Nutrition tips from Emerald for May Meat Challenge
Emerald
If you are eliminating or cutting back on eating animal products you will want to replace that protein with protein-rich sources such as lentils, beans, chick peas, and nuts. But protein is not as important as some people think. It's easy to get enough protein if you just focus on eating whole foods because there are so many sources.
Eat a rainbow of foods ranging from all the colors to get all of the phytonutrients. That is more important for good nutrition. Blueberries, purple kale, purple potatoes, purple yams, purple carrots, purple cabbage, and beets are high in nutrients. Red lettuce, raspberries, tomatoes, and other red foods are the next step down. Yams, squashes, carrots, citrus and other orange foods have great nutrition. It's easy to get green veggies which are important too for chlorophyll. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, asparagus, celery, zucchini, romaine lettuce, collards, bok choy, and cucumber to name a few. Seaweed, spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass, barley grass and other concentrated green superfoods are powerhouses of nutrition! Cauliflower, jicama, mushrooms and other white foods have specialized nutrients that are important too.
Eat a handful of nuts or nut butter twice a week or more. Flax meal, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds are great nutrition. Cashews are not the best due to the chemicals used in processing them but there are great vegan products made from cashews so enjoy some of them without relying on them too much.
Soak nuts overnight for better access to their protein. Make your own milk with a handful of almonds, hemp seeds, or oats in a blender full of water. Oat milk is the easiest because it doesn't need to be strained. Brazil nuts make interesting milk but go easy on them because they are a high source of selenium, which is good but not in too high an amount.
For good iron: black beans, beets, spinach and other dark leafy greens. For iodine: seaweed or raisins. For calcium: collard greens, almonds, broccoli, and kale. Add a little vinegar or lemon juice to greens to make the nutrients more bioavailable. For B vitamins: leafy greens and whole grains.
Some say grains and some say no grains - that's up to you. Quinoa is a complete protein with all of the amino acids.
Soy is good for some and bad for others. Miso and tempeh might be good for everyone because they are fermented. Amy's canned beans are great if you don't have time to cook. Eden is another good brand for quality. If beans give you gas cook them longer and focus on improving your digestion with probiotics and fermented foods. Eat prebiotics that feed gut flora naturally: jicama, asparagus, sunchokes, artichokes, all types of onions (including chives), and garlic – all as raw as possible. Apple cider vinegar is great for digestion and has many benefits.
When you eat meat you are eating an animal that knows what to eat. Be as smart as a cow that knows that plants are the best thing to eat. :) Eating meat is like a shortcut because you are recycling the nutrients that the animal ate. You can get those nutrients directly.
If you are becoming vegan or reducing your dependence on animal products it’s important to learn some nutrition.
By Emerald
(Who has not eaten meat in 48 years.)