fun veggie fax

Five Facts About Vegetarians That Will Impress Your Friends By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Julia_Barnard]Julia Barnard It's always nice to throw out an interesting fact when you are with friends. Here are some vegetarian-related snippets for you to use, whether you are vegetarian or not. 1. There are a lot of vegetarians out there If you are a vegetarian you may sometimes feel a little lonely. You scour menus searching for the veggie option (hoping it isn't mushroom risotto - or worse: vegetable stack) and most of your friends and family eat meat. Yet in actual fact, there are many, many vegetarians in the world. Millions! In India it is estimated that over 350 million people are vegetarian. In Taiwan, around 13% of people are vegetarian. If you live in the UK you may be interested to know that as many as four million of you are vegetarian. In Brazil 8% of the population (that's 15.2 million people) are said to be vegetarian. In the United States, 13% of the population regard themselves as either vegetarian or vegan. So you are not alone. Someone just needs to tell the restaurants. 2. Vegetarians do not eat fish (or chicken) Vegetarians hate being asked if they eat fish. By definition, a vegetarian does not eat animals - whether they are from the land or the sea. Where the problem lies is you may have met a fish-eating vegetarian. Or rather, someone who eats fish and no other animals and then labels themselves vegetarian. They are not vegetarian. Such people are actually called pescetarians. The fish-eating issue can cause problems for vegetarians as all too often they may be served fish by their host at a dinner party or 'fish' ends up being the vegetarian option on a menu. So the next time you meet a person who eats fish but calls themselves vegetarian, feel free to correct them. 3. Vegetarians do get enough protein There's another question vegetarians get asked all too often: where do you get your protein from? People who ordinarily don't care about nutrition feel compelled to worry about a vegetarian's intake of protein. It's the sort of question that feels like the one trick meat eaters have up their sleeve and it's not a very good one. Mainly because they are showing their ignorance of nutrition. Protein is plentiful in a vegetarian's diet. Here's a list to get you started: nuts, beans, textured vegetable protein, tofu, cheese, lentils, peas, yogurt, broccoli, spinach, avocado, soy and quinoa. Furthermore, many people actually eat too much protein (this is the case in Australia at least). So it makes little sense to be worrying about a person's protein intake, especially when so many people are unable to meet their daily fruit and veg requirements. 4. Vegetarians have a lower risk of developing heart disease People may be vegetarian for ethical or religious reasons. However, there is a positive consequence to your health if you are vegetarian. Vegetarians are less likely to develop heart disease. This is not the only benefit however. Vegetarianism can also reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes and some cancers (including breast, colorectal and ovarian). Vegetarians are less likely to become obese. When you consider how prevalent these diseases are on society, this is good news indeed. 5. Anthony Hopkins is a vegetarian In my first point I stated that there are many vegetarians in the world. It is not surprising then to learn that there are a whole bunch of celebrities out there who are vegetarian and vegan. Here's a quick list, but there are many, many more. We have: Kate Winslet, Corey Feldman, Sarah Silverman, Carrie Underwood, Casey Affleck, Diane Keaton, Pamela Anderson, Ian McKellan and Natalie Portman. From the music world we have: Kelly Clarkson, Billy Idol, Bryan May, Johnny Marr, Moby, Michael Bolton, Ricky Martin and Nelly. Julia Barnard is the author of the cookbooks [http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Tapas-delicious-snacks-sharing/dp/0980759048/]Vegetarian Tapas and [http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Tapas-delicious-snacks-sharing/dp/0980759072/]Vegan Tapas. Each book includes 150 quick and delicious snacks and bites for sharing with friends and family. Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Five-Facts-About-Vegetarians-That-Will-Impress-Your-Friends&id=8969609] Five Facts About Vegetarians That Will Impress Your Friends

yummy turkey day

Happy Thanksgiving

Include Healthy Dishes in Your Thanksgiving Appetizers Menu By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sooraj_Surendran]Sooraj Surendran Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to show gratitude to your relatives, family and friends. For some it is also an opportunity to test new varieties of dishes to entertain the guests. Good food always increases the delight of family get together. A thanksgiving recipe always includes stuffed turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, souffl�s, yams and stuffing. Before the big meal begins most of the people would like to sit and nibble something. Thanksgiving appetizers are meant for this purpose. It should be a delicious warm up before the heavy meal. There are over 100 options to choose from when you think of appetizers. But when you make a menu of appetizers you need to remember to include a wide variety of dishes like soup, dips, quiches and tarts. But these appetizers can be really healthy. This will prevent people from stuffing themselves with the heavy meal. Some of the delicious and healthy thanksgiving appetizers are: Many people like to have lots of sweets. Serving a fruit bowl will help to reduce the people's cravings for deserts and other sweets. So, it would be better if you serve a bowl of dried fruits. It will also be good if you serve fruit salad you can serve that with a hollowed out watermelon or a pumpkin as the centerpiece. Bruschetta will be an awesome appetizer. It is made by toasting the grain bread after brushing it with olive oil. You can also add toppings like chopped tomatoes, artichokes, eggplant, and chopped olives. Olive oil is a healthy fat and it helps to reduce cholesterol. Another attractive and satisfying low calorie dish would be smoked salmon and cucumber. It will be a bit of luxury but will definitely attract your guests. Placing a tray full of pre cut vegetables on the table might attract some of the guests. It is healthy. You can make it look colorful by placing different types of vegetables like carrots, grape tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. Salsa and chips is usually a part of the thanksgiving menu. Make your own tortilla chips and have homemade salsa. It will taste fresh and healthy. Having low fat cheese platter along with fruits and vegetable platter will give your guests a good choice. You can serve it with sodium crackers. It will be necessary to fix you thanksgiving appetizers according to the likes and interests of your guests. You can also be a bit experimental. If you have lots of time then you can make some interesting fun appetizers especially for kids. You can search on the internet to find some good [http://www.momswhothink.com]thanksgiving appetizers recipe. Click here to know more about [http://www.momswhothink.com/thanksgiving-recipes/thanksgiving-appetizers.html]easy thanksgiving appetizers Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Include-Healthy-Dishes-in-Your-Thanksgiving-Appetizers-Menu&id=5378809] Include Healthy Dishes in Your Thanksgiving Appetizers Menu