I have switched to a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. In a brief summary this means I have eliminated animal products including all meat and dairy. I have also eliminated processed food including oil. The plan focuses on vegetables, beans, nuts and whole grains. There are a number of summaries online. A good one is https://www.forksoverknives.com/what-to-eat/
I have found that Dr. Greger’s “daily dozen” and “green, yellow, red” light approaches have really helped provide a guide of what to eat.
So what do I eat on a typical day?
Breakfast
I have several basic “go to” breakfasts,
Smoothie – make it with three or four fruits like any of apple, orange, strawberry, cherry, mango, pineapple, bananna. Plus two greens like kale, spinich, chard, mustard greens, etc. Then add carrot, beet if you like. Add two tablespoons of flax seed. Almond milk. Blend in high speed blender. You can add other things like half an avacado, etc. I play around with different ingredients to get different tastes.
Oat Meal – I am not talking quaker or instant from a packet. I buy raw oats in bulk from the store. So there is nothing added to them. Boil water. While the water is coming to a boil mix up half a cup of oats with two tablespoons of flax see, some matcha green tea and cinamon. I also like to add blueberries to this mix. Pour boiling water over, stir, then put a small plat over the top and let sit five ish minutes. While it sits cut up whatever other fruits you want to put on it. Like a half dozen strawberries, blueberries, banana. Add the fruit on top. Serve with almond milk
Cold cereal – Ezekiel 4:9 and Engine 2 have some that are no sugar added
Lunch
Salad – I prep salad on the weekends by chopping up peppers, carrots, zuchinni, squash, etc whatever you want and putting it in containers in the fridge. Then you can quickly make a salad by putting a bed of greens and whatever combination of items you want.
Rice and Beans – I prep batches of rice and beans. Beans are soaked and then cooked. Rice is bought in bulk and cooked. Do not even consider white rice. Only brown, or other dark rices like black or red. Brown rice is very cheap in organic bag at CostCo. I buy big bags of uncooked black beans at costco as well. I prep the rice and beans and add kernel corn. Then you can freeze these in the freezer. Take it out and microwave to eat. Top with spinish and / or kale and avacado and salsa if you want.
Left overs – I eat a lot of dinner left overs
Dinner
This is where we have learned the most about creative cooking. Pretty much we can make anything that we’ve eaten before. We just make it using Whole Food Plant Based approach. We are starting a list of recipies we have tried which includes
Quinoa Tacos
Home made spaghetti sauce over Edamame pasta
Veggie Lasagna – https://vegetariangastronomy.com/vegan-lasagna-recipe-roasted-veggies/
Tostados
Vegan Chilli – http://eathealthyeathappy.com/killer-vegan-chili/
Navy Bean Soup
Snacks
Nuts and seeds (I probably over due it a little, but the goal is up to ¼ cup per day)
Smoothies with bananna, strawberry, etc
Veggies: carrot sticks, celery
Fruit: any fruit. But you can do things like cut up an apple and then dip it in almond butter!
Some of our favorite recipe sites are highlighted throughout this site.
