Starting Your Meal Planning with the Best Breakfast for You
Exploring Some Menu Ideas to Get You Started
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114 Part III: Sticking to Your Guns: Staying Vegan ✓ Nondairy ice cream ✓ Tofu- or vegetable-stuffed ravioli ✓ Vegan potstickers and spring rolls ✓ Vegetables, including broccoli, corn, edamame, mixed stir-fry vegetables, peas, and spinach ✓ Veggie burgers Fresh produce Fresh produce is delicious and relatively inexpensive Whenever possible, buy local and go for organic varieties The following items are versatile enough to work in numerous vegan recipes: ✓ Avocados ✓ Bell peppers ✓ Fresh fruit of all kinds, including bananas, apples, pears, kiwi, grapes, cherries, pineapple, and melon ✓ Garlic ✓ Lemons and limes ✓ Onions, including yellow, white, Vidalia, and red ✓ Sweet potatoes ✓ Tomatoes ✓ White potatoes ✓ Winter squash varieties like butternut, acorn, and kabocha Starting Your Meal Planning with the Best Breakfast for You Your doctor and your mom were both right: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day Many of my clients have seen dramatic decreases in sugar and caffeine cravings when they finally commit to daily breakfast plans If you have a cup of coffee and chocolate for breakfast, you’ll most likely fall headlong into a sugar crash by late morning This type of eating — loading up on caffeine and sugar in the early morning hours — is all too common Cravings for more sugar and caffeine are more likely in the afternoon if you rely on them in the morning Chapter 9: Planning Your Meals to Stay on Track Breakfast is the most important part of your meal planning because preparing a healthy breakfast that includes the most supportive foods for you and your body type ensures that your energy is more stable throughout the day If your energy is stable and your nutrition needs are met, you’ll be less likely to go off track with junk food or other less-than-desirable choices Try this unique, half-week breakfast test to find out which foods set you up for a day of solid energy, and which foods lead to energy crashes or sugar cravings later in the day Eat as much of each food as you want, but choose only one food each day Here are your options: Saturday: steel cut oats, brown rice, or quinoa (no sweetener) Sunday: orange juice, green tea, black tea or coffee (added sweetener is okay) Monday: steamed vegetables Tuesday: nuts and seeds, vegan cheese, or steamed tofu Wednesday: quick oats, toast, or bagel (no sweetener, soy margarine, or nut butter) Immediately after you eat each of the foods, note how you feel Do you feel full? Bloated? Content? Then note how you feel a few hours later Were you hungry for more food within an hour or so? Did you eat a smaller lunch or a bigger one? Were your food cravings throughout the day worse or diminished? After you try this evaluation of different foods, you’ll have a better idea how your food choices affect your energy This knowledge helps you plan your menus better If you have a presentation at work or school, for instance, you can choose the breakfast you know works better to create the steady, focused energy you need Exploring Some Menu Ideas to Get You Started Leafing through cookbooks can be intimidating for some new vegans You may feel that you need to whip up complicated, multicourse menus right out of the gate No need to fret — start your first couple of weeks by using the menu ideas I list in the following sections These options offer you simple cooking ideas that pair up all the foods your body needs Protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats should appear regularly throughout your day Also be sure to check out Part IV in this book for loads of tasty and easy recipes for every meal 115 116 Part III: Sticking to Your Guns: Staying Vegan Easy breakfast options After you understand your reactions to different breakfast foods, you can put together several options for healthy morning munchies that give you the energy you need Vegan breakfast options abound and the recipes in Chapter 12 can help you develop a grand repertoire This list offers suggestions for delicious yet simple vegan breakfast foods: ✓ Leftover beans warmed up and wrapped in a tortilla with salsa ✓ Leftover brown rice reheated with steamed broccoli, cubed tofu, and carrot coins ✓ Leftover whole grain reheated with soy, rice, hemp, or coconut milk Add a pinch of cinnamon, 1⁄4 cup chopped nuts, and a handful of raisins ✓ Sautéed tofu slices on whole-grain toast drizzled with flax oil, salt, and pepper ✓ Smoothie with bananas, berries, or cherries, 1⁄2 cup raw nuts, and or tablespoons flaxseeds Add enough hemp, rice, or soymilk to liquefy ✓ Soy or coconut milk–based yogurt mixed with tablespoon flaxseed oil, berries, and sunflower seeds ✓ Whole-grain bread spread with Earth Balance, nut butter, and apple butter Add a glass of hemp, soy, rice, or almond milk ✓ Whole-grain cereal with vegan milk, banana slices or berries, and slivered almonds Quick lunch list Lunch can be a fly-by or a drive-through, but it also can be healthy and vegan Use this list to stock up your kitchen with easy, fortifying midday meal options: ✓ Carrot sticks dipped in hummus with a side of olives ✓ Leftover grain rolled into nori paper with cucumber spears ✓ Leftover rice and beans folded in a tortilla with salsa ✓ Leftover whole grain heated up with a can of soup and tablespoon of nutritional yeast flakes ✓ Mashed avocado and hummus spread on top of rye crackers ✓ Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of almond or rice milk ✓ Pita bread with baba ghanouj, avocado slices, and cucumber slices ✓ Soy hot dogs smothered with vegan chili and chopped onions ✓ Tomato soup sprinkled with nutritional yeast flakes and drizzled with flax oil ✓ Whole-grain toast spread with hummus and fresh tomato slices Chapter 9: Planning Your Meals to Stay on Track Seven days of dinner Dinnertime is a hectic affair in many households With evening activities, household chores, traffic jams, and homework filling up our nights, fixing a healthy meal can seem overwhelming Use the following wholesome vegan dinner plans to get a new, positive rhythm into your evening agenda These dishes can all be scaled up or down depending on the size of your appetite: ✓ Very vegan dinner 1: to cups quinoa cooked in vegetable broth served with to cups steamed broccoli drizzled with olive or flaxseed oil and sprinkled with slivered almonds or sesame seeds ✓ Very vegan dinner 2: A bed of lettuce covered with to cups brown rice, to cups cooked pinto beans, a scoop of salsa, tofu sour cream and sliced avocado ✓ Very vegan dinner 3: Veggie burger on whole-grain bread served with a pickle, baked sweet potato fries, and quick sautéed bok choy ✓ Very vegan dinner 4: Hummus, baba ghanouj, rye crackers, kalamata olives, avocado slices, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, and to cups bulgur wheat tabbouleh ✓ Very vegan dinner 5: Hot vegetarian baked beans on top of steamed broccoli and baked Yukon Gold potatoes ✓ Very vegan dinner 6: Bean soup with steamed corn served alongside a green salad with olive oil and lemon juice ✓ Very vegan dinner 7: Roasted root vegetables (cubed beets, sweet potatoes, onions, and carrots) with curried red lentils simmered in coconut milk served over jasmine rice Cook a double portion of any of these menu items at dinner and have leftovers for an easy, cheap lunch the next day Using menu charts Planning a week of menus can really take the guesswork and stress out of shopping trips If you already know what you’re having for dinner on Thursday, you don’t need to worry about running by the crowded grocery store on the way home from work And you won’t be tempted to order takeout or veggie pizza again either Use the menu chart in Figure 9-1 to help guide your shopping trips 117 118 Part III: Sticking to Your Guns: Staying Vegan Monday Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Date: Tuesday Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Date: Grocery List Notes Wednesday Date: Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Thursday Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Date: Friday Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Date: Saturday Breakfast: Figure 9-1: Lunch: Sample Dinner: menu chart Date: Sunday Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Date: ... Also be sure to check out Part IV in this book for loads of tasty and easy recipes for every meal 115 116 Part III: Sticking to Your Guns: Staying Vegan Easy breakfast options After you understand... Exploring Some Menu Ideas to Get You Started Leafing through cookbooks can be intimidating for some new vegans You may feel that you need to whip up complicated, multicourse menus right out of... different breakfast foods, you can put together several options for healthy morning munchies that give you the energy you need Vegan breakfast options abound and the recipes in Chapter 12 can