A Day in the Life of a Plant Based Athlete
How Eating a Healthy Plant-Based Diet Improves Your Mood, Sleep, & Focus
If you want to improve the condition of your body, you’ll want to consider eating a whole food plant-based diet. So what are whole foods? Whole foods are plant-based foods that are unprocessed and unrefined. For example, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. These are some ways that they can help us…
Decreased Inflammation
Inflammation occurs when the body fights against injuries, infections, and toxins in the body. Whole plant foods naturally have those anti-inflammatory nutrients that your body needs, which means they are a great starting point if you are suffering from inflammation.
Better Sleep
Foods that are highly processed or high in sugar can disrupt sleep- these foods can bring changes in your blood sugar levels which means that you may have slumps of tiredness in the day, which in turn interferes with your sleep at night. By eliminating these foods and switching to a whole food plant-based diet, the quality of your sleep should improve.
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Are you Eating the Healthiest Diet?
We are constantly bombarded with headlines on TV and social media claiming the benefits of some new and radical diet. The number of diets is more than can be listed. So where should you start? What is the optimal diet that has been scientifically proven to reverse chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, autoimmune diseases among others, and maintain an optimal weight?
First, let's define what your body needs to maintain ideal health. Your body requires certain macronutrients called protein, carbohydrates, and fat, but also needs micronutrients including vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. Macronutrients are required in large amounts and provide the body with energy through calories. Micronutrients are required in small amounts and are essential for chemical reactions to occur in the body. Deficiencies of macro or micronutrients can lead to malnutrition and a variety of...
Savory and Hearty Black Bean Soup
We all know beans are good for you and black beans do not disappoint! Full of fiber, protein and nutrients your body will be craving more!
Black bean soup is simple, delicious and leftovers are always better! This recipe is quick and easy and can easily be made in larger batches if cooking for the week.
Enjoy this recipe and please let us know how you like it! Please share with your friends after all they deserve a yummy bowl too!
What you need:
- 1 bunch green onions (about 6), finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
- 1⁄4 large red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 2 small vegetable bullion cubes
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, undrained
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1⁄2 lemon, juice of
- 3 teaspoons arrowroot powder mixed with 6 teaspoons water, set aside
What to...
Changing the Shades of Green on Your Plate
When it comes to leafy greens, most of us rely on the basics like romaine, leaf lettuce and spinach week after week - and while all of these provide health benefits, there is a huge selection of leafy greens in the produce aisle that you could potentially be missing! Shaking things up can help keep things fun and interesting in the kitchen while also diversifying your nutrient intake.
We’ve all heard that it’s important to eat those green vegetables and we have to say, that age-old recommendation has merit! Leafy green vegetables are a total nutrition powerhouse providing plant-based calcium, iron and magnesium, plus vitamins A, C and K (vitamin K is necessary for blood clotting and bone health).
If you don’t like the taste of one variety, chances are you can find an alternative. It might also be a matter of preparation method, so don’t hesitate to do some experimenting. Here are some of our favorites along with simple...
How The Plant-Based Diet Took Me to Nationals
This is a picture of me in 2015 right before qualifying for the NCAA National meet. Although I am making a tough face here, I didn’t jump very well at the meet where this picture was taken. That didn’t have anything to do with my diet, a lot can go wrong in the pole vault, and you only get 3 chances to clear a bar!
As a collegiate student-athlete, my life was centered around my sport. I was a pole vaulter and had been since I was 12 years old. I was raised on home-grown beef, 2% milk, and garden veggies in a rural town in North Texas. I knew it wasn’t just my diet that made me strong, but my hardcore Texan mentality that allowed me to out-train almost anyone on my team, despite yearly stress fractures in my back. Out of high school, I was recruited to pole vault for the University of Oklahoma, where I broke more than just personal records. Gradually throughout the fall, and as the indoor season...
How to Make Dips that are Delicious and Nutritious
They are a convenient and delicious way to consume a wide variety of anti-inflammatory vegetables and spices. While we love the convenience of purchased dips like packaged hummus, many brands contain unnecessary levels of fat and preservatives. Making dips yourself allows you to control the flavor and quality – and it’s easy!
The best dips begin with a creamy base made from foods such as beans, lentils, avocados, edamame, and roasted vegetables [eggplant, carrots, squash, zucchini, peppers, cauliflower] that are blended with a liquid-like aquafaba. Add flavor boosters such as tahini, garlic, hot sauce, nut butter, nuts and seeds, lemon or lime juice, and zest to add dimension. Finish by seasoning with fresh and dried herbs, spices, salt, and pepper and your dip is complete. Here are some of our favorite combinations with healthy vehicles ideas:
Ingredient and flavor combinations
- Chickpea hummus [and other beans] - The classic chickpea base is ...
Can You Improve Your Mood With Food?
Let’s unpack some of the exciting (and preliminary) new research about the link between gut health, mood, and stress. This week we’ll talk about your friendly resident gut microbes, probiotic foods, and supplements, as well as offer some simple recipes to keep your gut and taste buds happy.
GUT MICROBES
There are trillions of microbes that happily live in our gut. These friendly microbes do more than help us digest foods, make vitamins, and protect us from the not-so-friendly microbes - they have mood-boosting and stress-busting functions too!
It’s a hotbed of research right now and we’re finding out more about their awesome health and mood/stress benefits every day. And, while the research is just starting to figure out the many gut microbe-brain connections, it’s such a cool new topic that we couldn’t wait to share it with you!
TWEET: “There are more microbes inside our gut than all of the human cells that make us....
Healthy Human Highlight: Christin Bummer
by Christin Bummer
I was athletic and lean through my teens and 20’s, but my eating and drinking habits caught up with me by my late 20’s. I was addicted to sugary drinks and coffee beverages that were more sugar than coffee! I wasn’t obese, and yet my blood pressure had climbed to 142/86 and I was handed a script for blood pressure medication. The China Study and Forks Over Knives practically landed in my lap while walking in the woods, and I had my answer! Giving up meat and dairy was so in line with my values, the ethical conviction really helped me to see food very differently than I had in the past. I reversed my hypertension, lost 15 lbs, and brought my cholesterol, triglycerides, and fasting blood glucose into optimal ranges, all in about a month! I walked away from animal products and processed food including sugar, oil, and alcohol, but after some mega life-stress, I got into old habits and I found myself back into my full-term maternity clothes when my...
You Might Have A Food Sensitivity
By Monika Szekely
I grew up in a small town in Eastern Europe. My family roots are Hungarian and German, so the foods we ate were heavy in meat and fats, although the vegetables were grown in the garden and all meals were cooked by my mother from scratch. Despite the unhealthy foods we ate, my family was relatively healthy, although one grandfather passed away at 77 years old of a stroke, and my father was overweight and a smoker.
Following my childhood dream, I graduated from Medical School (where I didn’t learn anything about healthy nutrition) and the following year I moved to the US. At this point, I was in my mid-twenties. Very quickly I got acquainted with the American Diet, as I worked in the medical field where we were overwhelmed with pharmaceutical company financed lunches. It didn’t take too long before I started getting sick. I developed digestive issues, which have worsened, and eventually I ended up seeing a gastroenterologist...
