We're Going Plant-Based For A Week!

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Why? 

I’ve been seeing so much lately about the Netflix Documentary “The Game Changers” which is a movie about the benefits of a plant-based diet for athletes, and goes a bit into how it can benefit non-athletes as well. An ex-UFC fighter follows some of the strongest, most athletic people in the world to research theories on plant-based diets. This documentary intrigued me because of its positive reviews for NOT being incredibly biased. Most documentaries (especially on this topic) are incredibly biased, with fear-based teaching of why people “should be vegans.” Granted, there was some bias which is expected. 

Tyler and I are so interested after watching to see how we would feel after just a week of plant based eating. I, of course, am a fitness junkie and I am so interested to see how it affects my recovery, strength, and endurance of workouts. I have been doing much higher intensity body-weight type workouts since the lockdown/quarantine began where we live in Italy (about 2ish weeks ago), as we are not allowed to even take a leisure walk. I’m relying on my workouts to get movement in the day and I have LOVED this little change up! Further, Tyler’s job requires him to withstand a certain level of fitness, and we are so interested to see how this helps him on longer/more strenuous flights. 

Are we going vegan forever, never eating meat again? No Ma’am. Are we excited to see how this affects our energy, sleep, fitness, skin, bodies? Hell yeah (said in a southern accent)!!! 

What we are NOT eating:

  • Beef

  • Chicken

  • Seafood (except maybe tuna for a lunch here or there, we will see if we have enough left-overs!)

What we ARE eating that is technically not plant-based:

  • Eggs 

  • Greek Yogurt (very little, but still!) 

  • Tyler will be eating cheese 

As you can see, this is not an anxiety-inducing “we can’t eat all these delicious things” way of eating, but rather an exciting outlook to help fuel our bodies better, still eat delicious meals, and get a little creative when it comes to our wellness right now. 

What are we eating? 

For dinners we are having the following…

  • TUESDAY: Tinga Cauliflower, sweet potato, and black bean tacos/taco bowl

  • WEDNESDAY: Indian spiced lentils, homemade naan, broccoli 

  • THURSDAY: Mango ginger rice bowl 

  • FRIDAY: Sesame tofu with sauteed green beans and brown rice 

  • SATURDAY: Chickpea nuggets, salad, and sweet potato fries 

  • SUNDAY: Leftovers because there will be plenty!

I do my weekly grocery shop using this template, and I “meal plan” for dinners. You may be asking, “what do you do for lunch then?” I’m so glad you asked! I generally make dinner for 4 even though it’s just the two of us, and we have the leftovers for lunch the next day. 

My usual breakfasts are:

  • Oatmeal

  • scrambled eggs

  • Omelettes

  • Smoothies

  • Toast

  • paleo pancakes. 

Any combination of the prior listed always containing a carb, protein, and fat. 

Snacks are usually veggies and hummus, apples, berries, nuts, smoothies, rice crackers, peanut butter rice cakes. 

Grocery List + Cost?

I was actually pleasantly surprised today! Generally I grocery shop twice per week, purchasing four “dinners” one time and two or three dinners the second time. Today I shopped for six dinners, plus restocked on some spices I ran out of, as well as some cleaning supplies. I’ve listed my grocery list below so you can have a bit more context.

Fruit:

  • 2 Avocado

  • Frozen Mango 

  • 1 Lime 

  • 5 Lemons 

  • 6 Packages Celery (I drink celery juice every single day - it’s done wonders for my skin!) 

  • Unsweetened Applesauce (ingredients list only apples) 

  • Frozen Blueberries 

  • Frozen Raspberries

  • 2 Cans 28 oz. Crushed Tomatoes

Veggies:

  • 4 Sweet Potato 

  • Romaine

  • Spinach

  • 2 Green Cabbage

  • 2 Cauliflower Heads

  • 3 Yellow Onion 

  • Basil

  • 2 Big Carrots

  • 1 Cucumber

  • Ginger 

  • Frozen Green Beans (we can’t get fresh here at the moment, otherwise I’d purchase fresh) 

  • 3 Zuchinni 

  • 1 Sweet onion

  • Beyond Meat Italian Sausage (only 3 mean ingredients)

Beans/Legumes:

  • 4 cans Black Beans

  • 3 Bags Lentils

  • 4 Packages Extra Firm Tofu 

  • 2 Cans Chickpeas 

  • 2 Cans Kidney Beans

Grains:

  • Fresh Whole Wheat/Sourdough Bread (MAJOR plus to living in Italy...the bread is incredible, the ingredients are even more incredible.) 

  • Cornmeal 

  • Oatmeal 

Spices:

  • Cardamom 

  • Cumin 

  • Ginger (fresh and ground) 

Other:

  • 2 Cans Coconut Milk 

  • 100% Pure Maple Syrup 

  • Coconut Sugar 

You may notice I didn’t buy any packaged plant based “meats” except for the beyond meat sausage. One common downfall many people make when trying to go plant based is purchasing too many packaged items that do not have limited/pure ingredients. They can be full of chemicals, sugar, and extra sodium that your body will probably hate you for (and it’ll show). Many of these things like burgers, nuggets, etc. can easily be made from scratch, and they taste better too! 

Okay, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, how much did this grocery list cost?! 

Drum roll please….

$133.24 !!! 

That’s a win in my book! 

If you want to follow along and have some real-time updates, you best be following my instagram stories here my gal! 

I’d love to hear if you’ve done this and how it worked out for you! Leave a comment below and give me all the details! 

XO,

Di

NutritionDiana MatuszakVegan, Plant-Based diet, Vegetarian, The Game Changers, Healthy Lifestyle, Nutrition, Diana MatuszakComment