Meatless March: Take The Pledge

If you’re feeling sluggish lately or just not yourself, you should consider how your diet is affecting your daily life. If you’re constantly consuming foods high in sugar, fat, sodium or a lot of meat, it may be helpful to consider vegetarian recipes. By going vegetarian, you not only will be able to reach your weight loss goals a lot quicker, but you will feel healthy, lighter and make a dent in improving the environment. Let’s start what with what exactly is a vegetarian.

Woman cooking

What is a vegetarian?

A vegetarian is someone who does not eat any fish, poultry, meat, shellfish or by-products of animal slaughter. For many, the diet of a vegetarian can vary. Diets contain various levels of nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, and grains. Depending on the person, dairy and eggs may be included in the diet. There are many types of vegetarian diets, but the most common ones include:

Lacto-ovo vegetarians: Vegetarians who avoid all animal flesh, but do consume dairy and egg products.
Ovo vegetarians: Vegetarians who avoid all animal products except eggs.
Lacto vegetarians: Vegetarians who avoid animal flesh and eggs, but do consume dairy products.
Vegans: Vegetarians who avoid all animal and animal-derived products.

Those who consume fish but do not eat meat or poultry are considered pescatarians.

How does being vegetarian help you lose weight

Adapting more vegetarian recipes to your diet has its perks. Research shows being vegetarian can lower the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure,  and cancer. It also helps the environment by allowing animals to be animals. Most importantly, adding vegetarian recipes to your lifestyle allows you to lose weight safely and quickly. Vegetarian recipes are gaining in popularity mainly because there’s evidence that vegans and vegetarians weigh less than those who eat meat.

Ways to remove meat from your diet

The best way to remove meat from your diet and try more vegetarian recipes is to build your meals around vegetables and not flesh. Stop making meat the star of your meals. You can do this by now viewing chicken, fish, and steak as main course items and sweet potatoes, salad, and baked beans as sides. To start, when you think about plant-based means, think about how each “side dish” can build a plate that features all portions of the food pyramid. Substitutes are also a great way to use vegetarian recipes which include grilled tofu, black bean patties or fried tempeh.

What will happen to your body after going vegetarian?

You’ll reduce inflammation in your body.

By eating cheese, meat and other highly processed foods, you’re more likely to have inflammation in your body. This will reduce once you cut meat your of your diet and go completely vegetarian. Short-term inflation is normal and necessary but inflammation that lasts for months or even years is not.

Your blood cholesterol levels will plummet.

High blood pressure and cholesterol are two of the most common conditions in Americans today. Elevated blood cholesterol is a critical factor in strokes and heart disease which are the two leading killers in the United States. By incorporating more vegetarian recipes in your diet, you will reduce your cholesterol levels greatly.

You’ll make a significant impact on the health of our planet and its inhabitants.

Animals are an essential part of our planet. Animal agriculture is not only destructive, but it can be inhumane as well. It is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and causes deforestation and wildlife destruction. By eating animals, we can ultimately cause extinction in species as well. Our oceans are quickly becoming depleted of fish, and at this rate, some oceans may be fishless by 2048. A vegetarian diet can be beneficial to your weight loss journey and the environment.

In all, this march, take the meatless pledge by trying to incorporate more meatless meals in your diet or consider vegetarian altogether. With less animal products in your diet, you can almost guarantee that your weight loss goals will be reached faster and you will look and feel healthier. For more questions about weight loss plans or to make an appointment with one of our trained professionals, feel free to give us a call.