With all the hype about healthy how do you really know what to do?
Vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, plant-based, keto and so many others. It is very difficult to know but there are some things that we do know. Like too much sugar is bad. Most anything white should not be eaten. Fruits and vegetables are good for you.
So, with that knowledge you can make some pretty simple decisions. Like to eliminate white flour or limit sugar intake. However, there are tons of “healthy recipes” on the internet so take caution.
Nothing is more frustrating than looking for recipes and finding desserts laden with tons of sugar or just plain unhealthy ingredients. Being plant-based is not about just cutting out animal products like eggs and milk, it’s about finding the best plant-based alternatives that will create a healthier food. Swapping out dates for sugar or using a fruit-based compote instead of syrup can be the difference between healthy and harmful.
Vegan Mac & Cheese?
Sometimes finding healthy alternatives can be difficult and sometimes it can completely change the way the food tastes. Like Vegan macaroni and cheese or even plant-based macaroni and cheese. I grew up on macaroni and cheese. Nutritional yeast, coconut milk and the other ingredients that they use as “cheese sauce” does not taste like cheese to me. Call it something else like Creamy Pasta or Not Quite Mac & Cheese. Over time you will get used to these flavors and learn to create newer foods that will taste great. But a word of caution, choose your battles wisely.
Healthy Brownies? Maybe not.
I was having a sweet tooth and wanted to make brownies. I wanted something easy. I had some extra avocados and I was like “Oh, I’ll make black bean and avocado brownies”. I jump on the Internet and I find a super easy vegan brownie recipe. Now this recipe was vegan so was it animal product free? Yes. Was it healthy? It most certainly was not healthy!
This easy “vegan recipe” had two cups of white flour. Not healthy! Two cups of white sugar. Not healthy! A cup of vegetable oil. Again not so healthy. We can leave that out too. Cocoa powder. OK I’ll take that. Some water and a teaspoon of vanilla so at the end of the day I’m left with cocoa vanilla water. White flour, sugar, oil? This really is about saving the animals and not the person eating it. I guess the whole point is to make sure what you are eating is good for you and only you! In the meantime, I’ll work on a good brownie recipe and post it when I am done!
So I guess what I am saying is to choose your ingredients wisely. It doesn’t take much to throw an entire recipe off and turn it into a regular sugar laden fattening dessert or a lousy tasting mac & cheese. And by all means learn your flavors. If you have to make the brownies twice to get one that not only tastes good but is healthy then do it. It’s the only way to figure out the recipes that you’re really going to like. And at the end of the day so you threw away some flour and sugar. In the end that is probably not a bad idea anyway.