Growing up, most of the meals in our house consisted of meat, processed carbs(breads, pastas, instant white rice), and cheese, with very little vegetables, salads, and fruits.
It took me moving out on my own in my early 20’s to realize that the health issues I dealt with most of my life were diet related.
When I was in charge of my own food, and after trying out different types of eating, I found that eating a more whole food plant based diet ended up curing all the health issues I experienced growing up.
Here are the components that are used in creating easy healthy meals to eat.
It’s simple to put together.
Just do your best to include foods from each of the categories listed below.
Whole Grains & Starchy Vegetables:
Some examples of whole grains and starchy vegetables are below.
- Whole grains: oats, whole wheat, rice, sorghum, buckwheat, barley, quinoa, millet, etc.
- Starchy Vegetables: potato, yam, taro, yuca, jicama, sweet potato, parsnip, beet, etc.
Protein:
Some examples of protein sources:
- Meat Protein: seafood, poultry, red meat, pork, etc.
- Vegetable Protein: legumes(beans & peas), lentils, tofu, tempeh, etc.
- Insects
Vegetables:
Some examples of vegetable sources:
- Bok choy, collard greens, beet greens, lettuces, chard, spinach, kale, etc.
- Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, etc.
- Squash, pumpkin, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, beets, peppers, zucchini, olives, artichoke, avocado, etc.
- Mushrooms
- Garlic, leeks, onions, shallots, etc.
Note: A lot of foods that we consider vegetables are technically classified as fruits.
I’m intentionally putting those here under vegetables to reduce confusion.
Nuts & Seeds:
Here are some examples of nuts and seeds.
- Nuts: brazil, macadamia, almond, walnuts, cashews, pistachio, peanuts, etc.
- Seeds: chia, sunflower, sesame, flax, hemp, etc.
Fruits:
Here are some examples of types of fruits.
Berries, apples, citrus, tropical fruits, strawberries, grapes, etc.
I tend to eat fruits as a snack outside of meal times.
Spices:
Curate a selection of your favorite spices and spice blends to have on hand to season your meals.
Salad:
I tend to do large dark leafy green salads in the summer as a full meal, with protein and vegetables as all part of the salad.
I don’t always have a raw salad with all my meals, since I do consume green smoothies that have 3–4 cups of kale\spinach\chard\other dark leaf greens in them.
I usually make sure to have some raw pickled or fermented side with my meal if I’m not having a salad.
Closing Thoughts:
You can make your own lists with your favorite foods in each category, so you will have a quick and helpful mix & match chart to pull together meals with.
What are some of your favorite foods to make meals with?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks for reading.
