Soy!

Last week in my Comp. & Alt. Medicine class we learned about herbal medicine. The professor pointed out something that really caught my attention. When speaking of vegetarians, soy (which is one of my favorite things to eat) is a common thing which is found in a lot of vegetarian dishes. Did you know that soy is the primary source of proteins for animals so that they could survive? The very animals that mankind likes to eat are fed leafy greens, soy product, or other vegetarian options so that they can grow into strong, healthy animals. It all comes back to being vegetarian!

According to http://www.soyconnection.com/health_nutrition/index.php, soy is a complete protein and soy foods are rich in vitamins and minerals. The FDA stated that about 25 grams of soy protein per day may reduce the risk of heart disease. There are many additional health benefits to soy that could be found on that website but it amazes me why we do not use this low-cost source of protein to our benefit.

Morningstar Farms makes a whole line of soy products that anyone could use to add more protein into their diet. At their website, http://www.morningstarfarms.com/, a whole bunch of recipes can be found. I personally love most of their products. My favorites are: Italian herb chicken patties, Buffalo wings, chicken nuggets, ribs, grillers crumbles, and chicken strips. All of these products have great nutritional value which are the nutrients most vegetarians lack in their diet.

Confused? These soy products are made into fake “meat” dishes in order to give taste to the soybean. I know I am big on the whole be vegetarian idea, and eating fake meat might sound like I want meat in my life, but reality is, Morningstar products are just so tasty and if any of you try it beware! …..You just might get addicted! 

Introduction

Hi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Deepa and I am writing this blog for my Health Psychology class at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. As a senior in college in Exercise Science and Wellness Management,  I will be graduating in May and hope to move on to graduate school to obtain a Masters degree in Exercise Physiology.

So you may all be wondering why my blog is called Life as a Vegetarian....right? I want to be able to tell you why I am one, what the ups and downs are, share what I eat, teach and learn some new recipes, and just express my overall feelings about Vegetarianism.

To start off, I am 21 years old and I have been a Vegetarian almost my whole life. It has been pretty rough living as a Vegetarian but once I learned how to get creative and eat a lot of ethnic food, I have been able to get by. You know what really annoys me? When restaurants or fast food places do not have enough vegetarian options. This thought brings up why I am really upset right now--- which also happens to be my inspiration for this blog. I just flew back from Texas to Philadelphia and when the air hostess was giving out dinner on the plane she handed out chicken burritos and when I asked her if there was a vegetarian option she gave me some stupid answer about how only international flights serve veggie options because its not cost effective and it was cheaper to only get meat meals because they found that when people ordered veggie options and then ended up missing flights or taking different connector flights a lot of food was going to waste. The carnivores would not settle for anything less! argh! It really annoyed me because these airlines or restaurants or wherever think that it is okay to completely disregard the fact that vegetarians need to eat too. So instead of eating a proper meal for dinner, all I had was a bag of chips, some carrots on the side, and a kit-kat bar which was offered along with the meals. I would think that after religion, research, and health benefits today, a lot more people have turned vegetarian now more than before. So why don't these places carry enough options for us? =(