Vegetarian Health Institute - Discover How to Thrive on a Plant Based Diet and Stop Being Vulnerable to Deficiencies

What Do Healthy Vegetarians Eat In A Typical Day?

By Trevor Justice, Owner/Director

When I searched online for sample plant-based menus, I was shocked to find menus recommending bagels and margarine for breakfast… two foods we discourage eating in the Vegetarian Mastery Program.

Margarine is a trans-fat. And according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, bagels are among the top 20 acrylamide-containing foods.

In The Vegetarian Mastery Program, Dr. Michael Klaper explains that when you bake, fry, or roast any starchy food — whether potatoes, bread, French fries, crackers, cereals, or cookies — you will inevitably create acrylamides.

Acrylamides are nasty chemicals, known to damage chromosomes, increase oxidative damage in tissues[1], injure nerve cells,[2] and be a low-grade carcinogen.[3]

As food browns during frying or baking, you are watching acrylamides being produced. Heavily overcooking foods produces large amounts of acrylamide, as does microwaving.[4]

That’s why Dr. Klaper recommends steaming or boiling starchy foods, rather than baking or frying them. To hear our 1-hour Q&A with Dr. Klaper on the topic of white flour, trans fats, and acrylamides, click here now.

To show our students what real health experts eat, I asked eight cookbook authors to log what they ate during a typical day. I did the same. Then I published all eight food journals in Lesson 25 of The Mastery Program. I’m reprinting three of them here.

Elaina Love is a Chef/Instructor at the renowned Living Light Culinary Arts Institute. She eats primarily raw vegan food. www.purejoyplanet.com .

Jill is a respected Registered Dietitian, and author of the award-winning cookbook, The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment. www.theveggiequeen.com .

This mini-lesson will give you a good overview because I’m an ovo-lacto vegetarian, whereas Jill is a vegan, and Elaina eats primarily raw food. As you peek inside our food journals, you’ll discover that we eat quite simply.


Jill Nussinow’s 1-Day Food Journal

Breakfast
: 1 bowl steel cut oats with walnuts, apple, raisins and a little agave nectar

Snack
: piece of fruit and some nuts

Lunch
: tofu and vegetables over quinoa

Snack
, only if I am hungry: another piece of fruit or trail mix

Dinner
: vegan chili over brown rice, salad, and more vegetables

Jill says “Generally I don’t eat dessert. I eat very simply and what I eat varies every day. If I make beans or lentils at night, I might have soft tacos in the morning. Steel cut oats are my most regular breakfast food.”


Elaina Love’s 1-Day Food Journal


Breakfast: Green juice consisting of 1 head celery, 2 large cucumbers, 5 leaves of kale, 1 apple and the juice of 1 lemon.

Lunch: Big Green Salad with Red Bell Pepper Dressing, Avocado, Hemp Seeds, 5 black sun dried greek olives, dulse flakes, tomatoes, cucumber, red bell peppers, sprouts and Red Bell Pepper Dressing or pumpkin seed oil/Himalayan salt crystals/lemon juice and onion powder.

Dinner: Cooked quinoa (about 1-2 cups) with steamed broccoli drizzled with pumpkin seed, olive or hemp seed oil sprinkled with dulse flakes, onion powder, Himalayan salt crystals. Topped with 1/2 chopped avocado and chopped cherry tomatoes over a bed of slivered kale leaves or Spring Mix.

Snacks
: Handful of raw Brazil Nuts, OR an orange OR dehydrated raw, vegan buckwheat crackers OR Kale Chips OR Chia Pudding (see my website).

Night time snack
: Coconut Bliss Ice Cream topped with crunchy dehydrated almonds.


Trevor Justice’s 1-Day Food Journal


Breakfast
: Green smoothie (1 banana, 3 rehydrated apricots, several leaves of kale, 1 cup of water).

Mid-morning meal: Chopped up acid fruit (such as strawberries, kiwis, or oranges) or subacid fruit (such as peaches or pears) with almond butter or Red Hill Farms goat’s yogurt, sweetened with brown rice syrup.

Lunch
: Big salad with spinach, romaine lettuce, or red leaf lettuce, topped with sprouts, olives, and other veggies. Rather than use salad dressing, I eat this with either hummus, or with guacamole and free-range, organic hard boiled eggs.

Dinner
: Some nights it’s Thai tofu veggie curry with brown rice (from a restaurant). Other night it’s a black bean polenta loaf (from a restaurant) and steamed broccoli. It could also be a bean soup and steamed vegetables.

Night time snack
: chopped up acid fruit topped with tahini and brown rice syrup. When I eat this, I eat it several hours after dinner.

Throughout the day, I drink green tea, herbal Chai, or lemonade sweetened with Xylitol or brown rice syrup. Several times a week, I get a 16 ounce green juice from the local juice bar. It is primarily cucumber, celery, chard, and kale. But I ask for 1-2 carrots to help offset the bitterness of the kale.

As a Mastery Program student, you’ll get access to the rest of our Sample Daily Menus lesson, plus a 1-hour Q&A call on the topic. And this is just one of the 50 weekly lessons you’ll receive!

“As a cookbook author and 30-year teacher of macrobiotics, vegan and live foods preparation classes, I found the Vegan Mastery Program to be very comprehensive. The expert Q&A calls were particularly useful. And Dr. Klaper is exceptionally knowledgeable and easy to listen to. Considering how much I've gotten, you definitely undercharge.”

– Lenore Y. Baum, M.A., author of Sublime Soups and Lenore’s Natural Cuisine, Weaverville NC

Why remain vulnerable to vitamin or mineral deficiencies when you can find out exactly how to eat and absorb enough calcium, iron, Omega 3s, and Vitamins A, B12, and D?

Just one oversight or deficiency -- if ignored for too long -- can leave you vulnerable to disease, and potentially thousands in doctor or dental bills. Why take that gamble when you can thrive on a vegan or vegetarian diet now and for the rest of your life?



Special New Member Offer

Get Our "Restaurant Survival Guide" FREE With Your Risk-Free Enrollment In Our Mastery Program.

Exclusive One-Time-Only Offer for New Subscribers.

Learn more



[1] Naruszewick Metal. “Chronic intake of potato chips in humans increases the production of reactive oxygen radicals by leucocytes and increases plasma C-reactive protein: a pilot study” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition March 2009;89(3):773-777

[2] “Acrylamide” Food and Nutrition Health Canada Health Canada Website February 21, 2009

[3]
Reynolds T “Acylamide and Cancer: Tunnel Leak in Sweden Prompted Studies” Journal of the National Cancer Institute June 19 2002;94(12):876-87

[4] J Food Sci. 2007 May;72(4):C212-6. A comparative study of acrylamide formation induced by microwave and conventional heating methods. Yuan Y, Chen F, Zhao GH, Liu J, Zhang HX, Hu XS. College of Food Science & Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural Univ., Beijing, 100083, China.


© Copyright The Vegetarian Health Institute – All Rights Reserved.