SWIHA Blog

Plus an easy recipe: Experience Nutrition™ Roots & Greens Stir-fry

What Does a ‘Vegetarian Diet’ Look Like?

Last week we focused on the ‘Vegan Way of Eating’ a Whole Foods Diet, this week, it’s ‘Vegetarian’. Vegetarians primarily eat fresh produce, grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds. Vegetarians, for the most part, do not eat meat, fish or poultry, but however may consume dairy and eggs. They enjoy their food both cooked and raw.

33% of Americans Eat Vegetarian Meals

According to a 2011 study conducted for The Vegetarian Resource Group by Harris Interactive®, seventeen percent of Americans indicated that they “don’t eat meat, fish, seafood, fish or poultry at many of their meals (but less than half the time)” and sixteen percent don’t eat these foods at more than half their meals. Thus, one-third of Americans are eating vegetarian meals a significant amount of time.

Vegetarians are Not Predictable

Vegetarians are not as predictable in their beliefs as vegans, because in general their primary motivation for becoming vegetarian is not due to an altruistic belief. Sometimes vegetarians base their decision to eat vegetarian due to moral issues (eg. factory farming of animals) and, at other times, it is health related (e.g., reduce risk of heart disease or food allergies or intolerances).

Top Vegetarian Diets

• Lacto-vegetarians: Consume Dairy
• Ovo-vegetarians: Consume Eggs
• Ovo-lacto-vegetarians: Consume Eggs & Dairy
• Pesca-tarian: Consume Fish and Shellfish
• Pollo-tarian: Consume birds, but no other animals
• Flexi-tarian: Eat Vegetarian Sometimes

Whole Food S.O.U.L. Food Wednesday Action:
Eat Vegatarian For 2 Days

With our Whole Food S.O.U.L. Blog we invite you to take action with your whole foods eating behavior.

Our Challenge for you this week is to choose one of the vegetarian diets and eat that way at least 2 days and notice how you feel. To get started, the Experience Nutrition™ Roots & Greens Stir-fry recipe is a simple, delicious way to enjoy your veggies. Please consider sharing your creations with us on Facebook.

Our Whole Food / S.O.U.L Food Wednesday Recipe for the Week

Ingredients

• Roots: 3-5 roots such as carrots, celery root, golden beets, onions, radishes, sweet potatoes, turnip
• Greens: 1-3 greens such as bok choy, broccoli, collards, dandelion greens, kale
• Fresh garlic cloves
• Onions: Scallions, red or white
• Organic extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Herbs: Basil, cilantro or lemon balm
• Extra: Bragg’s Amino Acids

Simple Steps

Prep veggies

1. Scrub veggies
2. Keep skin on the roots for nutrients
3. Keep skin on the roots for nutrients
4. Chop into about equal-size chunks for rustic dish

Stir-fry Steps Stir-fry Steps

1. Pre-heat wok or saute pan on medium-high for about 10 minutes
2. Add olive oil to pan
3. Add aromatics: garlic and onions
4. Stir-fry for a few minutes
5. Add most dense roots (like carrots and beets) and stir-fry for about 5 minutes
6. Add other roots (like sweet potatoes and radishes) and stir-fry for about 5 minutes
7. Add water to steam and cover
8. Plate it
9. Add protein-rich, Bragg’s Amino Acids
10. Enjoy!

Enjoy.

Share your vegetarian stir-fry creations on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/SWIHA and www.facebook.com/9Ways90Days