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June 18, 2012

Try meatless Mondays

Adding mushrooms to your meal can help replace the savory taste of meat.

There's a new initiative, called Meatless Mondays, to help you improve your health. By eating plant-based foods in place of meat just one day a week, you can help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

In fact, a recent Harvard University study found that by replacing saturated fat, found in animal foods, with foods rich in polyunsaturated fats (such as canola oil), the risk of heart disease was reduced by 19 per cent. And adopting such a diet could save you money, as a plant-based diet tends to be less expensive.

Serving a meatless meal that your family will enjoy starts with taste. Meat is appealing because of its savory taste, called umami. Umami is also naturally found in some vegetables (such as mushrooms and beans), dairy products and fish. Substituting another umami food for meat will help satisfy the desire for meat protein.

Here are some tips to help you eat meatless on Mondays or any day of the week:

• Build your meal around whole grains and vegetables, which will fill you up with their fiber and texture. Follow the USDA's guidelines—divide your plate so that half of it contains vegetables, one-quarter is whole grains and one-quarter is protein of some kind.

• Use inexpensive canola oil in place of butter and other saturated fats. Canola oil is cholesterol free, trans fat free, low in saturated fat as well as high in unsaturated fat and omega-3 fat.

—North American Precis Syndicate Inc.

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We use canola oil at home. I eat tofu and hard-boiled eggs for lunch. Apple and pineapple slices for snacks. Yum.

Posted by Ria on Tuesday, 06.19.12 @ 15:25pm