5 Ways to eat less meat

Fun fact: If everyone in The Netherlands were to eat less meat and had two meat free days a week, it would save the equivalent of the CO2 emissions of 570,000 cars per year. Apart from the fact that eating less meat is better for the environment, it's good for nature in general and animal welfare. Are you ready to contribute to saving our planet? I'm going to tell you why and how.

The pros of eating no/less meat

• Eating less meat is good for your health. It reduces the chance of heart and vascular diseases, cancer, obesity and diabetes.
• It's better for mother nature. There would be less CO2 emissions, water and energy consumption and less forests would be chopped down.
• Eating little to no meat is a lot better for animal welfare. There would be a lot less animal diseases and animal cruelty.

In short, if you make the decision to eat less meat you'll be a lot healthier and the same goes for Mother Nature. Also the animals will be a LOT happier. Sounds awesome, right? Cutting down your meat consumption by having meat replacements a couple of times a week can make such a difference. Still a lot of people find it hard to stop eating meat. That's quite understandable. If you've eaten meat daily for years it can be quite hard to deviate from this routine. That's why I have collected a couple of tips which will make it a lot easier for you!

1. Take it step by step

Calling yourself a vegetarian from day one and realizing that it's not that easy after all, is not a good idea. Why would you? Take it step by step. If you take it slowly it's a lot easier to maintain your new diet. Not everyone can change their entire routine in just a day. Pick one day a week to go meat free and try to go from there. Even with one meatless day a week you will contribute to helping Mother Nature!

Don't be too hard on yourself. You'll find a lot of vegetarian recipes on our blog which will help you to maintain this new diet!

2. One new recipe a week

If you're daily life is way too busy to combine trying out new recipes every day, just don't! Try to make one new recipe a week. If you can keep this up for one month, you've already taught yourself 4 new vegetarian recipes. Pretty cool, right? By cooking a new meal every week you'll also get to know new kinds of ingredients. And you can even use these ingredients to create your own vegetarian dish. Also try to add some more different spices to your meals. Not sure what you should make? There are hundreds of cookbooks which will teach you all about cooking the most delicious, vegetarian meals. The quality of these meals will surprise you and makes it much easier to eat less meat!

3. Tie it to another goal

'Becoming a vegetarian' is a nice goal but it might be a bit too ambitious. Eating less meat will make you a lot healthier, both inside and out. If you want to train for a marathon, or even just a 5K tie this goal to eating less to no meat. Even if you can find something else which motivates you more than just being a vegetarian, you'll increase your chance of sticking to it.

4. Use different kinds of veggies

"It's not a real meal without a little meat." I would love to give the people who say this often, a very big punch in the face. But friendly advice would probably be more helpful. If I were you, I'd grab a big baking dish and fill it up with tender broccoli, soft sweet potato wedges and crispy union. I bet no one will miss a bit of meat in this dish.

5. Find yourself a buddy

Two are better than one! This goes for working out but also for sticking to your new diet. Exchange your favourite vegetarian meals with your friends, family, colleagues or partner. They might already be interested in cutting down and trying to eat less meat. Do you live in a dorm? Then it might be a good idea to plan to make one veggie meal a week together with your roomies. This way you can even taste meals you wouldn't have made just for yourself.

Tip: Don't try to replace meat with dairy products. Unfortunately the dairy industry isn't animal friendly either. Dairy is not as healthy as we might think either. That's why you shouldn't go for cheesy products as meat substitutes too often. Tofu burgers are a lot healthier!

It's time to reveal something AWESOME! I have news for all veggie Fit Girls around the world: In a couple of weeks a vegetarian version of the #FITGIRLCODE Guide will be launched. So stay tuned!