#veggie stuff

Even when I was a kid, some people would act like I was going to be offended if they ate meat in front of me and I never understood why until I encountered some of those extreme vegans that basically call anyone who isn’t a vegan a murderer 💀

hey guys! this is really important. i keep thinking about it.

i eat meat about once or twice a week. i can’t call myself a vegetarian yet, but i’d say i eat a veggie-based diet. it’s way more doable than you would think.

did you know most americans have meat with *every* meal? the equivalent of 2.5 burgers per day, or 800 burgers per year? fast food chains are using a huge amount of beef and chicken; just imagine how many factory farm cows are churned in and out of your average mcdonalds to pump out all those patties. in fact, americans are eating more beef than ever before, and it’s predicted to keep rising every year... 

and climate change scientists say we have to reduce our overall meat consumption by 90% if we want to avoid climate catastrophe by the year 2050.

eating meat-free meals does not have to be an arduous undertaking. here are my tips for eating meatless most of the time without thinking too hard about it.

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i once read a bit of nutritionist's advice that said that all you really need for a complete meal is a protein and a carb. (here’s a bodybuilding article that says something similar.) this has totally changed my thinking about meal preparation! i used to feel this mental burden like i had to come up with a three course meal three times a day. the fact is, as long as you have a protein (for energy) and a carb (for satiety) you are good to go. easy examples: toast + butter + egg, tortilla + beans/cheese, pasta + olive oil and tomatoes, quinoa + tempeh and sweet potato

a note: plants, grains, etc, all have a good amount of protein in them, but on their own they have incomplete chains of amino acids. ya want combos of aminos. so you’ll get the most energy and fullness when you combine them!

another note: my examples are not vegan! more power to you if you’re vegan. here’s another cool chart.

ok! so once you have your carb and your protein, it's time to have fun with making it tasty by thinking about acid, salt, heat and fat. and if you can, try to see if you can combine different proteins, different carbs, get complex carbs (like whole grains and fruits)... think of it like making fun combos

IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE COMPLICATED

here’s what we do most of the time for meals. these take mere minutes to prepare and can be cooked with a baby on your hip:

veggie burritos -- just take whatever vegetable you have on hand (for us, usually onion, potato, bell pepper) and add beans, add whatever cheese you have on hand, wrap it in a tortilla

veggie stir fry -- take whatever vegetable you have on hand, saute it, put it on top of rice. optional: add a nut, nut butter, or nutritional yeast

veggie sandwich -- take bread, add avocado or another savory fat (like a fried egg, or tempeh bacon), add whatever else you have (i just did this for lunch and added red onion, arugula, salt and pepper, mayo)

veggie pasta -- pasta + whatever veggie you have on hand + a cheese or nutritional yeast

there are endless variations to these! just remember: protein + carb!

for guaranteed amino acids: BRAGG’S AMINOS is a salty seasoning liquid that’s kinda like soy sauce. BRAGG’S NUTRITIONAL YEAST has B12 and some other good stuff. these bottles are frequently on our dinner table! they taste good! seriously!

cookbooks: i recommend plenty, bryant terry, and decolonize your diet

instagrams: i like plantifully nourished, yolcsita eats, buddha bowls and tropically lina. i also LOVE all the veggie things that @llleighsmith and @yungmarpesa post on instagram but they are private people i think :0)

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i’m not a very experienced or skilled vegetarian. i have huge gaps in my knowledge -- i’m sure there are much better people to follow, much better books to read, much more complete nutritional info. however, i have made great progress from the way i was raised. you know that study that says that americans eat 800 burgers a year? that was me for the first 20 years of my life, pretty much literally. we ate so much goddamn fast food, bologna, hot dogs, chorizo; every kind of imaginable cheap meat and cheap dairy product; all processed foods. for every meal. and now i eat vegetables and grains for most of my meals and eat burgers very rarely.