Health

What I Ate Wednesday- Plants Based Vegan!

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April 8, 2015

I simply LOVE food! I love my “usual eats” and I love “variety.” So, I thought it might be fun to expand my culinary skills and try out a few new different ways of eating. Today I decided to discover what it’s like to eat a plants-based vegan diet. (This is something my dad simply can’t imagine… he LOVES his meat!) Basically, all the food I ate today came from plant sources and everything I ate was vegan. There are many benefits of a diet such as this… including increased energy, elevated mood, clearer skin and better digestion.

While I often eat plants-based meals and snacks, I do usually have a bit of animal protein each day, even if it’s just one egg! I decided to eat like this for a day and see how it felt! Here’s what I ate:

Oh how I love sleeping late! This morning I slept in until after 10 am so I didn’t end up eating breakfast until around 11:30. Knowing it was so close to lunch time I decided to make myself a light, refreshing little breakfast so that I’d be satisfied for now, but still hungry in a couple hours. I whipped up a delicious green smoothie with frozen mango chunks, banana slices, half of a navel orange, organic spinach and coconut water… I added some blueberries which I fished out with a spoon!!

For lunch I had a fresh apple, a serving of red lentils, a sweet potato and carrots with black bean hummus! Yummy, filling and totally plants-based! I was feeling good! This isn’t too bad!

You guys know I love my treats! In the afternoon I sipped on some decaf coffee with almond milk and a little ‘dessert plate’ with 3 mini Raw Vegan Coconut Macaroons and 4 small squares of 85% dark chocolate! Yummy and oh-so-satisfying!

I decided to make a plants-based dinner that my whole family would enjoy! I cooked a spaghetti squash and made an Indian Curry dish! I used chickpeas, cauliflower and baked potatoes! I added a jar of Indian Simmer Sauce from Trader Joe’s! Yum! I paired this with some carrots, black bean hummus and a light garden salad which I dressed with apple cider vinegar. I also enjoyed a fresh fruit salad as a side.

For dessert after dinner I had a little bit of dark chocolate with PB2, two of those mini Raw Macaroons, and a little more decaf with almond milk!

Before bed I found myself a little hungry again, so I snacked on some apple slices with PB2 for a sweet crunchy protein snack! ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away!’

Well, that was my day of plants-based vegan eats! I have to say, the food was delicious and not all that different from what I usually eat, but I did find myself waking up hungry in the middle of the night… even though I enjoyed that bedtime snack! I wonder if my body missed the usual protein it gets from meat. Or maybe my mind was missing it. For now I think I’ll stick with my ‘mostly-plants-based’ diet and enjoy eggs/ meat in moderation every now and again, and maybe eventually eat vegan… either way it was fun trying this little experiment! I think there are definitely pros to eating a vegan diet… but for right now, I’m fine with the occasional meat and eggs!

How about you?! Have you ever tried a new way of eating just for fun?! What was your experience?!