I hereby challenge you to a 30-day food challenge! For 30 days, eat:
- Whole plant foods and whole grains
- No meat (including fish and eggs)
- No dairy (including cheese and butter)
- No vegetable oils
- Minimal nuts, seeds, and avocados (preferably none, but no more than 1 tbsp per day)
- Drink only water or herbal tea (1 cup of coffee or caffeinated tea is the exception – no juice, soda, energy drinks, etc.)
The easiest way to do this is by cooking food at home using the recipes found on this blog, but feel free to expand beyond my stuff and get creative; find alternative recipes for the food you know and love! Stick to the rules, don’t cheat, and see how you feel at the end of 30 days.
Now, if the rules are a little too broad, and you’re left with NO IDEA how to eat during these 30 days, let me provide with a little more information on how you can make it successfully, happily, and tastily through a month of plant-based eating:
- Stick to Starchy Plant Foods – Brown rice (I recommend short grain for texture’s sake), whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, and beans.
- Find Simple Recipes You Love – Find a few and eat them over and over again; failure often comes with feeling overwhelmed by complication.
- Eat Enough – Forget about portion control. Eat until you feel full and happy for each and every meal.
- Plan Ahead – This tip and the one above are extremely important; you’re most likely to cheat or slip up when you are hungry from not eating enough or when you don’t have the right foods close by. Have snacks available, know when and what you’re going to eat for the day, and leave the guesswork out of it.
- Use Lots of Seasonings (and Salt) – Seasonings are great for you, and they’re a fabulous way to flavor food without adding fat. So pile them on. Then use salt added only at the table to enhance the flavor in your food.
- Learn to Say No – This is a tough one, but recognizing that hunger pains and cravings WILL NOT KILL YOU will help you to turn your back on the cookies, say “No” to fatty, oily, unhealthy foods, or wait the extra hour until you get home to eat something safe.
- Read Labels & Ask Questions – It’s easy to miss bad ingredients on packaged foods, so read labels carefully. It’s useful to have a cheat sheet for typical animal product ingredient names, and generally try staying away from foods that have long ingredient lists (i.e. processed). When eating out, make sure to let waiters know about your restrictions; they can often point you in the right direction for items on the menu that are at least vegan, and then you can ask for those items to be made with minimal oil.
Finally, here’s what a typical week looks like for me (with my favorite recipes):
Breakfast:
- I either have our signature Oatmeal Stew for breakfast, or leftover Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies or Banana Bread and pair it with two cups of herbal tea (typically about 16-24 ounces).
Lunch & Dinner:
Our Go-To Recipes:
- Tomato Baked Beans or Anaheim Chili with rice
- Chickpea & Potato Yellow Curry with rice
- Rice with Refried Beans & Fresh Salsa
- Fresh Tomato Sauce with whole grain pasta
I pair one of these recipes with fresh cut bell pepper, some chopped carrots and a piece of fruit for lunch and have a my Mixed Greens Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing and a larger portion of one of these recipes for dinner.
- I eat these recipes on repeat for lunch and dinner, cooking about 2-3 times per week.
- I eat homecooked meals for lunch and dinner every day during the workweek.
- I have a glass of water with each meal and drink 1-2 more glasses (or more herbal tea) between meals (16 ounces each – if you’re counting that’s 64 to 88 ounces daily!).
- I aim to eat some kind of ‘green’ with every meal – adding kale, spinach or cabbage to my meals, or eating a salad before I eat the main course.
I eat one to two meals MAXIMUM over the weekend away from home (though this has gone down to essentially zero since the pandemic!):
- I only go to restaurants where I already know the menu and can get something that fits the diet requirements.
- I only eat out at someone’s house if I know they’re cooking in a way that fits the diet. Otherwise, I eat before I go or when I get home.
Snacks
I personally am not a big “snacker,” but I do have the occasional:
- Sliced apple with cinnamon
- Raisins
- A whole banana or ‘Nice Cream’
- Cucumber with balsamic vinegar
- Baked potato with barbecue sauce
- Baked sweet potato with sugar and cinnamon
- Popcorn (popped on the stove with no oil)
Other than that, I honestly just eat leftovers when I’m hungry.
I’d love to be a part of your journey, so shoot me an email to let me know if you’re taking on the challenge, and share photos with me on Instagram of the food you eat (especially of my recipes) so I can see your progress day-to-day!
Happy Challenging 🙂
