Ivan About Town: Top vegetarian restaurants in the Philippines

Ivan About Town: Top vegetarian restaurants in the Philippines

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Ghent, Belgium goes Vegetarian one day a week

Here is some cool news I picked up on the BBC News Web page. It seems the city of Ghent, Belgium is going to go meatless one day a week. All public employees and elected officials will go meatless one day and the program is being rolled out to school lunches in Sept, 2009. There will be information given out all over town stressing the health and green benefits of this. Here is a link to the BBC web page

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8046970.stm

Effects of Plant Centered Diet on My Eyes

Some Time ago I sent in an email about how my movement away from a meat centered diet had begun to improve my health. In time this lead to me becoming a contributor to Vegetarian Wednesday. As I have gotten more into the wonders of a plant centered diet in the last two years I have moved my focus away from simply losing weight (I am down about 70 pounds so far) to eating a diet rich in antioxidents. I added a section to my Google News Reader on Antioxidents so I would be fed on a daily basis articles on the healing powers of foods and subscribe to a lot of great blogs like this one. Anyway wife and I noticed another great effect of my improved diet. My eyes used to have nasty looking white spots in the Blue Iris area and were becoming cloudy. Now they nasty spots are totally gone and my eyes are completely clear and have been for a while now. I do not know what were the elements in my diet that cleared these up but they are gone. I understand the green value of a plant diet and respect the spritual value of refraining from meat and these are well documented many places. My contribution is basically the story of how a movement from a meat centered diet to a plant centered one has improved my life.

What do you eat on Vegetarian Wednesday?

Here is what I ate on the last Vegetarian Wednesday:

green tea
tomato juice
garlic-cooked with blacks beans as were the garlic and herbs and onions
onions
6 herbs
brown rice and white rice (mixed) cooked with black beans
olive oil
water melon
probotic drink
collards
tomatoes
grapefruit
banana
low sodium v eight juice-


the only fat is in the olive oil and is a healthy fat

no added salt in the food but some in the tomato juice and the black beans and V8.

I am getting the 5 to 8 servings of veggies and fruits suggested by nutritionists-also I think high in fiber-rice and beans is the protein-in long run will cut the white rice also-this may seem like a lot of stuff but am sure below 2000 calories -very little work to eat these items and the cost is less than two meat centered meals for sure and has a lower carbon imprint

this is my typical days food when i am strict on my self-it is high in antioxidents and may well help beat heart disease and other illnesses

I hope others will share the daily VW DAY food inputs

An ode to the black bean

I follow a lot of food blogs-One of my favorites is Perfect Pantry-There is a great post on there today on the Black Bean-one of the cornerstones of my diet now. They cover in clear detail the value of Black Beans and give a number of simple and delicious sounding ideas on serving them. I would like to share it with the readers here

http://www.theperfectpantry.com/2008/07/canned-black-be.html

Eleanor's reverse Vegetarian Wednesday

As I mentioned, I'm very busy this year, so I haven't been writing that much. But I do want to make a little post about Eleanor's vegetarian aspirations. As I've mentioned on this post, my drive toward vegetarianism has always been about personal health and environmental sustainability. For Eleanor, it's about animal rights. For example, she was staying with her grandparents last month and she stole all of their ant-traps and buried them in the backyard. So, she finally wants to make the switch from twice-a-week vegetarianism to mostly full time. I say mostly because she's a little trepidatious about going all the way, so she's going to be vegetarian six days a week and only eat meat one day a week. As this doesn't mesh with the eating habits of the whole family, I've been working on getting her to eat a wider variety of foods so that she's not just eating fake chicken nuggets and fries every day. I've also been counseling her on nutritive values of different foods, especially proteins.

So, if anyone has any advice on transitioning into this full time(ish) for her including the best way to get her daily protein complement and how to get a kid to eat a variety of healthy vegetarian dishes, I welcome it.

Moro-Black Beans and Rice

Recently I have read a number of articles on the high antioxident value of certain Herbs and spices. A little bit of organo seems to contain as much antioxident value as a cup of spinach. You can check World'shealthiestfoods.org for details on this . McCormick Spices has recently put out a list of seven very healthy herbs and spices. Here is a simple recipe that uses a lot of them and is very filling. It is a based on the old Cuban dish Moro-black beans and rice-I have made one big modification-I use half brown rice half white rice.


Here is the recipe

saute onions 4 minutes in olive oil-then saute chopped garlic one minute or so

add a can of black beans-I used Libby's organic black beans-with the liquid

add a cup of rice and two cups of water

then add some turmeric, orgegano, red pepper, black pepper, rose mary and basil

stir and bring to a boil-

cooked covered on low simmer and check to see if rice is cooked in 25 minutes

It would be healthier with all brown rice and of course you can very your spices and herbs

You can also cook this with canned tomatoes and okra for example

I am adding herbs and spices to a lot more things now trying to get the antioxidents

Up Date on my Process with Vegetarianism

Some time ago I emailed Josh with an account of how a movment from a meat centered diet with few fresh vegetables and fruits to a diet rich in a variety of vegetables and fruits has changed my life. I want to give an update on my process with this.

I now eat meat at most once a day-often not at all and I have set my self challenges like meatless monthes. My main meal consists normally of beans with garlic and onions and some times other items I have around. My main stay is black beans. I have also given up coffee and switched over to green tea and switched from white rice to brown. When I first wrote Josh I was down about 30 pounds, now I am down over 50 and I feel better than I have for years. I have a ways to go to be where I want to be. I no longer focus so much on weight lose but on healthy eating. Vegetarian Wednesday has sort of given me a focus for my plans and made it fun

Hiatus

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I just started my medical clerkships and have been very, very busy. I've decided to take a hiatus from this blog until I have some more free time (though not from VW itself). Keep finding creative ways to enjoy eating healthy and I'll try to resurrect this as soon as I can.

Josh

Black Bean Brands

Canned Black Beans Reviewed
Black beans are among the very healthiest of beans. A quick google search will reveal numerous reports on their wonderful health giving qualities-it seems there is something extra in the coloring that gives them greater points as a super food than other beans. They are very powerful antioxidants.
About 20 months ago I began to convert from a meat centric diet to a veggie and fruit based one. Beans are one of the foundations of this and I have found a way I really liked them cooked which also allows for a lot of variety. Basically I sauté garlic and onions and some herbs in olive oil or vegetable stock then add beans and maybe some other veggies and cook under low heat covered in a stock pot until the beans almost begin to break down-some times I let them go until the beans begin to lose a lot of their moisture. Some times in cooking I add Hoison sauce , sweet Asian Chile sauce or even O trans fat Marie brand salad dressing to the mix.
Any way I have previously reviewed the canned versus dried black bean issues and the canned wins for me. Recently the health value of canned versus dried beans was covered on Whfoods.org-here is the quote-
What is the difference between dried beans and canned beans?
Q. When I find lists of food to eat with a lot of antioxidants they usually say "dried beans." What is the difference between dried beans and canned beans?
A. Oftentimes, the term "dried beans" is used to differentiate it from "fresh beans," such as green beans and edamame (soy beans in pods). There are two ways to enjoy dried beans; either buying them in their "dried" form and preparing them yourself, or buying them in a can pre-prepared.
While we are not big fans of canned vegetables, since their canning process destroys many nutrients, we do like canned beans; the reason is that whether beans are canned or cooked at home, there needs to be extensive cooking and therefore the nutrient difference is not as great as it is for canned vs. home-cooked vegetables. Therefore, if enjoying canned beans is more convenient for you, by all means go ahead and enjoy them. We would suggest looking for those that do not contain additives or that much salt and, if possible, feature beans that are organically grown. ---


My super market has about 8 different brands of black beans- So far I have tried four of them.
Eden Organic Black Beans-can says no salt added -the list of increments
Says it contains Kombu Seaweed-My first thought is what in the world is that? So I checked it in winkapedia and it seems to function as a salt substitute. From Winkapedia - It is often included when cooking beans, putatively to add nutrients and improve their digestibility.
Kombu naturally contains an glutamic acid, an amino acid responsible for umami, one of the proposed five basic tastes.
Glutamic acid is often used as a food additive and flavour enhancer in the form of its sodium salt, -
It is a common binder in Japanese cooking . Ok the soup was ok a bit bland as many organic soups seem but edible and I see the value to organic. It was the most expensive of the beans. I would rate the flavor a C for average.
Goya Black Beans-in my store this is placed in the Spanish food section-the list of ingredients shows numerous items that I am not familiar with and the stock of the soup was very thick-I did not especially like it and wont try it again. Rating C minus I guess. It does come with an easy open can.
Kirby Brand-on the can it says Creole Seasoning-in addition to black beans it contains green peppers, olive oil, salt and vinegar, sugar, garlic salt and spices (not details given). My first reaction to the ingredients is that I don’t want added sugar in my beans for sure, that I want to be able to control how much salt I add to the beans and I can only assume they make use of the lowest grade of olive oil. Given that I normally sauté the beans in Olive Oil I don’t really want this any way. The taste was maybe a C or so-edible but not real good and not worth all these extra no food value to me additions.
Bush’s Best Black Beans-Ingredients were very simple-black Beans Water and Salt-When I cook the beans, by the way, I drain the water normally. Any way these beans to me have a simple wholesome taste and the beans have a firm texture. They are not to me over salted. Bush’s Black Beans to me were better than the other three and I buy them all the time.
I will try the other brands of black beans and review them soon.

Facebook Vegetarian Wednesday

A reader recently alerted me to a Facebook group called Vegetarian Wednesday, which can be found here if you have a Facebook account. Here's the description of the group:

The point of this “vegetarian wednesdays” group is to encourage you to give up eating meat for one day each week giving serious thought to the plight of animals used for food and just promoting sustainable practices. Keep in mind that in order to produce one pound of california beef, it takes $5,214 gallons of water, $1, 630 for pork, and 815 for chicken. That means 1 pound of beef equals the same amount of water used in 6 months of showers!!! Now there are other ways you can change your behavior in order to use less water etc, but this seems like something everyone can do. So try and get as many people as you can to do this!! It may not seem like you are doing much by not eating beef for a day, but it will make a difference!!

**If you are interested in finding out how many earths you'd need if people lived like you...go to this site ( i recommend it): www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp

Bacon, bacon, bacon

My buddy, Steve, who recently moved to Chicago knows I run this Vegetarian Wednesday site, so when he saw this marquee board advertising "ALL U CAN EAT BACON!" he had to send me a photo. It appears that the restaurant is called Whiskey Road.



What I like about the following photo is what's on the schedule for 8 PM: "Grease".



Steve sent me the photos, which showed up in my Gmail box. Well, you know how Gmail hones in on keywords and phrases in your email and then gives you targeted advertising? Well, when I opened this up, an ad for GoVeg.com popped up explaining why one shouldn't eat pork. It led with this picture:


Personally, I think that's a pretty good strategy: any time an email contains the word "bacon" you get an ad exhorting you not to eat pork and then leading to a cute little picture like this.

More feedback

A reader calling him/herself Veggie@50 sez:

As a life long vegetarian, I applaud your efforts to end animal suffering. As a nurse, I support your dietary change toward better choices and healthier eating. For vege receipes, check out the Loma Linda University websites. they have great information on diet, healthy choices, and a plethora of studies on vegetarian eating and health.
My belief is that if meat eaters were to see first hand the horror and suffering that creates the burgers, fried drum sticks, and steaks they consume every day, much would change for those with compassion for the 'least of these'.

Veggie burger king?

Tonya writes that Burger King now has a veggie burger. She thinks they're using the Morningstar brand. I haven't tried the BK veggie burger yet, but I think Morningstar is the best veggie burger I've had so far (and so does Eleanor, which says a lot). Has anyone else tried this yet?

All Animals Magazine

Eleanor and I were in the Humane Society's All Animals magazine. I'll post a photo of Ella with the magazine shortly. In the meantime, I've had a couple of responses from people who have read the magazine. Here's Katie Landmark:

Hello,

I found your blog via an article in the recent HSUS publication. I'm convinced! And I'm going to give Vegetarian Wednesdays a shot. Just letting you know I blogged about your site on my blog today, katieiam.wordpress.com.

And here's a note from Denise S.:

I read about your blog in the Humane Society “All animals” publication, and enjoyed checking it out. I too like to mix in vegetarian meals once or twice a week. I have a husband and son who enjoy eating meat, so I am always on the lookout for good recipes that will make them forget the meal is meatless! I would like to share with you a web site, The Six O’Clock Scramble: http://thescramble.com/

This is a weekly subscription service that provides seven recipes a week. You can find sample recipes on the site. I have found it to be well worth the money I paid for my subscription. The recipes are kid-friendly and while they are not all meatless, each week there are several recipes that are vegetarian. The woman who publishes the recipes, Aviva Goldfarb, also has a new blog: http://sixoclockscramble.blogspot.com/. She is also the author of the Six O’Clock Scramble Cookbook. So, between the web site, blog and/or cookbook, you may get some ideas. Good luck!

Vegetarian Monday

Before I started Vegetarian January, I had also began to have two meatless days a week. I added Monday to the mix in part to get it done and in part that is sort of a go out for lunch day. On my veggie days I have tended to eat more or less the same things over and over-beans of various sorts and greens plus salads. I always had at least four bananas everyday and had yogurt almost every day. From now on I no longer see Vegetarians days as a novelty but part of my routine. I am going to try to learn to cook some more elaborate vegetarian dishes in the next few months.

For the next month I will be traveling in SE Asia, mainly the Philippines and a regional cruise based out of Hong Kong. This will present a challenge to my ongoing diet goals and I will report on my experiences from a part time Vegetarians point of view

Vegetarian Monday?

Eleanor and I have been doing two vegetarian days a week for a while now, Wednesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays have been okay, but Fridays have been more difficult as they tend to be travel days or going out to eat days. We've decided to switch to vegetarian Mondays instead. The biggest challenge through all of this, as I've mentioned before, is getting Eleanor (and to a lesser extent, her 7-year-old sister) to eat a variety of vegetarian fare. Our vegetarian meals tend to be pizzas or pastas or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We've instituted a new rule in our house that everyone has to have at a minimum two fresh fruits and vegetables each day not just the meat-free days. Eleanor usually has a banana and a glass of orange juice. For the life of me, I can't get her to eat fresh tomatoes or a salad. But I guess I was pretty picky when I was younger too.

My First Meatless Month

My First Meatless Month
About forty five days ago I decided to go all Vegetarian in January 2008.
As I said in my first post on Vegetarian Wednesday, I have been a lifelong heavy meat eater and had become very overweight About twenty months ago,
I finally got the will and motivation to do something about my health. (For me it took more than just the intellectual realization that I needed to do something. The love of a great woman along with a family member’s health crisis provided the push I needed.)
Somehow I found this web page and at once began to do Vegetarian Wednesdays and soon was down to meat at lunch only. In the last twenty months I have dropped about 40 pounds and lost four inches in the waist, not via a traditional diet but by changing to a heavily vegetable and fruit diet. Anyway, in part as an experiment and in part for fun I decided to go meatless for a month. This is an account of how it went for me, what I enjoyed, what I missed, and maybe most important to me, what I learned and how it will change my diet habits.
I have always enjoyed cooking, however, all my favorite dishes were meat centered. I am in the habit of going out for lunch also on most days. I had gotten into healthier lunches but I always had some meat. Concerned family members asked me where I would get my protein if I did not eat meat. I was able to deal with all these issues as the month progressed.
In the end, it turned out the biggest thing I missed was having a pizza or a hamburger during the football playoffs! I learned to make some bean dishes I really liked, most starting with canned white beans of different types. I got comfortable with cooking fresh greens (using the Glory brand bagged). I liked all the greens a lot and respected them as super foods. I also ate a lot of salads and tried to make them as nutritious as I could with avocados, broccoli, black beans, tomatoes and other goodies. For breakfast I had either oatmeal or yogurt along with a Dan Active drink. For snacks I ate a lot of fruits -bananas, blueberries, strawberries and watermelons. I ate out three times at salad bars so I saved some money by not going out for lunch.
In the month I most enjoyed learning to cook the bean and greens dishes. I enjoyed helping the environment a tiny little bit and not eating animals. I also liked the idea I was helping my health with lots of high antioxidant foods and high fiber meals.
I missed eating fish at least three times a week, a habit I began about 18 months ago after reading a number of articles on the wonderful health benefits of the right kind of seafood. I had also gotten pretty good at cooking fish and it had become my “specialty”! Now that the month is over, I will go back to eating fish two or three times a week. I believe my habits and desires have changed to the point I will normally only eat meat at most once a day from now on. I will continue with a meatless day and for sure will do meatless weeks a lot and I can see other meatless months ahead for me. I want to try some of the S E Asian and Indian Vegetarian recipes I have seen on so many wonderful Vegetarian blogs. I would like to try a wider variety of beans and get into root vegetables more. The month turned out not to be an ordeal or a trial but rather a lot of fun and a very good learning experience. It also provided me with a low fat, almost no sugar diet for the month. I recommend a meatless month to anybody serious about the environment, animals rights, or their own health. If a month seems too long, try a week or even a weekend, and please share your experiences with us.

Recipe from Karen

I got an email from a reader who also has a 9-year-old daughter (also named Eleanor) and commiserates with trying to get her to eat good, vegetarian food. Here's a recipe she gave me, but warned that her daughter didn't necessarily like it:

Santa Fe Style Rice and Beans

1 (15 oz.) can Black Beans, drained
1 (15 oz.) can Pinto Beans, drained
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (10 oz.) can diced tomatoes (w/green chiles, Opt.) undrained
1 can corn, drained
2 cup cooked rice Cheddar cheese and sour cream to taste.


In a large skillet, sauté green pepper, onion and garlic in oil until soft.

Stir in broth, cumin, and rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add Black Beans and Pinto Beans, tomatoes with chiles, corn and vinegar. Heat through. Add cheese and sour cream to taste. (Can use fat free sour cream.) This freezes well.

Here's a link to her blog.

Garden Burger at Angelos

I just had a garden burger today over at Angelo's, which is right across from the med center in Ann Arbor. I don't usually eat vegetarian burgers, so I don't really have anything to compare this to. But this burger wasn't awful. I was at least able to finish the whole thing. I topped it with guacamole and a tomato. I don't know that I would crave that burger again, but that's kind of how I feel about any vegetarian meat.