I eat lots of fruits and vegetables

Someone once asked me how I get well-built without eating meat.

My friend who was with me answered for me, "He eats LOTS of fruits and vegetables!"

Yeah, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables. And that's all to it! You don't need to eat meat.

The truth is, it is exercise that builds muscles, not meat. Of course, protein is required to for muscles to grow. But ultimately it is exercise that builds muscles, and vegetable proteins are just as effectively as meat protein to fuel muscle growth.


My diet

There is nothing special about my diet. I do not make or pack my own food to work. So I just eat what is available in the cafeteria, food courts or hawker centers.

These are my considerations when I get my food:

Brown Rice: I always get brown rice if it is available.
Green Leaves: I always make sure I have some green leaf vegetables. Actually, I grew up hating green leaf vegetables, but green vegetables are important for vitamins and minerals. I do like Kai lan and spinach, but they are rarely available at the usual food stalls because they are more expensive. Most likely, you will get cai xin (which I hate but will still eat), xiao bai cai (I really hate it when they cook the whole plant without cutting it into smaller pieces) or Chinese spinach (xian cai).
Protein food: I love bean sprouts and tofu. Other protein-rich vegetables are long beans, french beans and peas. The cafeteria at my office serves India vegetarian food, so sometimes I can get chickpeas and dhal.
Mock meat: Mock meat adds variety and texture to the meals. But I usually limit to just 1 dish each meals, because these tends to be highly processed with lots of additives and seasoning. These tends to be made from wheat gluten (which is a form of protein) or soy (Texturized Vegetable Protein), and are actually high in protein.
Deep fried stuff: People always say vegetarian food is mostly deep fried stuff, but I don't think that's true. There is a lot of fried food available at the vegetarian stalls. But if you choose to avoid the deep fried food, there are still other choices. The only problem is that the deep fried stuff tends to be the tasty stuff... I usually limit to a maximum of 1 dish of fried food each meal.
Other vegetables: Generally, I try to get vegetables and limit deep fried or highly processed food stuff to at most 2 side dishes. The one vegetable that can be found at almost all vegetarian stalls is cabbage and that's one of my favourite vegetables. Brinjal is nice too, except that it is tends to be cooked too oily and salty, so I don't take that too often. I consider potato a carbo food rather than a vegetable dish, so if I get potato, I will ask for less rice.
Desert: I will go for green bean soup or red bean soup if I would like to have some protein. Otherwise, I will get cheng teng or some thing with real fruits (like honey dew sago).
Drinks: I drink at least 1 glass of soy milk everyday. My favorite is Unisoy Organic Soy Milk with no sugar added. If I buy from Mr Bean, I will ask for less sugar. Generally, I avoid sugared drinks. In the morning, I drink black coffee with very little sugar (Kopi O siu dai). I always drink Chrysantamum tea without sugar and avoid soda drinks like Coke or Sprite.
Eggs: I do like eggs. But I do not rely on it for protein. I know people who will eat 3 to 5 hard boiled eggs every day, but I don't do that. I allow eggs mainly for convenience, because many cakes and pastry has some eggs. Sometimes I'll add a fried egg to my breakfast.
Milk: I am slightly lactose intolerant. I can take milk tea or coffee without problem but a piece of cheese cake or a glass of fresh milk will send me to the toilet. Most of the time, the milk I take is what gets into the tea, coffee or deserts.

So, I really just eat the usual stuff available from food court. There is no special home cook food or magic diet. I just try to be more careful and mindful about what I eat. Here's my typical meal each day:

Morning: A plate of fried bee hoon or fried kway tiao, sometimes with an egg or tofu. A cup of black coffee with little sugar.

Lunch: Brown Rice with 4 - 5 dishes. A piece of fruit. I usually ask for less rice and have more side dishes instead. I always bring a lunch box with me and sometimes I will split the lunch into two portions. The other portion to be eaten after 3pm.

Tea Break: The other portion kept from lunch, or some biscuits, or a egg mayo sandwich, or a curry bun. I need a tea snack because my lunch is light and I will usually get hungry by 3 to 4pm and dinner is usually after 7pm.

Dinner: Rice (about 1/3 of a bowl) with lots of vegies/tofu. My mother is not a very creative cook, but there is always lots of variety, even if they are cooked almost the same way. My family is not vegetarian, but if I eat at home, my mum cooks vegetarian for everyone. I will eat 2 to 3 pieces of fruits. There is always fruits in the fridge because we buy fruits regularly as offerings to the Buddha.

I know for many people, home meals are the most problematic because the rest of the family are not vegetarian. You will need to talk to family for more vegetarian variety. You can also prepare some extra side dishes for yourself, like pickled vegetables, veggie patties, and salads. These can be kept in the fridge and you can just take small portions for yourself if the rest of the family are not interested.

Supper: No supper. If I am hungry late in the night, I will eat an apple or an orange.

Snacks: I avoid snacking. Once in a while, I may have an ice cream, or some potato chips. If temptation is great, I will snack on some nuts (cashews or almonds), or eat a piece of fruit instead.

Supplements: I have a bottle of Vitamin B12 on my desk and once in a while I will pop a pill.

I do not take protein supplements until recently, although a few years ago, I did take some spirulina (I stopped because it was too expensive). And there is really no need to unless you want to really put on bulk. We can get enough protein from our regular diet. The other problem is that most protein supplements are whey protein, which is milk protein. Although I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian, I did not like the idea of taking whey protein. If you have read the book The China Study, you will know why. Whey protein is after all animal protein, and taking it in concentrated amounts can't be too good for you. Two months ago, a friend introduced a vegan brown rice protein, and I have added it to my diet. It is called "Brown Rice Protein" by Jarrow Formulas. It is not available in the shops, but someone is selling it on Singapore's Ebay. Since I just started on it, I can't tell if it is any good. But at least it adds variety to the soy-based protein that is most common form of protein in Asian vegetarian diet.

So that's basically how I eat. Nothing very special really.