Response to comment

Short answer: not exactly. The question was, will I be substituting the dairy I previously consumed, presumably with imitation dairy. The medium-length answer is, only very occasionally. The long answer follows.

One of the reasons I opted for macrobiotics over veganism is the former's emphasis on real, minimally processed food. You can be vegan and still eat a lot of crap (and I know many vegans who do, and, conversely, who wouldn't know a fresh vegetable if it bit them in the ass). While vegan cheese isn't crap, it also isn't quite real food. I won't avoid it completely, but I don't feel the need to replace two or three servings of dairy with imitation soy products. I'll replace them with something to make up for the protein and other nutrients, but it needn't look or taste like dairy.

For example, up until last week, I started my morning with a bowl of oatmeal with whey powder and flax seeds. This week, I've been putting brown rice protein in my oatmeal. It's taking some getting used to, but the cinnamon and other spices in the oatmeal neutralize the flavor, and I figure I won't notice it after a few more days (I experienced a similar lack of enthusiasm every time I switched brands of whey).

For those of you tempted to pipe in to tell me that brown rice powder has less protein and/or that it's incomplete, you'd lure me into the lecturing rabbit hole I'd prefer to avoid. I'll have no choice but to point out that you've been brainwashed by the meat and dairy industry. No one needs that much protein--in fact, I used half a portion of whey because who the f* needs 26 grams in one meal (not even including the 5 grams in each serving of oatmeal). And as for "incomplete," you don't need to get every amino acid in every meal. I won't preach, but I will talk back if you preach at me, particularly with misinformation.

Anyway, I'd then have some cottage cheese upon getting to work, with some nuts and maybe a sweet potato or something. That's been harder to "replace." I'm not really interested in looking for vegan cottage cheese--just like I haven't been into fake meat for years, I'd rather just find real food. So over the last couple of days, I've had pumpkin seeds (roasted some from the pumpkin I started carving for Halloween). I'm out of those, so I made some edemame for tomorrow. One serving has 10 grams of protein--not the 14-16 in cottage cheese, but, again, that was overkill.

At some point later in the day, I'd have some cereal with milk or kefir. That's been really hard to "replace," so I've been sprinkling the cereal nuggets over a fruit salad instead.

I'd also have some sort of seafood a couple of times a week. And that's still allowed, under macrobiotic principles, but I want to see whether I can do without, for the most part.

I'm still figuring this whole thing out. It was kind of a snap decision, but it also wasn't. I've been flirting with it for a while, thinking about it, trying aspects of it... but I didn't have time to do the research and I was concerned about nutrients. I stopped buying cheese for home consumption (I'd still have it in restaurants) half a year ago, and then started trying to cut out other dairy a few months ago. Then, at work on Friday, I ran into a friend who is a very serious athlete (triathlons, etc.). We were talking about how much crap there is around the office this time of year, between Halloween and the holidays. When I mentioned that I was considering cutting out dairy but concerned about sports nutrition, she recommended that I check out Brendan Brazier's website. Over the weekend, I read up a little on him and on other vegan athletes, and figured if they could do it, so could I. Now, Mr. Brazier's really into hemp protein powder, which I bought months ago when I first seriously considered weaning myself off whey, and I found it positively nasty. It's basically palatable if you drown it out in a fruit smoothie.

Part of where I'm going with all this is, one reason I could make a lifestyle change in a quasi-snap decision was that it wasn't that big a step. I took a few months, without officially committing, to see what it would be like to not have a lot of dairy. And I didn't crave it. If it were right in front of me, at a party or something, I might have some, but I never found myself eating in and thinking, 'this meal would be better with cheese.' The whey and cottage cheese were functional, and the milk/kefir was a vehicle for cereal. Which I could also have with soy milk, but that's where the minimally processed thing comes in... but if I ever truly craved a bowl of cereal with 'milk,' that's where I'd go. And if I get a hard-core craving for pizza, I'll go out and get some soy cheese.

As I already discussed with one of you, the supplement I will be taking is vitamin B12, because it's difficult to find outside of animal products (particularly since I'm cutting back on seafood as well). As much as I'm committed to getting things from natural foods, I draw the line at eating feces.

I was also ready for the 'positive' aspects of macrobiotics, i.e. the emphasis on what to eat, not just what not to eat. As I've said, I know too many vegans who basically subsist on fake meat and cheese, refined starches and other crap. Macrobiotics is all about whole grains and vegetables. I actually like both, and I already love sea vegetables. I think any major change in dietary change is very difficult to sustain if you feel like it's pushed on you (and what's wrong with having cheese outside the house, if you're not the one allergic to it?). When I became a vegetarian twenty years ago, I said to myself I'd try it for a week and see if it would work. It did, so I kept going. No pressure. Next thing I knew, I had no desire to go back to eating meat, and I was discovering all these foods that I'd previously ignored. I never felt deprived or put upon; I'd just found something that worked for me.

***
So, (since you asked) here's the breakdown of what I ate today (fear not, this will not be a repeat feature of the blog, unless someone asks/wants ideas). Yes, my (new, smaller) fridge is extremely full with cooked grains, pulses, and vegetables--even more so than usual. I don't think it will always be like this--once I decided to go for it over the weekend, I went a little nuts at the Asian market. Anyway, here's the breakdown, with approximate protein counts:

Breakfast (circa 5:30 am): 1 cup (2 svgs) oatmeal, 1 tbsp brown rice powder, 1 tbsp flax seeds; cinnamon, nutmeg, chipotle and lemon zest to taste: 25g protein.

Post bike-ride snack (c. 8:30 am): 1/2 cup peas (I'm not obsessive; that's just the size of the tupperware); a few nuts and a few pumpkin seeds; chickpeas with kinpira and greens; a small sweet potato: I'm guessing 10ish grams of protein. If that sounds like a lot of food, consider that it followed an 8-mile ride and each portion was quite small. There are probably more calories in a small muffin.

Lunch (c. 11:30 am): lentils with barley and mushrooms; sauteed vegetables (snap peas in sesame oil, eggplant, zucchini, and asparagus); an apple: 20g protein.

Pre-bike ride snack (c. 4:00 pm): a handful of almonds; leftover half-portion of soba with pumpkin and cumin; 1/2 cup butternut squash: 6ish g protein.

Dinner (c. 7:00 pm): two toasted corn tortillas with hummus; spaghetti squash with olive oil, salt and pepper; cauliflower; wakame soup with mung bean sprouts, scallions, and grated Korean radish; black rice with edemame; papaya and pomegranate with some sprinkles of Kashi 7-grain nuggets: 15ish g protein.

Holy crap! That's 75 grams of protein, and I wasn't even trying (except at breakfast). That's how much protein comes with your whole grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, and vegetables.

I'll concede to people who find the above obsessive that it does require some work, but it didn't require much advanced planning. I mean, I've always taken some time over the weekend to pre-cook a grain or two and a pulse or two, and to roast some vegetables, and then mix and match, and I've always done it on impulse, based on what I had around the house and what I felt like eating that week. If I don't have time to pre-cook, I'll make whole wheat pasta or soba for dinner and take the leftovers to work. Do I ever find myself thinking, on Sunday, 'I'd rather be doing something other than cooking for a few hours right now'? Of course... just like I think, I'd rather be doing something other than laundry, but I'm not going to pay someone else to wash my clothes. And most of the time, I quite enjoy putting on Pandora and making food while I listen to music. The more important point is, it's worth it to me, and I can tell you right now, I already feel better and my skin looks better. I can't tell you whether that's because of the absence of dairy, or because of the added vegetables, or because I've been more vigilant about not having added sugar. It's probably a mystery combination of all of the above.

***
Here are some tasty and simple grain/pulse combinations, just off the top of my head:

-any red lentil dish (moussaka, lasagne) over pasta;
-green or brown lentils, sauteed in onion, with barley
-bulghur with chickpeas (with salt and pepper)
-whole wheat couscous with chickpeas and saffron (feel free to use oil in place of fake butter)
-tofu with soba
-three bean salad over quinoa
-black beans over buckwheat
-curried split peas over rice or quinoa
-curried anything (tofu with greens, lentils, etc.) in ingera, if you can get it
-navy beans with sage or oregano over pasta, with olive oil
-black or red bean curry over rice

Add greens, scallions, herbs, spices*, and vegetables to taste.

*This is just me talking, and I am not a nutritionist, but do use your salt shaker. If you're not buying processed foods (frozen or pre-packaged meals), you don't really need to worry about sodium (within reason). Salt and black pepper do wonders for bringing out the flavor of any food.