 Are you having at least one non-meat meal every week? If not, you may want to consider it. Why? There are many health benefits to eating vegetarian, at least one day out of the week. How to do this? Start small. Replace one of your meat meals with 1/2 cup of beans- there are many varieties out there. Some examples are black beans, pinto beans, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), cannellini, small red, small white. Canned is fine (and much easier) as long as you rinse them well in a colander under cold running water. Ideas: Mix them in a pasta dish instead of using meat. Or, put them on a whole wheat tortilla, add a little brown rice, reduced fat cheese, some veggies, some salsa, roll up and microwave for about 2 minutes (microwave times may vary). And voila! Easy, instant bean dinner. Also remember to drink extra water since you will be eating extra fiber in the beans (fiber attracts water in the body, so when you add fiber you need extra water to account for that process). Enjoy those beans! More meatless ideas to come! |
