Eat Right, but how?

We confuse ourselves when someone says Eat Right. The common misunderstanding is:

1. Be Vegetarian.

2. Count the calories of what you eat and burn the excess on treadmill. Some even use scale to exactly calculate the calories.

3. Eat less and less and less.

4. Eat whatever dish made out of healthy food items even though they don’t taste at all and look really obscure. Maintain this list of healthy food and be obsessed with only eating that, resulting in more paranoia.

And probably a lot more that I cannot think of right now.

The spirit of eating right is in the eating.

While what you eat is equally important, it is useless if you don’t know how well to eat it.

So let’s clear the misconception and let’s try to eat right, the right way.

1. Be a Vegetarian by choice and not by force. Vegetarianism is born out of compassion towards other living beings. Until you feel that naturally, do not be so.

2. Eat at the speed of the body and not hog at the speed of the mind. Chew nicely and when you do that, you will eat at the speed of the body. You will listen to the body and naturally eat less. No need to count calories, because the body will tell you what it needs now when you listen. You will notice, you will be filling your plate with less food as you go.

3. Time table eating can bore the heck out of you. Eat normally, what you wish, at the speed of the body, 3 times a day. Fasting can purify your body and senses, but don’t be obsessed with it, do it only if you can.

4. Do not drink water atleast 30 minutes before you eat, while you eat and atleast 30 minutes after you eat. Water douses the digestive fire and can affect digestion. But don’t forget to drink water the other times to flush out the toxins.

5. Eat what you feel is tasty. Because the digestive fire is induced more with tasty and nice aromatic food.

6. Do not eat/cook emotionally. You will attach all that emotions and thoughts to the food and affect your digestion. Not only that, but it can also affect your thoughts, character and personality. Don’t ask me how, but they do. So Eat/Cook the food in silence.

7. Eat Consciously. By this I mean, that watch what you are eating without judging the food or yourself. Because at some point we get carried away and do what everyone does, “Top up” with more food. If we watch then we will refrain from doing that. This will leave a gap in the stomach which is good as it will be easy to rotate and digest the food.

8. If you believe in God, then offer the food to God and eat it. Just do it mentally with a loving heart, don’t need to place the food at the altar every time. This particular point needs deeper understanding, beyond just the rules of dogmatic religion.

These are just simple guidelines for normal people who lead normal lives.

Food is the best medicine for your body. Eat less and you will be  sick, Eat more you will still be sick.

Cinzetti Vs Sweet Tomatoes

Cinzetti is an Italian all you can eat restaurant here in the United States. Sweet Tomatoes is a salad bar/italian buffet restaurant. It is not fair to compare both of them as they belong to different classes of restaurants, but this comparison is from a view of an Asian Indian who seeks Vegetarian food in the land of steaks and bacons. It is not easy for us Vegetarian Indians here in the United States to get some great quality Vegetarian food at restaurants other than Indian (or probably Thai). Cinzetti and Sweet Tomatoes both do a fairly good job at providing such food. Without wasting much time let’s get down to the details of the comparison in the order we eat.

1. Soups and Starters:

Cinzetti didn’t have much of soup varieties, they only had 2 Vegetarian (and no Non-Veg) soups. We had Minestrone Soup and it was pretty good. It tasted great with the Crouton breads and breadsticks on the side. The breadsticks and Crouton were the best part as it was crispy on the outside and soft and melty in the inside. We had never had any breadstick as tasty as this one. I have to say even though Sweet Tomatoes offers a lot more variety in the Soup department, the lonely but tasty Minestrone soup with breadsticks simply trumped the Vegetarian variety of soups at Sweet Tomatoes. The mixed Veg soup at Sweet Tomatoes might come close but the Croutons and Breadsticks at Cinzetti had the last say.

Verdict: Cinzetti wins hands down in the Soup department

2. Main Course:

It is Fresh Salad, Pizzas and Pastas at Sweet Tomatoes. I already commented on how the Pizza at Sweet Tomatoes tastes great and probably one of the best I’ve had. Well, that stays because Cinzetti’s Pizza couldn’t match even a little bit to Sweet Tomatoes. Pastas were cooked better in Sweet Tomatoes when compared to Cinzetti’s. Cinzetti’s pasta felt like it was cooked in a hurry. There was no salad for us Vegetarians in Cinzetti, Period.

But when it came to variety of dishes Cinzetti simply trumps Sweet Tomatoes handily. You will be left to loosen the belts of your pants or spend some extra time to make room for more food. Yes you will very easily consume more calories than needed at Cinzetti’s, although Sweet Tomatoes will also be sumptuous with lesser variety. The dish that we liked the most at Cinzetti was fresh made Crepe (Which is like Dosa for us South Indians). With Apple Cinnamon filling and Strawberry topping, the Crepe tasted awesome and easily the best part of our Main course experience. The fried veggie aisle was nothing great to talk about and they simply added to the variety rather than a great tasting experience.

Verdict: Cinzetti wins in Variety, Sweet Tomatoes wins in Taste.

3. Dessert:

With not anymore room left in our belly, we braved ourselves to a multi-variety dessert treat at Cinzetti. Compared to Sweet Tomatoes, which only serves a few muffins, brownies, Frozen yogurt and Fruits, Cinzetti was much more beyond that. Perhaps, this is where we saw the true Italian experience. With Several flavours of Ice cream to choose from, and multiple varieties of Pastries, Tiramisu, fruits Dessert made our experience at Cinzetti complete. Sweet Tomatoes even though offers lesser variety, you will feel you had a good desert experience but not fully exotic like Cinzetti.(I warned you they are restaurants of different class)

Verdict: Cinzetti makes it complete, Sweet Tomatoes makes you feel good.

4. Price: Ah! The economics of the game. It is evident from my description above that Cinzetti will cost you a little more than Sweet Tomatoes. How much more? as much as 50%. The weekend price at Cinzetti is $14.99 and Sweet Tomatoes is close to $8. So obviously, Sweet Tomatoes is more economical and wins in the pricing department. Because, I feel that even though you get a lot more variety at Cinzetti, your stomach can only hold so much and Sweet Tomatoes gives you enough great tasting food for a lesser price.

Verdict: Sweet Tomatoes is your wallet’s Friend

Overall: My Dear Vegetarian Friend, if you go to either of these above restaurants you will be in for a great vegetarian treat feast. Sweet Tomatoes gives you everyday value meal, reasonably good variety and great tasting food. Cinzetti offers that occasional quench for the exotic weekend dinner or a Rendez vous, Family Treat and parties with a good variety and great tasting experience.

Bon Appetit!

P.S: Sorry about an America centric post, But I thought that this might be helpful for all the Indians in America who look around for decent Non-Indian Vegetarian food.