Eating vegan isn’t too difficult if you enjoy pasta, but for someone whose diet consists of meat, eggs, and cheese, or a combination of the three, it’s nearly impossible… so I thought. The idea of eating a plant-based diet has always appealed to me; all the vegans I have spoken to say they’ll never go back to eating animal products. So I thought, what’s the hype? No chicken? No eggs? No…. CHEESE??! Like I said, my diet revolves around chicken, eggs, cheese, and whey protein (extracted from milk), so a vegan diet was out of the question.

Or was it?

I needed to make a change. I work at a supplement store, and when a customer came in for plant-based protein, I asked him how long he has been a vegan, how he got started, and so on. When I mentioned that I was thinking about transitioning to veganism, he suggested I start with one meal a day. So this week, I gave it a shot. My only rule was that each meal had to be different, so I can experience as wide a variety as possible. Because I am an athlete, my main focus was eating enough protein, so things had to get a little creative!

If anyone is interested in veganism, and doesn’t know how to get started, here are some of my meal ideas from this week’s challenge!

Super Food Protein Oatmeal

This meal was absolutely delicious, unbelievably satisfying, and super easy. All I did here was cook the oats as I normally would, throw a couple tablespoons of vegan protein powder (plant based), blueberries,banana, cocoa nibs, and chia seeds. To make it more voluminous and less carb-y, I added some cooked riced-cauliflower to the mix. Can't even taste it! If you're starting with one meal per day, this is a great and easy breakfast.

Black Bean Pasta with Beefless Beef

Black bean pasta?? What's that?! THAT, my friends, is how vegans get their protein in! This was my first time trying black bean pasta, and although it did taste like black beans, the texture and shape did make me feel like I was eating something more fun. You actually can do this recipe with regular pasta, but I wanted to make sure I was consuming enough protein. I threw some veggies and salsa into the mix, along with some beef-less beef-- wait, what? Meat substitutes are not the best foods to eat because they are processed and do contain a lot of sodium, but it really did taste good in this meal, and again, allowed me to eat the foods i enjoy without eating animal products.

Macaroni and Cheese?

This one was delicious and super satisfying! I used brown rice-pasta, so the pasta itself was a bit thicker, which I actually liked. I cooked it normally and then cooked it on a pan with tofu, veggies, beans, and nutritional yeast. For those who are not familiar with nutritional yeast, its taste resembles cheese, and it is an excellent natural source of protein.

"Fried Rice"

I am a big fan of my fried rice recipe, which includes tofu, an egg, and cheese. While it might be vegetarian, two of the three main ingredients are obviously not vegan. The cheese, I replaced with nutritional yeast; that was easy. The hard part was figuring what to do to replace the egg. As it turns out, flaxseeds are a great replacement for egg as a "binder." So I did my typical "rice" recipe, which is actually riced cauliflower, used flaxseed as a binder (1 Tbsp Flaxseed meal + 2 TBSP water), and added veggies, tofu, and cooked red lentils. I brought this to class, as you can see from the purple notebook underneath my tupperware, and the kid next to me was so jealous! He said he never would've guessed it was vegan.

Coconut Tofu

Getting enough protein in is not a problem if you like tofu, and if you don't I suggest you add some coconut! I pre-seasoned it with hot spices, and then cooked it in only 1/2 TBSP of coconut oil, and the sweet/spicy combination was incredible! Of course I added some veggies and lentils.

Tofu French Toast

You can say I got a little creative towards the end of the week. What can I say-- I like breakfast! After pressing the tofu, I cooked it on a pan with coconut oil, cinnamon and stevia until it got a bit more crispy. On the side I had a slice of real bread (Ezekial Cinnamon Raisin) topped with homemade almond butter and banana. This breakfast was an interesting one, but it was quick, sweet, and it kept me full for hours.

PB and Banana Chicken?

This is actually my favorite meal when I make it with chicken, so I decided to make it vegan and simply substitute the chicken with tofu. Again, I seasoned the tofu and baked it so that it was crispy and spicy, and threw it in with the PB, banana, sugar free syrup, and cinnamon, and to my surprise, I actually liked it better than I liked the recipe with chicken! I could not believe how much, to be honest.

Snacks

Anyone who knows me knows I am a snack/dessert-girl. For snacks, I actually had a lot of fruit, and for more satiating snacks, I had No Cow bars, which are made by D's Naturals brand. The bars are vegan, gluten free, and lower calorie and fat than most protein bars. Because of the high fiber count, the small bars actually kept me full and fueled when I needed them to. Oh yeah-- and they're crazy delicious!Overall, it was a great week. I had a ton of strength in the weight room, and had so much energy throughout the day. My bloating went down tremendously; I just felt clean. Because of this little experiment, I am actually looking into making the real switch, and eating vegan as much as possible. I hope this post inspired you to at least try some vegan recipes!