How To Whittle Down Your Waist & Boost Your Health

(from the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation)

Love to eat more healthily

but can’t quite find the time? The hectic modern lifestyle needn’t mean suffering on the health stakes. Did you know that cutting out meat could cut your chances of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer – and could even add up to six years to your life expectancy?

Of course, if you replace meat with chocolate éclairs and chip butties you’re unlikely to reap maximum health benefits. The key is choosing healthy meat substitutes, such as tofu and other ‘mock meats’, beans, lentils, whole-grain products (brown rice, whole-grain bread), dark green and deep yellow vegetables, soya milk and nuts.

But going veggie needn’t mean learning enough new recipes to fill an encyclopedia. Many familiar dishes such as Spaghetti Bolognese, chilli and stir-fries can easily be made veggie. Most people have about seven or eight dishes that they cook regularly and, surprise surprise, vegetarians are no different:

Traditional Breakfast	Veggie Version
Cereal with milk and fruit served with orange juice	Cereal with fortified soya/rice milk and fruit, served with orange juice
Scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, cup of tea	Scrambled tofu, wholemeal toast, veggie sausage, cup of tea with soya milk
Pancakes and maple syrup	Pancakes (egg and dairy-free) and maple syrup with fresh fruit
Traditional Lunch	Veggie Version
Chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo; yogurt; crisps	Smoked tofu or hummus sandwich with lettuce, tomato and vegan mayo; fruity soya yoghurt; piece of fruit
Chicken soup, bread, green salad and vinaigrette	Vegetable or minestrone soup, wholemeal bread, green salad with low-fat dressing
Burger and chips	Veggieburger in a wholemeal roll, chutney and vegan mayo with extra portion of salad
Sausage Sarnie	Veggie Sausage Sarnie on wholemeal bread, tomato/brown sauce and salad
Traditional Dinner	Veggie Version
Grilled salmon, boiled new potatoes with butter; asparagus with parmesan cheese	Grilled giant field mushrooms drizzled with olive oil, garlic and shoyu (a type of soya sauce); boiled new potatoes with basil and black pepper; grilled asparagus with a drizzle of olive oil and nutritional yeast flakes (Marigold/Engevita brand available in large supermarkets and health stores)
Spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread	Veggie Bolognese (substitute frozen veggie mince for meat). Serve with crusty bread and green salad
Quiche Lorraine, chips and salad	Red onion tart, baked potato or low-fat potato wedges and salad
Chicken Chow Mein	Sticky tofu stir-fry with noodles
Chilli Con Carne Chilli	Non Carne (substitute frozen veggie mince for meat), guacamole, rice and salad
Bangers and Mash	Bangers and Mash – vegan sausages, mashed potatoes creamed with vegan margarine and soya milk; steamed greens and gravy

If banishing a beer belly appeals then look no further. Researchers at the American Cancer Society studied more than 75,000 people for a decade to find out which behaviours were most associated with an increasing waistline. Even after controlling for other factors, people who ate more than a single serving of meat per day were 50 per cent more likely to put on weight around their middles (the most unhealthy way to carry fat) than those who ate meat just a few times per week.

Copyright the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation | Check out our free vegetarian and vegan recipes too.