By Team Best Life – TheBestLife.com
Thinking about going vegetarian, or at least cutting back on your intake of meat, poultry and fish? There are some serious perks to adapting a plant-based diet—these foods supply minerals and vitamins while remaining low in fat and calories. They’re easy to digest and help keep your cholesterol low. (High cholesterol levels contribute to heart disease and other health issues.)
Phytochemicals and fiber found in plant foods can also help fight disease. In fact, compared to meat eaters, vegetarians are less likely to suffer from a variety of ailments, from diabetes to obesity to hypertension. A few more benefits: Going vegetarian can help protect the environment and may even lighten your wallet.
Before you go meat-free, there are a few things you should know:
There are many variations of vegetarianism.
A vegetarian diet consists of mainly plant-based foods, including vegetables, beans, grains, fruits, nuts and seeds. Within this category, there are a few different options. For instance, you could be a lacto-ovo vegetarian, someone who eats plant-based foods, dairy and eggs, or a lacto vegetarian, someone who eats dairy products but no eggs.
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After reading a recent interview from a rising Bollywood star, here’s to hoping our Western culture can start teaching our daughters to embrace the Indian culture of actress Bhavna Pani. 
The Times of India headlined with Pani’s own words, “I never go on a diet.” The beautiful dancer and actress told the news source that she exercises faithfully, but she never diets, and stated that “shortcuts always prove to be disastrous.” These sage words are coming from a 22-year-old who has to be on screen in front of millions. It was really refreshing to hear that she’s embraced healthy living as a lifestyle and scoffed away quick, hard hitting diets that won’t last.
Pani said in her interview that all her exercise comes from dance and body weight training. She mentioned that she dances about 1-2 hours a day while adding in a toning activity like Pilates or yoga on alternating days. She says her routine is effective and does not demand too much time.
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Since 2011, US News and World Report has been releasing an annual list of the best diets and this year is no different. That goes for the rankings, not just the perpetuity of the list. It seems the analysis by US News done in 2012 matches identically to the “new” list they released for this year as the top spots in each category are exactly the same as they were last year. While four new diets were added to the top rankings in each category overall, the top two diets for each category remained the same. It certainly speaks to the longevity and consistency of the diets they review.
They look at only 29 diets in eight categories (with the addition of plant-based diets this year) and work with an expert panel of nearly two dozen leaders in the industry, including David Katz, MD, Robert Kushner, MD, and Lisa Sasson, RD. As well, they “mine” medical journals, government research, and other sources to create not only in-depth profiles for each diet but to accurately rank each diet.
According to their announcement, “Every diet received robust scrutiny, and we converted the experts’ ratings to scores and stars from 5 (highest) to 1 (lowest) to construct eight sets of Best Diets rankings.” This year, those rankings are as follows:
Best Overall Diet
1. DASH Diet
2. TLC Diet
Best Weight Loss
1. Weight Watchers
2. Biggest Loser
2. Jenny Craig
2. Raw Foods Diet
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We usually hear about the crazy diets celebrities are on like the Baby Food Diet or the Master Cleanse Diet. Every now and then we’ll hear that a celebrity is actually on a healthy diet like the vegetarian or vegan diet. Many a star has stepped forward to denounce meat, fewer have denounced vegetarianism, putting two celebs in a unique hot seat.
Earlier this year, Justin Bieber tried to follow in his mentor’s footsteps (Usher) by eating an animal-free diet. When Bieber said that he would try a vegan diet, some of his devoted fans, known as “beliebers,” vowed to do the same. Well, Bieber is shocking the world today by ditching his vegan diet. According to Examiner.com, an insider said “Justin ordered a tofu steak and tempeh tacos from Real Food Daily in L.A. and was really grossed out. He made a big show of spitting out the food and making gagging noises.” Apparently friends and family of the pop star wanted him to start eating meat again because he started to become unpleasant to be around. Since Justin ditched his vegan diet, his ‘beliebers’ are following suit.
Or maybe, Bieber will make fans who are vegetarians go back to eating meat?
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By Abra Pappa for Nutritious America
There is one serious food rule in my family: if my Grandpa asks you to pass the mashed potatoes do not serve yourself on the way over to him. He called that a “mashed potato short stop” and proclaimed if you “short stopped” in the Army the penalty was a scoop of mashed potatoes in your face.
My family takes mashed potatoes very seriously, and even though my Grandpa passed years ago we still uphold his “no mashed potato short stop” rule and have a deep respect for the honorable dish at our Thanksgiving table.
I made a dedication to embark on this makeover with an equally serious devotion. You can remake a mash, but you better be sure it is delicious and worthy of its own set of beloved table rules.
As far as I’m concerned if you start a vegetable mash with extremely fresh ingredients you will end up with something delicious. It seemed only logical then to begin this makeover with a trip to my local farmers market.
Off I went without specific recipes in mind. I allowed the seasonal bounty to inspire. I came home with veggie loot to brag about and knew I was well on my way to a delicious party of mashes.
What resulted were three thanksgiving table-worthy mashes: a twist on the traditional, a Paleo mash, and a whizz-bang-boom masterpiece!
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