Meat at Every Meal?

The American way: it's not a meal without meat. The blue zone way: meat is a delicacy. In the blue zones, you do not see vegans and vegetarians but you see meat used as something to have on a special occasion. This is probably a hard one for most of us to adapt to (unless you are a vegetarian), but if you are eating meat at every meal then you might want to think about cutting back and using other sources of protein.

Here are tips from "The Blue Zones" book:

Eat 4-6 servings of veggies each day
Limit meat to 2 times a week. When you buy it, splurge a little and get the healthiest kind.
Showcase fruits and veggies
Lead with beans--make them the centerpiece of your meal
Eat nuts (a handful a day) -- can lead to 2-3 years of life expectancy
Stock up--keep nuts readily available

Here is my tip:

Eat like a cheating vegetarian. There are so many ways to get protein, and vegetarians are usually educated enough to make sure they are getting it through sources other than meat. However, I have heard it said that the healthiest people are the ones that eat like a vegetarian who cheats every once in a while. This is a good mindset to have--it's ok to indulge in meat, just do it sparingly.

Get kids involved in growing and picking fruits and veggies! Also, teach them at a young age that they don't need meat at every meal--lots of times we do what we do because that is how we grew up doing it.