Recently I was challenged to go vegan for a month as part of a health experiment…. As a committed ‘meatarian’ I was worried about how to get enough protein, complexity and flavour in my food.
So to start, I did a bit of research to find out the best high protein vegan foods and aimed to eat a wide variety of unrefined grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, and vegetables everyday…
Key ingredients were:
• quinoa
• pumpkin seeds
• beans (kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas, black-eyes, lima beans)
• tofu, tempeh
• nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, cashews)
• seeds (hemp, flax, sunflower)
• vegetables (brocolli, spinach)
and surprisingly other things:
• bagels, spaghetti, wholewheat bread, and bulgar wheat (which also contain amounts of protein).
So to start, I did a bit of research to find out the best high protein vegan foods and aimed to eat a wide variety of unrefined grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, and vegetables everyday…
Key ingredients were:
• quinoa
• pumpkin seeds
• beans (kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas, black-eyes, lima beans)
• tofu, tempeh
• nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, cashews)
• seeds (hemp, flax, sunflower)
• vegetables (brocolli, spinach)
and surprisingly other things:
• bagels, spaghetti, wholewheat bread, and bulgar wheat (which also contain amounts of protein).
I also came up with some recipe ideas to kick-start my challenge and then kept a diary for 30 days.
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Mon 20 July
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Meatless Meatballs with Pasta
and
Red Sauce |
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Tues 21
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Pumpkin, Orange and Ginger Soup
|
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Wed 22
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Baked potatoes with Baked Beans
|
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Thurs 23
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Breaded Tofu with Pesto-Roast Cauliflower Pasta
|
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Fri 24
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Roasted Portobello Mushrooms in home-made
BBQ Sauce with Grated Beetroot and Salad in Burger Buns
|
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Sat 25
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Garden Salad with Toasted Seeds and Nuts
|
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Sun 26
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Roast Chicken (oops!) with Roast Vegebles
and Yorkshire Pudding
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Mon 27
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Bubble and Squeak
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Tues 28
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Pasta and Mediterranean Tomato Sauce
|
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Wed 29
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Braised Florence Fennel with Tamari Lentils and Mashed Potato
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Thurs 30
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Vegetable Risotto with half
Rice-half Lentils
|
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Fri 31
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Marinated and pan-fried Tofu served with Couscous and Orange Salad with
steamed Bok Choy and soy and tahini dressing
|
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Sat 1 Aug
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Baked Potatoes and home-made Coleslaw
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Sun 2
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Garlic pittas with Hummus and Salad
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Mon 3
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Mexican Beans with steamed Rice
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Tues 4
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Marinated and pan-fried Tofu served with Stir-fry and Noodles
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Wed 5
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Pasta with roast Brussel Sprouts,
toasted Walnuts and Olives
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Thurs 6
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Green Pea Risotto
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Fri 7
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Kumera and Garlic Soup, blanched Veggies
with honey-roasted Carrots
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Sat 8
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Lentil Soup, Buckwheat Salad and Meditteranean Vegetables
|
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Sun 9
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Potato, Carrot and Celery
Casserole with Dumplings
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Mon 10
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Tamarind and Chickpea Curry with Rice
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Tues 11
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Lentil and Tomato Pasta
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Wed 12
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Roast Veggies with Green Salad
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Thurs 13
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Tofu Stirfry with toasted Peanuts
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Fri 14
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Pasta and Tomato Sauce
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Sat 15
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Cauliflower Curry with Rice and Chutneys
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Sun 16
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Pasta with Pesto, with chunky Tomato and Red Pepper Sauce and fresh Rye
Bread
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Mon 17
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Breaded Tofu with Pesto-Roast
Cauliflower Pasta
|
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Tues 18
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Stir-fried Veggies and Mushroom Pasta
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Please send me your ideas too… I would love to get them :o)
I also took some photos and have 2 or 3 really great recipes that I will share here... in a day or so :o) Happy eating... Deborah
Kia Ora!
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend and I are vegans living in Coromandel town, been vegan for a year now and loving it. It was great to see your challenge in the Chronicle. I see you have created some delicious recipes that we will use for years to come, would love to see more! We are vegan for ethical and environmental reasons and have done quite a lot of research during this time on the nutrition as well. It is very easy getting enough protein, in fact people don't need to really think about it at all (only if they get enough calories in each day). Plant food does contain a complete amino acid composition ( reference here = http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/105/25/e197.full ) and we are able to consume certain plant foods with different amino acid compositions throughout the day to ultimately have the complete amino acid profile. Vegans on average get the same amount of protein as meat eaters without supplementation or planning diets around consuming protein ( reference here = http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4081456/ ) . Personally I don't think about protein at all but it is more important (for everyone) to consume as many minerals and vitamins as possible, two of which vegans need to think about which is Omega 3 (through eating a tablespoon of chia seeds everyday) and B12 (which is though either supplementation or fortified foods such as soy milk and marmite.
I hope that you have enjoyed this experience and feel much better for it, from being (almost) vegan for a month you have saved (on average) 33 lives, over 83000 gallons of water and reduced your carbon footprint by 80%
Cheers,
Steph =)