London - Bursting with vitamins, antioxidants and disease-fighting properties, it’s no wonder we’re encouraged to eat more vegetables.
But many of us are also citing health or ethical reasons to reduce the amount of meat we eat or cut it out altogether.
You may even have gone a step further and decided to forgo all animal products as part of Veganuary, which every January calls for a month of vegan living to help limit animal farming and slow damage to the climate caused by the gases emitted by cattle.
Following a vegetarian or vegan diet can mean you need to give a little more thought to what you eat to ensure you’re getting the nutrients you need, in particular protein.
"There are plenty of excellent plant-based protein sources including beans, chickpeas and lentils.
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"Also, the extensive recipe resources at WW can introduce you to an exciting world of flavours, textures and suggestions for how to prepare delicious and nutritious vegetarian and vegan meals on our myWW programme," says Julia Westgarth, head of programme at W
Loaded sweet potato fries
Serves 4
- 350g sweet potato, diced
- Calorie-controlled cooking spray
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 400g tin black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 2 tomatoes, finely diced
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
- 8 x 13g crunchy taco shells
- 100g mixed salad leaves
Method
Preheat the oven to 220c/fan 200c/gas 7. Put the sweet potato on a large baking tray, mist with cooking spray and toss with the paprika until evenly coated. Roast for 20 minutes, until tender and just starting to brown.
Transfer to a large bowl and set aside to cool completely. Add the black beans, onion, tomatoes, coriander and lime juice to the cooled sweet potatoes. Season to taste and toss to combine.To serve, heat the taco shells according to pack instructions, fill with the salad leaves and top with the sweet potato mixture.