The Vegetable Diet

Perhaps the easiest diet I have ever successfully been on is the vegetable diet. With a husband who likes hearty meals, it was especially difficult for me to find a way to prepare meals that we both enjoyed, and that I could have while on a strict diet. One day I discovered that we both liked vegetables as small side dishes, and I decided to capitalize on that by making vegetables a huge new part of my daily diet. There are a few pitfalls and tricks to this vegetable diet I have learned, however. Keep reading to avoid the beginner's mistakes that I made, and learn how to make veggies your new best friend.

First, I immediately started replacing my starchy side dishes, such as mashed potatoes, with another vegetable. My husband didn't even notice. If he had to have a potato with his meal, which even I needed from time to time, we baked them and I had total control over the amount of "extras" that went on them. Most nights, however, it was no problem to whip up two vegetable dishes with zero calorie butter spray to comprise two thirds of our meals. I still made whatever main dish I liked, but I was able to employ excellent portion control by eating a lot of veggies first. Another trick I used was completely avoiding the use of salt while the vegetables were on the stove, since salt can absolutely kill the health value of any food. I put a salt and pepper shaker on the table, and we salted our foods separately. This actually worked out for other dishes as well.

Next, I started making my lunch time salads work for me, both from a nutritional standpoint and from a taste standpoint. My usual iceberg lettuce with cheese and low fat dressing just wasn't cutting it for me, although I couldn't figure out why. I liked the taste as much as anyone could, but it got boring and didn't seem to provide me with much of the energy my usual meals did. That's when I came across some information concerning the quality of different salads. It turns out, a salad of iceberg lettuce is almost completely devoid of nutritional value. Also, my salads lacked the protein and fiber I needed, which explained my energy deficiency. Therefore, I started packing my once boring salads with spinach and romaine lettuce, as well as colorful eggplant, carrots, and any other vegetables that could add some spice to the mix. I even started sprinkling red pepper flakes on them. Also, I replaced the fattening shredded American cheese with much lighter and even tastier Parmesan cheese right from the container I used for my spaghetti (it ended up being a lighter choice mostly due to the fact that less was needed to coat the greens). Finally, I topped the salad off with lean turkey or chicken in carefully portioned amounts for extra protein. I actually felt like I had eaten a real meal afterward, and about 90% of it was raw vegetables.

Next, I started getting in even more vegetables as snacks. I'm not one to eat raw veggies and actually like it, and I was afraid that using a vegetable dip or topping would be a bad idea due to the high fat content most of them have. However, when I considered how fattening my traditional snacks were in comparison, I realized it would take quite a few servings of vegetables and dip to even come close to consuming as many calories as before. Therefore, I started using a light ranch dip for carrots, and I even started using peanut butter for celery sticks. It didn't take long to get full, and the snacks did wonders at keeping me satisfied until meal time.

Finally, I started trying to make at least one or two semi-vegetarian meals a week. What I mean by semi-vegetarian is that there was usually a small portion of meat used in some way, because, like most women, I have a family that apparently believes there survival is dependant upon having a meat dish at dinner. However, I was able to get by with vegetable soups and casserole dishes that had a large amount of vegetables and just a touch of beef or poultry for flavor. I was also able to make stir fry meals with brown rice with no objections (I simply went light on the rice for my own plate). If you can start learning new recipes that use more vegetables than they do anything else, you'll find yourself making much healthier meals for yourself and your family with little added effort.

The key to making the vegetable diet work for you is filling your fridge with a wide variety of colors and textures. Otherwise, you'll get bored rather quickly. For my diet plan, I kept a supply of baby carrots, celery, corn, tomatoes (for cooking), lima beans, french style green beans, red peppers, eggplant, spinach, romaine lettuce, and just about any vegetable on the market on hand at all times. Make sure your supply is fresh, preferably from a farmer's market, and easy to prepare. You'll not only soon be enjoying the health benefits of such a diet, but you'll also begin to see the pounds fall off due to the extremely low calorie count in most veggies. Make sure to go light on the salt and easy on the butter to make this diet work for you. For best results, make sure that two thirds of your lunch and dinner plates consist of vegetables, and use the raw variety whenever possible.