Of course itās a good idea to have enough vegetables, ideally youād have some with almost every meal throughout the day.
But that doesnāt mean switching to vegetarianism; thatās kind of hard to sustain, unless you put a lot of thought and attention into what you eat, something that most people cannot really do for a variety of reasons. It essentially turns eating into a full-time job. Itās just plain stressful and hard, and thus hard to stick with.
If itās half-assed, the shift means less quality proteins and micronutrients that the body either needs or could use for better health. Lots of people find their health deteriorating a few years down the road because of this, and give up.
That is especially true for veganism. Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism is way more acceptable, but not everybody has positive reactions to dairy, and as someone who has eaten a lot of eggs, there is a point past which I find I must take a break.
(BTW eggs have a lot of water so to make a meal -not a snack, hard-boiled eggs are a great one, tho- youāre looking at about 200 grams, 4 medium-sized eggs around these parts)
A trend that is kind of worrying is ready-made vegetarian meals, which are marketed as healthier alternatives to traditionally prepared meals.
Whenever I look at the ingredients list, theyāre highly engineered products with lots of water and very little nutritional value.
Iāll take salad with either hard-boiled eggs or fish any day of the week. Speaking of favorite veggies, some of mine:
- cruciferous vegetables; broccoli, savoy, cauliflower, romanesco, brussels sprouts and so on. Theyāre great roasted in the oven with olive oil. Easy to make, super yummy.
- spinach and other green-leafed veggies, my go-to is usually garlic and butter.
- among legumes, I like lentils and peas make a great soup.
- squash is awesome, roasted in the oven in the same ways as cruciferous. Bit carby, tho.
- Tomatoes are great in a variety of recipes, but hard to find of good enough quality
- Iām not a super-fan of aubergines by themselves, however theyāre absolutely fantastic in some recipes, like parmigiana (usually I donāt fry them, though)
- 'shrooms are just so yummy, I love to grillāem in a skillet, seasoned with butter, garlic and thyme just before serving.
- The aniseed smell of fennel is absolutely marvelous - thinly sliced raw fennels is excellent in salads. Cooked, Iām less of a fan but I did find that lemon helps (balsamic vinegar, too, although less so).
Iām sure I could come up with more, but that will have to do for now.