Years ago, I observed the rise of Veganism as an extreme response to an extreme situation of animal exploitation and abuse.
At the time of this writing, personal experience has taught me that a Vegan diet isn't just a retort to inhumane animal farming practices, but rather, the closest rendition of a pure, natural, unadulterated human source of food. Let me explain...
Human physiology is such that we thrive in climates where weather is warm year round, and edible vegetation is abundant. If we migrate to colder climates we require the use of tools to adapt. If we look out in nature and see lush vegetation, a fruiting tree and some wild boars, most peoples' instinctual reaction is likely to choose picking a fruit off a tree as the most natural thing to eat (versus killing the boar or testing the palate to some unknown greens). Furthermore, we have a pretty long intestinal tract, which means the transit time is long, thus allowing ample opportunity to absorb nutrients from the liquids and fibers of plant based foods. Animal flesh on the other hand has more opportunity to rot in that time, not to mention tax the stomach for hydrochloric acid production and the liver for its bile secretion. The question of moral or ethical considerations on this subject could be discussed at length so I won't get into that here.
With that reasoning out of the way, I conclude simply, that eating a diet almost exclusively of fresh fruits and vegetables to be the most nourishing and healing for the human body. However, I suspect that some naysayers might cringe on reading that, thinking you need your high sources of protein, your high dose of healthy fats, lots of nuts and seeds and coconut oil and so on and so forth. If my simple conclusion warrants a post to clarify it, I can do that, because there's a lot of harmful health fads out there. For now however, I wish to simply state that just cutting meat and their byproducts out of one's diet and continuing to eat processed versions of "vegan foods" is a very inappropriate way to pursue healthy eating. We need to return back to basics: Whole Foods... whether eaten raw or cooked or both, with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables. With that, I leave you with three sample meals that I created for myself. And yes, to eat a whole plant food based diet does require some lifestyle adjustments because you need to prepare your meals in lieu of your busy lifestyle working 9-5 or whatever other responsibilities you are tied to. Without further adieu, here are some ideas to get your imagination rolling!
Fruits & Greens Bowl
Hidden underneath the beautiful display atop is diced up Mango, Papaya (including seeds) and Banana. A generous layer of assorted chopped up greens follow, which in this case includes various Lettuces, Kale, Cilantro and Sorrel. These are sprinkled with some Garam Masala spice mix, then Rice Bran & Germ (optional really, but adds sweetness), a generous serving of shelled Hemp Seeds, and finished with unfrozen Wild Blueberries.
Chocolate Bean Rhubarb Bowl
This meal is composed of various leftovers. Adzuki Beans simply soaked 24h then boiled, mashed with a fork, with Cacao Powder mixed in plus liquid glycerin Stevia extract to taste. This Rhubarb was freshly harvested from my garden (but can be seasonally purchased) and gently stir-fried with Cinnamon and other spices with mixed in dried Black Currants to sweeten the Rhubarb tartness. The mix is then topped with diced Apples and some wild Arugula from the garden (because I love Arugula on anything).
Cucumber Papaya Meal
This last one was just a convenient way to enjoy some Cashew Cheese I decided to adventure into whilst at a local Vegan Fair selling all sorts of artisan creations. Note, I rarely eat specialty stuff like this simply because it is unnecessary in the diet, and I don't miss dairy-based cheese. So, to balance out the dehydrating nature of mildly astringent fermented foods I hollowed out an organic Cucumber, sprinkled it with Turmeric powder and layered on the cheese. Some nourishing Papaya was added to the mix along with fresh Wild Arugula because again, I love it and have lots of it. You use whatever greens you like :-)
The point I'm painting across is get creative with combinations of whole foods ingredients; don't be afraid to experiment and enjoy the adventure of food! One of few rules of food combining that comes to mind is just remember to eat Melons as a separate meal on their own, because it's pretty much already a digested food so you don't want to delay it's evacuation from the stomach!
I hope you found these ideas inspirational. If you have photos of your own creative whole-plant-based meal ideas, I would love to see posts of them :-)