When planning a healthy vegetarian diet, you’re only limited by your imagination.  You can incorporate a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes into different meals, and include seeds and nuts. Variety will help ensure that your vegetarian diet is nutrient-dense, interesting, and fun! Mix it up by serving different side dishes, snacks and desserts - even when you serve favorite entrees over and over again.

Be creative in planning meals:

1. Boost your consumption of vegetables by eating them at lunch time rather than just for dinner. Serve a vegetable every day for lunch and two for dinner. 
2. Plan a meal around a vegetable. A baked potato can be a hearty entree; serve it with baked beans, a sauce of stewed tomatoes or a few tablespoons of salsa.
3. Or make a simple meal of sautéed vegetables and pasta.

Try new foods often. Experiment with fruits and vegetables that are popular in different international cuisines, like bok choy.  Try a variety of grains like barley, quinoa, couscous, wheat berries and bulgur. Focus more on healthy foods that fit into a vegetarian plan instead of processed foods.

If you’re unsure how to include a new food into your vegetarian diet, the internet can be a great source of new recipe and preparation ideas.  But be sure that you’re building your menu on a strong plant food base.  Make them the core of your diet.
 
Don’t worry too much about getting enough protein. A vegetarian diet easily meets protien needs, as long as you eat enough calories and the diet is varied. Grains, beans, vegetables, and nuts all provide protein, but, it’s important to be aware of fat. Even vegetarians can get too much fat if their diet contains large amounts of oils, nuts, processed foods, or sweets.