Wholefood Plant Based Diet And Health Journey

leftatthetrafficlights

Welcome aboard everyone!! 👋😁 

@Longwalker - I hadn't really thought about the UP vegan food industry getting waste products from veg processing plants! 😳 The potato starch story made me feel a tad queasy! 🤢 

@maisie_cat - I think you're right about the UP market becoming byproduct heavy and similar to nuggets/sausages however, they certainly don't seem to be heading towards a similar price tag!! 

In all honesty, for me eating UP food was a bit of a novelty - I've basically been vegan for over 20 years and when I first started out there were practically no 'ready made' options available. The rise in vegan products/options over the last few years felt liberating in some ways - eating out became easy, I had quick freezer options etc. Trouble is, like most things that offer convenience, they became more of a feature in my diet than I wanted! 

@MMMee - I'm glad that you are feeling the benefits of getting away from the processed food and that you're finding this thread inspiring!! 😁 I've been pleasantly surprised about how much better I feel after such a short period of time! I've got so much more energy, I'm sleeping better and I feel stronger in general! 

@Mnoee - little changes add up! 😉 I used to make a lot of seitan but it's one of the things I'm avoiding now - I still have a couple of bags of it in the freezer though and I'll be using it to help transition my grandbaby to lentil bolognese - he likes the seitan version so if I add an increasing amount of lentils I reckon I'll get there in about 3 meals! 

So, Friday we ended up eating berebere black beans - I'd made a pasta sauce for my grandbaby (tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs, carrots, parsnips, kale, mushrooms and black beans cooked then blitzed) but he ended up eating something else as he'd had pasta the day before!  I added berebere spice and more beans to some of the sauce and had it with buckwheat, quinoa and a large green salad.  

Yesterday, I started with a smoothie (watermelon, apple, berries, flaxseed, spinach, watercress and rocket) - I put more of the greens in this time and I think that I've got the balance about right now! 

I had the leftover berebere black beans, salad and buckwheat for lunch.

By the time dinner came around I really wasn't very hungry so I made myself a tortilla pizza - I spread a wholewheat tortilla with the remaining pasta sauce, sprinkled on some herbs, a chopped sundried tomato, chopped artichoke, black olives and a few bits of cashew 'cheese' then whacked it in the oven for 10 minutes - very tasty and more than enough!! 

Today, I'm not sure what I'm making 🤔 I was planning on doing parsnip and sweet potato rosti's the other day but didn't get round to it so I may make them today instead...

Longwalker

@leftatthetrafficlights, as I say, so not a vegan, not even in vegetarian territory but as someone who is making changes to her diet due to being fat, I am learning to eat vegetables as the main part of any meal I eat and I do enjoy some veggie meals - I adore a Dahl 

I had already swapped to wholewheat pasta and am now including couscous and quinoa as the starch element to my diet rather then bread and potatoes and I have to admit, I do feel fuller for longer eating mainly plant based

The one thing Im finding though is I have to think ahead and prep ahead. 

Ive had overnight oats for the first time this morning, frozen red berries and HM yoghurt and I shall see how that goes for me. As a fruit avoider I quite enjoyed it , being old with a serious cola addiction, I have very little enamel left of my teeth and find fruit hurts me to eat.

leftatthetrafficlights

So the picture doesn't really do it justice but its a parsnip and sweet potato rosti served with braised red cabbage (cabbage, red onions,  cranberries and golden raisins with a blood orange balsamic); leaves; vegetable 'rice' ( red cabbage,  red onion, carrot and parsnip blutzed in food processor to a 'rice' consistency); brussel sprouts in orange and ginger (sprouts halved lengthways and sautéed in vegan butter and orange rind then orange juice added and ground ginger -cooked until tender); a few blobs of carrot chutney added to lift and join the flavours 😁

leftatthetrafficlights

@Longwalker - I think any change in diet takes a while to get used to so I understand why you need to think and plan ahead - grains and beans/lentils freeze well though so it may be worthwhile cooking extra and popping some in the freezer for the days that you don't have time/haven't thought of anything. 

Today I've had my smoothie - it's the easiest way for me to consume significant quantities of fruit and greens - and will have a large salad for lunch with short grain brown rice and dark speckled lentils.  

Dinner will be a warm asian salad - daikon, watermelon, toasted sunflower seeds, veg 'rice', spinach, rocket, sprouting broccoli and a hoisin dressing. I need to check the fridge and see if there is anything left over from yesterday other than the veg rice as that will be chucked in too 😁

leftatthetrafficlights

Warm asian salad last night - tonight will be dark speckled lentils and short grain brown rice with roasted peppers and salad

leftatthetrafficlights

I forgot to bookmark this thread and couldn't remember where I'd put it!! 🤦‍♀️😂 

I've been a bit up and down with the wholefood diet recently- a few days away at the beginning of this month threw me off balance and although I've done okay since I returned I've eaten out a lot more than I usually do due to a variety of celebrations to attend. So it's been a shakey month but its given me the time to plan, see where I can improve stuff and think about ways to avoid the pitfalls when I'm not at home so I'm taking it as a win!! 

I've finally got everything I need now to launch into this lifestyle properly- I've bought more wholegrain (Rye berries, oat groats, barley groats, tempeh starter etc) and the salads in the garden are starting to produce so I have access to fresh spinach and a variety of leaves 😁 

Today I have started my day in the garden- it's beautiful out here and I'm already on my 2nd cup of chamomile tea! I've got a combination of grains cooking in the instant pot at the moment and will have those with dark speckled lentils, salad, mediterranean veg and a mixed herb dressing later today. 

Dh is still snoozing so I will make my smoothie once he gets up - I have a vitamix blender and it could wake the dead so I don't want to disturb his very well deserved lie in!! 

leftatthetrafficlights

Prompted by a post on the grocery challenge, I decided to cost up the grains and lentils I cooked yesterday - I cooked half a cup dry weight of 4 different grains (so 2 cups dry grains total) and one cup of dry lentils in stock. All of the food (including the stock) is organic so more expensive.

Dh and I will eat a minimum of 2 main meals plus 2 lunches from the cooked food (probably more than that but I'll find out over the next few days 😉) 

Total cost - £3.92

Add in two days worth of veg/salad and it will be £5 or under!!! 

It's prompted me to think about doing an experiment for July- it would be interesting to cost every meal 🤔 I may run into difficulties though as hopefully my garden will be producing some stuff by then - however, I could check the equivalent supermarket prices ....I'll give it some thought! 

leftatthetrafficlights

I've made some 'meatballs' for tonight using up leftover grains and lentils- riced some red cabbage, onions, garlic, celery in the food processor,  softened in a pan with some herbs and spices. Ground some oats and walnuts along with some nutritional yeast, added the leftover lentils, grains and some chopped kale to the fring pan, mixed together then put into a bowl and mixed well with the oat and walnut mixture. It's currently cooling and firming up in the fridge. 

I got out a courgette, jackfruit and tomato sauce from the freezer which I will blitz later - I'll shape and cook the 'meatballs' later in the airfryer, heat the sauce and serve with millet and salad. Any leftover ball mix will be shaped into either balls or burgers then frozen for another day 😁

leftatthetrafficlights

Been awol for a while as lots going on in rl!! 

The WFPB diet has been going well due to lots of home grown produce but I haven't really noticed the benefits much as I have been drinking a lot 🤦‍♀️ not exactly useful on the healthy living front but I'm making a fresh start in August when everything should have quietened down!! 

One thing I have decided is that I really prefer my grains cooked on the stove as opposed to in the instant pot - the IP ones tend to be more 'claggy' (probably because they aren't stirred) and I like my grains to have more individuality!! Beans in the IP are great though - it's so quick and I don't need to remember to soak them!! 😂

I've been experimenting more with dressings/toppings - I've started making cashew cream as the base for my creamy sauces which is an absolute revelation and grating lemon rind on grains/finished dishes has been transformative!! 😋😍 

I've also started to make my own soya bean tofu again - I love the lentil and the chickpea ones but I also like using the okara from the tofu making process for meatballs/burgers so I'm mixing it up a bit more now! 

Anyway, this week I'm going to be doing a variety of different dishes including stuffed courgettes, roasted fennel, beetroot and apple salad, carrot and orange salad, broad beans, broccoli soup, climbing beans in oregano cashew cream sauce, a pea and mint puree and a courgette dip (along with various grains) all of which is from my garden or stores - I can only freeze so much of the garden produce so I've lots to use up!! 

leftatthetrafficlights

It's been a while!! 

I'm starting fresh on Monday- breakfast will always be a smoothie with flax, greens, turmeric, berries and other fruits; lunch will be salad with greens, other veg, beans and grains, possibly fruit, nuts ad seeds included. Alternatively, I will have the previous days leftovers for lunch and the salad in the evening....planned evening dishes this week are: 

Monday - lemon scented beluga lentils served on a bed of quinoa and millet with courgettes and preserved lemons, topped with roasted peppers and artichokes 

Tuesday- Homegrown veg soup with chickpea frittatas 

Wednesday- Kale and calabrese risotto served with a lemon and tarragon dressing 

Thursday- Courgette and tomato jackfruit served in buckwheat pancakes with kimchi and sweet chilli 

Friday - Black olive, french bean and sage salad with lentil pancakes, sauerkraut, pickled beetroot, endemame in garlic and lime, hommous 

Saturday- Injera with potato, cauliflower, runner bean and broccoli greens wat, berebere french beans, green lentil and banana blossom wat

Sunday  - Cashew and macadamia nut cheese wrapped in cucumber,  beetroot and apple salad, courgette dip, root vegetable rice, roasted Mediterranean veg, pumpkin and sunflower sees buckwheat bread