Meatless Monday: Benefits of Going Meatless One Day A Week

One Step At a Time...

You Can Go Meatless

For All Three Meals

Serving healthy meals on a budget can be challenging. Some people save money by adding meatless meals to their weekly menus. But meatless meals can be good for your health, not just your budget.

Meatless meals are built around vegetables, beans and grains. This can save money, since meat tends to be more expensive. A plant-based diet — which emphasizes fruits and vegetables, grains, beans and legumes, and nuts — is also rich in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. This type of diet can reduce the risk of heart disease.

The Mayo Clinic also cites a National Cancer Institute study of 500,000 people that found those who ate 4 ounces (113 grams) of red meat or more daily were 30 percent more likely to have died of any cause during a 10-year period than were those who consumed less. Sausage, luncheon meats and other processed meats also increased the risk. Those who ate mostly poultry or fish had a lower risk of death.

When your meals include meat, don't overindulge. As appealing as a big steak may be, a healthier choice is to choose lean cuts of meat and avoid oversized portions.

Although you may not be able to imagine giving up bacon or cheeseburgers, switching over to a plant-based diet can have health and nutritional advantages. In many cases, you can improve your risk factors for a variety of diseases and health problems by simply reducing the amount of meat that you eat, even if you don’t give it up entirely.

Eating a vegetarian diet provides several health benefits including those associated with weight control. According to L. Bellows, food and nutrition specialist at Colorado State University Extension, because they eat a plant-based diet, vegetarians tend to consume fewer calories, less fat and have a lower body mass index. BMI is an estimate of body-fat levels. Animal foods, including meat and dairy products, are high in fat, especially saturated fat and cholesterol. The additional fat in these foods not only increase calorie consumption, they elevate the risk of chronic disease.

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, giving up meat can reduce your risks of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney stones, gallstones and osteoporosis. Further, ChooseMyPlate.gov from the USDA notes that eating more fruits and vegetables can cut risks of high cholesterol, heart attack and stroke. The drop in such risk factors is partly due to lower cholesterol intake, since plant-based food items are cholesterol-free and dairy products tend to be lower in cholesterol than meat.

A vegetarian diet is healthiest when it’s balanced and includes daily servings of all major food groups, including fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, grains and dairy products. Before you make the switch to a meatless diet, talk with your physician or a registered dietitian about how to meet all of your nutritional needs, especially if you deal with a chronic health condition or have other dietary restrictions.

Healthy Meatless Recipe:

Five-Vegetable Lentil Soup Recipe

(Adapted from Fit Bottom Eats )

Ingredients:

• 10 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth
• 1½ cups lentils
• 1 large onion diced
• 4 stalks celery with leaves chopped
• 4 large carrots diced
• 1T tomato paste
• 1 medium bunch kale, chopped
• 1t chopped garlic
• 1t fresh, ground pepper
• 1T good olive oil
• ¼ cup chopped fresh, flat leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Soak and wash lentils in colander until clean.
2. Meanwhile, sauté the onions, celery and carrots with olive oil in 10- to 12-quart soup pot until golden. Then, add garlic and sauté for 1 minute being careful not to burn garlic. Add tomato paste, broth, lentils, and pepper.
3. Simmer until lentils are soft and tender (approximately 1½ hour)
4. Turn heat off. Add the chopped kale at the very end stirring until well incorporated and, then, add fresh, chopped parsley.
5. Makes 12 servings

Enjoy and Bon Appetit!

Healthy Weekly Motivator

Gratitude In Your Attitude

Feeling stressed? This week,beat stress with gratitude.Try writing down five things every day that you feel grateful for.

Remember Green Goes with Everything

Personal Care For You and Your Family

A new day dawns for you: You enter the bathroom( that was cleaned with all types of chemicals). You brush your teeth, soap your body, shampoo and cream rinse your hair, use deodorant, lotions, moisturizers, shaving cream, cosmetics, hair spray or gel, nail polish, perfume or cologne, feminine products, etc. You are now clean and presentable to the world, ready to face the day, or at least get to your coffee.

Now let's think about what you have just accomplished:

Your day has just begun with a bountiful dose of toxic chemicals. They have entered your bloodstream through your mouth, your skin and your respiratory tract. And you haven't even left your bathroom yet! Polluting your body with toxins as you “clean” your body. Does it make any sense to you? Take a look here for natural, safe personal care products.. No damaging chemical ingredients. Biodegradable surfactants protect nature. Natural ingredients protect health. These personal care products are highly concentrated... a little goes a long way.

Have a great week and remember a better tomorrow starts with what you eat today!

Do you have a favorite meatless recipe you would like to share with us? Send it my way!

Wishing you health and wellness from the inside out,

Lisa

LQ WELLNESS

Professional Wellness Coach

973-383-0955

lisaquinnwc@embarqmail.com

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“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.”

~Elizabeth Kubler-Ross~