Why vegan chili is the greatest food ever...

Chili looks... weird. It always has, and I am sure it always will, and it seems that the weirder it looks the tastier it is. Chillliiiii.... mmmmmmmmm....

I get the question a lot of "How do I eat veggie/vegan healthy?" Well... how do you eat a non veggie/vegan diet healthy? Anything that you would do on a meat based diet is the same that you would do on a plant based diet, just sans the meat. It CAN get a little complicated to figure out how to cook a well balanced plant based diet though. The key is to eat a well rounded wide variety of foods.

You need to think about a meal in the form of food substances, and not just food. So what do we need on our plate to be healthy.  1. Carbohydrates. 2. Protein.  3. Fat. Everything can be put into these categories. Fruits, veggies, and grains are all carboyhdrates. Protein can be any plant or processed vegetarian protein. Fats are [read: should only be] consistent of oils, nuts, or fatty veggies like avocado. So then you can break up your meal into these categories and as long as you get something from each you will be fine. (you don't need to eat fat, protein and carbs in every meal, but you need a good quality of each by the end of the day)

Vegan chili is one of my favorite foods for so many reasons. The best reason is that you can basically put whatever you want into it and it tastes amazing. It doesn't matter what kind of carb, protein or fat you put in the pot, just throw it in and let it absorb all the flavors. It's also a relatively easy meal to make cause after some simple prep work you can through it all in a crock pot and walk away, plus when your done you not only have food for the evening but probably a few days after, or enough to freeze for the future.  It's also extremely filling and creamy, so even for non vegans it is a great food cause you wont miss the meat or dairy.

For this recipe I threw a bag of black beans and a bag of kidney beans in water and let them soak overnight. I cooked them this morning and threw about half in tupperware to freeze to use later and the other half in the crock pot (only cooking needed!) Then I chopped up 2 sweet potatoes. 2 cans of tomato soup. I threw in 1 poblano pepper, 1 jalapeno (any peppers are great) then I threw in about 2 cups of fresh spinach, about 2 cups of kale (chopped the kale, didnt chop the spinach.) Add 1 cup of water. minced garlic, s&p, cinnamon, oregano... anything you have on the shelves will work. Feel free to experiment!! I threw a dollop of hummus on top of mine, it's good with or without. I just love hummus.

This is an all natural, vegan and gluten free chili that contains nothing but super foods. High protein, low fat, good carbs, and super filling!

Super food? Does that mean it has magical powers!

Every week it seems like there are new and improved foods coming out on the market. Kale, wheat grass, Quinoa... (Keen-wha!?!) What are all these foods and where the heck are they coming from! In a world where a healthy diet has been thought of as eating a pound of bacon in the morning, but skipping the fruits and veggies (they have carbohydrates. Oh no!) or that you can loose 10 pounds in a week by sucking down nothing but broth 3 times a day (10 lbs for water and muscle!) I am happy to say that the latest and greatest food trend of super foods has finally got it right! Unfortunately for my poor clients, every time someone asks me "Have you ever heard of, kale, I think its called?" my little healthy heart fills with joy and I talk way more about it then they probably wish to hear. It must be all that awesome energy I have from the kale I put in my morning smoothies.

So, what exactly is a super food and why is it so... Super!

The quality of a food can easily be described as how much bang you get for your buck. The bang being the nutrients it contains, and the buck being the calories you consume, or spend in a sense from your daily "budget" of calories.  Our bodies require a certain amount of nutrients to operate at their maximum capacity, and to make us healthy and keep us healthy. They more nutrients the better. (**Yes, there are some nutrients that you can "overload", but the chances of you doing that are slim, so let's focus on just getting them in for now**) 

However, the same concept does not apply for calories. We want to keep those babies moderate as to not gain weight as we age.  This is where our super foods come into play. 

The above images are the nutrition facts of 1 cup of iceberg lettuce vs. 1 cup of kale, also known as a super food. You will notice that while the lettuce has fewer calories, the kale, with only a slight amount more of calories has almost 200% more of vitamin a, as well as majorly elevated levels or vitamin c, calcium and iron as well as more protein and fiber (and sans the sugar!). If you do the research beyond the nutrition label, you will also find many added health benefits most super foods have. You would have to eat 4 cups of lettuce in order to get the same amount of vitamin a as you do for 1 cup of kale. And who really wants to eat 4 cups of lettuce?

This is one, among many, examples of a super food and why we call them that. 

So, in a few meals this week try swapping your regular fare for these super foods

Lettuce for Kale or Spinach

Regular potatoes for Sweet potatoes 

white for brown rice or quinoa

butter for olive oil

sour cream for greek yogurt 

soda and juice for home brewed tea

cereal for oatmeal

chips and crackers for almonds and walnuts

sweets for fresh fruit 

(to me, all fruit is super when its chosen instead of processed sugar!)

green beans for edamame 

creams and butters for fresh herbs

or try adding to any dish

fresh garlic

frozen spinach

flax seed

ginger

cinnamon 

spicy peppers

sunflower seeds

And make each meal as delicious and nutritious as possible!!