One of the more difficult challenges for someone wanting to make the transition to a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle is what to eat. Sounds simple but when you remove meat and dairy, many struggle with how to fill their plate and their stomach! They want to know if they are eating enough calories, getting enough nutrients, particularly the revered protein. So to answer that question let me show you what a very typical day looks like for me and the nutritional profile for that day from an app I use called My Fitness Pal.
This is literally what I ate on Friday, May 21, 2021
Breakfast - steel cut oats with 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup blackberries, 1 banana, a tablespoon each of chia seeds and ground flax seeds, and a sprinkling of both cinnamon and matcha powder. You can find that recipe here.
Lunch - A large bowl of "cream" of broccoli soup, a veggie and grain bowl (cooked oat bran topped with stir fried onions, mushrooms, broccoli, kale, fresh ginger root, fresh turmeric, 2 garlic cloves, 1/4 package of cubed tofu, and about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce). You can find a very similar recipe for a creamy cauliflower soup here and a veggie and grain bowl here.
Afternoon snack - One large Fuji apple, sliced with skin on (the flavonoids are concentrated in the skin). I actually could not finish all these slices so I logged it as half.
Pre-Dinner Appetizer - a mix of toasted pita wedges and whole wheat Matzoh pieces dipped in oil-free hummus. I also broiled some shishito peppers with just salt and pepper sprinkled on before putting under the broiler for about 3 minutes. The quantities pictured were for two people.
Dinner - A large "side salad". My side salads are dinner plate sized chock full of beautiful greens, raw vegetables, a very small sprinkling of walnuts and topped with italian herbs, fresh ground pepper, and balsamic vinegar.
I also had Vegetable Lasagna from The China Study Cookbook which is fast and easy. The "ricotta" filling is made with mashed tofu, chopped greens, garlic, basil, and oregano. Here is my lasagna recipe that is similar but packs in even more nutrients with the addition of mushrooms and lentils.
Also, on this particular day I spent 40 minutes on the treadmill walking and running and 25 minutes doing weight bearing exercises and logged that as well.
And here is the nutrition report generated for this day by My Fitness Pal. Of particular note is that this whole day clocked in at under 1800 calories, included 60 grams of fiber (the average Americans gets 16 grams a day), 185% of the US RDA for calcium, and nearly double the RDA for protein for someone of my size (80 grams!). I actually ran a slight deficit for calories consumed, but I often eat a bowl of cereal in the evening with oat milk and berries so this deficit is made up over a week's time.
It's a lot of food - all delicious and I'm never hungry. I believe that if people knew how wonderful these dishes taste and realized that they can eat large quantities and still lose weight (or simply maintain weight), build muscle, lower their cholesterol and blood sugar and experience many other benefits, then more people would live this life. If you want to learn more about this lifestyle check out my newsletters or contact me for a phone consultation.