It seems that many people think they eat “healthy.” But most people are far from the mark. What constitutes a healthy meal? Most importantly is that the meal be plant based. Even if the meal is not entirely vegetarian, it can still constitute as plant based. For example, if the meal totals 1 pound of food, 90% or at least 14 oz of that weight should be whole plant foods.
However, vegetarians/vegans shouldn’t assume that because their meal is entirely plant-based it is automatically healthy. A healthy meal includes a large proportion of vegetables and legumes. Filling up on pasta, rice, tortillas, and other processed starchy foods creates less room for nutrient dense vegetables, beans, peas, and lentils. Using a lot of oil also adds lots of calories and no nutrients.
Below are some examples of plant-based meals based mostly on low starch vegetables and legumes.
1. Ratatouille with marinated grilled tofu and steamed red-skinned potatoes. Noticed the vegetable ratatouille makes up most of the plate.
2. Hummus with baked non-fat corn tortilla chips, avocado, tomato and lettuce dippers. The lettuce can be used as tortillas to roll up dip, avocado and tomato.
3. Baby bok choy and portabella mushrooms in sesame ginger sauce with steamed edamame and brown rice. The idea is to eat LOTS of the low calorie, high nutrient bok choy and mushrooms, less of the edamame and even less of the rice.
Dessert!
This is not an example of a meal! But here is a healthy, no sugar whole plant food dessert.
Chocolate Avocado Cream pie in a date-nut crust with fresh mangoes and figs. Who ever said eating healthy doesn’t also mean eating well??
