What I eat in a day: Vegan on a budget, easy, HCLF and YUM

Breakfast: 

If I could marry any food it would be bananas, probably eat at least 3-4 a day and that’s a minimum, my record to beat is around 15 (oops..) after which I unfortunately died of potassium poisoning and that concludes this blog.

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Of course not, you’d have to eat around 300 bananas in 30 seconds for that (http://thebananagirl.com/potassium-overdose-on-30-bananas-a-day-2.php – check this out, yay potassium!) There are a billion reasons why bananas are the best, here are some of my favourites:

1. Bananas help overcome depression due to high levels of tryptophan, which is converted into serotonin — the happy-mood brain neurotransmitter
2. Protect against muscle cramps during workouts and night time leg cramps by eating a banana
3. Counteract calcium loss during urination and build strong bones by supplementing with a banana
4. Bananas reduce swelling,protect against type 2 diabetes, aid weight loss, strengthen the nervous system, and help with the production of white blood cells, all due to high levels of vitamin B-6.
5. High in potassium and low in salt, bananas lower blood pressure and protect against heart attack and stroke.
6. Constipated? High fiber in bananas can help you there.
7. Eating bananas will help prevent kidney cancer, protects the eyes against macular degeneration and builds strong bones by increasing calcium absorption
8. Bananas make you smarter and help with learning by making you more alert. Eat a banana before an exam to benefit from the high levels of potassium.
9. Bananas are high in antioxidants, providing protection from free radicals and chronic disease.
10. Bananas are delicious…

Wow so many, smash them in people – determined to beat my record now.

A fun way to eat bananas in the morning:

Banana Nice-cream plus extras

Super simple, just blend frozen bananas (I used 4), added cinnamon and a tiny bit of water

Blend until creamyyyy

I suggest then putting the nice-cream in a bowl in the freezer whilst you chop your toppings so you don’t get a cold, soupy liquid.

Usual breakfast chaos…

I topped mine with grapefruit, dates and non-frozen banana and it was divine

It’s not as quick as toast and jam BUT if you have a bit of extra time in the mornings this is so easy to make and so worth it.

Lunch:

I had a super lazy lunch day which involved none of my own cooking so all credits go to the market just around the corner:

Deliciously fresh corn tortilla wraps – to die for omg

Filled with beans and seriously spicy potatoes

Doesn’t get much simpler/lazier but a delicious midday snack.

Tea/dinner/supper/whatever you call it, don’t hate me: 

The second food I’d marry is sweet potatoes (very close second place after bananas)

http://nutritionfacts.org/2015/11/19/sweet-potato-proteins-vs-cancer/ – When your fave food fights cancer, yes.

This (appetising?) looking jug is a mix of sweet potatoes, cauliflower, lentils, onion with garlic, ginger, cumin and a bit of veg stock (no oil!)

Thick warm soups are definitely the best in Winter, de acuerdo? Added a super spicy chilli sauce and pepper for that kick ya know. Also got some tomato, lettuce and a lime for dressing

Using my lettuce as a spoon because who has time for cutlery, crunchy lettuce, spicy warm soup is COMFORT food – so filling

So a full day of vegan eating that was super tasty and cheap to make, bring on tomorrow’s deliciousness

Hasta luego!

 

 

Have I lost the plot?

Most people look at me like I’ve lost the plot when I tell them I’ve given up meat, fish and dairy products BUT hear me out people. The last thing I want to do is preach to people that ‘my diet is better than yours’. No, no, no. I’m no expert and don’t claim to be, but I’ve felt so much better in the short time since switching to being vegan that it feels wrong to me not to share it.

In June this year I decided to go vegan after months of religiously watching vegan activists and bloggers on YouTube (Freelee, Durian Rider, BonnyRebecca, Niomi Smart and Tami are all amazing and I’ve put all the links to their channels below). My first thoughts were how amazing to be so passionate about living an incredibly healthy, environmentally friendly and ethical lifestyle but it looks way too hard for a broke, lazy-ish student like myself. Nevertheless, throughout my second year of uni I did masses of research online into veganism and I gradually found myself saying no to watching films and sometimes even going out (yep that was hard to admit) just so I could spend my evenings learning more and more about the benefits of this lifestyle, and yeah I’d say it’s a lifestyle more than a diet. ‘Diet’ to me sounds more like a restrictive, miserable food prison. I have absolutely no regrets and can’t believe it took me so long to actually do it.

Of course it’s not just fruit but YUM right

Vegan chocolate tart

Vegan caramel chocolate yums

Vegan nachos/homemade chips

(Just some of the boring food I’ve had to make as a vegan)

I’ve felt so many benefits already and I’ve only just dipped my toe in the water. For me the most noticeable thing has been my energy levels… They are so much higher! I’m not in any way saying that I could run or cycle miles and miles without feeling tired, it’s not a fitness thing (yet, work in progress 😉 ) , it’s more that I’m a lot more up for giving it a go. I’ll be sat down and realise I’m swinging my leg, the kitchen turns into a dance floor pretty much everyday, I’ll race my brothers to car and I never wake up with that horrible tired, sluggish feeling that stopped me getting out of bed and had me glugging back coffee and tea all day. I’ve always been an early riser but definitely not a very willing one!

My ability to concentrate also feels really different. I’m a lot more able to focus on something I’m reading and absorb it rather than resting my head on the keyboard hoping it all goes in through my ear towards my brain and stays there somehow. Brain is clearly loving all this glucose.

I know that a lot of people switch to veganism for weight loss reasons so I guess it’s worth me mentioning that too. At first that might have been my main motive but it’s definitely been pushed right to the back of my mind now – I’ve come to realise there are tons of other great reasons to go vegan and now all I want to do is tell everyone else so they can benefit too. Yes, a healthy weight is so important but isn’t living ethically and economically important too? Personally I haven’t noticed much weight difference since making the switch, though I don’t ever weigh myself; not because I have a phobia or anything, I just don’t own a weighing scale and can’t be bothered to buy one. I used to think a healthy lifestyle meant eating ‘healthy’ foods in really small amounts. If I’d eaten below the daily recommended amount of 2000 calories (didn’t happen often mind) I went to bed feeling really proud of myself. I just think this goes to show how negative the media and our society makes our relationship with food and healthy living; effectively I was pleased when I hadn’t given my body what it needed to keep me going… sounds healthy… the beauty of veganism is it’s much harder to eat badly so you don’t have to restrict.

So where am I taking it now? Well even though I’ve still got my Spanish degree to finish off, I’ve decided to enrol onto a Vegetarian and Vegan Nutritional Therapy course (here’s the link if you’re interested – http://www.bsygroup.co.uk/index.php/course/vegetarian-vegan-nutritional-therapy). I’m not saying that you need to do anything like this if you’re thinking about going vegan, far from it when there’s masses of information and amazing documentaries online (which I’ll also link below). I was just so interested in all the nutritional benefits that I fancied getting a qualification so that in the future I’d have the option to give other people advice plus ‘keeping all the doors open’ and stuff. I also want to be able to answer all the annoying questions about protein and calcium and convince people that fruit and veg actually have more than just vitamin C in them…

Do I miss anything about eating meat, fish and dairy? Nope. To be honest I can’t believe I ever ate them in the first place.

If these were dogs would you call RSPCA? Pigs are just as smart as dogs

‘Worthless’ male chicks being ground up alive

Name another animal that drinks milk their whole lives, would you put human breast-milk on your cereal?

Fantasy

Reality

 

We consume meat and dairy products containing hormones, antibiotics and pesticides yet all we worry about is protein…

Plus there’s the environment to think about:

Wanna reduce your carbon footprint?

And people say shorter showers save water…

 

Here’s the links I was talking about:

 

YouTubers:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Freelea – Freelee has AMAZING videos about her Raw Til 4 lifestyle, celebrity diets and the Fruit Festival in Thailand plus her vegan conversion story is awesome

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/durianriders – Durian Rider’s has some seriously good videos about cycling, motivation, diet and fitness (if you lack motivation seriously watch them)

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBo67oEmXRatmYoyxsC9x5g – Tami is a fitness instructor, she has great tips on working out and ‘What I eat in a day’ videos – her channel is really honest and real, I love it

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/niomismart – Niomi is a beauty blogger but she has some really great and EASY vegan cooking videos as well

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOu3SAozsyQyKE2wD IJtdQ – Bonny is seriously inspirational, she has ‘What I eat in day’ videos and vlogs of the Thai fruit festival

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/NutritionFactsOrg – All the facts you need

 

Documentaries/Lectures:

 COWSPIRACY – I think this is now available on Netflix but I watched it free online

FORKS OVER KNIVES

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEuRMm-a6mo – This is a lecture by Dr Colin Campbell on his ‘China Study’ soooo interesting and informative, I highly, highly recommend even if you’re not interested in going vegan