What is a Vegan diet? I often confuse the terms vegan and vegetarian v paleo etc. That’s why I wanted to shed some light on the vegan lifestyle and also provide y’all with two delicious vegan recipes.
Picture from The Health Site.
What is the Vegan diet?
Be it ethical, environmental, or just a dietary decision, there are far more vegans out there than years prior. In fact, the Vegetarian Times study indicates that 7.3 million US adults are vegan. WOW!!!
What does being a vegan entail?
This means one removes all forms of animal cruelty and exploitation from their lives – be it clothing or food or any other product.
From the food perspective, this includes removing meat, fish and poultry. Even more specifically it includes eggs, honey, dairy, and the like from ones diet. There are actually a ton of varieties of vegan diets out there such as the raw food vegan diet or the whole food vegan diet.
What can they eat? PLANTS. Lots of them! Including fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, beans, soy based protein like tofu, and grains, etc. I actually LOVE this cheat sheet by Vegans for Dummies that spells it out for newbie vegans.
Per Healthline, the Vegan diet has a lot of benefits such as
- Weight loss
- Linked to a lower risk of health disease
- Lowers blood sugar
- Improves kidney function
I think it is also REALLY important to note that a diet based exclusively on plant foods may leave one open to nutrient deficiencies such as essential fatty acids, vitamin B12, iron, calcium, iodine or zinc.
Therefore it is always best to speak with a doctor when drastically changing your diet.
Sounds interesting! Want to try it out?
Lucky for you, Samira Njoya of @onemodernmomma, provided us with 2 vegan recipes for you to try out.
VEGGIE TOFU SCRAMBLE served with Basmati Rice
1 cup uncooked, organic basmati rice
½ tsp of oil of your choice (I used Organic Evoo)
½ tsp of salt
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 medium red bell pepper
1 medium green bell pepper
1 tsp bragg’s aminos
¼ tsp red curry paste
4 oz Nasoya Organic extra firm tofu
Vegan Dessert – 5 Ingredient, raw chocolate
peanut butter chewy bars
*This recipe is gluten-free, vegan, dairy free and 100% raw
Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 30 mins Caloric value: 100 calories per bar
3 cups of rolled oats
1 ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (make sure it’s vegan!)
1 cup raw, natural peanut butter
½ cup organic agave (can also use maple syrup)
¼ cup extra-virgin, organic Coconut oil.
Cookie shape cutters (optional)
Instructions:
Place sufficient parchment paper on an 8 x 8 in baking dish and place aside.
Add rolled oats in a large mixing bowl (this will serve as the dry ingredient)
For wet ingredients:
Combine all remaining ingredients in a microwave safe bowl.
Heat the ingredients on high for about 30-45 seconds.
Remove bowl from microwave and whish everything together until well blended.
Pour the chocolate-peanut butter mix over the oats and mix until all is combined.
Pour everything into the baking dish and refrigerate until firm (at lean 1 hour)
Once hardened, remove from fridge and cut into bars (can be square or rectangular.. or you can get fancy and make other unique shapes using shape cutters)
