Iron: It's apparently really bad when you don't get it...

So a real post now.

Well, I should mention, I'm pretty much a weekday vegetarian. I have become very conscious about where my meat comes from, and I try to avoid industrial farming as much as I can, so I've started only eating kosher meat, organic meat, local meat, or hunted meat. I also try to keep as kosher as possible, so I don't eat pork or shellfish, and I don't mix meat and diary. I have a pretty mild case of lactose intolerance, so I don't drink milk, but I do eat cheese. I also try to only eat kosher cheese (did you know that rennet, an enzyme used for making cheese, comes from the stomach of a cow, and the most common source of rennet is the byproduct of veal production. I really dislike the concept of veal, so I really don't want to contribute to it myself).

Also, meat is expensive.

So I pretty much don't buy it. I'll sometimes eat it if my friends buy it, and I know that it's the only thing I'm going to eat. I probably could make a better effort to avoid it, but if I was that organized, it would make this a very boring blog. Baby steps.

Now, I have plenty of friends that are vegetarian, and they've been awesome at teaching me how to make up for a meat-free diet. I was actually really surprised to find out that diary usually is a better source or protein than meat. I've started eating greek yogurt for breakfast, aaaaaaaalmost every morning, (w/ honey and corn chex cereal, or if I have the money to spluge, granola! yum!), and since I eat about half a cup, that provides me with about 10g of protein. Did you know that an average hotdog only had 5g of protein!?

Also, a Russian-Israeli friend of mine, who is also a vegetarian, and because she's Russian and Jewish, she is an AMAZING cook (I have two of these... they're goddesses), introduced me to this Lebanese dish called Mujadarrah. Holy crap, it's amazing (well when she made it. Mine came out super bland, but I'm working on it). Apparently it's called "vegetarian meat" or something like that, cause it's supposed to be really high in protein, and I think lentils and rice make a complete amino acid. Anyhow, word of advice, make a giant pot of it the day before you really want it, because it takes a long time to cook. It's sort of a "put it in a pot and forget about it for a while" dish. But it's super easy to reheat, so it's worth it (Of course, I don't have a microwave, so that's not exactly true for me, but I make due).

Unfortunately, I kept forgetting about another little nutrient I usually get from meat. Iron.

I crave red meat after I've been sick, or after my "lady time", so my body likes to tell me exactly when I'm low on the stuff, but since I've been limiting my red meat intake, I seem to have gone past that point and ventured on into "hmm, why am I so tired all the time" territory. Now I could be totally wrong, and maybe I'm just coming down with a cold or something, but considering I can count how many green vegetables I've had in the past week on one hand, I think it's safe to say I'm not doing what I should be anyhow.

So I bought a bunch of spinach and a bag of brussel sprouts at the store, and because I'm odd, I was super excited about this adventure, because I absolutely LOVE spinach and brussel sprouts. I also love beets, and Tali says that beets are high in iron too.

Here's the down side, I then proceeded to eat both the bag of brussel spouts and the spinach as a meal. Not on the same day mind you, but basically, I'm like a fish, if you put it in front of me, I'll eat until I pollute my own environment.

I tend to do stuff like this a lot. I bought some chicken in Skokie, all excited, cooked it, stored it, ate it all in one day. >.<


So, basically, the moral of this post is, balanced meals.

It is a good idea to always have rice cooked, and ready to eat. Then, I can mix it with something else yummy and good for me, like a leafy green, or on fancy occasions, meat. That way, I fill up on something that costs a dollar per pound (:hyperbole!:, but seriously, rice is freaking cheap), and I still get all the yummy variety and nutrients I need, without smacking my lips and thinking "well, that was a $5 meal, and now I have no more chicken".

But, at least I've figured breakfast out.