Meatless Monday

gaeljo

Hi Everyone, I just learned about a movement called, Meatless Monday. It's where you pledge to take one day a week (Monday) and go meatless. In doing so, many people have experienced weight loss. I thought this was a great tip. I personally became a vegetarian a year ago and the first things I noticed were a huge spike in my energy level and a dramatic weight loss. I'm not saying that being a vegetarian is for everyone, but certainly taking one meal a week and going vegetarian will have good effects on your health, the environment and your weight goals. Remember, the real recommended serving for meat is the size of a deck of cards (approximately) 1 serving every other day, most Americans really overeat meat and hence struggle with their weight and cholesterol levels. Cholesterol comes from eating animal products so if you have high cholesterol, reducing meat and dairy is the fix. Anyway, here is a great website: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ I hope you enjoy it. Gael :bigsmile:

Rubie81

I have such a hard time with this. My husband is always telling me that I don't have to eat meat every day. My dinner's feel so empty without them though. WIll need to try. Is having fish also considered a 'meat day'?

JennLifts

Just to add to the bit on cholesterol, saturated fat is actually more of a contributor to high cholesterol than the cholesterol in foods, (meat has high sat fat as well, kind of a double wammy) So watch your sat fats when it comes to cholesterol

LBATL

Love it! Most of my meals are vegetarian since that is what my body (and taste) craves now. I had never been a huge meat eater but when I started changing my lifestyle meals with meat became few and far between. There are so many great vegetarian dishes out there that I think "Meatless Monday" can work for just about anyone.

I LOVE Amy's frozen meals for a quick and easy dinner. My favorites are the from the light and lean line - just had the cheese and bean enchilada last night. Soooo good! I also love the pasta dishes especially the spinach lasagna.

Rubie81 - to answer your question yes and no. Some people consider fish meat and others don't. It just depends on your belief system. Eating fish has some awesome benefits to it (like Omega 3s) so I say go ahead and eat it

u04lj7

I see where you are coming from but I think to be really healthy you have to have animal products in your diet - Everyone can make their own choices of course and I think if we tried to eat a bit less meat it would be easier to eat more vegetables by having vege-based meals. I find it difficult to have vegetarian based meals because I will admit I don't know how to cook really tasty vegetarian stuff!

I may be biased as a farmers daughter of course.... And from the North East of Scotland which has some of the richest agricultural produce! Why i am on here to lose weight - over indulgence!

Best of luck with the campaign though and I think it is a good idea, to get people eating more vegetables at least!

writtenINthestars

I have such a hard time with this. My husband is always telling me that I don't have to eat meat every day. My dinner's feel so empty without them though. WIll need to try. Is having fish also considered a 'meat day'?

I struggle with the same mentality...If a quarter of my plate doesn't have meat, I feel like the meal is "incomplete". I'm definately going to check out this article because at this point, the price of meat has gone through the roof and if it will help me towards a healthier lifestyle...well why the heck not?! :happy:

Tamiash

Thanks for sharing the site....it's a keeper of recipes!!!

gaeljo

If your plate seems empty you aren't getting creative enough. I find eating vegetarian offer so much more diversity! Pick up a Vegetarian Times magazine, You'll be amazed at the wonderful recipes. Have vegetable lasagna or vegetarian shephard's pie. great recipe here: http://competingiswinning.blogspot.com/p/vegetarian-recipes.html often for my main meals I have a vegetarian stir fry with tofu and brown rice with beans. Super yummy! Have vegetable pizza that you make yourself. You'll be amazed at what you can create if you put a little thought in it. I too love the Amy's vegetarian pies. I also love to eat lentil soup, Wegmans has an amazing vegetarian lentil chili soup that makes me crave it in the middle of the night it is so yummy! A typical meatless day may look like this on the menu:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with peaches, hot tea
Snack: 1/4 cup of Almonds (or 2 tbsp almond butter or peanut butter) and a banana (or apple or some piece of fruit)
Lunch: Lettuce, tomato, provalone slice, cucumber sliced on toasted wheat bread with Veganaise, mustard or mayo. Side of beans or brocoli or cottage cheese with pinneapple (lots of options)
Snack: grapefruit, orange or whatever peice of fruit you want
Dinner: Tofu and veggie stir fry (or cheese ravioli with salad, or lasagna or pizza or whatever you want)
Snack: peice of fruit or 4 cups of air popped popcorn with 1 tbs low fat Olivio
Workout: after have a protein shake or a glass of chocolate milk.

gaeljo

PS Meat only feels missing because you have gotten used to eating that way. With change means you have to do things differently. Don't associate change with a loss of something, think of it as a way just doing things differently. You'll help the environment in the process too!!!