Vegetarians, rejoice! Veggie foodies can achieve their goals the delicious way with Fresh Start Choice, which features a vegetarian menu and plenty of plant-rich options. Our dietitian Lily ‘Lentil’ breaks down how Fresh Start meals can help you to eat more plants and meet your health goals too.
A healthy lifestyle is all about building habits that become part of your everyday routine. But realistically, it can time to develop and keep consistent healthier habits. One habit we can all focus on is eating more plants!
By emphasising what we can ‘add’ into our meals instead of what to ‘remove’ it’s easier to form a habit without feeling deprived. Changing our thinking to this approach can be an effective way to meet your weight or health goals.
Whether your vegetarian, or looking to include more plant-rich foods, Fresh Start Choice has 20 delicious recipes to choose from each week and 5 of these recipes are vegetarian to help you to reach your goals without compromising on deliciousness!
Why plants?
We have some of the best science on the benefit of plant foods to our physical and mental health.
Plant foods like vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds are low in saturated fat, contain healthy fats and are an excellent source of fibre. They give our bodies vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals, which protect our health and strengthen our immune system (1).
Plant-rich versus vegetarian
We’re all different and it would be unrealistic to expect we’d all follow the same diet! We also have our own preferences and cultural norms around the food we eat. To eat more plant foods, you don’t necessarily need to become vegetarian. For many of us, just making an effort to eat more plant foods can benefit our health and support our weight loss goals.
Consider taking small steps towards getting more plants on your plate. This could be as simple as adding a vegetarian meal into your week, trying vegetables like tomato or mushrooms at breakfast or having raw veggie sticks and hummus as a snack.
What about nutrients?
No one food can give us all the nutrition we need. If you’re following a vegetarian diet, the key is to plan meals that contain a wide variety of whole foods to get all the nutrients you need.
A carefully planned vegetarian diet can deliver the nutrients you need for optimal health including protein, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, calcium and vitamin D (1).
Our team of chefs and nutrition experts work hard to ensure each week of Fresh Start is varied and brimming with vegetables, protein, healthy fats and whole grains whilst monitoring calories, saturated fat and sodium.
Can you feel satisfied eating vegetarian meals?
The key elements of food that make us feel full and satiated are dietary fibre, protein and fats.
Dietary fibre is found in plant foods like vegetables, fruit and whole grains and is a part of the plant that our digestive system can’t fully break down to absorb. Fibre plays an important role in our digestive health as well as helping to lower blood cholesterol and helping to control blood sugar levels which reduces our risk of diseases later in life (2).
When it comes to protein, all Fresh Start vegetarian meals contain at least 15g plant-based protein per serve which is sourced from a wide variety of plants including tofu, edamame, falafel, chickpeas, lentils, beans, nuts and seeds. Meals also contain healthy fats from ingredients like nuts and seeds, avocados, olives and their oils.
References
- Craig WJ, Mangels AR; American Dietetic Association. Position of the American Dietetic Association: vegetarian diets. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009 Jul;109(7):1266-82.
- Reynolds A, Mann J, Cummings J et al. Carbohydrate quality and human health: a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Lancet. 2019 Feb 2;393(10170):434-445.
