Vegetarianism can be a wonderful, healthful way of living. But just eliminating meat from your meals doesn't necessarily mean you'll end up with a better diet. The Tufts Longitudinal Health Study has looked at the eating habits of Tufts undergraduates for the past several years. The study reported that the LDL ("bad cholesterol") levels of vegetarian students at Tufts were no better than those of their meat-eating counterparts. So eliminating meat isn't enough. You have to replace the meat with the right choices.
Are You a Cheese-ivore?
If you fill up on high-fat dairy products and baked goods, you may end up gaining weight and clogging your arteries with too much saturated fat. Some vegetarians just don't eat many vegetables. They eat pasta with cheese, and bagels with cheese, and rice with cheese. Get the picture? You take an omnivore, take out the meat, and don't increase the vegetables, and what do you get? How about a cheese-ivore? Not a good way to go.Now don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against cheese. In fact, I love cheese. But as far as cheese is concerned, a little bit goes a long way. It shouldn't be the centerpiece of the meal. Cheese adds flavor to many dishes, and is a good source of protein and calcium, but it is also high in saturated fat (the bad stuff that clogs your arteries). So what can a cheese-ivore do to keep from getting as round as a ball of fresh mozzarella? Choose the right cheese for the right job, and maybe branch out a little into non-cheese land.
What's For Lunch?
So what's for lunch? Bagel and cream cheese? That'll cost you six grams of saturated fat for that little two-tablespoon splat of cream cheese. Six grams is about 30 percent of the recommended maximum amount of saturated fat per day. If you love whole fat cream cheese, go ahead and enjoy it, just not every day. And balance it with lower fat choices the rest of the day. But you might want to try low fat cream cheese and save yourself three grams of saturated fat. Try non-fat cream cheese and save 2 1/2 more grams of saturated fat. The choice is yours.How about the old stand-by, the grilled cheese sandwich? Two slices of American cheese gives you about the same amount of saturated fat as the two tablespoons of cream cheese, about six grams. Add another 2 1/2 grams of bad fat if you grill the sandwich in a pat of butter. That's a total of 8.5 grams of saturated fat for one skinny grilled cheese sandwich. I don't think you can save on fat by switching to low-fat cheese here, because low-fat cheese doesn't melt as well as whole fat cheese. But you could bulk up the sandwich with a slice of tomato so you'll be satisfied with just one sandwich instead of two. You could also try melting the cheese in a microwave or a toaster oven rather than grilling it in butter.
Pasta is a great conduit for cheese. But you can get a lot more flavor and pizzazz with a tablespoon of a sharp parmesan or Romano, for only one gram of fat, than you can using a half-cup of a mild grated cheese, such as mozzarella, which weighs in at 7.5 grams of fat. And part-skim mozzarella sounds low fat, but it really isn't. One-half cup of grated part-skim mozzarella still has almost six grams of saturated fat. Sounds like deceptive advertising to me.
Non-cheese Land
Now to venture into non-cheese land... What else can a vegetarian eat that will satisfy without all that saturated fat? Because fat is satisfying. So don't give it up, just switch a little. Olive oil and the fat found in nuts are both good-for-you fats. Ever try pesto sauce on your spaghetti? Pesto is made of minced fresh basil, ground pine nuts, olive oil, Romano cheese, and garlic. It is so full of flavor that you need very little to cover a whole plate of pasta.Another handy way to add satisfying nuts to your diet is to toss a few slivered almonds onto your salad or on top of pasta or rice. Besides the good fat, nuts are also a good source of protein and carbohydrates.
Then there are beans. Plain old soybeans are actually incredibly delicious and they don't look like beans at all. You can buy soy burgers, sausage, and fake-chicken strips, seasoned and ready-to-eat. Make a really easy vegetarian meal by quickly microwaving some cut-up, mixed vegetables with some teriyaki-flavored fake-chicken strips and tossing on rice or pasta.
Like Taco Bell? You'll be happy to know that their refried beans (called "Pintos n' Cheese") are made without animal fat, but they still have four grams of saturated fat from the added cheese. But that's not too bad. The Bean Burrito and Chile Cheese Burrito have 3.5 grams and five grams of saturated fat, respectively. You can buy Taco Bell Refried Beans at the market. Pick up a can and try some warmed and spread on a tortilla, speckled with jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, and scallions. Because you're not getting any saturated fat in the refried beans, you can even enjoy these with a bit of grated Monterey Jack cheese. Great satisfying snack!
How about hummus? This Mediterranean spread is made of ground chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), ground sesame seeds (called tahini), olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice. Hummus can be found with various added spices and vegetables to please just about anyone. My personal favorite is hummus mixed with roasted eggplant, which has the great name "baba ganoush." Hummus is great in a sandwich with lettuce and tomato, maybe a few slices of avocado, bean sprouts, or scallion. It's also good as a dip for raw vegetables and pieces of chewy bread or crackers.
So there you have it. Now the rest is up to you. The cafeteria offers a wide array of vegetarian options, but if they don't have something you would like to try, get in touch with Julie Lampie, the food service dietician. She would love to hear your suggestions. You can reach her at Julie.Lampie@tufts.edu, or call x7-2833.
