When my beautiful middle daughter, Brittany, was 12, she decided she no longer wanted to eat meat. It actually began to nauseate her to even look at meat. I thought it was adorable when she announced that she never wanted to eat anything “…that once had a face.” I said, “Fair enough!” and launched into in-depth research of healthy eating for vegetarians and vegans (assuming that could be a future choice). My main concern was protein because, let’s face it, we all associate protein with meat and meat with protein.
I was delighted (then and now) that there are so many sources of protein that never had a face.
I began making and buying black bean burgers, nuts by the pound, and even more vegetables than I already did. Brittany’s vegetarianism, in my opinion, helped make me a better (and healthier) cook. What some may have viewed as a “problem” or “headache” was actually a positive for our family. She has stuck with her vegetarianism and I have stuck with a very healthy obsession with vegetables!
You can most certainly have a healthy diet if you are a vegetarian or even a vegan. You simply have to make certain you are as conscientious and passionate about what you INCLUDE as you are about what you EXCLUDE.
The wonderful infographic below, from Snap Kitchen, sums it up beautifully. It also has made me pretty darn hungry for a great salad with chickpeas and nuts… so I’ll just wrap things up…
Infographic Source: Snap Kitchen
