People go vegetarian for lotsa reasons. Some do it because of how they feel about animal cruelty, some people do it because of the environmental impacts of raising livestock on the large scale that we do. But there are also many health reasons for cutting back on meat.

I’ll be the first to admit that I can’t resist the smell of a delicious burger or bacon in the morning. Recently, though, I’ve been participating in Meatless Mondays. It’s pretty self-explanatory: go meatless on Mondays--just one day a week. You don’t have to go completely vegetarian for a long period of time to reap some of the rewards of eating more veggies.

As a Monday-vegetarian myself, I can totally attest to how easy it is to not eat meat for an entire day. When you cut meat out of your diet, you gotta be creative with your meals. For example, my fellow Monday-vegetarian friend and I would take turns picking out meatless recipes from web sites or in cookbooks or wherever we could find them. The necessary nutrients that your body needs can be found in veggies, grains, nuts, soy, eggs and dairy. So why not have some fun with it? It’s so easy to go meatless for just one day a week. And studies show that diets high in fruits and veggies can seriously reduce our risk for tons of diseases.

Check out meatlessmondays.com for more information. They post a new meatless recipe every week, just in case you get stuck trying to think of one yourself! Whether or not you decide to go meatless for a day, it wouldn’t hurt to put some more fruits and veggies into your diet anyway!