Life Without Meat

Appetizer

Evaluate eating LESS meat. Creating a healthy eating philosophy that works for you is much more effective than going on someone else’s diet. Investigate some different styles of eating that may be more in tune with your tastes and/or beliefs.

Most everyone knows that vegetarians don’t eat meat, fish or poultry, but lately the term “vegan” has been thrown around without much explanation. Vegans are essentially vegetarians who do not partake in any type of animal products, including eggs, milk, cheese or other dairy items.

Vegetarians and vegans choose their eating lifestyles for many different reasons, ranging from health concerns to religious beliefs and animal rights to personal tastes.


Main Course

If you’re worried about the health risks of either of these meatless lifestyles, you have nothing to fear. It is completely possible to get all of the nutrients that your body needs whether you eat meat or not, but picky eaters beware! You may need to include a wider variety of foods into your diet if you want to be a healthy vegetarian.

Just like with any other healthy eating styles, you will need to include plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains while limiting sugar and saturated fat.

The assumption that vegetarians do not get enough protein in their diets is actually a myth. This is true in some cases because there are healthy and non-healthy vegetarians, just like there are healthy and non-healthy meat-eaters. It just depends on the person because healthy vegetarians get plenty of protein through other meatless sources like beans, nuts, tofu and leafy green veggies like spinach.

Another myth: All vegetarians are skinny. This is absolutely not true. I’ve met many overweight vegetarians in my lifetime. Oftentimes, instead of chowing down on a grilled chicken breast, they are choosing fettucine alfredo with garlic bread and a slice of pecan pie. Please don’t think that becoming a vegetarian is a sure-fire way to lose weight. However, I do think that it could help you take pause before you open your mouth. It requires at least a little more thought before you decide to add something to your plate.

For more info on vegetarian and vegan living, visit VegWeb.com. I really like this site because it has tons of great information that is organized in a logical way. Plus, the recipes are phenomenal.


Dessert

I chose today’s topic based on my own personal interest in vegetarian and vegan eating philosophies. I went without eating pork or red meat for five years, but it all fell apart over a deep dish pepperoni pizza that I just couldn’t refuse.

After that night, I decided that I really didn’t have any particular reason for eliminating those meats from my diets, so I decided to include them back in. However, had I been committed to no meat at all, I don’t think I would have given up so easily.

Eating no meat is intriguing to me, and I often consider making this lifestyle change.

Eating no animal products at all sounds impossible for me, personally. I love eggs. I especially love eggs with cheese. I also like cereal with milk. And I don’t want to be held prisoner to non-egg egg “product” with tofu cheese and soy milk. Keep in mind that I have absolutely no problem eating any of these things, but the most important thing to me is that I can actually eat when these items are not available (i.e. restaurants, homes of family/friends, banquets, etc.). My hunger trumps everything!

About Cafe Physique:
The mission of Café Physique is to help clients reach and exceed their personal fitness and nutrition goals. If you’re in need of an a nutritionist in Atlanta or an Atlanta personal trainer – Café Physique is the perfect solution. We offer Atlanta yoga instruction, Atlanta prenatal workouts, and Atlanta personal training. We also have private sessions of pilates that Atlanta residents are raving about. We invite you to let a member of our Atlanta registered dietitian staff or personal training team develop and implement a realistic and healthy lifestyle plan to meet your personal goals.