Recipes for Plant Based Diet: 200+ Recipes for Vegan Meals You Can Cook on a Whole-Foods, Plant-based Diet for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

Recipes for Plant Based Diet: 200+ Recipes for Vegan Meals You Can Cook on a Whole-Foods, Plant-based Diet for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

If you’re looking for healthy recipes for plant-based diet that will help you lose weight and keep it off, and help you achieve your optimal health and longevity, then this article is for you.

We’ll cover the basics of what to eat and what not to eat, replacements for your favourite foods and unhealthy ingredients, and also give you access to a fantastic free course to 100+ recipes for plant based diet.

What is a plant-based diet and why should you try it?

A Plant-based Diet is an approach to eating based on whole, unprocessed plant foods, while minimising or eliminating animal products and processed foods.

Research has shown that a whole foods, plant-based diet may be the best way to reduce your risk of leading causes of death and risk factors for death today, such as reducing risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.

Plant-based protein seems to be safer than animal protein when it comes to cancer risk.

As Dr. Michael Greger, founder of the evidence-based website NutritionFacts.org puts it, a Whole Food Plant Based Diet "should be the default diet until proven otherwise".

What Are Plant-Based Foods?

Plant-based foods are any foods that are sourced from plants. This excludes animal products such as:

  • Red meat
  • White meat
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Seafood
  • Milk
  • Curds
  • Buttermilk
  • Ghee
  • Butter
  • Cheese
  • Cream
  • Paneer
  • Honey

However, technically, plant-based foods may include several processed foods such as oil and sugar.

That's why Dr. T. Colin Campbell, who coined the term 'Plant-based Diet' soon added another dimension to it, renaming it the 'Whole Food Plant Based Diet'.

What Is a Whole-Foods, Plant-Based Diet?

A whole-foods plant-based diet is one that includes foods from all the healthy food groups including whole, unprocessed plant-based foods.

Apart from excluding animal foods, it also excludes processed foods, such as:

  • Oil
  • Sugar
  • Jaggery
  • White Rice
  • Sago or Tapioca
  • Refined Starches
  • Extracted Protein Powders
  • Maida or Refined Wheat
  • Alcohol

A Whole Foods, Plant Based Diet is based on eating nutrient-dense, minimally processed, and unrefined foods.

The goal of this type of diet is to achieve optimal health and longevity.

This is especially urgent in the face of the global diabetes & obesity pandemic.

A Whole-Foods, Plant-based Diet includes foods such as:

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables & Greens
  • Pulses & Legumes
  • Whole Grains
  • Nuts & Seeds
  • Herbs & Spices
  • Mushrooms

So when you do you next meal prep, think about the ingredients going into each dish. That's where you can create the maximum impact on your long term health.

What Beginners Should Know About Plant-Based Eating

 

In the past, you may have been eating a lot of meat and dairy, fried food or sugar.

It is not easy to change your lifelong habits overnight and eat healthy all the time.

There are many small steps you can take towards this direction, which can help make the transition easier for you.

One of the first steps we recommend is to add plenty of healthy foods into your diet. As part of this, trying out new plant based recipes is a great first step.

In case you don't like one recipe or another recipe doesn't work out, don't get disheartened.

Just keep trying a few more and you will find that some recipes click easily for you.

As you experiment more and more recipes, it will become easier for you to make the transition to a whole food plant based diet.

Happy Cooking!

What Does Following a Plant-Based Diet Mean, Exactly?

The term “plant-based diet” is often used interchangeably with the terms vegan and vegetarian. However, there are important differences between these diets that you should know about

Vegetarian diets include avoiding meat, seafood and eggs.

Being vegan means avoiding contributing to animal abuse in any form. Vegan diet is one part of this.

When it comes to food, this means apart from being vegetarian, also avoiding dairy products and honey.

It also includes other lifestyle changes for avoiding animal exploitation.

Following a whole food plant based diet means basing your diet on whole, unprocessed plant-based foods for the purpose of achieving your optimal health and longevity.

Once you adopt a lifestyle change, it is no longer about that cheat meal on weeknight dinners or crumbling to temptation on a weeknight meal. It becomes about consciously choosing healthier ingredients for your favourite dishes, whether it is a rice bowl or a feast from Mediterranean diets.

What Does the Current Research Say About Plant-Based Diets?

 

The current research on plant-based diets is quite extensive. The following are just a few of the many studies that have been done over the years:

  • The 2020 EAT-LANCET Commission concluded that "staying within the safe operating space for
    food systems requires a combination of substantial shifts toward mostly plant-based dietary
    patterns"
  • In 2016, the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics published a paper titled 'Position of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets' in which they said:
    • It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.
    • These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes.

What to Limit (or Avoid Entirely)

Limit or avoid animal foods, including:

  • Meat
  • Seafood
  • Eggs
  • Dairy Products

Also, limit or avoid processed foods, including:

  • Oil
  • Sugar, Jaggery (and Honey, too)
  • White Rice, Maida, Refined Flour, Sago or Tapioca
  • Alcohol

What Are the Scientifically Proven Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet?

Here are the scientifically proven benefits of a plant-based diet:

  1. Plant-based diets can help reduce risk of several chronic diseases, including:
    1. Ischemic heart disease
    2. Type 2 diabetes
    3. Hypertension
    4. Certain types of Cancer
    5. Obesity
  2. Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of whole plant foods (all rich in fiber and phytochemicals) can help achieve:
    1. Lower total cholesterol levels
    2. Lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels
    3. Better serum glucose control

What Are the Potential Disadvantages of Adopting a Plant-Based Diet?

The potential disadvantages of adopting a plant-based diet may include getting too healthy too fast!

Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest insurance organisations in the world, published a research paper called 'Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-based Diets', where they outlined the various health benefits of a plant-based diet.

About the risks, this is what they had to say:

  • Depending on the underlying conditions, patients with chronic disease who take multiple medications need close monitoring of low blood sugar levels, low blood pressure, or rapid weight loss.
  • If these occur, the physician may need to adjust medications. In some cases... the need for certain medications can be eliminated altogether.

200 Recipes for Plant-based Diet You Can Try at Home Today

 

The FREE Plant-based Kickstart online course has more than two hundred delicious whole food plant based recipes that you can try at home today. You can sign up here or simply click any of the vegan recipe names to join the free course and get access to all 200+ recipes.

Alternatively, download this ebook with 100+ WFPB recipes that you can refer anytime and even print out to gift your parents.

These recipes include gravies with a creamy sauce and hot sauce, bold flavors from various cuisine across India and abroad, foods with both a sweet flavor and savory flavor.

Whether it's a vegan bowl topped with sunflower seeds, learning how to use nut butters like homemade creamy peanut butter in Indian dishes or simply learning a new approach to meal prep for vegan meals, we have got you covered.

Here are the recipes for plant-based diet included in the Plant-based Kickstart:

Healthy Alternative Recipes

Smoothie Recipes

Salad, Dressing & Pickle Recipes

Chaat Recipes

South Indian Gravy Curry Recipes

North Indian Stir Fries & Dry Veg Recipes

South Indian Stir Fry & Dry Veg Recipes


Kootu Recipes

 

Sambar & Saaru Recipes

 

Dal & North Indian Gravy Recipes

 

Rasam Recipes

 

Chutney & Dip Recipes

 

Dosa Recipes

Adai Recipe | Adai Dosa Recipe | Adai Dosai

 

Roti Recipes

 

Tiffin Recipes

 

Rice Recipes

 

Continental & Asian Recipes

 

Raita & Pacchadi Recipes

 

Indian Dessert Recipes

 

Exotic Dessert Recipes

Snack Recipes

 

Tea, Herbal & Spice Drink Recipes

 

Vegan Soup Recipes

 

Cake Recipes

Feeling like it's too tough? Have you tried our plant-based goodies from Sampoorna Ahara yet? That may make it easier for you to enjoy plant-based recipes without making them yourself.

I hope you found this blog useful! I can't wait to hear about your adventures trying new recipes for plant-based diet. If you have any questions, you can comment below this blog.

Be blessed,
Dr. Achyuthan Eswar
Plant-based Lifestyle Physician
Co-founder,
NutritionScience.in Online Learning Platform &
SampoornaAhara.com Whole Food Plant Based Social Enterprise

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