Meatless Monday with Mindy

Welcome to the 6th installment of Meatless Monday with Mindy.

Some of you may wonder...Why do a Meatless Monday??  Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. and if you're real brave, going meatless more often only adds to these great benefits!

Here is what my Meatless Monday looked like:

This morning I started out with a Cherry blast made in my Nutri-Bullet.  Not nearly as thick as a smoothie but the taste was wonderful.

I added a healthy handful of fresh kale

1 cup of frozen cherries

1 cup of non-dairy milk (I used Silk brand Almond Milk)

2 TB of fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 TB of Chia seeds

1 tsp of vanilla

and 1 pack of raspberry flavored EMERGEN-C

I then filled up to my Max line with water (about 1 1/2 cups).

The Emergen-C is a vitamin C supplement, but I must warn you, the first 2 ingredients are sugar, so if you are opposed to sugar, skip it and just add fresh raspberries and a few segments of orange. But in defense of the packet of C, it does seem to help alleviate colds faster and keep them away if you're feeling like one is about to come on.  Not to mention, it really tasted yummy.

For lunch I had my go-to veggie sandwich spread with roasted red pepper hummus.  If you've been following me, you know I'm not good at planning lunches, or eating them most days. But today I wanted to make sure I ate.  One plus about posting Meatless Monday's is that I'm more conscious of the food I eat, or don't eat .. at least on Monday's now!

I had a nutrition class this evening at the Chiropractic Spine Center in Brunswick, OH and I was less than stellar with my time management today and this resulted in me leaving without eating supper first. So on the way home I stopped by Panera and picked up a bowl of Garden Vegetable soup with Pesto. I figured that was my best choice so late in the evening. Although I did have a twinge of guilt as I paid too much for a bowl of this soup that I can make so much healthier and cheaper per bowl!  I make vegetable soup often and I know how easy it is to make. But I knew I wouldn't come home and prep all the veggies that I love to add to my soup and eat it before 10:00 at night. Thus the pit stop. Sad, I know, but it was still a good option for on the go.

My nutrition class tonight was on sugar and how it affects the body. (yeah, totally blew my sugar limit today)  And how it is put into just about EVERYTHING we buy these days.  Scary stuff.  Did you know we should only have no more than 10-15 grams of added sugar  a day?  Added sugar is sugar not occurring naturally in the food already.  And did you also know that 1 tsp of sugar is 4 grams. Um hmm.  You do the math.  Do we eat too much sugar or what?  130 lbs PER PERSON each year according to statistics!  Wow! See that fact here.

But as I was searching for something interesting about the Meatless Monday project, I found this interesting article on the mayo clinic. website: 

"Many people save money by adding meatless meals to their weekly menus. Meatless meals are built around vegetables, beans and grains — instead of meat, which tends to be more expensive. Meatless meals also offer health benefits.

A plant-based diet, which emphasizes fruits and vegetables, grains, beans and legumes, and nuts, is rich in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. And people who eat only plant-based foods — aka vegetarians — generally eat fewer calories and less fat, weigh less, and have a lower risk of heart disease than non-vegetarians do.

Just eating less meat has a protective effect. A National Cancer Institute study of 500,000 people found that those who ate 4 ounces (113 grams) of red meat or more daily were 30 percent more likely to have died of any cause during a 10-year period than were those who consumed less. Sausage, luncheon meats and other processed meats also increased the risk. Those who ate mostly poultry or fish had a lower risk of death."

I love that they used the term plant-based, although their aka is not exactly accurate, I applaud that they know that term is out there! And you can't ignore those statistics.

Did you go Meatless this Monday? Share how you made a difference in your budget, diet, or your families health by making this small change.