Farewell to National Vegetarian Month – Lessons to Carry Forward!

October is National Vegetarian Month. It may be over, but you can still benefit from learning from it and adapting some of your recipes to be more plant-based. You can still get plenty of protein on a vegetarian diet, even if you are on a high-protein diet. Plus, you do not hae to give up taste or satisfaction when you cut back on meat. Here are some ideas for high-protein meals without meat – you might find yourself going meatless more often than just on Mondays.

Breakfast: Bacon and Cheese Omelet

BariatricPal Bacon and Cheese Omelet has the great taste to get carnivores out of bed, but none of the dangerous preservatives or other ingredients in bacon. Instead, it has vegetarian bacon, and real eggs and cheese in an energizing, 100-calorie package with 15 grams of protein. That’s worth waking up for!

Lunch: Protein Chili

Sit down to a hearty bowl of chili with beans, tomatoes, and beefy chunks – hold the beef! Actually, hold everything that’s bad about chili: the saturated fat and calories, and the long hours needed to cook it. Instead, BariatricPal Protein Chili has 15 grams of soy-based protein, no saturated fat, 130 calories, and a prep time of 2 minutes. You could:

• Have it plain.
• Top it with low-fat cheese or fat-free sour cream.
• Pour it over Protein Potato Chips to make nachos.

Dinner: Five Bean Casserole

You’re asking for trouble if your casserole is based on ground beef or sausage. Those are calorie bombs that will make your waistline explode, especially if portions are too big coming out of a baking pan. BariatricPal Five Bean Casserole can provide quick comfort at dinner without any animals being harmed in the process. Comfort may come from:

• Knowing you can eat the whole thing for 240 calories.
• Great taste of real beans, which are known to improve heart health.
• Satisfaction of 10 grams of fiber and 11 grams of protein.

Keep the flavor and protein, but toss the meat, and you could be doing your heart a favor. There’s no need to cut out the protein, either; just choose protein entrees and know you are getting high-quality protein without the cholesterol.