Hi. I'm a vegetarian (no fish, yes eggs and cheese) and new to the zone. I've only been doing it for about a month -- but to be honest have been having a really hard time staying consistent. I eat a lot of boca and morningstar burgers -- but it is getting a little repetitive. I don't know where to buy tempeh or soy beans or other ingredients in the soy zone book such as agar flakes? Any advice on ways to stay in the zone as a vegetarian would be great. Also what kind of protein powder would you guys recommend? I really want to succeed at restructuring my lifestyle/diet. Thanks so much.

Medha, It depends on where you live, but if you can find a large supermarket with a "health food" section, or a health food store you should be able to find a number of alternatives. I eat tofu, Veat (meat free "chickn"), Morninstar, Boca, tempeh, and string cheese for snacks and eggs once a week (my Sunday morning omlette :) ). There is also the "ground beef" alternative from Morningstar or Yves. Yves and several other companies have "lunchmeat" substitutes as well. Soy nuts are also good for snacks. I feel like I have more alternatives than many meat eaters! If you're in the middle of nowhere (like my hometown, although they even now have a few soy items :wink: ) you may also be able to order from the internet (check out www.veganessentials.com to start) Robbin P.S. I recently saw vegetarian fish-less "tuna" - but I was scared to try it! LOL

Hi! Thanks ...I'm in NYC so I should be able to find stuff -- but maybe I should go to a specialty store. I just made a recipe out of the soy zone cook book "red bean chili". I used the morningstar ground beef alternative and the recipe turned out great. EXTREMELY filling -- I couldn't believe that that recipe was supposed to be one dinner block. There was no way I could eat it all. Anyways -- thanks for the advice.. I too snack on soy nuts and love them.

Oh my gosh, yes! NYC is bursting with veggie options - even in many restaurants! I love visiting there. I live in Rochester, NY where we have "Wegman's" grocery stores - the best produce in a grocery store ever, as well as a Nature's Market section in every store with many veggie options for healthy eating. Even when I lived in Washington, D.C. which has quite a variety of shopping available, I missed Wegman's! One of my favorite (almost balanced) snacks when I'm craving something crispy and salty is Soy Crisps from Genisoy. I'm going to have an interesting time trying to Zone next week - I'm travelling to Texas for 5 days :shock: . I'm just trying to figure out how to smuggle some tofu with me as I don't think they allow it across the borders :wink: Robbin

Hey!! I don't really like soy chips but I love the zone protein chocolate caramel bar. oh so YUM Have fun in texas...hope you get the tofu across.