posted on: 2009-08-27 00:04:53
High Energy, Fast-Food Ideas For Teens
by Catherine Collins
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You are a teen and you are always hungry, right? Guess what? You should be. Your body is changing and growing at an enormous rate, you need lots of food and you are perfectly right to expect to be naturally slim. So what is the big problem?
Relax, it's not your fault! It's the great North American and European myth that your diet should contain 30 percent fat. Yeah, right! Try eating to satisfy your enormous appetite with most of the foods in the grocery store and you will be overweight and undernourished. The food is highly processed and loaded with chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, sugar, salt and fat. This means simply that the food has had almost all the good things taken out of it and lots of bad things added. The reason? Profit. And yet you're the one who has energy, weight, acne and self-esteem problems.
I'm going to tell you one of the best-kept secrets in our society: a diet of pure foods such as whole grains, legumes (anything in a pod), vegetables and fruit, eaten in any combination, as much as you want both raw and lightly cooked will allow you to increase your endurance, have high energy, be slim, clear-skinned and feel great...and be smarter! And you will soon discover that it is delicious. You will be eating the diet of many of the world's high-endurance record athletes, top performance artists and models - the diet of Einstein, Plato and Socrates. You will be eating more cheaply, while reducing your risk of getting many serious diseases, including cancer and multiple sclerosis.
You will be a vegetarian. You will be contributing significantly to resolving world hunger, animal rights and using less than one tenth of the world's resources as your meat eating friends.
Some real fast food:
Raw organic fruits and vegetables. Call around for "brown box" deliveries from organic farmers, split it with friends.
Veggie burgers. Make them at home, bake them in large supply and freeze.Top with thinly sliced veggies and greens, herbs and sprouts.
Hearty sandwiches. Peanut butter, Vegemite or miso paste sandwiches on hearty whole grain peasant breads, bagels, rye crackers or rice cakes.Create sandwiches from any thinly sliced raw or cooked veggies, spread bean with soy Mayo, mustard, nut spreads, and Ta-da! Instant cure for hunger.
Rice cakes topped with avocado and smothered in salsa are great. Remember, avocado has natural oils, but that's not a problem if you're not eating hamburgers and fries!
Rice. Keep a pot of cooked rice in the fridge. To a serving size just add cooked beans (made ahead of time and canned) and some salsa. Another quick meal - brown rice, steamed spinach, soy sauce and sesame seeds. Mmmmm.
Pasta. Angel hair pasta with tomato sauce and steamed veggies is another great idea.
Couscous. So easy, just add to boiling water, turn off the heat and let sit a few minutes. Add herbs and any sauce. It's a good rice substitute.
Author Information:
As well as being a vegan nutrition counsellor and lecturer, Catherine Collins is also a member of the EarthSave Canada Board of Directors and organizes the Local EarthSave Group in Victoria.
Reprinted by permission from the Canada Earthsaver.
