Eat like a Vegetarian

I'm so happy to be 'home' and getting settled into a new house and my old routine.

I can't wait to train and eat all the tasty food that is available here.

It got me thinking about how easy it is to get lots of micronutrients in here, while enjoying my food because they just make such creative meals with lots of tasty vegetables, and they are really accessible.

It reminded me of the old saying that Larry Doyle used to tell me when I was cooking myself:

"Eat like a vegetarian... that eats meat"

Let me explain...

Firstly, I am looking at this purely from a health/performance perspective. Not eating meat because of your ethics and morals is commendable. I tried for almost a year but the more I learnt about the importance of high-quality protein, the more I slowly re-introduced animal protein into my diet. This is not to say that you can't get complete and sufficient protein without eating meat - it just takes more planning and preparation, which is difficult when I don't cook.

Anyway, back to the saying.

Back when I first started tracking calories and macros, when I was preparing food, I would start with the meat as the centre-piece of the meal e.g. turkey burgers or chicken breast etc.

Then I would add in my carbs to the plate, e.g. sweet potato fries or rice.

And then, almost as an afterthought, I would add some spinach, peppers and onions.

A solid meal - or so I used to think.

When I stopped eating meat, I had to completely change how I was preparing food. I had to make up my meals based off mostly plants.

All of a sudden, I was starting with big beds of spinach, then beetroot, radishes, peppers, onions, feta, butternut squash, potato, seeds, etc to make up my meals.

I was getting much more vegetables into my diet, which was obviously improving my health too.

This is often one of the arguments put forward when comparing a plant-based diet to a diet that contains meat; that you become healthier when you are plant-based.

And there is no denying that if you compared a diet comprised of the meals I made above to a diet consisting of fast food burgers etc, it is obvious which one is healthier.

But the more I learnt about the importance of protein for overall-health, the more I realised that an optimal meal would be to have a big plant-based meal, with protein on top, but not as the centre-piece.

And that is what Larry meant when he told me to 'Eat like a vegetarian that eats meat'.

So often when we are focused on losing body fat, we only look at food as numbers. Of course that will work, but there is a lot to be said for having lots of fibrous vegetables to make up 100 cals, rather than a biscuit. The vegetables will provide you with the vitamins and minerals to keep you feeling energised and healthy, as well as fibre which can aid your digestive system, as well as keeping you fuller for longer.

Something to think about if you are tracking calories or macros and preparing your meals off of that. "How would this meal look without meat?". If it would be a scarce dish, then maybe it would be a good idea to start bulking out your meals with more plant-based food?

Thanks for reading,

Siobhan "Wish 25 yr old me cared about health as much as appearance" O'Hagan