Ivy Collins soon discovered when she switched to a vegan diet that eliminating animal products alone was insufficient. “I was first living off pasta and toast,” she chuckles. “Knowing something had to change, I felt weary all the time.”
Ivy then started looking at how to create a healthy vegan meal schedule that stays plant-based yet supplies all the vital elements. The secret, she found, is diversity, organization, and knowledge of dietary requirements.
A well-balanced vegan dinner should call for protein, good fats, complex carbs, and lots of vitamins and minerals. “People often think protein is hard to get on a vegan diet, but it’s really not,” Ivy notes. She loves lentils, chickpeas, tofu, quinoa, and tempeh.
Ivy also adds leafy greens like kale or spinach to most meals for calcium and iron and sprinkles flaxseeds or chia seeds over porridge and smoothies to guarantee appropriate nutrition. “Layering in nutrition wherever you can is everything,” she says.
One of Ivy’s go-to meal plans includes:
Breakfast: Oats with almond milk, chia seeds, berries, and peanut butter
Lunch: Chickpea salad sandwich on whole grain bread with a side of greens
Dinner: Stir-fried tofu with quinoa, broccoli, and tahini dressing
Snack: Hummus with carrots or a fruit smoothie
Certified dietician Laura Nguyen concurs: “With just a bit of planning, a vegan diet can meet all your nutritional needs and support long-term health.”
Eating vegan is now second nature to Ivy and never boring. She beams, “I eat better now than I ever did.” “Plants offer countless opportunities.”
