Welcome to Day #14 Eat meat as a side dish

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, in order to reduce the intake of meat, you should treat it more as a side dish rather than the centerpiece of the meal.

The Mediterranean diet is not an all or nothing eating pattern. We need to remember that it is a diet that existed (and still exists) naturally in certain parts of the world. Meat is a celebratory food and was consumed mostly on special occasions. Since meat, especially red meat was scarce, it was often cooked with vegetables in order to “stretch” the meal to be able to feed more people. This practice of course has the added benefit of consuming more vegetables than meat. The meat also imparts flavor to the vegetables.

Today’s New Challenge: Treat meat as a side dish and prepare meals that promote vegetables more than meat.

How to make Healthy Meat and Vegetable Meals

• Cook a sheet pan meal with plenty of vegetables. Place a variety of vegetables on a pan and place over that your meat like in this delicious Sheet Pan Chicken with Vegetables.
   

• Cook a one pot meal combining meat and vegetables. Onions with chicken is a common Mediterranean meal, try this recipe: Greek Chicken Stew
  
  

• Cook your meat with greens, try this Greek Stewed Pork and Greens in Lemon Sauce it is delicious and comforting.
  
  

• Have a large salad with 1-2 ounces meat.
  
  

• Sauté 1-2 ounces of meat with 4 cups chopped vegetables with olive oil and tomato sauce.
  

Starting tomorrow in addition to new challenges we will be stacking our habits we have already started. I will be offering suggestions on what to do every day so stay tuned!

Alright we'll see you tomorrow!