Hello, food lovers and fellow plant based eaters! I rarely post about this topic which is a shame cause it's something I'm really interested in. 4 years ago my health was in a terrible condition, I had many inflammations that it was really hard to function normally. It was a wake up call from the universe to change my lifestyle and stop eating processed food.
Switching to a healthy, plant based diet isn't easy for anyone - we are so used to addicting effects of cheese, sugar and gluten. But once you pass the initial, challenging phase and organize your meals well, then it becomes effortless.
My diet is predominantly focused on fruits which I believe is the perfect food for us humans. I also consume fresh salads and to a degree cooked veggies. Eating 100% raw during winter in a climate such as we have here is too much of task for me currently so I stick to about 80%. If you are interested in including more fruits and salads in your diet, here are a few tips to succeed.
Start your day with fruits. Fruits are the perfect food for breakfast. As the name suggests you should break-the-fast with food that is the easiest to digest and will give you plenty of energy. Fruit is rich in sugar which will keep you full and give you energy to work with. You can do different, simple fruit conbimations, make smoothies or smoothie bowls.
Eat seasonally. Fresh food that's available during particular season is better tasting, has higher nutritional value and supports your current needs, compared to food that's grown artificially and shipped across the world. It's also cheaper and much better for your health. Exception to this are fruits you store in the freezer to eat throughout winter, such as berries, and fermented foods.
Include fresh juices. Healthy juice of 24-32oz can be a meal replacement. Juices are great to rest the body from digestion so it can work on the healing, and also to flush out the accumulated toxins. Some people will do poorly on this diet because their vessel is clogged so there's an issue of malabsorption. Unfortunately, to fix this, an extended juice fast is likely necessary (which isn't a terrible, but life-changing thing after all :) ).
Get inspired. Follow people who successfully live this lifestyle and see what they are doing. But don't copy, nothing will work the same for everyone. Instead experiment with what you learn and see what works best for you.
Keep it simple. Complex, eye-catching recipes might be fun to do from time to time. But in a long run a majority of your meals should be simple, fruit bowls, salads with no more than 3-4 ingredients etc. It is a much healthier way of eating. Combining foods that digest at different rates will cause trouble to digestion. Making big recipes also takes a lot of time and it might discourage you from keeping up with the lifestyle.
Below are some meals I prepare for myself. Hope they get you inspired. :)
