*Update 2018: I no longer follow a low-fat diet and don’t think it’s a good idea, I find it to be too restrictive. Also I didn’t include it in this post, but as a vegan I always supplement b12 since I don’t get it from food.
I enjoy reading other people’s What I Ate posts and videos, so I decided to share one as well!
I first started getting into What I Ate posts when my plant based doctor put me on a whole foods, low fat, starch based diet to help with some hormonal acne I got on my chin, neck, and back after getting off of birth control pills (after being on them for 10+ years).
I already didn’t cook with oil, but I still ate oil while out at restaurants or in some baked goods, and I also ate a lot of foods containing natural fats like seeds, avocados, cashew/almond milk, and nuts. Like a lot of nuts. (Because honestly vegan parm is so good!)
So when my doctor said I needed to eliminate all oil as well as foods containing natural fats like nuts, seeds, coconut, avocados, and soy, I had to change my eating habits, at least temporarily. (She said eventually I could add in some nuts/avocados/soy on occasion if I wanted to see how my body handles it.) I’m also gluten free because I figured out years ago that too much gluten gives me stomach aches/hives, so I have even less food options.
After she told me about this, I started reading more about low-fat, starch based diets in The Starch Solution and then found Nina & Randa’s YouTube video where they talked about how they cured their cystic acne through the same diet my doctor recommended. Then I started watching a bunch of their What I Ate videos and got a lot of meal and snack ideas–it was also just reassuring to see other people eating like me since a lot of people eat vegan and some even eat oil-free, but I don’t know of many people who eat a very low-fat diet.
Also, if you’re wondering, my skin has cleared up since I started eating like this! My huge breakouts stopped and have healed up a lot (it’s been 2 months), and I still get occasional pimples, but it’s nothing like it was before when my skin was constantly freaking out.
Side note: Natural fats like avocados and nuts (not oil) aren’t bad for you, but if you’re trying to clear up acne and have oily skin, they can aggravate it. I ate nuts, avocados, soy, and nut milks for months and was fine until my hormones started going haywire when I got off of birth control.
So enough rambling, but I just wanted to let y’all know where I’m coming from and why I eat the way I do. There are so many ways to eat vegan–you can eat exactly the same way meat eaters do with meat and cheese substitutes, eat as a whole foods, plant based vegan, raw vegan, raw til 4 vegan, etc. and they’re all valid, so this is just my current way if you’re curious!
Breakfast
Every morning I start off by drinking a big glass of water with the juice from half of a lemon in it, and then most days, I have oatmeal (cooked with water) for breakfast with a banana and either fresh or frozen berries or raisins. Oatmeal is so yummy and sustains me well until my next meal. This day I added frozen strawberries, which ended up making pretty pink oatmeal–yay!
Lunch
Another thing my doctor recommends is lots of beans and greens/squashes for fiber–so I try to get plenty of both daily. Usually Lucas makes a big batch of beans from scratch for us to eat throughout the week, but we had just ran out, so I heated up some canned baked beans and leftover zucchini rice. I also steamed some fresh broccoli and added a roma tomato for color and lemon juice for flavor. Yum!
Dinner
For dinner I had my favorite–potatoes! I don’t usually do anything fancy or spice my potatoes, I just like to dip them in a sauce–this time it was homemade hummus that was super tasty–I’m planning on sharing the recipe soon. I also added some steamed yellow squash, roasted hatch chiles, tomatoes, and carrots. Potatoes are so filling and comforting–I could eat them every day (and often do)! I had more potatoes than pictured because I went back for seconds (of course.)
Snack
Confession: I love popcorn. Since I don’t eat chips anymore, popcorn is my favorite crunchy, savory snack. I make it in the popcorn popper my Dad got me–it’s super easy, you just add kernels and pop it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes for delicious, oil-free, fluffy popcorn. I like to top it with salt, garlic powder, and a generous helping of nutritional yeast–the combo tastes a lot like the “butter salt” I used to use before I went vegan–it’s so good!
Dessert
In the evening I was in the mood for something sweet, so I made an apple crisp (recipe coming soon!) I’m too lazy to skin the apples like most people do though, lol. I ate about half of it and saved the rest for Lucas.
That’s it, y’all! What are some of your favorite vegan meals and snacks lately? Let me know in the comments! Also, if you’re interested in hearing more about how I healed my acne, let me know, and I may do a separate post about it.
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