto-ovo vegetarian menus:
Example 1:
Breakfast:
Example 1:
Breakfast:
- An orange
- Pancakes with syrup and butter
- Coffee with milk
- Vegetable soup
- Bagel with cheese
- Spinach salad with mushrooms and dressing
- An apple
- Iced tea
- An omelette: egg whites, green peppers, onions, mozzarella cheese, and vegetable oil
- Brown rice and carrots seasoned with light margarine
- Whole wheat bread with light margarine
- Fig bar cookie
- Tea with honey
Example 2:
Breakfast
Breakfast
- 1 cup Whole Grain Total® cereal topped with ¼ cup dried sweet cherries and 2 tbsp chopped walnuts
- 1 cup 1% milk
- 1/3 cup hummus
- 1 cup assorted raw vegetables (e.g., baby carrots, bell peppers, sliced zucchini)
- 1 whole wheat wrap/tortilla (or 1 cup brown rice)
- 1 cup black beans
- 1/8 medium avocado (or 2 tbsp. guacamole)
- 1 cup assorted veggies such as shredded carrots, sprouts, mushrooms, etc. (in the wrap, or sautéed and mixed with the rice & beans)
- 1 cup vanilla yogurt
- 1/12th angel food cake
- ½ cup peaches (canned, in light syrup)
- 1 veggie burger
- 1 whole wheat English muffin, toasted
- 1 ounce part-skim mozzarella cheese (melted on burger)
- 1 cup steamed broccoli
- 1 cup celery sticks
- 1 tbsp. peanut butter
- ¼ cup raisins
Example 3:
Breakfast
Example 1 retrieved from: http://shannonmiller.com/health-and-nutrition/lacto-ovo-vegetarians-what%E2%80%99s-on-the-menu-today
Examples 2 & 3 retrieved from: http://youngwomenshealth.org/2013/12/05/vegetarian-diet/
Breakfast
- 2 slices whole wheat toast
- 2 eggs
- 1 banana
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 small granola bar (e.g., Kashi®)
- 1 cup baby carrots
- 1 whole grain bagel
- 2 eggs (or ½ cup Egg Beaters®)
- 1 ounce cheddar cheese
- 1 cup sliced bell pepper (red, yellow, orange or green)
- 1 apple
- 1 Snack Pack® pudding cup
- 1 cup pasta
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- 3 soy meatballs
- 1 small whole wheat dinner roll1 cup lettuce
- ½ cup assorted vegetables 2 tsp. dressing1 cup soy milk
- 3 cups popcorn
- 2 tbsp. peanuts
Example 1 retrieved from: http://shannonmiller.com/health-and-nutrition/lacto-ovo-vegetarians-what%E2%80%99s-on-the-menu-today
Examples 2 & 3 retrieved from: http://youngwomenshealth.org/2013/12/05/vegetarian-diet/
One of the dinners I decided to make this week was this pasta dish. Its has bowtie pasta, sauteed spinach & broccoli, and roasted zucchini & cherry tomatoes. I made this up as I went along and did everything pretty much by eye because my thinking was it's healthy, you can't go wrong with too many vegetables, and it should taste great!
For this recipe you'll need:
-Bowtie pasta, you could also use penne or rotini
-Zucchini
-Cherry tomatoes
-Spinach
-Broccoli
-Onions
-Garlic
-Olive oil
-Salt and pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350-375F
2. Fill up pot with water and season with salt, boil.
3. Prepare the veggies, rinse all the vegetables, set aside the spinach and tomatoes, cut apart the
broccoli into bite size pieces and slice the zucchini.
4. Toss cherry tomatoes and zucchini in olive oil and season with salt and pepper, put on backing
sheet and put in oven to roast
5. Add pasta to water and cook
6. Preheat pan and add oil, slice onions and mince garlic
7. Add onions to pan and sweat, once translucent add garlic and caramelize, add broccoli and sautee,
add in some water cover with lid and let steam.
8. Take out veggies from oven once zucchini is browned and tomato skin is blistering
9. Add spinach to pan and sautee, then add in roasted vegetables, season with salt and pepper.
10. Add in pasta and mix, add in some reserved pasta water and adjust seasoning.
I know it seems like a lot of steps but it's actually pretty easy and you end up with a delicious healthy vegetarian dish.
For this recipe you'll need:
-Bowtie pasta, you could also use penne or rotini
-Zucchini
-Cherry tomatoes
-Spinach
-Broccoli
-Onions
-Garlic
-Olive oil
-Salt and pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350-375F
2. Fill up pot with water and season with salt, boil.
3. Prepare the veggies, rinse all the vegetables, set aside the spinach and tomatoes, cut apart the
broccoli into bite size pieces and slice the zucchini.
4. Toss cherry tomatoes and zucchini in olive oil and season with salt and pepper, put on backing
sheet and put in oven to roast
5. Add pasta to water and cook
6. Preheat pan and add oil, slice onions and mince garlic
7. Add onions to pan and sweat, once translucent add garlic and caramelize, add broccoli and sautee,
add in some water cover with lid and let steam.
8. Take out veggies from oven once zucchini is browned and tomato skin is blistering
9. Add spinach to pan and sautee, then add in roasted vegetables, season with salt and pepper.
10. Add in pasta and mix, add in some reserved pasta water and adjust seasoning.
I know it seems like a lot of steps but it's actually pretty easy and you end up with a delicious healthy vegetarian dish.
During the last week I realized that it was a lot harder to not eat any meat or fish than I thought. Personally my eating habits aren't great and what I eat on a regular basis ranges from healthy to unhealthy. Usually I don't crave meat but I realized that as soon as i actually couldn't have it thats when I wanted it even more. I started the week fine not being bother by the fact that I wasn't having any meat of fish, it was pretty normal given the fact that I don't always eat it everyday. During my second day I actually ate some fish without even realizing that i had done it until I was talking to some friends, so I immediately put it away. By the middle of the week I noticed that i was starting to crave meat more and more especially when I would see other people walking by me with a bag of kfc or walking on the street seeing someone ordering a hotdog. By the end of the week I found that I was thinking about eating some kind of meat, ANY kind of meat! It filled my mind a majority of the time because i was especially busy this week and didn't have much time to eat. I would find myself doing work in the library daydreaming about Popeye's, Mcdonalds, Wild Wings... Honestly by the end of the week I was glad when I got to eat shrimp, sausages, and a salmon steak to myself.
Some advice I would have about continuing this dietary choice and being a chef would be, you could work somewhere that specializes in vegetarian cuisine. Also if you have to cook meat you could always get someone to taste the seasoning for you, or ask to be put on a station that doesn't really involve meat or where you wouldn't have to taste the meat. If this is something that you really want to do you will find a way to make it work with being a chef.
For me personally I don't think I would be able to continue the lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. This is just because I LOVE pork, chicken, fish, etc. to much to give it up right now. I think in the future I might be able to do it but it will take some time. For now I think i'll just lessen the amount of meat and fish I eat because although I do like it I do also like eating vegetarian foods a lot of the time. All in all I believe this was a good experience for me, It made me think more about the foods that I eat and about making healthier choices which has actually impacted me since I started trying to eat healthier and started working out.
Below are a few pictures of some of the things I made for myself to eat this week past week.
Some advice I would have about continuing this dietary choice and being a chef would be, you could work somewhere that specializes in vegetarian cuisine. Also if you have to cook meat you could always get someone to taste the seasoning for you, or ask to be put on a station that doesn't really involve meat or where you wouldn't have to taste the meat. If this is something that you really want to do you will find a way to make it work with being a chef.
For me personally I don't think I would be able to continue the lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. This is just because I LOVE pork, chicken, fish, etc. to much to give it up right now. I think in the future I might be able to do it but it will take some time. For now I think i'll just lessen the amount of meat and fish I eat because although I do like it I do also like eating vegetarian foods a lot of the time. All in all I believe this was a good experience for me, It made me think more about the foods that I eat and about making healthier choices which has actually impacted me since I started trying to eat healthier and started working out.
Below are a few pictures of some of the things I made for myself to eat this week past week.