Think It Thursday: Going Meatless, Vegan & Gluten Free

For the record, I am not completely meatless, vegan or gluten free. Although I have been making conscious efforts lately to include at least one meal a week of each into my diet. 

My favorite, by far, is going meatless (ahem, Meatless Monday anyone?) I never thought my kids or the hubs would ask for Eggplant Parmesan...but they do! Quite often, actually. Of course going meatless is easy to do. Veggie pizzas, portobello sandwiches & crunchy vegetable wraps are all favorites in my house. (They're also favorites when we have the "meat version" too.) And let's not forget the plethora of meatless products that are made to take the place of meat. I never thought in a million years that I would like them, let alone prefer some of them over the real thing. Now who saw that one coming?!

By going meatless at least one day a week, you can limit your cancer risk, reduce the chance for heart disease, help curb obesity & fight diabetes. You can even reduce the carbon footprint since the meat industry produces some of the highest numbers in man made greenhouse gas emissions. 

Vegan foods are extremely new to me. So far I've tried a couple of dessert recipes with applesauce in place of using eggs & milk, along with different kinds of flours. But I do intend on making a complete vegan meal sometime in the near future. So far I'm thinking of a spaghetti squash, portobello, pomodoro something or other. 

Vegan meals are packed with antioxidants that are anti-cancer & tend to be more nutritious and heart healthy. They also help to boost your immunity & give you better skin and hair. And let's not forget about the amount of money you can save from not buying products that have any link to animals. 

Gluten free foods are mostly reserved for those with Celiac Disease or a gluten/wheat sensitivity, But after learning that going gluten free can also help with problems later in life, like Osteoporosis which my mom was recently diagnosed with, I was definitely interested in trying it out. While there isn't a mile long list of benefits for those that don't necessarily need to go gluten free, I have noticed that I feel a lot better after snacking on a gluten free dessert compared to it's gluten filled counterpart. And going without gluten doesn't mean that it skims on the taste!