I have pretty much tried to eliminate white flour, processed foods, and as many preservatives as possible. I will add whole grains and as many fresh vegetables and fresh fruits as possible. I stopped drinking sodas and I will drink as much spring water as I can. I will also drink green teas, white teas and herbal teas. Celestial Seasoning Red Zinger is my favorite tea that I will make and always keep on hand. I stopped eating beef which means McDonalds hamburgers, Longhorn burgers, Five Guy's burgers and homemade hamburgers. I stopped eating steaks, beef tenderloin, pork tenderloin and all pork including bacon. The hard part will be giving up barbecue pork, barbecue turkey and barbecue chicken. Giving up all chicken whether it is fried, grilled or any other type, may be difficult, since that has been a huge part of my diet for the last twenty years. I have also been a huge sushi lover and seafood lover. I do love crab, lobster, fish, mussels, oysters and I may eat them all in the future. I do not know how long I will be a vegetarian, but I will try and eat this way as long as possible. I have prepared all meals that I have eaten at home, and it has been time consuming, but rewarding, at the same time. I have eaten out twice in the last 15 days. I had vegetarian Indian once and falafels the other night, at a Mediterranean restaurant up the street.

Day Two Vegetarian Diet - Made Vegan Chili for Tomorrow.. You start with sauteing onions, bell pepper, red pepper, carrots, mushrooms, celery, garlic and add tomato puree, spices and black beans, garbanzo beans and pinto beans then finish off with cooked crumbed TVP to add some great tasting protein. I put this on top off brown rice a few meals and then I mixed it up and put it on whole wheat noodles a couple of times.

By making big batches of soup or chili or pasta, you can eat several meals or freeze for another time in the near future. I learned to make a different grain and legume every few days to have as your base that you can add vegetables to. Tempeh or tofu is a great addition.

Day 5 - Veggie Burgers - carrots, zucchini, celery, bell pepper, onion, parsley, potato flakes, wheat germ, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds. Eat in whole wheat pita with rice cheese or havarti with a little tamari sprinkled on top. Adds alfalfa sprouts if you have some fresh ones or you can use mung bean sprouts.

Day 8 - Quinoa with mushrooms, broccoli, tempeh & a little tamari. Quinoh, pronounced keenwah, a high protein food is kind of like a round rice or tabouli. It is actually a seed that is related to beets, spinach & tumbleweeds. It is cooked like a grain but is packed with nutrition.Tempeh is made from soybeans and brown rice. Cut it in slices and sautee in olive oil with a little tamari sauce and eat on the side or on top of rice or quinoa. You could eat is for breakfast in place of bacon.

Day 9 - Lasagna with Spinach and Peppers | WholeFoodsMarket.com
www.wholefoodsmarket.com Vegetarian lasagne with eggplant, onions, mushrooms, peppers and great cheeses, whole wheat pasta a must. I am adding mushrooms, eggplant and vidalia. I roasted the eggplant at 350 degrees until tender with a little olive oil brushed on, then layer with other ingredients. I will also add some tofu to the batch somehow.

Day 12 - I sauteed the staples of garlic, vidalia, carrots, button mushrooms, acorn squash ( peeled with a potato peeler ) celery, zucchini squash, parsley in some olive oil. I sprinkled gomazio and some Jamaican spices and tamari on top. eat with brown rice.

Day 14 - I discovered Morningstar Farms frozen vegetarian foods and tried the veggie chicken enchilada with rice. It was fine.

Day 15 - I fixed Morningstar maple soysage with scrambled parsley eggs and whole wheat toast. I use Brummel & Brown Yogurt Spread in place of butter to get some good omega 3s.

OK, Here is the deal, You want to mix whole grains like brown rice, buckwheat, barley, bulgur, cornmeal, hominy, quinoa, cracked wheat, quinoa, wheat germ, wild rice, bran with other legumes such as lentils of all colors, chickpeas, all beans including black, kidney, pinto, mung, soy, black-eyed peas, lima, adzuki for complete proteins. Add fruits, veggies and spring water and fresh air to live a long healthy life.

A New Beginning - Return to Vegetarian Diet.

On January 1, 2011, I became a vegetarian again like I was twenty one years ago. When I was 15 years old, my life took a new direction, I returned home from a trip to Europe, and I became a vegetarian. I also opened my first company that same year, a little plant shop on Pharr Rd called Nature's Way. I remember spending some time with this guy who was a Meher Baba follower who was a macrobiotic. He ate this strange brown rice that was very different from the Uncle Ben's white rice I was raised on. I started eating the rice and then I remember only ordering vegetable plates at the local diner. This was back in the 70s when the first juice bars and vegetarian restaurants started sprouting up. I ate at the Energy Source or the Egg and Lotus everyday where I ordered cashew, cheese & alfalfa sprout sandwiches or humus & sprout sandwiches. They had great lentil or split pea soups. We traded plants with the Egg & Lotus and I would go there and order the special vegetarian delight of the day. Soon the Kundalini's bought the Egg & Lotus and the name changed to the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple served Bajan Specials which was cooked mung beans with lots of spices and they would melt white cheddar on top and cover with a huge mound of sprouts. The local chines restaurant would make vegetarian egg rolls for me and vegetarian rice specials and they called them Tony Specials. Pretty soon both juice bars and Andy's Chinese had Tony's Specials that other people ordered who also wanted vegetarian dishes. I visited every vegetarian restaurant from Atlanta to Miami, from Atlanta to California and anywhere I travel to. I loved the Golden Temple in Georgetown outside of Washington DC. I also went to the Spiral Restaurant in Miami on a monthly basis and ordered huge quantities of food to take with me after dinner for the next day.

Okay, so you get it, I was a devout vegetarian for 18 years. Actually, let me clarify, I ate only vegetables for 3 years only. After that I added seafood back to the diet because I I thought this was such a divine food. I mean how bad could fish, crab, lobster and shrimp be, right?

Well, I am starting this year out on a fairly strict lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. I have never cut ice cream out of my diet so why not eat eggs and drink milk. I like to make waffles also and they typically require eggs and milk. I have only cooked eggs twice in the last 15 days. I do love soy milk but I have been drinking vanilla almond milk lately because it tastes like a milkshake.