I've been a vegetarian for about 8 years when I decided that I needed to take care of myself and live a healthy lifestyle as an athlete. I did this transformation on my own, with not a lot of support from friends and family. The fact is, I could not be happier that I have chosen this lifestyle. Not only am I a lot healthier than I was when I was younger, I also am happier overall. I have acquired a taste for all vegetables, fruits, soy and legumes, and crave healthy foods. I highly recommend this lifestyle to everyone, and am constantly sending my family and friends articles and e-mails about the benefits of being a vegetarian. All of you crack jokes at me still, and try to trick me into eating meat all the time, but get serious...everyone knows that a plant based diet is the healthiest diet and lifestyle to lead, that will ultimately lead to decreased risks for disease and an overall happier person! So, if you don't believe me that eating veggie has some serious benefits, check out this article and let me know what you think!
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/resources/why_go_veg/
Easy ways to incorporate veggies into my diet:
- Baking huge portions of vegetables such as asparagus, eggplant, tomatoes, squash, or anything else to last for a few days to save time and energy.
- Easiest way to bake big portions of veggies? Cut up a ton of vegetables and place in large baking dish, sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil, chopped garlic and top with sesseme seeds and place in the oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until crisp.
- Cut up veggies such as cucumbers, peppers, celery, etc, and place into containers or ziplock bags for easy access throughout the day.
- When it comes to salads, adding a ton of other bright vegetables into the mix will make it taste much better! Mix in sunflower seeds, baked squash cubes, grilled oninos and mushrooms, jicama, tofu, sprouts, grilled tempeh, slivered almonds, chopped zucchini, etc. And for dressings, whole foods Galeo dressings are the best! Also, you can easily make your own healthy dressing with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic, and rosemary, thyme, dill, etc.
