Your Guide To Balanced Vegan Meals

Vegan meals are easier to plan than most people realize. This drawing is a great reminder of how to properly balance a meal.

One quarter of the plate is whole grains. The easiest way to ensure that the grain you are eating is whole is to look for that word at the grocery: "whole." For example, regular pasta's ingredient list says something like this: durum semolina. The word "whole" isn't on the list, whereas with a whole grain, it should be the first word.

Make sure that you aren't eating the same grain over and over again. The most common grain in Western diets is wheat. It's so easy to eat whole wheat in the United States right now that it's possible to go for days or weeks without eating another grain. Variety is key to a healthy, balanced diet.

The last quarter of the dinner plate is reserved for beans and legumes. This is your protein section where, if you ate meat, you would stick your steak.

There are so many different types of beans and proteins out there that you need not worry that you will get bored of eating them. Remember that tofu comes from soybeans, as does tempeh.

New vegans can fill the bean requirement with veggie burgers, fake chicken nuggets, and other soy replacements for familiar foods. As you progress in your diet, you can experiment with the vast world of beans.

I keep this dinner plate visual in mind when I make every meal, including if I am making something like a pizza. It can be hard to get the exact balance of grains to veggies to beans, so I try to really pile on the veggies.

I pick a whole grain crust (either store-bought or I make my own crust.) Then I put on a huge amount of pizza sauce(remember, this counts as a veggie!) Next, I load up the pizza with as many veggies and fruits as will fit. A few handfulls of soy sausage or pepperoni, and voila, a complete meal!

If I am making one solid pasta dish, I use the same technique. Whole grain pasta-- there are so many kinds available now that I can get anywhere from whole wheat to quinoa pasta-- double as many veggies, and then about the same number of beans as pasta. Dinner is done.

For nights when I don't want to think, I put together a quick cooking whole grain, cook some beans with onion and garlic, and sautee a few veggies with olive oil and garlic. It's simple, takes 15 minutes or less, and is a completely balanced vegan meal.

You may be wondering where the fruit comes into the equation of a healthy vegan meal. Well, it's dessert. You can eat the fruit straight up, cut it up into a salad and spritz with lemon juice, bake, grill it, or even put it in your dinner with everything else. You can also blend it all into a smoothie or freeze it for a healthy sorbet after dinner.

Once you have the hang out how to create a vegan meal, cooking gets easier and easier. Also, you know what combination of foods to eat when you are at a restaurant.

Done with Vegan Meals? Return to What Do Vegans Eat?

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