new here, emotional eating/cravings

[thunder_bat]

though i haven't considered myself 'eating disordered' for a few years now, i have recurring cravings for steak. it's not protein, i don't think, because beans/lentils/eggs don't help. about once a month i get a jaw-clenching unbearable desire for a slab of meat

Comments

[labellementeuse]

I'm not veggie myself and haven't tried this, but I've heard a big, grilled portobello mushroom can approximate the flavour and texture.

[sheafrotherdon]

I don't have any wisdom about how to prepare something to have the texture of steak! But just a word of caution in case you do decide that steak once a month is the way to go (which I have no judgment of at all) - body chemistry can change, particularly if you don't eat meat for a long time, red meat being the hardest for your body to digest without 'practice' ( - practice being a really bad summation of the fact that your body can stop producing the enzymes usually required for that particularly digestive habit). Ease yourself into trying beef if you want to reintroduce it into your diet - you don't want to follow a steak with forced solitude in the bathroom!

[lux_apollo]

This. I've had this happen to a couple friends who tried to go back on occasional red meat after long meatless stints... Lol, my one friend thought she might be getting IBS but it was just the meat.

[icarus_fell]

I've had the same problem myself, the first time being when I decided to be "polite" and eat ham at a holiday dinner even though I was a hardcore vegetarian.
The result was not worth it...

[sheafrotherdon]

I learned the hard way also - oh my lord, it was awful.

[wordsofastory]

I agree with other commenters who have suggested that you just, you know, eat a steak now and then.

But, if you prefer not to, here are some other things I find similar to steak: a big portabello mushroom, especially grilled. Eel (if you eat fish) has what seems to me to be *very* similar texture and sort of taste to steak. I prefer it cooked "uni" style (ie, Japanese). Get uni sushi or uni-don (eel on rice). Also swordfish, or any of the other 'steak' fishes (thus the name!)

[thunder_bat]

i'll check out eel and swordfish -though i haven't seen them in the supermarket, they have to be somewhere! thanks.

[wordsofastory]

Swordfish is probably more likely if you live in a small town. I've only ever seen eel in Japanese or Asian supermarkets, or occasionally in a really big Kroger/Giant Eagle/etc, the kind of huge grocery stores that include a sushi bar.

By the way, I just wanted to correct a typo in my first comment- Japanese-style eel is unagi, not uni (which is sea urchin, and most definitely not something to get if you're craving steak!).

[breakableheart]

You might try adding in a more regular source of low-impact omnivorous protein - one rich in iron and minerals. In particular I'm thinking maybe finding a source of happy meat (grass fed, pastured, raised well and slaughtered humanely) and getting some soup bones. Then make a rich bone broth and put it in your freezer in small increments - maybe 1/2 cup? Every few days or so add a bit of this iron and mineral rich liquid to your diet - cooked in rice, added to a soup, what have you.

A more regular source of animal protein might do wonders for easing your cravings. I know it isn't ideally a veg*n diet, but a solution like that might be a good compromise between a high-impact omnivorous diet and a low-impact mostly veg*n diet while still keeping a healthy diet.

[thunder_bat]

this is a really, really good suggestion particularly for my digestion. thank you!

[rilestar]

It could be you're low in iron - my body tends to crave the foods that contain whatever it is that I'm low in. (ETA - if you want to get the extra iron without the meat, you can buy tablets. You can get non-animal sourced iron. Taking it with vitamin C will help it absorb better.)

Baked tofu can come close - you need to press the tofu between paper towel and weight it to remove the excess moisture, then add soy and bake it in thick slices. As mentioned above, mushrooms can be good. I think I posted a recipe here for mushroom 'steaks' - click on the vegetarian recipes tag in the comm's taglist.

[thunder_bat]

thanks. i'm still getting the hang of tags in general, but i'll look for it.

[rilestar]

http://community.livejournal.com/pollanesque/tag/recipes:+vegetarian

There you go.

An indication of being low in iron is to check the colour inside your lower eyelid. Pull down the eyelid and see if it is pale, or a nice dark red. It should be red. If it is not, you're low in iron. I once got to the point where I was just about fainting in the street, finally thought to check inside my eyelids and they were almost white. Needless to say, I detoured into a chemist immediately and bought some iron.

Physical tiredness is another way of noticing. You will feel tired and drained even when you think you shouldn't be.

[breakableheart]

A better indication would be to simply have a quick blood draw. Cheap, ususally covered by insurance, and much more exacting and reliable than the eyelid check (or how you feel, or intuition, or time of month, etc.)