Happy Monday, y’all! I’m taking a break from Motivation Monday this week to talk about something I’ve implemented in my diet recently: Meatless Mondays.
I’ve never been a fan of fad diets or anything like that. My family has tried them and they “work” to a degree, but to me, they’re called “fad” diets for a reason. They don’t “work” for everyone. I’ve tried counting calories several times, but each time I made myself paranoid and did more harm than good for my diet. What works for me personally is eating a variety of healthful foods, letting myself enjoy everything within moderation, and knowing my portions. Recently I decided that maybe I’d start doing Meatless Mondays. It’s exactly what it sounds like: no meat on Mondays. It’s one day a week, I thought. How hard could it be?

The truth is, it’s really easy (unless a random craving for hamburgers develops out of nowhere…then, have fun with that). Here’s a look into my favorite Meatless Monday meal solutions. BREAKFASTI try not to eat the same thing for breakfast every day, but my favorites are:

• Oatmeal,
• English muffin with peanut butter & sliced banana, and
• Special K cereal.

Sometimes I go for scrambled eggs (hey, they’re technically not meat), but I reserve that for weekends when I’m usually not in a hurry to get to class. I like quinoa, too, but it’s not exactly a quick fix. LUNCH

More often than not, I’m packing my lunch to take to school. My usual Meatless Monday lunch is:

• PB&J sandwich,
• Carrot sticks,
• Fruit, and
• Greek yogurt or a cheese stick.

PB&J takes me back to my elementary school days, but in all honesty, it gives me a good dose of protein from the peanut butter, and the jelly is a nice sweetness for an energy boost. Sometimes I eat my carrots with hummus, but they’re fine without it. My favorite Greek yogurt is Yoplait 100. So many flavors and so few calories (relatively speaking).
DINNERMeatless Mondays have become my weekly pasta nights. I like to buy tortellini and ravioli packages from BJs, so those are my Monday dinners and usually Tuesday leftovers. They’re super easy to prepare and it’s not hard to make it into something nicer than just a bowl of pasta with a little olive oil (although that is delicious). You can toss the pasta in marinara sauce, pour into a baking dish and top with cheese of choice, and bake at 350 until the cheese is melty and bubbly.

See, it’s not that difficult! I didn’t start doing this to lose weight or anything like that. I just wanted to shake up my diet routine and try something new.
Do you observe Meatless Mondays? Have you made any changes to your diet lately?