Chapter 6: Vegetarian Options

There’s a misconception that vegetarian food is less caloric than foods prepared with meats and fish. To a point, that’s true, but there are many pitfalls in vegetarian cuisine that are easy to slip into.

We already talked about beans, especially chickpeas, and the mega-calories packed into them. There’s also avocados, which, while bursting with nutritional qualities, including proteins and good fats, and helping you feel full, are astoundingly high in calories (360+ each!). Bananas, too, really give the calorie count a giant boost. While an orange has only 62 calories, an apple has 116, and a banana can have as many as 135 calories!

So even if you’re going veggie, you still have to go into it consciously on your fast days. Pay close and careful attention to the foods you eat on your “2” days and don’t think that just because it’s a vegetable or fruit you’re going to be okay. The recipes in this section should help you to make trimmer meal decisions.