The Plant-Based Diet Meal Plan

This book is full of so much handy advice that I wish it had been around all those years ago when I changed my diet. Heather explains why a plant-based diet is beneficial and she includes info on health ailments that it can prevent and reverse. She also explains the different types of vegan foods, such as leafy greens, root vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. She includes a handy list of plant superfoods, as well as nutrition guidelines that will help you stay strong and focused.

Heather is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, and she’s dedicated to making healthy plant-based meals accessible to everyone. I absolutely love her down-to-earth advice. She knows that being hyper focused on the health aspects of plant-based eating to the point of missing out on flavor isn’t realistic for everyone. While oils and sugars are certainly not health food, Heather knows that a drizzle here or a pinch there can help in the enjoyment of vegetables, so the option of using them is included in her recipes.

Since this is The Plant-Based Diet Meal Plan, of course a meal plan is included! Heather’s three-week plan includes recipes and shopping lists for everything you need to kick-start your plant-based journey. Heather sprinkles handy tips throughout the three weeks, too, such as how to handle problems digesting beans and creative ways to use leftovers.

Even if you’ve been vegan for years like I have, you’ll enjoy the flavorful recipes in The Plant-Based Diet Meal Plan. These dishes are all easy to make, they’re loaded with flavor, and they are filling, so you won’t be hungry half an hour after mealtime. These are all dishes that omnivores will easily recognize, which makes the transition even easier.

Recipes chapters in The Plant-Based Diet Meal Plan include:

• Smoothies and Breakfasts
• Soups and Salads
• Main Dishes
• Snacks and Sides
• Desserts
• Homemade Basics, Sauces, and Condiments
• Drinks

After three weeks on The Plant-Based Diet Meal Plan, you’ll feel lighter, healthier, and energized!

Miso-Coconut Dragon Bowl

 

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This salty, creamy bowl is simple to make, and yet tasty and nutritious. It is oil-free, but the fat content of the coconut milk makes it satisfying. When choosing a coconut milk, the low-fat varieties are okay if you look for a can that lists only coconut, water, and guar gum as ingredients. Guar gum is a plant-derived soluble ber that helps thicken the coconut milk when some of the fat is ltered out.

Author: Heather Nicholds

Yield: 1 bowl

Ingredients

FOR THE BOWL

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil, or vegetable broth or water
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• Pinch sea salt
• ½ cup brown mushrooms, sliced
• ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved

FOR THE DRESSING

• 2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
• ¼ cup canned coconut milk
• 1 to 2 teaspoons miso paste
• 1 teaspoon coconut sugar, or maple syrup (optional)

FOR SERVING

• ¾ cup cooked quinoa, or millet,
• brown rice, or any other whole grain
• 1 cup baby arugula, or spinach (if mature leaves, chopped)
• 1 tablespoon slivered almonds

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat and lightly sauté the onion with the salt, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, cooking until they’re fully softened. Then add the cherry tomatoes and cook until just softened, about 10 minutes total.
2. Make the dressing by whisking or puréeing the mint, coconut milk, miso paste, and coconut sugar or maple syrup (if using) together in a medium bowl. Stir this into the cooked vegetables, then remove them from the heat.
3. Serve the cooked vegetables over the quinoa, with the arugula on top and the almonds to garnish.

Notes

Options: You could use green or red curry paste instead of miso for a deli- cious curry bow

Recipe from The Plant-Based Diet Meal Plan by Heather Nicholds. Reprinted with permission.

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Chic Vegan: What motivated you to become vegan? Was it an overnight switch or more gradual shift?
Heather Nicholds: Initially, my motivation was learning about the environmental impact of animal agriculture. That was my tipping point. I realized I could do something to make a difference. Something that was entirely under my control. When you add in saving animals’ lives and hopefully boosting my chances of staying healthy into old age, it’s a no brainer. I went vegetarian overnight, and then a few months later I went vegan overnight, when I learned that all the same issues applied to dairy and egg production. I know that not everyone can make such a big change overnight, but I love change and challenges, and my motivation was so strong that it wasn’t really a choice – it was the only way I could go forward with the knowledge I had. Learning how to make healthy, balanced and delicious vegan meals every day, though – that was a very gradual process! There were definitely some disasters in the early days. That’s when having the trifecta of motivation really helps to perservere through the failures.

CV: What changes did you notice in yourself after going vegan?
HN: I began actually enjoying cooking. Up to that point, I struggled to figure out how to cook foods properly, I hated handling raw animal flesh, I worried about bacterial contamination, It was gross and frustrating trying to clean pots and pans. Going vegan ended all of that, and opened the door for me to learn about flavors, experiment with different ways of preparing foods, and discover new foods I’d never heard of before – like buckwheat.

From a health perspective, as I added more whole foods and fresh produce, I found that some really bad indigestion and gas cleared away, I had more energy and I got sick a lot less often.

CV: Tell me a little bit about your new book Protein from Plants and what inspired you to write it.
HN: Essentially the reason I wrote this book is: when people think about going vegan, they worry about protein. And if I can help explain why that’s nothing to worry about, and give the information that they need to be healthy, my hope is that more people will be willing to make the shift.

The book is part nutrition resource, part cookbook… my approach as a nutritionist is about making the science easily understandable, plus giving delicious recipes to make it actionable.

So the first half of the book is three sections that give a full understanding of protein, including how much you actually need and how you can more than enough from plant foods. The second half is full of high-protein vegan recipes, along with 7 days worth of balanced meal plans to show you exactly how to get all the protein you need from plants.

CV: The number one question most vegans get asked is, “where do you get your protein?” Why do you think our culture is so obsessed with protein?
HN: I honestly don’t know. Someone has done a really good marketing job promoting protein, and the idea that “protein foods” are the best. To think that a meal is healthy just because it’s high in protein is so strange to me. All the focus on protein pancakes doesn’t make for an overall healthy, balanced diet. There is such a thing as too much protein! Early signs are mild – things like being irritable, having brain fog, feeling thirsty, being constipated, having bad breath. It could progress though, and put a serious toll on your kidneys from having to break down and filter the protein.

From the perspective of non-vegans, I think the obsession comes from being taught to balance our plates with portions of protein foods, starch foods, and vegetables. The trouble is, in the plant kingdom, most foods have protein, starch, and vitamins and minerals – along with fiber, water, antioxidants and more. So we don’t have a direct swap for “protein foods” and we have to rebalance our plates a little bit. We can’t point to our plates and say “that’s my protein quadrant.” There’s protein in everything on the plate, but it’s a different way to think about it than people were taught for so long.

CV: Do vegans really need to worry about getting enough protein in their diets?
HN: No, they don’t need to worry – there is plenty of protein in a typical vegan diet. There are some things they need to be aware of, like getting enough variety of foods to get all the amino acids we need, cooking said food properly and chewing fully to ensure proper digestion, and certain situations when we may need to boost our protein intake above the average. The idea that it’s impossible to be protein deficient is an oversimplification – but that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated. And it certainly isn’t common to be protein deficient in developed countries.

CV: Do you have a favorite recipe in the book?
HN: Good question! I’m a bit tempeh-deprived at the moment, so the tempeh bourguignon is the one I’m most craving!

CV: What’s the number one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to go vegan, but doesn’t know where to start?
HN: Just start. No need to be perfect, no need to do it all at once. Just start. And pick up some advice from a really good nutritionist (wink, wink) so you stay healthy and have answers to the questions your friends/family will invariably ask.

CV: What is your favorite vegan indulgence?
HN: There are so many… if I had to choose only one, I would say a really dark, rich dairy-free chocolate!

CV: What vegan product could you not live without?
HN: Well I now have a tense debate going on in my head between tempeh and chocolate… My nutritionist brain is saying tempeh for the literal reason of having more nutrients to support life… however, my regular-person brain is saying chocolate for the metaphorical reason of having more deliciousness to support my soul…

CV: In your wildest dreams what will your life look like in 5 years?
HN: I will have an endless supply of tempeh and chocolate, along with a few mango and fig trees in the back yard. There will be more vegans than non-vegans in the world, and leadership of countries around the globe will be implementing the changes to policy, infrastructure and economic systems we need to save our planet.

The post Interview Series: Heather Nicholds appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Usually, one of the first questions vegans are asked is how they get protein, since animal foods are considered by many to be the ideal protein source—and some people think they are the only foods that contain protein.

Protein from Plants by Heather Nicholds will give you a full understanding of protein, including how much you actually need and how to get more than enough from plant foods. Armed with the information, recipes and meal plans in this book, you will be confident and healthy as a vegan—and have the answers to those questions.

You’ll find part nutrition resource, and part cookbook. Protein from Plants takes the science and makes it easily understandable, plus it gives you delicious recipes and balanced meal plans to make it actionable. It bridges the gap that normally separates knowledge from practical steps.

Protein from Plants is also for vegetarians and meat-eaters, since focusing more on the plant side of your plate is always a good thing, and you might be curious about how your vegan friends can be so healthy without meat.

Protein from Plants is available in a print version or for Kindle.

Black Bean Taco Salad

 

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Author: Heather Nicholds

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1½ cup black beans, (cooked) or a 14 oz can
• 1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
• ⅛ cup fresh cilantro, or parsley
• 1 lime - juice and zest
• 1-2 tsp chili powder
• sea salt, to taste
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped

Instructions

1. Toss all of the ingredients together. This tastes better if you have a chance to prep it in advance, so the flavors have time to merge.
2. Keep leftovers in the fridge in an air-tight container.

Notes

Hints & Tricks
Serve this tossed with cooked quinoa, or in a lightly heated whole grain wrap, topped with chopped avocado or guacamole plus salsa.

Recipe from Protein from Plants by Heather Nicholds. Reprinted with permission.

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