The meat -lover's guide to eating less meat: Consume more beans and tofu

If you are meat and diary eater who aches over the environmental state of our planet, then you may be thinking of cutting down on your meat intake.Meat and diary production alone account for 14.5 % of the greenhouse gas emission - as much each year as from all cars, trucks ,air planes and ships combined . It's a staggering statistic.

Becoming vegan would be the most planet - friendly way to go , followed by going vegetarian .Eating less meat and diary means there is more room on your plate for other delectable thing:really good sourdough bread slathered with tahini and home made marmalade , mushroom, Bourguigmon, over a round of noodles and all those speckled heirloom beans.

So how much meat and diary should we actually be eating? And if we reduce our intake severely, do we then need to worry about getting enough protein? According to Marlon Nestle, an author and professor emeritus of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University , if you are getting enough calories , then you are getting enough protein. ( That is unless an elite athlete) . Here is a guide to eating less meat and diary

• EAT BEANS AND MORE BEANS| :To keep us from getting bored , you can widened the net seeking out less common varieties like brown - dappled Jacob's cattle beans and purpled swirled christmas Lima  beans along with usual roster of chickpeas, lentils and cannellini..Beans are also excellent stand ins for meat in certain recipes like using chickpeas in a riff on butter chicken , and filling tacos with black beans instead of meat .  And there's an entire universe of dals that you can use. 
• Turn to high protein grains- There's Quinoa, the quick cooking staple that fills many a grain bowls.But there's also kamut, teff, millet, wild rice , buckwheat , cornmeal, and even pasta. Grains have a lot more protein than we give them credit for, along with a host of other vital nutrients , especially when we eat them whole.Grain bowls, make diverse ever changing meal. that i can throw together from whatever is in the fridge anything from leftovers to condiments . You can put together a grain bowl at least once a week , topped with roasted vegetables and some kind of savory sauce to bind everything together . These bowls never get boring . You can have pasta too.And using toasted bread crumbs in place of Parmesan will keep the diary quotient down  too . 
• Elevate your tofu Game - Whether pillow soft and fluffy or crisp - edged and browned , tofu is always welcome a great idea . You can pair tofu which has a relatively neutral taste , with ingredients with pizzaz - the more umami with tense , the better . Miso, soy sauce and fermented black beans do a lot of the  heavy lifting.
• Another  strategy is to mix in a small amount of meat to add a large amount of flavour .Cooking it all on a sheet pan  makes for an easy weeknight meal.
• Consider plant based meats -  There is no denying how processed most vegan meats are, loaded with unidentifiable ingredients , but they do scratch the itch for burgers and meatballs. These products are often a starting point for people who want to cut down on their meat intake - and with some brands , once that faux burger party is stuffed into a bun and loaded with condiments , it may be hard to tell the difference .