Pasta

Pasta is such a great food to eat! I love it! You can make it Italian, with a dish like spaghetti and meat balls or you can make it Asian with Yaki Soba noodles in a soy, peanut sauce. Honestly the possibilities are endless.

                Since I’ve been trying to eat a plant-based diet it’s been a little hard finding foods that I can eat (and it’s been a little hard finding the motivation to eat healthy). I was recently at a local health food store and I found some amazing dairy free, meat free raviolis. They had a delicious butternut squash filling, and they were really easy to make. If you’ve ever been to Panera Bread you’ve probably seen the butternut squash ravioli dish they serve there. It has a cream based sauce, and it’s really good. Before I went plant-based I used to eat there a lot. Anyways, I tried to copy the recipe and it turned out amazing.

                I cooked the ravioli and while I did that I made a vegan cream sauce. I melted some Earth Balance in a pan, with some almond milk and minced garlic. To thicken it up I added a sprinkle of flour into the pan. I also added a little bit of garlic olive oil for taste (I’m a garlic lover). I mixed it until the sauce was nice and smooth, then I added the ravioli.

                Right now we’re growing fresh basil so, I grabbed three basil leaves and cut them up and put them in the pan. This is actually the second time I’ve made this dish, and my mom and sister love it! I didn’t want to serve pasta alone so I sautéed some kale and mushrooms to go on the side. I also bought some really yummy organic rolls that went great with the ravioli.

                If you’re wanting to eat a plant-based diet, pasta is a really easy thing to make. You can easily replace unwanted ingredients with plant-based ones, and most noodles don’t contain animal products. I just recommend avoiding egg noodles.

                For sauces that call for butter you can get Earth Balance instead and replacing cream sauces with cashew cream is very common with this type of eating. You can put cashew cream on pasta but, it is also great to put on kale. It adds extra flavor and makes it more filling. For a great cashew cream recipe click here ->
recipe.

Stay Healthy

It seems like this time of year germs are everywhere. People are stocking up on hand sanitizer and flu medicine, and nobody wants to touch door handles or shopping carts. Well at least this is true for me (especially now, as i’m thinking about all the germs on this school keyboard). Vaccinations and medications are ways to prevent and relieve us from these viruses but, so is eating a healthy diet. It may surprise you but, by eating fruits and veggies you are giving your body nutrients and vitamins that provide support for your immune system. They might even work better than that nasty bubble gum cough syrup.

Grapefruit, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms and kale are just some of the great fruits and veggies you should eat this time of year. They’re awesome immune boosting plants that protect you from this dreaded flu season. They have nutrients that will not only keep you from getting sick; but will also help you feel your healthiest. 

The Vitamin C in the grapefruit is very immune-boosting, and this fruit is full of phytonutrients. If you feel like you might be getting a cold just slice one of these in half and bon appetite.  If you don’t like grapefruit you can just go for an orange, which also has a lot of vitamin C. 

Cauliflower is beneficial to our diets this time of year as well. These veggies are cruciferous, which means that they are full of antioxidants which boosts the immune system. Personally, my favorite way to eat cauliflower is roasted with garlic and other spices. 

Carrots are great bacteria fighters. This is because they are a great source of beta carotene (the stuff that gives the carrots their bright orange color). You can prepare carrots a lot of different ways. Serve then raw with dip, puree them into a soup, or cook them in the oven. Whatever will get you to eat more of them.

Along with these veggies, mushrooms and kale are great for our bodies. The mushrooms are full of zinc, which increases the function of our immune system. As I said before in an earlier post, kale is full of great stuff! In other words it is one of the best foods a person can eat. It truly is a super food! So if you want to be super, you know what do! (394)

source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/cold-flu-pictures/top-immune-boosting-foods-to-keep-you-healthy.aspx#03

A Lifestyle Rather Than a Diet

From what I’ve observed, diets don’t work. What I mean by that is, I don’t think diets alone work. I think the approach that people need to take if they want to get in better shape would be to change their lifestyle. I think it is fine to go on a diet but, I don’t think a person should stop eating healthy once their diet is over. It should be a lifelong decision to be healthy; not a month long one.

                I just watched a documentary called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead 2 (The first one is called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead but I haven’t seen it) about a man who juiced for 60 days. This was a “diet” but it was a kick start into his new lifestyle. He was juicing only fruits and vegetables so, when he went back to eating food he was eating a mostly plant-based diet. He changed his lifestyle completely and got great things out of it.

                His new lifestyle caused him to go off of his medications and loose a significant amount of weight. Now he goes around the world teaching people about juicing and eating healthy. He tells his stories to others, and has been able to impact towns at a time to drop their unhealthy habits.

                In this documentary there was an interview of a young boy whose mom started juicing for the family. He was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis at the age of two. A couple years later it had spread throughout most of his body and into his eyes. He was on several strong medications and the family was losing hope. They decided to start juicing and now the son is off some of his medication, he doesn’t have pain, and he’s less irritable and has more energy. This story is real proof that vegetables and fruits heal. Just think about how many people in the world would be off of their medications if they lived a primarily plant-based lifestyle.

                The one thing I want to know is why would someone want to diet until they reach their goal, then just stop? Why not keep going? If you change your lifestyle you will feel happier and healthier. Not only will you experience long lasting benefits; you will be able to share your triumphs with others. We need more health nuts in our world! Who knows, maybe you could be the change someone needs in their life! (408)

Kale

A lot of times kale is a “must have’ in a plant-based diet. It is high in fiber and vitamins and offers many benefits. It’s low in calories and has ZERO fat. It’s high in iron, which helps our cells grow healthy and helps our liver function properly.

Kale has many antioxidants which fight against cancer and keep us healthy. This vegetable has a bitter kind of taste but, you can easily get rid of that. We like to prepare it by sautéing it with mushroom or onions and lots of spices. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, you can put it in a smoothie. You can even put it in your juicer with carrots or oranges. Sometimes juicing it is a fast way to get it in your body, if you can’t stand the taste. There are so many benefits gained from eating kale. Why would you not eat it?

                Kale has vitamins K, A, and C in it; these fight against cancers, keeps our eyes healthy, and helps our immune system. If you’re looking to go on a detox, kale is a great vegetable for this. It cleans out your liver and keeps you feeling healthy.  

source: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4408/Top-10-Health-Benefits-of-Eating-Kale.html

Healthy Breakfast

When you’re plant-based it can be hard to find things that are acceptable to eat. I am a pancake lover and a lot of times pancakes have buttermilk, eggs, cow’s milk, and sometimes butter in them. Because of this I tend to make my own pancakes. This morning I made oatmeal pancakes and they were fantastic! I substituted the oil with apple sauce, the milk with almond milk, and the eggs with an egg substitute. The eggs can also be substituted with a mixture of flax seed and water.

My mom made some candied walnuts that I chopped up and added to my pancake mix. It gave them a nice little sweetness and crunch.

 

For my pancake toppings I just decided to go with almond butter and natural maple syrup. It tasted so good! If you want to use butter, just substitute Earth Balance instead. You can buy it at Hy-Vee or New Pioneer. You can also put fresh berries or sliced bananas on top!

Another great way to start off the day is by making a smoothie. You can use vegan yogurt and almond milk, and whatever fruits you want. You can even sneak some veggies into it as well. I like to add kale to my shakes for extra vitamins. It makes the smoothie green but, you can easily hide the taste. If you want to make it sweeter adding agave nectar is a great way to do that.

Living a Plant-Based Lifestyle

This year I didn’t have an actual New Year’s resolution. I did know that I wanted to eat healthier and get in better shape but, I didn’t want it to become just something I said and didn’t do (like so many New Year’s resolutions). I didn’t think seriously about it until about a week ago. I made the transition to being vegan. Eating a vegan diet means a person doesn’t eat any animal products; no meat, cheese, butter, milk, ice cream, chocolate, etc. I’ve talked about eating a vegan (plant-based) diet in other blogs because my mom is plant-based but, I was never very serious about it.

 

I knew I wanted to eat healthier and get myself ready for track season, so I did. There was no excuse to why I shouldn’t or couldn’t go plant-based (eating vegan but having plants be the main source of nutrition, not potato chips, white breads, etc.). My mom cooks that way every day so; all I have to do is pack a lunch for school and eat her meals at home. On top of this I’m trying to run every week to get myself ready for track season.

The great thing about eating plant-based is that all the nutritious things from the veggies and fruits help our muscles recover faster. So when I’m exercising I’m not sore for as long as I would be if I were eating a lot of animal products. That means I can work harder and get faster.

It might seem extremely hard to be vegan/plant-based because it seems like everything has hidden dairy in it or, meats might be too hard to give up. There are substitutes that you can eat instead though. Instead of cow’s milk you can buy almond milk or soy milk. I prefer almond milk because I think soy milk tastes funny. Instead of using butter you can get Earth Balance. It tastes exactly the same; it’s just made of oil instead of animal fat.

We just got New Pioneer and Fresh Market stores by our house so it’s a lot easier to find the foods we eat. These stores offer a lot of vegan and organic foods, and New Pioneer even makes homemade vegan cakes that are so good! There are a lot of workers at New Pioneer who are vegan, and they can help shoppers find the foods they need and help them make good eating choices.

If you’re thinking about going vegan it’s a lot easier to start off by having a meal plan, and having people who will help keep you and support you through it. I already have my mom and my sister but, there are support on Facebook and other websites that you can go to. If you want to ease into eating this way you can follow the Forks Over Knives Plan. It’s a four week plan and the first week you start out by only eating a plant-based breakfast; then the next week you add lunch, then the next week dinner. Then the fourth week is just refining it. They even have a support group on Facebook called, Forks Over Knives 2.

Another plan you can follow would be the Engine Two Diet- 28 day challenge. This is more of a lifestyle program. It consists of eating a plat-based diet and exercising. This is a great way to start a new lifestyle if you are an athlete or an active person.

There are just so many benefits of eating plant-based that I don’t think I ever want to go back to eating meats and cheeses. By filling your body with good foods and avoiding animal products, gets rid of acne, give you more energy, aid in weight loss, and so many more things. It can even prevent and reverse heart disease. If you’re interested in this a great book to read is Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.

I’ve been doing this for about a week now and I’ve already noticed some of these. It makes me feel light and healthy. One of the days I didn’t feel very good but, my mom said it was because my body was detoxifying itself. She said since I wasn’t eating the preservatives and chemicals I usually do, my body was getting rid of them. When your body detoxifies itself it can cause nausea, headaches, and break outs. This only lasted a day for me and now I feel great!

To learn more about leading a plant-based lifestyle you can go to forksoverknives.com. They have some great recipes, videos, and meal plans that you can check out!