What I Ate on a Vegetarian Diet
Recently, I've been incorporating more vegetarian and vegan meals into my diet, and I wanted to share a little about that journey. I go into more detail about why I've become interested in a vegetarian diet in my last two blog posts: Was Jesus a Vegetarian and The Challenge of Eating Healthy in America. I will summarize it as follows:
Environmental reason: Humanity currently consumes too much meat and dairy, and this has significant environmental consequences. The livestock and dairy industries contribute to climate change in several ways. Forests are cleared to create pastureland and grow animal feed, synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are used to grow feed crops, and cows produce large amounts of methane. Taken together, these impacts make our high levels of meat and dairy consumption a serious concern for the health of our planet.
Ethical reason: Animals raised on factory farms often endure terrible conditions before being slaughtered and processed for human consumption. Yet many of us rarely stop to think about the lives behind the meat we see on supermarket shelves. We've become so desensitized to the process that it's easy to forget that a living animal had to die for that meal. Much of what goes on in slaughterhouses and factory farms is hidden from the public on purpose.
Health reason: Based on my research and my review of several studies, I believe a plant-based diet can offer significant health benefits.
So now let's get to the fun part, what I've been eating.
I start my day with a smoothie and I love my morning smoothie. I throw ice, spinach, blueberries, strawberries, half an avocado, vanilla pea-protein powder, and cashew or coconut milk into a blender. Sometimes I use apple instead of strawberries. For protein powder, I use Truvani Organic Plant Based Vegan Protein Powder which I buy at Whole Foods.
Note that I used to use whole milk but I've switched to cashew or coconut milk and I can't tell a difference.
For lunch, I eat eggs and broccoli. At some point I may transition off eggs as well.
For snack, I eat IQ bar protein bars and I love them. I especially like the blueberry and pumpkin flavors. You can find them here: https://www.eatiqbar.com/
For dinner, I am lucky because my husband is a good cook and he's been supporting me in my interest to eat more vegetarian / vegan. Below are a couple meals we've tried:
This is a bean burger and vegan mac and cheese. I bought the bean burger patties frozen at whole foods and my husband grilled them. The vegan mac and cheese is leftover from a restaurant called Portia's Cafe.
My husband made eggplant parmesan and it was amazing. I sprinkled mine with a vegan plant-based parmesan cheese and I couldn't tell the difference. On a different night, my husband also made a pasta with meat sauce using Abbot's plant-based ground beef (which I bought at Whole Foods) and it tasted exactly the same as a regular ground beef spaghetti sauce. I didn't take a picture because I was too hungry but it was good!
One night, I made an easy dinner for my kids which consisted of sweet potatoes, rice and beans, avocado, and vegetables. This is also what I eat if I'm trying to make something quick and easy for myself.
I've also been trying out local vegan restaurants (I live in Columbus, OH) and there's a restaurant called Can't Believe It's Vegan and the chef at this restaurant is AMAZING. First, he uses jackfruit as a substitute for chicken in BBQ recipes. Below are pictures of a Buddha bowl which has the BBQ jackfruit and a BBQ jackfruit sandwich. I actually like BBQ jackfruit better than BBQ chicken now.
He uses a plant-based chicken to make chicken nuggets, which you can see in the second picture. He also makes pasta with plant-based chicken, which is amazingly delicious as well.
I took my kids to Portia’s Cafe, another vegan restaurant in Columbus, and I enjoyed their food as well. My kids got some beautiful smoothies that they loved. We also ordered the nachos, which were so good that we had already eaten most of them before I remembered to take a picture!
I ordered the Pad Thai, and the sauce was so delicious that I ate the entire dish. My daughter got the BLT, made with plant-based bacon, and she enjoyed it. I tried a bite, and it really did taste like a BLT. Their deserts are incredible. I had the vegan chocolate cake and I ate it too fast to take a picture.
Okay, so now I'm going to recommend some chocolate that I found at Whole Foods which supports endangered animals. It's called Endangered Species Chocolate. My kids love it and I constantly reach for it. We call it the "Animal Chocolate" in my house.
To summarize, I'm really enjoying exploring vegetarian and vegan foods, and so far, I haven't missed meat at all! Just to clarify the difference between the two, vegetarians may still consume eggs and dairy, while vegans avoid all animal products.
I've stopped eating dairy for the most part. I say "for the most part" because my husband sneaks some into our meals. My husband and kids still consume milk and cheese, but overall, I'm trying to reduce the amount of dairy we buy.
Another thing I want to emphasize is that I'm not forcing my kids to become vegetarians or vegans. I'm simply incorporating more plant-based meals at home, so they're naturally eating more of the same foods I am. They still buy lunch at school sometimes, and those meals include meat and dairy. For now, I'm leaving the decision up to them about what they want to eat. I'm open with them about why I've chosen to eat more vegetarian and vegan meals, but I'm not trying to guilt them into making the same choices.
It's also important to me that I don't come across as sanctimonious about this. I ate meat and dairy for about 40 years. I simply want to share my research and personal experiences. What we eat is deeply personal and often intertwined with our beliefs, habits, and values. It took me quite a bit of time to consider making a change in my own diet, and I understand that food can bring up a lot of emotions. It's a complex subject, which is why discussions about food, health, and diet can sometimes trigger strong reactions.
Overall, I intuitively feel that this is the right move for me at this point in my life. One of the biggest things I've learned over the past couple of weeks is that eating vegetarian and vegan meals can be enjoyable and satisfying, and I haven't felt that I'm missing out by not eating meat. We really can transition toward a plant-based diet, feel healthy and energetic, and do so without missing meat.
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