Forums: January 2011 Kickstart Forum: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan
Created on: 01/13/11 09:38 PM Views: 2230 Replies: 10
idealady Joined: 01/04/11 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 27	Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 9:38 PM I noticed that my soy cheese has casein, a milk protein in it. It is very tasty, melts well, but may not be vegan? What is harmful in casein that it is not part of the vegan lifestyle? This is my first attempt at trying to go vegan. I've fallen off the wagon some, but am not at all sad that I am trying. I have found some great recipes through the kickstart, and keep adapting traditional (non-vegan) recipes to add some dark beans and halve that 'other' ingredient (meat). Thanks in advance for sharing perspective.
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veggies4me Joined: 01/05/11 Posts: 172	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 9:46 PM Casein is a milk by-product I believe. I know others here are very knowledgeable and will fill you in. The first time I did kickstart, I started reading the labels and can't believe how many things have this. The worst was Boca breakfast sausage which I love. I tried the other vegan sausage, but they don't have the same taste. I still lost weight and felt a lot better than I usually do. I kept eating them, but his time I bought them, but so far have avoided them. The other thing I liked is microwave popcorn and that has it. Now I bought a hot air popper and sprinkle nutritional yeast on it - which I love. Keep reading the labels and avoid it where you can!
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Oceandog Joined: 01/10/10 Location: California, USA Posts: 642	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 9:57 PM I guess you need to discover why you are vegan. Weight loss? Health? Environment? Animals? Casein is a milk protein. Not vegan. Period. Weight loss - any cheese has unnecessary fat, and you can add more flavor without the cheese for less calories and faster weight loss. Health? Casein has been linked to cancer (read The China Study for greater detail.) Casein being a milk protein has all the environmental and animal impacts of dairy and beef. There is a good alternate cheeses that is vegan and soy free, I will have to look at a package to get the correct spelling if you are interested in the name of it. All of that said, this is YOUR journey. Any improvement you make, is improvement made. Do the best you can for your reasons, they may be different than someone else's reasons. There is a lot more that can be said but this is the short and simple of it. Best wishes! Always offer kindness and a soft word to the beings around you; You do not know their journey. Your words can be the hug they need or the shove that breaks them.
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idealady Joined: 01/04/11 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 27	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 10:30 PM Thanks very much for your clarifying and encouraging words. I am trying to be vegan to improve my health and avoid or postpone diabetes, which runs in my family. However, I cannot use any of the tree nuts because of a severe allergy-- I go into anaphylaxis if I eat them, and get hives even cracking the nut shells, etc. So these are not available to me: almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pinenuts, pistachios, walnuts In addition, I get a similar (but not quite so strong) allergic response to sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
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idealady Joined: 01/04/11 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 27	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 10:32 PM Oceandog, yes, I am interested to know what soy cheese is vegan. I thought that Soya Kaas was, but then found that the white cheddar slices they make have casein too! I will check further on the implications for casein in the cancer studies.
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Oceandog Joined: 01/10/10 Location: California, USA Posts: 642	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 10:37 PM Idealady, I am so sorry to hear of your nut allergies! That is so hard. I have Celiac Disease so I know well how careful you need to be with ingredients. Here is a link for the cheese I use when I need a "fix"! I don't have a bag so I can't look at the ingredients to see if it is safe for you. If I remember correctly it is made from tapioca. http://www.daiyafoods.com/ I wish you all the best and am usually around if you need help. (Now that I am back from vacation that is!) Always offer kindness and a soft word to the beings around you; You do not know their journey. Your words can be the hug they need or the shove that breaks them.
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idealady Joined: 01/04/11 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 27	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 10:52 PM Thanks, I'll remember Daiya vegan cheeses, because I am not allergic to coconut!
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Oceandog Joined: 01/10/10 Location: California, USA Posts: 642	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 11:00 PM I hope it helps! If you use it in a dish, as opposed to as a topping, cut back on any added salt to the recipe. I thought it was salty, but I was the only one who did.... so just fair warning! Always offer kindness and a soft word to the beings around you; You do not know their journey. Your words can be the hug they need or the shove that breaks them.
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cch22 Joined: 09/08/10 Location: New York State Posts: 999	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Friday, January 14, 2011 at 8:52 AM hi .. just recently i was given a jar of "cheese" from mom. vegan cheese that is REALLY good.. nacho mom's. Dairy free, cholesterol free, soy free, and nut free. after trying it.. even if i wasn't vegan, this is the cheese i would use. zero calories from fat!!! http://fatgoblin.com/
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slowcarr Joined: 12/27/09 Posts: 33	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Friday, January 14, 2011 at 10:00 AM The 3 vegan cheeses that that I know of are: Follow Your Heart, Daiya, & Galaxy. The Galaxy is marked in large letters Vegan. I have not tried Daiya, but on vegweb.com Daiya is preferred by a lot of people.
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idealady Joined: 01/04/11 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 27	RE: Casein and trying the vegan mealplan Posted Friday, January 14, 2011 at 3:40 PM Thank you very much for all 3 replies--quite helpful. I will look for Daiya cheese and Mom's Nacho cheese at WholeFoods on my next shopping trip.
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