eating for health rather than appearance

my health history

veganism can be very beneficial to your overall health – both mental and physical – but you still have to choose the right foods to eat. it’s easy to be vegan and live off of french fries, oreos, pasta, and plenty other unhealthy things. and initially, i expected to do that and still benefit from eating a vegan diet.

the first month or so i was fully vegan, i felt great. i was eating a mixture of fruits and veggies, as well as vegan treats because i was mainly learning what exactly i could eat. slowly, i found more and more vegan alternatives to many of my favorite foods, and ate those far more often than i ate healthy foods. it was exciting to find yummy things to eat when i initially felt so restricted by veganism. it was also much easier and more filling to make a frozen pizza or mac n cheese than to eat some roasted potatoes or to make a smoothie.

it didn’t take too long for me to get sick of not feeling my best, because i knew how good i felt when i initially went vegan. so i began trying different vegan diets, with my main goal being weight loss. veganism already can feel relatively restrictive because there are suddenly so many things you can’t eat. then adding a specific diet on top of that makes it that much more difficult. my freshman year of college, i lived off of vegetable sushi, potatoes, and broccoli essentially. it felt like the tiniest mistake would have huge repercussions.

eventually, i gave up on any specific diet and returned to eating whatever i wanted. overall, i probably still ate healthier than a standard american due to restrictions that often caused me to not be able to eat the unhealthy option. but i still didn’t feel my best.

my new mindset

i wanted to kick this blog off by learning to cook healthier meals, but i don’t enjoy cooking. i like keeping things simple, and being vegan makes that pretty easy most of the time. it’s actually less work to eat healthy and be vegan. rice or frozen quinoa is a simple base, smoothies and oatmeal are easier than scrambled tofu, not to mention cheaper. so i decided to go into eating healthier with the mentality of making things easier on myself.

another difference i wanted to make was the idea that i’m eating this way for some sort of physical result. of course i want to feel confident in my body, but i think it’s time i change my mindset rather than trying to change my body. for so long i’ve felt “chubby,” even though i am in a healthy weight range for my age and height. yes, it could be in a different proportion that would make me feel better about myself, but overall there’s nothing actually wrong with my body, and it’s taken me a long time to realize that.

additionally, i think by making this change to my mindset, eating healthy will become easier because i’m going to put more focus on how my body feels, rather than how it looks. as i stated before, i would get frustrated when i wouldn’t see the results i thought i should be seeing, and then give up, putting me back to square one. ideally, i will be so focused on how much better it feels, that i’ll be able to maintain this mindset.

what i’ve been eating

i eat pretty much the same things every day which makes things much easier because i always have a list of basic things i need from the store – bananas, dates, spinach, oats, lettuce, avocados, black beans, frozen broccoli, vegan burritos, etc.

most days, my breakfast is a green smoothie consisting of:

1/2 c water

2 bananas (tastes better if they’re frozen)

2 dates (preferably medjool)

2 tsp PB2 powder / 1 tsp almond butter

big handful of spinach / 1/2 c frozen broccoli

sometimes i add protein powder after a workout

or sometimes i add oats to make it a little more filling if i know i won’t eat for a while

lunch is typically a frozen amy’s bean and rice burrito from kroger / target. the ingredients are pretty simple, and it tastes great with some sriracha or hot sauce on it.

i try to snack on fruits like grapes, apples, oranges, watermelon. but most of the time i end up snacking on skinny pop sea salt and black pepper popcorn because it satisfies my salty craving and replaces my go-to snack which is chips.

finally for dinner, i’ll make a salad. the portions just depend on how hungry i am. it consists of:

chopped lettuce

black beans

corn

quinoa to make it more filling

and i usually make a dressing with

1 mashed avocado

some tahini / coconut aminos to give some liquid

some minced garlic

salt and pepper

and a little water if it’s still too thick

how i feel

for now, i’m pretty content with the way i’m eating. i still have to resist the urge to go out and get some yummy vegan buffalo wings, but i 100% feel better and i know that eventually i’ll get to a mindset where i can treat myself with things like that and still feel great. but none of the things i’m eating take longer than about 10 minutes to prep, which makes it even better, and only one of my meals is something that is prepackaged.

i’ve been eating this way steadily for about a week, and i instantly felt more confident in my body because i just feel lighter and healthier overall. my bloating has gone down, and some of my acne has begun to clear up. i’m also trying to consciously drink more water (with lemon), as well as less coffee to stay hydrated (without having to pee every 20 minutes). but i’m very happy with how i feel!