Get Those Greens In!

Recently I had my diet accessed by an outside party to determine where I could make improvements. You would think that as a practicing Vegan, I would have it all figured out and have the perfect diet.

Not entirely...

For one, you don't know what you don't know and secondly, the obvious can be illusive sometimes. Have you ever heard of a "junk food" Vegetarian?  These types of people substitute chips, crackers, cookies, etc. for meat, but more often they don't even realize that's what they are doing.  I fell into this trap once upon a time too.

The plan...

I found a dietary expert who was open to my way of eating: Vegan & oil-free, kept a 2-week diary of every single thing I ate and drank and then met for a one-on-one consultation.

The results...

While, I had worked out everything in my diet that was bad, I kinda left out some valuable foods. In particularly, greens (kale, spinach, romaine, etc.) were virtually non-existent.  And that's a problem, because greens are a powerhouse in the plant world and by not including them I wasn't eating a well-balanced Vegan diet or getting valuable micronutrients.

But how could this be?!?!

Simple, I hate salad!  As a Vegetarian I could scoff them down with the aid of cheese, croutons and creamy dressings, but as a Vegan those items were off the table and soon so were the salads.

The solution!

While I may hate salads, I love wraps!  So, now I just make a "salad" using romaine or a spring mix or both and throw it in a wrap - problem solved!  And the dressing issue, it doesn't seem so weird to use mustard (my all-time fav condiment) in a wrap.  But I have found that hummus is also très yummy!  I also include kale in my morning smoothies, sautee up spinach for dinner and throw frozen collard or turnip greens into soups.

Bring It On Greens!
The Hoff