Thursday, July 28, 2005

Further tales of the world's worst vegetarian

So, I've decided to take the next step in becoming the world's worst vegetarian. This next step actually includes excluding meat from my diet. Isn't that a funny sentence, "includes excluding"? One exception is seafood, which I don't really eat very often anyway. I'm also allowed to eat lamb chops, which I never get, but love oh so much. I can eat pepperoni, because it is part of my favorite food in the world. The other item I can eat is bacon, delicious, good-for-you bacon.

I'm sick, so last night I had chicken noodle soup, but ate around most of the chicken. When I've tried to become a vegetarian before, it always meant doing away with all meat and eating any minuscule amount of meat meant failure. Now with my new "worst vegetarian" program, I don't care. I've reduced meat intake greatly and that's good enough for me.

"But why?" you might ask or maybe you won't ask and are rather just reading along, bored out of your mind, thinking about how much longer this post is going to be, wondering if I know how to use a comma, and if you should even bother adding a comment at all. So, let's say you didn't ask. I'll ask for you, "but why become a vegetarian at all? Is it health reasons? Is it ethical reasons? Is it environmental reasons?" The answer is "yes and also because I don't really like meat that much". The only think I'll miss terribly is tacos and burgers and I think you can see the health benefits of not eating those items. I've also cut out deep fried foods, because I've eaten one too many french fries and I'm very sick of them. They're everywhere. Every single meal, anywhere in Vegas, comes with French Fries. I've eaten enough of them to satisfy me for life. (The exception to this is that I can eat tempura, yum).



On my rampage to become a mediocre vegetarian, I bought a Burt's Bees sample pack. (I know it seems unrelated, but there is a loose association there. You gotta admit that.) I tried all of the products and they all smell great, but I think some of them are pretty useless. For example, the cuticle creme, I just don't understand why I need to keep my cuticles moist. I guess it's a girl thing. Also, I think the hand salve is a waste of space. My favorite item is the citrus facial scrub. It smells like orange pekoe tea with roses and my face feels coated with moisture after using it. We're all about moisture here in Las Vegas.

18 comments:

  1. But, I thought you didnt like chicken anyway? You're eating chicken soup just so you have one "easy quit" item on your 'to quit' list, I bet.
    It sounds like what you are trying to avoid is fast food types of foods. That is a good direction to go... the Super-Size-Me guy did nothing if not to show us the value of not eating the 'value meal.'
    Coincidentally, I just saw two different bumper stickers against fastfood this past week. One said, "VOMIT," only the 'M' in the middle was printed in the style of the 'golden arches' of McD's. The other bumper sticker said, "Eat SHIT and DIE" and then had all the major fast food chains' logos pictured around the word "shit."
    That's pretty convincing advertising if you ask me.

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  2. No, I was eating Chicken Noodle soup because I was sick and that's what you are suppose to do. You're right though, I really don't like chicken. There will not be any chicken relapse.

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  3. How funny... I am pretty sure you could just have any water-based soup (ie, non-cream base) and it would have most all the same benefits.
    I thought they tell people to eat soup when sick as a means of avoiding stomach upset for the nauseated and to fight potential dehydration. I would really be surprised if chicken broth itself had any curative properties.

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  4. Of course it does:
    "Irwin Ziment, M.D., pulmonary specialist and professor at the UCLA School for Medicine, says chicken soup contains drug-like agents similar to those in modern cold medicines. For example, an amino acid released from chicken during cooking chemically resembles the drug acetylcysteine, prescribed for bronchitis and other respiratory problems."
    Who knew? I didn't until I looked it up.

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  5. Whatever works. Bourbon and Nyquil works great, too. Please see my response above regarding the medical properties of chicken noodle soup.

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  6. Wow. I am floored. I almost feel like it must be a false factoid because that is so so weird and counter-intuitive.

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  7. My favorite is the citrus facial scrub too.
    Wow not only were we born on the same day we like the same face scrub.
    I think it is genetics.

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  8. Kathy, is that you? You could put your name on this, you know. I can only assume it is you by the birthdate and the genetics remark. Of course, I can't be sure.

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  9. There's more:
    "Another theory, put forth by Stephen Rennard, M.D., chief of pulmonary medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, is that chicken soup acts as an anti-inflammatory. The soup, he says, keeps a check on inflammatory white blood cells (neutrophils). Cold symptoms, such as coughs and congestion, are often caused by inflammation produced when neutrophils migrate to the bronchial tubes and accumulate there.
    In his lab, Rennard tested chicken soup made from the recipe of his wife's Lithuanian grandmother. He demonstrated that neutrophils showed less tendency to congregate - but were no less able to fight germs - after he added samples of the soup to the neutrophils. Diluted 200 times, the soup still showed that effect."
    Of course, his wife's grandmother's soup had anti-biotics in it. Maybe that helped. Actually, they tested a lot of brands and Knorr's came out on top.

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  10. That's it. I want a comparative study done between a vegan soup and good ol' chicken soup. I betcha that all nutrient laden foods have something in them that could be touted the same way. I refuse to believe that eating some animal's carcass provides this profound health benefit unable to be found anywhere else.
    Just like how Cheerios, and some of the other cereals, now claim that by having a bowl you are preventing a heart attack.

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  11. Yes it is me. I thought I would use my other name anonymous.

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  12. Don't make me look up the cheerios data. Oats help lower cholesterol.
    OK, here's a list of soups that were studied in their order of abiltiy to help. Vegetable type soups (which may contain chicken broth) did make the list, but animal carcass won.
    * Knorr's Chicken Flavor Chicken Noodle
    * Campbell's Home Cookin' Chicken Vegetable
    * Campbell's Healthy Request Chicken Noodle
    * Lipton Cup-O-Soup, Chicken Noodle
    * Progresso Chicken Noodle
    * Grandma's Soup
    * Health Valley 100% Natural Chicken Broth
    * Healthy Choice Thick and Heart Country Vegetable
    * Progresso Hearty Vegetable and Pasta
    * Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable
    * Campbell's Vegetable Soup with Beef Stock
    * Health Valley Fat Free Garden Noodle
    * Cup O' Noodles, Oriental Nissin
    * Campbell's Ramen Noodles, Chicken Flavor

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  13. anonymous and tuber_x
    Well the two of you together. Hmmmmm.
    I assume I will be seeing you both next weekend???
    I will call and double check with you both.
    The 5th in Camarillo.
    DAD

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  14. Re: anonymous and tuber_x
    Of course.

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  15. Don't make me look up the cheerios data. Oats help lower cholesterol.
    OK, here's a list of soups that were studied in their order of abiltiy to help. Vegetable type soups (which may contain chicken broth) did make the list, but animal carcass won.
    * Knorr's Chicken Flavor Chicken Noodle
    * Campbell's Home Cookin' Chicken Vegetable
    * Campbell's Healthy Request Chicken Noodle
    * Lipton Cup-O-Soup, Chicken Noodle
    * Progresso Chicken Noodle
    * Grandma's Soup
    * Health Valley 100% Natural Chicken Broth
    * Healthy Choice Thick and Heart Country Vegetable
    * Progresso Hearty Vegetable and Pasta
    * Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable
    * Campbell's Vegetable Soup with Beef Stock
    * Health Valley Fat Free Garden Noodle
    * Cup O' Noodles, Oriental Nissin
    * Campbell's Ramen Noodles, Chicken Flavor

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  16. How funny... I am pretty sure you could just have any water-based soup (ie, non-cream base) and it would have most all the same benefits.
    I thought they tell people to eat soup when sick as a means of avoiding stomach upset for the nauseated and to fight potential dehydration. I would really be surprised if chicken broth itself had any curative properties.

    ReplyDelete