My Secrets for Eating a Balanced Diet All Week Long

have you ever tried to change your diet and eat super healthy 100 clean only to fall off the wagon and find yourself binging on junk food and take out i've been there many times and i'm here to tell you there is another way you can eat a nourishing plant-based diet that gives you the nutrients you need while also enjoying yourself and never feeling deprived in this video i'm going to walk you through some of the techniques i've developed over the last few years that have helped me break out of this seemingly endless cycle and to show you what this looks like in practice i'll be sharing what i eat in a typical week i like to start my week off with something fun and outdoorsy like an early morning hike or a picnic in the park or both and of course a trip to the grocery store ideally just after i've eaten so i'm not super hungry and tempted to buy a bunch of things i don't need then i'll head home to begin prepping for the week and put some of those strategies into action so over the last few years i've actually learned a few tips and tricks that have helped me stick to eating a pretty balanced diet throughout the week week after week and the first tip is actually what i'm about to start doing right now is to do some upfront meal planning and meal prepping at the beginning of the week i find that if i take just 10 minutes maybe 15 minutes to plan out very roughly what i want to make the next week and then buy that grocery list i'm much more likely to actually eat the meals that i make and to eat a pretty wholesome diet than if i don't do that up front work if you've seen some of my meal prep videos you know that my style of meal prep is a little bit different than the conventional make a big batch of the same recipe and then eat it for lunch and dinner for the next four days which after day one i'm just not interested in doing and then i waste all the food so instead what i do is i meal prep a couple different staples at the beginning of the week maybe one or two proteins one or two sauces a whole grain maybe some vegetables and then i have that stuff in my fridge i can mix and match it with other fresh ingredients maybe some pantry staples and i get to eat unique and different meals every single day another thing that has helped me stick to a balanced diet throughout the week is having some healthy but very delicious snacks on hand when i was younger i used to think that the only way to have a healthy snack was if it was super healthy like raw carrots or raw almonds but inevitably i would get tired of that because it kind of gets boring and then i would just go out and get a giant chocolate chip cookie besides my head and i also used to think that i had to make all of my snacks and everything had to be homemade but i realized that relying on convenient snacks and convenience foods from time to time just makes my life a lot easier and so i'm no longer afraid to do that and by keeping healthy but tasty snacks on hand like roasted chickpeas or almond butter or dates i'm very excited to eat those i'm much more likely to eat that stuff than a giant chocolate chip cookie the size of my head every single day or a big bag of potato chips my last strategy is to give myself room for indulgences to me a balanced diet doesn't mean that every meal has to be perfectly healthy instead it means eating a mix of foods mostly home-cooked foods a lot of nutrient-dense foods that are going to give me the nutrients i need to stay focused and energized but no strict rules and certainly a lot of room for fun by having that baseline of nourishing wholesome plant-based food i don't feel bad or guilty when i go out to dinner with friends and order a glass or two of wine with a big bowl of pasta and some chocolate cake for dessert but it is crucial for me to start with that baseline of nourishing plant-based food which brings me to the meal prep that i'm about to do so right now i've already got my frijoles in the instant pot that's going to be the protein for the week rijole is just the mix mexican frijoles is just the mexican word for beans my version is spicy it's got onions red bell pepper garlic jalapenos some spices vegetable broth dried pinto beans it's super simple because it all gets cooked in the instant pot this recipe is actually from my cookbook the vegan instant pot cookbook and i've also included the written recipe in the free pdf guide you can download it by going to the description box and clicking that link and in the pdf guide i've also included a written recipe for every meal i plan to cook this week in addition to the frijoles i'm also going to have some brown rice just kind of as my grain to eat with different things when the pandemic started i really struggled to eat enough greens because i just want to be comfort food because well you probably know what i'm talking about to get over that the strategy i developed was when i got home from the grocery store the farmers market to grab my kale or whatever green i bought and to immediately wash it chop it massage it with some lemon juice and olive oil because i found that once it was in my fridge i was more likely to use it i could make a salad really quickly i could throw it into a soup or a stew and so that's what we're going to be doing this week with the kale the last thing i'm going to prep is our everything sauce but the idea is that you can pair this sauce with everything you make that week in the fridge the value in doing this is that if i have just five minutes to make lunch even if it's something simple like rice and beans the flavorful sauce is gonna make that meal so much tastier for this everything sauce i'm gonna start with a quarter cup of creamy vegan yogurt this is a greek style almond one three tablespoons of tahini one jalapeno pepper that i just really roughly chopped up a big handful of cilantro leaves and tender stems the zest from one lime a few tablespoons of that lime juice half teaspoon of ground coriander and cumin for a little extra flavor tiny bit of agave nectar just to balance the tanginess and heat and of course some salt and pepper to season and just going to blend that all up until it's smooth and creamy [Music] it's tangy it's spicy it's creamy it's going to go perfectly with everything oh hello good morning it is day one seven seven thirty am and i'm just enjoying my indian spice tea this is something i drink every single morning it's part of my ritual and i just take out my indian masala daba and i add one teaspoon each of cumin seeds coriander seeds fennel seeds and fenugreek seeds let that steep in boiling water for about 10 minutes it really helps improve your digestion relieve some of that annoying gas and bloating helps your body absorb the nutrients it needs and it also just kind of warms me up from the inside it's a really nice way to start my day and because i've been doing it for so long it's now a ritual that signals to my brain once i've had this tea it's time to start my work day i was deep in the zone working on my cookbook so i grabbed a quick matcha to stay energized and this is by no means the traditional way to make matcha but it works for lazy people like me just before lunch max and i went on a walk to visit our local bakery when i stumbled upon free herb not that kind of herb this kind of herb this is a great steal it's not stealing though they said free rosemary but i'm just gonna put it in my bag [Music] at the bakery i picked up some sourdough to have with dinner and let me show you this amazing loaf she a beauty sheer beauty i do not normally wear an apron to make lunch but the dress i'm wearing was giving the camera some weird feedback so here we are wearing an apron to make lunch and for lunch i'm making a burrito bowl using some of the stuff i meal prep yesterday and when i'm making lunch i usually only have like five minutes maybe 10 minutes because i'm busy working or testing recipe or taking photos or something so i love having everything prepped in my fridge just makes it a lot easier to eat a wholesome lunch than if i had to scramble and make everything from scratch so for this burrito bowl i reheated some brown rice in the microwave alongside a couple of ice cubes weird i know but the ice cubes steam and soften the rice without melting or making it soggy this is pretty much science at its finest so you should definitely try it on top of that i added some of the frijoles which i reheated on the stove and a generous amount of that cilantro yogurt sauce and two store-bought condiments salsa and sauerkraut [Music] this is delicious it might seem weird to have sauerkraut in there but it actually works pretty well and to me a big part of a balanced diet is having a lot of fermented foods i try to eat a lot of wholesome plant-based home-cooked food as you might know from my channel but there are a couple of gaps in my diet and certain nutrients that are just hard to get enough of on a plant-based diet which is why i am a big fan of the sponsor of today's video compliment complement plus is the first multivitamin that's designed specifically for plant-based folks like me and maybe like you so it has all the stuff that vegans need in their diet but might have trouble getting from food stuff like vitamins b12 and b3 plant-based omega-3s and minerals like iodine and selenium i used to eat a brazil nut every day to get my selenium needs and honestly it was the worst part of my day brazil nuts taste terrible all the other nuts great brazil nuts so bad and now thanks to compliment i don't have to go through that anymore i also really love that every order of compliments plants trees around the world supports animal sanctuaries and is carbon offset so if you are looking to have a more well-rounded balanced plant-based diet be sure to check out the link in the description box below for complement and if you use this code at checkout you will get 15 off your next order later in the afternoon i headed outside for snack time and the sunshine a thing i like to do because it's always funny here i had some crunchy roasted chickpeas which are rich in fiber and the kombucha for more of those fermented foods and i also had a couple of these cuties aka mandarins for dinner i'm testing a recipe for le vernese white bean stew the inspiration for this recipe comes from the tv show searching for italy with the extremely delightful stanley tucci most of the food on the show is not vegan but it is really inspiring for me to see how italian chefs and farmers in the countryside take so much pride and care in their ingredients and craft [Music] the ingredients and cooking techniques here are inspired by those used in livorno a port city west of tuscany for these stewed beans i started off by heating my dutch oven up with a pretty generous amount of extra virgin olive oil in true italian style over medium heat i sauteed the chopped onion until it was nicely golden and soft seven eight minutes then came the celery carrot and garlic that cooked for three to four minutes and then some fresh sage parsley and red pepper flakes for a nice little kick a very generous amount of tomato paste went in here four and a half tablespoons almost an entire tube it makes it a little sweet tangy and so savory again in true italian style quite a bit of white wine went into the glaze of the pan this simmered for about three minutes and then i added in the whole peeled tomatoes that i crushed earlier salt and pepper and a bay leaf i cooked down the tomatoes until most of the liquid had evaporated 12 13 minutes and the last step i added some veggie broth about one and a half cups and two cans of cannellini beans which are so creamy and this simmered on low heat until my kitchen smelled like a rustic italian restaurant about 30 minutes the stew is almost done so in the meantime i'm just going to chop up some fresh basil it's going to add a nice fresh finish to the hearty cozy stew and we're going to serve the stew with this extremely beautiful sourdough we bought earlier obviously she is way too big for the next few days i can't eat all of this so i'm going to cut off a few slices and then freeze the rest for another day i've literally butchered the bread but my bread knife is about a quarter the size of the bread due to my very embarrassing butchering i let max take over on slicing the bread what are you going to do with all this bread do you think we went overboard this might have been a little bit too much there's so much all right let's see what it tastes like this is excellent it is really hearty and warming kind of like a hug in a bowl it's got a slight kick from the red pepper flakes but it's not spicy it's a little tangy almost sweet from the tomatoes this is really good but i think it's going to be even better with a little bit of this bread glass of white wine and i'm going to enjoy myself a nice little dinner after dinner i made myself a little snack plate apples and almond butter with some cinnamon nothing fancy but it's always satisfying i retired to the couch to watch some tv and max brought me a nice hot cup of herbal tea he wants you to know that he is a total gentleman and also very humble i started the day off with my favorite ritual my indian spice tea later that morning i headed to my outdoors office to get some work done because it was 76 degrees hence the sundress and i enjoyed some mandarins while i worked easy to peel so sweet very juicy it's kind of the perfect fruit i've also got my jar of water here hot take i love the taste of water i think it's great it's delicious also it's good for your hair and your skin and your nails and your health in general and i like having these little visual markers of how many ounces i've drank drunk drink how many ounces i've consumed it's a good reminder to stay hydrated quick aside i don't actually eat breakfast most days because i do intermittent fasting which means my first meal is typically around 11am i do intermittent fasting because i like to stay laser focused on my work in the morning and i don't like to be distracted also i tend not to wake up hungry very often and as you might have noticed my job is to test recipes and to eat them so i don't really need to fuel up for a day of eating but this is just what works for me obviously i think you can eat a balanced diet whether or not you do intermittent fasting but if you have questions about my specific experience definitely let me know in the comments below hello all right it's lunch time and i'm going to be making a big kale salad today this is the massage kale i did two days ago and it's been massaged with a little bit of lemon and olive oil i'm going to massage it again with a little bit of avocado so good for you all those healthy fats for your hair your skin your heart and this is going to add a lot of creaminess to the salad i feel like a lot of times salads are boring for people because they don't have enough different textures this salad is going to have crispness crunchiness creaminess chewiness lots of good things some more vegetables just got some shredded raw carrots i buy these pre-shredded at the grocery store because i can't be bothered to do it myself now for some protein i've got some edamame which i love i'm also going to add my favorite hodo tofu nuggets i love these nuggets they are curry flavored and just so good and they're also really high in protein 14 grams per serving and these are real chewy boys so it's gonna add a lot more texture to the salad now for something fermented as i mentioned yesterday maybe i love adding fermented foods to my diet they're so good for your gut i try to have at least two sources of fermented food per day i also really like the salty tanginess that sauerkraut adds to salads what else what else this is why i don't sing i sound terrible what else some pepitas these are also high in protein good healthy fats nice little crunch in the salad same thing right here walnuts so good for you omega-3 one of the best plant-based sources of fat and that's also going to add some more crunch oh some fresh herbs again like just layering in extra flavors it takes maybe two extra minutes to chop up some cilantro or parsley or mint or whatever it is but it's really going to make your salad taste a lot better all right herbs are all set another thing i'm going to add are these roasted seaweed snacks definitely not a conventional ingredient also a great snack by the way but i'm going to crush them up i think it's going to make a good pairing with the flavor of the edamame the tofu nuggets i'm going to add some sesame oil so it's gonna be kind of a asian flavor profile maybe one more and the last two things i'm gonna add are just a little bit of sesame oil toasted sesame oil and just a light drizzle because this is a very powerfully potent ingredient last thing a spoon of tahini possibly my favorite ingredient it's going to add another layer of creaminess in addition to that avocado a nice nutty smooth finish honestly i am so excited to eat this salad it smells really good i know all the flavors are going to be good together and that's generally how i feel when i make a salad i'm excited to eat it and that's because again i'm using ingredients i actually like i'm using a variety of textures and different flavors that work well together and i'm making sure that it's going to be satisfying and filling i'm going to go enjoy this delicious salad and i will see you the next time i'm hungry i guess it's so good every bite is just so good and after finishing this amazing giant salad i took my compliment plus about an hour later i brewed myself a nice cup of decaf black tea a little creamy oat milk with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg very cozy and i took this time to contemplate the meaning of life oh no that's not cute okay much better there i am contemplating today's afternoon snack possibly my favorite snack ever it tastes like grown up candy just grab a couple big medjool dates and your favorite nut butter stuff some in the dates and add a little flaky sea salt stick that in the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes and get after it this was so good that i had to make a third one and i washed it all down with an ice cold glass of the old kombucha for dindin aka dinner i don't know i called it that sorry i heated up some of the liver naise white bean stew i'll be doing a bit more recipe testing tomorrow so i froze the leftovers so that it wouldn't go to waste i topped it with some fresh basil and served it with this incredible garlic bread all i did was toast the sourdough bread under the broiler rub it with a sliced garlic clove and added a drizzle of some basil olive oil honestly this meal was so good that i would eat it every week i poured myself a little glass of pinot noir and had a few squares of this very delicious hazelnut dark chocolate and enjoyed it in my pajamas on the couch because i can my idea of a balanced diet always makes room for dark chocolate and red wine good morning we just pulled up to the farmers market i'm really excited i love going as often as i can because i love seeing what's fresh and what looks good eating in season is always delicious so i'm gonna head in and see what they have being in southern california we are very spoiled with the quality of produce and the long growing season that i didn't even want to show you this but i was able to buy both berries and brussels sprouts on the same day i know you're enjoying yourself farmers marketers and i had to be played after the farmers market we decided to go to brunch at our favorite vegan restaurant in san diego donna jean they grow some of their own herbs and chilies and make everything in-house it's so good we started brunch with a mango masala kombucha again i love kombucha and i basically have mango masala in my blood so it was the perfect choice our first dish was a spinach salad with vegan goat cheese pistachio butter roasted turnips frica smoked dates and a harissa vinaigrette such an interesting salad and it definitely inspired some potential recipe development ideas of my own we also split the brunch plate and a pizza which is donna jean's specialty the breakfast plate had roasted potatoes a tofu scramble greens and a biscuit with vegan butter the pizza also had potatoes maybe a mistake on my part to order two potato things but it also had roasted garlic broccolini zatar vegan mozzarella and parmesan it was delicious and yes i am an elegant eater thank you for noticing max and i eat out about once a week it's something i always look forward to because we try to make it special kind of like a date night or in this case a date day a day date a brunch date yeah a brunch date oh no it went in and went out all right so snack time got a little out of hand max and i are having a little snack outside blueberries from the farmers market honestly max is not a huge fruit person but these are so sweet that even he is very excited to eat them and the roasted chickpeas i had the other day just a very delightful crunchy snack later that afternoon i made my dal tadka recipe mostly because i needed to update the photos for my vlog but also it's just really delicious and i will always happily eat doll it's the food i grew up eating almost every day as a kid so it inherently feels nourishing and comforting and it's just really good for you the prep work is also pretty minimal just soak a cup of moong dal for 15 minutes dice up a medium onion mince four cloves of garlic grate an inch of ginger dice a green chili pepper grab a small can of diced tomatoes and measure out a few spices i typically make dal in my instant pot because it requires the least amount of hands-on cooking i heat up a little bit of coconut oil on the saute setting saute the onions until just soft then the ginger garlic and chili for just a minute or two and the ground spices for 30 seconds then comes some water i don't add too much because i like my bell on the creamier side and finally the soaked lentils salt and pepper and the tomatoes i pressure cook this for 10 minutes and allow a natural pressure release for another 10 minutes and as it rests the dal is going to thicken quite a bit more i just finished making the dal in my instant pot and it is tasty but the real flavor in this recipe and in a lot of doll recipes comes from the tadka which is the tempered spice oil you pour it right over the top before serving it's so good it only takes two minutes all you need to do is grab a small little pan this is a special tadka pan if you don't have one that's okay you can just use a small frying pan heat up a couple tablespoons of oil of your choice and then once that's hot you're going to add in some mustard seeds about a teaspoon once those start to sizzle you'll add in a half teaspoon of cumin seeds then 10 curry leaves or more i love the taste of curry leaves so more is always better and one or two dried chili peppers once you add in those final ingredients it needs just 30 seconds you want to swirl the pan frequently so they don't burn i'm just going to add the tiniest bit of the tataka to my little sample bowl here just to make sure all the flavors work together tastes like my mom's kitchen love you mom for dinner i had some dal tadka over brown rice that i reheated and to round it out i roasted some of the broccoli that i picked up earlier at the farmer's market i just slice the broccoli stems into coins cut the crowns into florets and roughly chop up some garlic of course i add garlic to everything and toss it all on a sheet pan with olive oil salt black pepper and some chili flakes roasted in the oven at 425 degrees fahrenheit for 20-ish minutes without stirring it gets perfectly browned and crisp this way and i topped the dowel with some vegan yogurt and pickled onions for a little bit of tang [Music] good morning i started the day with my go-to indian spice tea before beginning my work day later that morning i spent some time reviewing my weekly planner i could not live without this and it's pretty much how i stay sane and enjoyed a cup of this earl grey tea from sama t which was created by my friend ravi [Music] my super rad recipe tester slash kitchen assistant hannah was here today and we spent the afternoon testing a bunch of different recipes one of the things i tested was a brussels sprout salad i shredded those farmer's market brussels sprouts in my food processor [Music] finally shredded some lacinato kale also from the market and added in the granny smith apple for some tartness a food processor slicing disk really though it's magical i also made a quick red wine vinaigrette with crushed garlic dijon mustard maple syrup red wine vinegar lemon juice oregano extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper [Music] i massaged the kale with some of the dressing did the same thing with the sprouts added in the apples along with some shredded carrots sliced almonds and tart dried cherries and tossed it all together as with every recipe i share hannah and i spend a lot of time discussing our notes on flavor and texture and how we can improve each recipe it's just a lot of chewing there's too much chewing i kind of feel like this is like your your vegan salad yeah no this is what people think of like vegan like not so much chewing yeah it is it's a lot of chewing even though this salad needs some tweaking it was still quite tasty and i hate wasting food so i had a big plate of it alongside some bell and brown rice for lunch and of course i took my compliment plus later we also tested some roasted winter squash and chickpeas for a recipe that'll be in my second cookbook now this recipe was a banger all right well that was delicious i think acorn squash is my favorite squash based on this recipe alone yeah we also tested some vegan fudge for the blog and whenever i make a dessert like this i try to give some of it away because if it's all in my fridge i will absolutely scarf it down pretty mindlessly especially when it is wildly delicious like this fudge which tastes like a ferrero rocher the hazelnuts are so good in there after a long day of recipe testing and writing it was time for a glass of wine at least a small one because that's all we had left for dinner we did a taco night for the tacos i charged some corn tortillas directly over my gas flame top them with the cilantro jalapeno sauce along with those frijoles and finish them with some diced avocado sauerkraut and cilantro and to get some veggies in i reheated some of the roasted broccoli i made yesterday i also ended up defrosting some of the leftover white bean stew and brought out some of that very cruciferous brussels sprout salad which to my delight had softened a bit after resting in the fridge so i was kind of a smorgasbord of a dinner so i'm on my morning walk and this has nothing to do with what i'm eating in a day or my balanced diet but i thought i would just show you because look at this fog say hi max back inside i warmed up with a cup of jasmine green tea and got started with my work day that crazy fog ended up burning off so i went outside with my laptop some more tea obviously are you surprised and a couple of my new favorite cookbooks which i flipped through for inspiration for new recipes for lunch i made some more brown rice in my instant pot and reheated some of the dal on the stove it took about five minutes of active cooking to make this super nourishing bowl i topped it off with some avocado and pickled onions which is definitely not how my mom serves doll but it was still good and of course a couple multivitamins to get in some more of the good stuff oh and i made a little soy latte okay it wasn't a latte at all but i don't know what else to call it i heated up some soy milk added some of this turmeric and saffron chai masala and cinnamon from burlap and barrel freshly grated nutmeg and a tiny bit of maple syrup so comforting and warming [Music] and later for snack time yes i called snack time like a child i sliced up an apple and had some of the fudge we tested yesterday so freaking good honestly you have to try it well i certainly had enough leftovers to make dinner tonight my family insisted we come over my mom made one of her specialties pam bhaji which is a quintessential mumbai street food it's a spicy mashed vegetable gravy served hot with soft lightly toasted bread this might not fit into everyone's vision of a balanced diet but my diet always makes room for mom's home-cooked indian food and of course quality family time thanks for watching bye

Channel: Rainbow Plant Life

Views: 700,308

Keywords: balanced diet, vegan diet, vegan lifestyle, vegan diet for beginners, easy vegan meals, healthy vegan recipes, what i eat in a week, what i eat in a week vegan

Id: ge6B0d_1zcg

Length: 26min 24sec (1584 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 08 2022