Meat or No Meat: Decide for yourself

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-goldwyn/eat-meat-or-not-vegans-ve_b_615954.html

Juliano!!!!

The Tofu Trials

Never been a big fan of soya - mainly because I haven't really given it a real shot. But when you're vegan, you have to rely on substitutes for eggs and milk. I bought a small packet of tofu today - half expecting to try a morsel, say "I gave it a shot. But i didnt like it, what can I do?" and toss the remainder in the trash. 

  

So, what I had for dinner tonite was scrambled tofu. It tasted quite like the texture of eggs that have had the hell scrambled out of them. Quite nice - and took all of five minutes to prepare - chopboard to my plate!

  To make: 

Ingredients: 

• About 100 grams of tofu, julienned, then cut again into tiny bits (alternately, just crumble it in with your fingers - thats what I will do next time!)
• 10-12 cherry tomatoes
• Quarter of an onion, chopped
• Half a teaspoon of chili powder (or add one whole chili)
• Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder
• A little bit of black mustard seeds
• A bundle of coriander, chopped (retain all the stalks)
• Teensy bit of vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

 Method: 

• Heat a wok till its blazing hot and keep all your ingredients chopped and ready by your side.
• Throw in the onions
• Then the chili and turmeric powder
• Then the whole mustard seeds
• Mix to a non-lumpy paste
• Then throw in the tofu. Mix on high speed for about 30 seconds.
• Then add the tomatoes (another 10 seconds on the gas)
• Finally add the coriander.
• Another 10 seconds and take it off the gas.

Bottom line: Tofu is a tasteless sponge. Its what you add to the tofu that makes or breaks a dish. I will definitely be buying tofu with each visit to the supermarket. 

Drink Water Regularly, But Eat When Hungry

I've always been in the underweight to normal weight category - So going raw/vegan is not an attempt to lose weight. That I have gone from 55 kgs to 51.5 kgs in a month is the cherry on the vegan tofu-based icing. But the fact that the weight is stubbornly stuck at 51 (was 53 two days ago, I swear) for quite some time now is frustrating. Add to that, its Diwali and there is Diwali appropriate foods to consume. And people at work keep dropping chocolates on my desk. Hell, even the Reliance Fresh teller pays me change in toffees! Sooo...Ok, I've indulged last Friday. Who in their right mind doesnt eat a whole LARGE cheese pizza all alone and in one sitting on Diwali, you tell me?! ;) To make amends (not that one day is the be all and end all), I decided I would fast all day Saturday and Sunday on warm lime water. Didn't really work - As in I still had one hot meal at home. But I didnt eat much else. I didnt deprive myself of food. If i felt hungry, I would eat. Its just that you dont feel hungry at predefined meal times. Thats social conditioning, I think. That we're supposed to eat at a certain time, with no thought going into whether you're really hungry or not.

Also, when you do fast for more than 3 days, its a good idea to get a colonic/enema before you embark on the fast to get rid of gunk in your trunk. I'm definietely going to get one soon. Been checking out reputed centers in Mumbai and The Center for Colon Therapy looks the most legit - but they charge a whopping Rs 2400 / - per session (of max 45 minutes) and they're all about giving people their "privacy and dignity" - meaning, I assume, you'll be left there in that little room all alone to insert that horrid tube into your "happy place" all alone. I would prefer someone show me what is supposed to be inserted where, the first time!

So my motto is: Drink water all day long. Eat when you're hungry. Remember, by the time you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated - in other words, its already too late to drink water. A better indicator would be the color of your pee - anything other than clear means you are dehydrated (unless you're on some fancy meds - like my vitamins give me a golden shower). OK, Too much information, methinks.