In a rare deviation from my obsession with fiction, I’m highlighting this new book (it comes out tomorrow) for those teenage girls concerned with diet.

When I was in high school, I decided I thought the idea of meat was gross, so I wasn’t going to eat it. The problem, though, was that I wasn’t smart about how I replaced meat’s role in my diet. I basically just had a lot of dairy and a lot of carbs, which didn’t work out so well for me.

My vegetarianism didn’t last very long like that. After a horrible stretch of time in college where I actually tried the Atkin’s Diet (ALL meat – SO gross), I finally found my way back to a heather, easily maintained vegetarian diet that I really enjoy. There’s not much about meat that I miss at all.

As a teacher now,I’m always hearing about girls who are trying to watch what they eat, or who want to be vegetarian to see if they’ll lose weight, or some variation on that. I think this is a valuable resource.

Not only does The Smart Girl’s Guide to Going Vegetarian include some meal and recipe ideas, but it also explains the nuts and bolts of a vegetarian diet, including how to make sure you’re still being healthy while changing your diet.

So, if your New Year’s resolution involved some form of dieting or cutting back on meat, you should check this out. As a long-time vegetarian myself, I know this would have been incredibly valuable to me in high school!

Enjoy. :)