Meatless Monday April 22

BREAKFAST

Breakfast Grilled Cheese with Avocado, Gouda, Egg, and Sriracha (recipe)

(Use gf bread to make it gluten & wheat free)

Berry protein smoothie

LUNCH

White Vegetable Lasagna (recipe)

(Use zucchini sliced lengthwise in place of noodles to make it lower carb and wheat free.
You can add additional veggies - eggplant, yellow squash, broccoli, carrots, etc.)

Fresh fruit

DINNER

Sweet & Sour Tofu (recipe)
Cauliflower "Rice" (recipe)

Meatless Monday April 8

Breakfast

Sunrise Citrus Seared Tofu Cubes (recipe)
Baked Sweet Potato

Tropical Protein Smoothie

(mango, banana, pineapple, coconut milk, protein powder)

Lunch

Mac & Cheese (recipe) made with Ancient Harvest Veggie Curls Quinoa Pasta

Roasted asparagus

Sliced strawberries and kiwi

Dinner

Polynesian Salad with Pineapple Vinaigrette (recipe)
(mango, cucumber, sweet onions, snap peas, red bell pepper, and shrimp 
served on a bed of mixed greens and cabbage)
Gluten Free Cloud Bread (recipe) with Garlic & Black Pepper Whipped Butter (recipe)

Nutrition Info

Calories: 1,389

Carbs: 112

Fat: 72

Protein: 89

Meatless Monday April 1

Breakfast

Quinoa Porridge with Nuts & Raisins (recipe)

Chobani banana Greek yogurt with fresh strawberries

Lunch

Cheese Quesadillas

(corn tortillas, cheddar & monterey cheeses, and jalapeños, with guacamole on the side)
Tossed salad with veggies and a basic vinaigrette dressing
Sliced mango

Dinner

Chipotle Barbecued Tofu (recipe)
Cilantro Lime Cauliflower "Rice" (recipe)
Dairy-Free Lemon Pudding (recipe) with Coconut Whipped Cream (recipe)

Nutrition info

I almost didn't calculate the nutrition info for the day because I was pretty sure it would freak me out to see how drastically different the numbers are from my usual targets. But I decided to do it, just because I was curious, and I was surprised. Yes, compared to my norm, the carbs are about twice as high and the protein is about half as much, but I think the numbers still fall within dietable guidelines.

Calories: 1,397

Carbs: 148

Fat: 72

Protein: 51

Plus, I really enjoyed the food - definitely found some keeper recipes!  I did have a bit of a blood sugar spike after breakfast but it wasn't too terrible. I also found I got hungrier a lot quicker than I do on a higher protein day. But overall I think the Meatless Mondays idea is totally doable. Yay. 

Meatless Mondays

I've been researching some ways to add variety to my eating, for a couple of reasons.

1. I really like to eat animals but there are only so many ways to cook them before all the recipes start to sound and taste very similar. Food boredom can lead to diet derailment. 
2. While losing weight, your body learns what you are doing and adapts to it which usually results in a dreaded plateau. Adjusting things occasionally can prevent this from happening. 

While doing this research, I found myself naturally gravitating to the idea of including one vegetarian meal each week. It would definitely introduce a whole new repertoire of recipes to my collection and would give me a lot of new foods and flavors to experience. However, non-meat protein sources like beans and grains are high carb. But maybe that's exactly the switcheroo my diet needs - one day that is higher in carb and lower in protein. 

I learned that there is an entire movement called Meatless Mondays that dates back to World War II. Going meatless one day a week has a significant impact on both your health and the environment. Read the list of these benefits here. 

So, beginning this Monday - April 1st - I will be going meatless on Mondays. I've started a pinterest board to collect recipes I want to try. I'm so excited to start this experiment!