Fresh Vegetable Diet

Eating fresh vegetables is beneficial for your health and is an essential part of a well-balanced lifestyle. The term flexitarian (flexible vegetarian) describes someone who eats mostly plant-based foods but occasionally eats meat, poultry and fish. Diets rich in fresh vegetables contain the vitamins, minerals and fiber critical for lowering risk of disease and illnesses but are useful in attaining or maintaining a healthy weight.

How to Transform Your Diet

Local farmers markets and produce stands are great places to buy fresh produce and to encourage variety. To transition from a traditional diet to one that is structured around fruits and vegetables, start viewing vegetables and dishes containing them as your main course and meats as a side dish.
Eating a diet that is mostly plant based will result in consumption of fewer calories. While eating meat can be a great way to introduce certain vitamins and minerals into one's diet, studies show someone who might consume one to two servings of meat can achieve ideal balance.
One way to jumpstart your vegetable diet is to directly substitute a vegetable where you previously had meat. In place of a beef hamburger, marinate and grill a Portobello mushroom. Preparing as you would a burger combined with the firm texture you will find it is similar to beef. Using vegetables that you like and simply substituting them where you would find a protein helps you to realize that vegetables can be a main course. Roasting and then gently separating the flesh of a spaghetti squash yields strings of the vegetable that, once coated in a sauce or sauted with some veggies can be great substitute for pasta.
Try preparing vegetables the same way you'd prepare a meat dish. Make them under the broiler, on the grill, by stuffing them with fillings, roasting, barbecuing and even frying. You will find that most vegetables can be transformed somehow to be appetizing.

Try One or Two Days a Week

Even if you aren't willing to cut out all meat or cut down to one serving a day, you might choose one or two days a week where you consume no meat at all. This will help you add vegetables and other non-meat options to your diet. Meatless Monday is a movement designed to reduce meat consumption by 15 percent to develop better personal health. By going meatless just once a week, you can reduce your own risk of preventable diseases.