The Best Vegan Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
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Veganism 101
People who follow a vegan diet omit all animal products—meat, poultry, dairy, and even honey.
You may be wondering, what can vegans eat? Is bread off-limits? Although it may seem like a restrictive diet (and for some, it can be), a vegan diet can actually be diverse and nutrient-dense. A healthy vegan diet includes fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, nuts, seeds, and grains.
Now, if you’re thinking of veganism as plate after plate of beans and spinach, think again. Over time, as veganism has gained popularity worldwide, more and more resources now exist to help vegans create and maintain a varied and pleasurable diet.
Pizza, pasta, burgers, cakes, cookies—you name a food, and I’m willing to bet there are a dozen vegan recipes out there for it. And yes, that includes vegan bread or plant-based bread, too.
(Here are 19 tasty vegan breakfast ideas.)
What does vegan bread mean?
Is bread vegan? Well, that, of course, depends on the ingredients. Most traditional bread recipes contain flour, yeast, salt, and water—none of which are animal-based products. Therefore, most traditional bread is, in fact, vegan.
However, some bread recipes may call for eggs or milk products to change the texture, or honey to add sweetness, making them not vegan. (What is the healthiest bread?)
Types of vegan bread
Sourdough
Let’s talk about sourdough. It’s arguably the frontrunner in the category of trendiness.
Sourdough bread is a variety that doesn’t require the addition of active yeast. Instead, it includes a starter—a combination of flour, water, and lactobacillus bacteria that has sat out to ferment for a period of time.
This allows for the cultivation of wild yeast, which leavens the bread (aka makes it rise and gives it that delicious, chewy texture).
Most of the time, these are the only ingredients in a sourdough starter. This starter can be added to, and continuously used over time. However, if any milk or milk products are added to the starter, or the rest of the bread recipe, that would, of course, de-veganize the bread.
Ezekiel
Ezekiel bread is a fan favorite among vegans and is known for its protein content. Just one slice of Ezekiel bread contains about 4 grams of plant-based protein and all of the essential amino acids.
To make Ezekiel bread, wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt are sprouted, milled, and combined to make bread.
Ciabatta
Does this one surprise you? In general, ciabatta bread is vegan.
The standard recipe for ciabatta contains flour, water, yeast, and salt, combined in portions to give it the crusty exterior and spongey interior. Most ciabatta bread follows this recipe. However, there is always the potential that bakers may add animal products to enhance flavor or texture.
One type of ciabatta that is not vegan is ciabatta al latte. This version uses milk, which of course is not vegan. If you’re on the hunt for vegan ciabatta, I only have one pro tip for you—you must read the ingredient label.
Pita
Pita bread, just like sourdough and ciabatta, is usually vegan.
Traditional recipes call for the basic four ingredients of any bread—flour, yeast, water, and salt. But, as with the other varieties of bread we’ve discussed, there is always the potential of animal-based additions, such as butter, eggs, or milk. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again you must read your ingredient labels.
Rye
Hands up if you’re a rye lover. Rye bread has a very unique taste, and guess what, it’s traditionally vegan. It typically includes rye flour, rye seeds, regular flour, yeast, and water. However, some bakers or manufacturers can add animal-based products, so as always, be sure to check your label.
Naan
Buttery, pillow-y naan is a true fan favorite. However, vegans beware–naan is traditionally not vegan. A staple of Indian cuisine, traditional naan recipes call for eggs and/or milk products such as milk, ghee, or yogurt.
However, naan can be vegan, by omitting the aforementioned animal products. There are tons of recipes out there for vegan versions of naan, which call for flour, yeast, water, and salt. Keep reading, I’ve got a vegan naan recipe in store for you!
Alright, the question you’re all waiting for: Is vegan bread or plant-based bread healthy? Is it healthier than non-vegan bread? My answer is that it depends. Despite the bad reputation bread has gotten over the years from our low-carb-obsessed society, bread can actually be super nutritious.
Fiber
One of the best qualities of vegan bread might be the fiber content.
Now, I say “might” because the fiber content depends entirely on the type of flour used. If plain all-purpose flour is used, the fiber content is going to be lame. However, if the bread ingredients are whole wheat flour or oat flour, it will pack a fiber-filled punch.
What’s more, if the bread has whole grains like barley, buckwheat, or millet, that’ll boost the fiber even higher.
As a dietitian, fiber is one of my all-time favorite nutrients. Not only does it help with satiation, but it can draw LDL cholesterol (aka “bad” cholesterol) out of the body. It’s a heart health powerhouse.
Protein
Vegan bread can also be a significant source of protein. If the bread has whole grains, it will have plant-based protein.
Remember when we talked about Ezekiel bread being a fan favorite? It’s packed with sprouted whole grains, which give us lots of protein.
That protein content will help to slow the digestion of the carbohydrates in the bread, according to research in the journal Food Chemistry. And slower digestion means we feel fuller longer.
Omega-3s
This benefit of vegan bread or plant-based bread might be surprising, but vegan bread absolutely packs some omega-3 fatty acids.
My tip is to choose vegan bread with flaxseeds and chia seeds since these pack a ton of omega-3s, which can decrease inflammation in the body and aid in heart health, according to a review in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology.
How to tell if bread is vegan
My No. 1 tip for discerning vegan bread from non-vegan bread is always to read the ingredient label.
Non-vegan bread will contain animal products such as eggs, milk, butter, yogurt, and/or honey.
Beware of other sneaky animal-based ingredients, such as gelatin (made from animal collagen) and whey or casein (milk-based proteins). If the bread doesn’t contain any of these, it is likely vegan.
More than 6 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber per slice? Yes, please. I also love the cinnamon raisin flavor for breakfast. I add a tablespoon of peanut butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon to it, and it’s divine.
I love that Dave’s Killer Bread makes “thin-sliced” loaves. With a lower calorie and carb count, this is a great option for a snack or a sandwich if you don’t want to pack in as many carbs.
Be sure to combine a slice or two with lean protein, and healthy fat (mashed avocado is my go-to), and you’ve got a balanced sandwich.
This Alvarado Street Bakery bread has sprouted grains and 10 seeds which pack it with fiber, making it super satiating.
My favorite vegan bread recipe
Making your own vegan bread might sound difficult, but it’s not with this recipe for delicious vegan naan bread. Seriously, are you ready for the easiest vegan flatbread recipe you’ve ever seen?
We use this recipe weekly in my house because it’s both delicious and versatile. Here’s how to make your own.
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon agave nectar
Olive oil or coconut oil for cooking
Instructions:
Sift all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. (Don’t skip the sifting step!)
Add the warm water and agave nectar, and mix thoroughly. If the mixture feels too stiff, you may need to add an extra splash of warm water.
Add flour to a clean surface, and place the fully mixed ball of dough on the surface. Coat your hands in flour as well, and knead the dough. Knead for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a soft but structured ball.
Place dough in an oil-coated glass bowl. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of oil over the dough itself, and massage dough so that the dough’s entire surface is oiled. Set bowl on the countertop for 40 minutes to rise.
When ready to cook, heat 1/2 teaspoon olive or coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat. Using a knife or a food scraper, cut the dough into 10 even-sized balls. Using a rolling pin, roll each ball out so that it is about 1/2 inch thick.
Once rolled out, place the dough (one piece at a time) in the skillet. Cook for 2 minutes per side, until each side, is golden and fully cooked.
How to eat vegan bread
For breakfast, I’ll top one of these flatbreads or a store-bought vegan bread or plant-based bread with a tablespoon of almond butter and sliced strawberries.
My kids love open-faced PB&Js on these, too. (Simply slather on peanut butter and sugar-free jam.)
Sometimes, we make non-vegan naan pizzas: Just top with marinara sauce, any and all veggies, and some cheese. Broil for 4 minutes, and voila, you have a 5-minute fun and delicious dinner. Make it vegan by swapping the cheese for a nut or plant-based alternative.
The bottom line on vegan bread
While I’m not personally a vegan, I am absolutely down with a plant-based and plant-forward diet. That’s why I’m team vegan bread. It can pack a ton of fiber and a significant amount of protein, and makes for a great addition to any diet—vegan or non-vegan!
Pack your food the night before
The emotional influence on food choice is undeniable. Luckily, you can make this work to your advantage by preparing food ahead of time. “Food is now so intertwined with rewards, celebrations, and so many other cultural moments in time,” says Adam Brumberg, deputy director of Cornell University’s Food & Brand Lab. “If it were as simple as telling ourselves, ‘I’m going to put only the best quality fuel in my body,’ dietary disease would not have the prevalence it does today.” Work that to your advantage by being deliberate about when food will factor into your workday and planning accordingly. “Try to organize your day in such a way that food decisions are made in the evening or at a time when your stress level is likely to be lower and you have more time,” Brumberg says. “Making a lunch the night before is a much better than the option for calorie-laden convenience.” Be sure to take note of these 12 sneaky ways you get tricked into overeating.
Keep healthy snacks handy
Think about the space where you spend the greatest portion of your workday. As common sense as it sounds to store the tempting stuff out of sight, there are compelling research-backed benefits to do so. “Half of the battle is organizing your physical space to support your goals, in this case avoiding office job weight gain, and then making food decisions when you’re less likely to be stressed out,” Brumberg says. “A tactic as simple as thoughtfully arranging the food in your office can have a lot to do with what you grab when snack cravings strike.” When the healthier options are closest to you and easiest to reach, you are effectively priming yourself to make a more responsible food choice. “You take advantage of the convenience factor by stocking up on low-calorie food like unsalted nuts, low-calorie granola bars, and keeping them in your top drawer–while you stash the Hershey Kisses in a locked drawer where they are out of sight,” he says. (Or better yet, don’t keep them in your desk at all.) Here are nine healthy snacks you should always keep in your desk drawer.
Skip the see-through containers
Save those candy jars and dishes for something besides candy. In a widely cited 2006 study, the Cornell Food & Brand Lab led an experiment to assess the influence of visibility and proximity on candy consumption. The research method spanned four weeks and examined daily candy intake in a clerical setting. The study tested both visibility (placing candies in clear and opaque dishes) and proximity (a candy dish on the desk versus several feet away). According to study findings, “people ate an average of 2.2 more candies each day when they were visible, and 1.8 more candies” when the treats were on their desk. “While ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is absolutely real, the reverse is also true,” Brumberg says.” The takeaway? Store it so you can’t see it and keep it far away from you. This works at home, too. Find out the best way to organize your fridge for optimal health.
Understand the food cue influence
Keep your hands and your mouth busy, and you’re less likely to grab a handful of M&Ms when you walk through reception. A 2016 meta-analytic study by Yale University Professor Hedy Kober, Ph.D, who also directs the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Yale University School of Medicine, validated the Cornell findings. It also supports the influence of food cues, or the prompts we see and smell that trigger a conditioned response to crave (and consume) a particular food or drink. Heart rate picks up, salivation increases, and gastric activity spikes, driving us to eat more. While you can’t strip your office environment of these influences, you can be prepared for them. “Don’t let yourself be caught off guard,” says Traci Mann, Ph.D. and author of Secrets from the Eating Lab. “Having coffee or another beverage in hand is a good idea—if your hands are full, you can’t do a quick grab.”
Be a healthy food champion
Got a break room routinely laced with treats that leave you weak in the knees? Instead of avoiding the space, level the playing field with fresh fruits and veggies. “Science backs up the influence of proximity and visibility on cravings, and ultimately, the likelihood that we will cave into those cravings,” Kober says. What if you primed yourself to crave the opposite of tempting treats? The very act of bringing in shareable snacks that are healthier is not only a courtesy to your co-workers but can also prime the work environment in your dietary favor. “We have a shared kitchen, and I’ve asked colleagues not to bring in doughnuts,” Kober says. “For my part, while I’ll sometimes bring in a little chocolate, I definitely err on the side of bringing in a box of apples I just picked or blueberries to share.” Bonus? Apples and blueberries are 20 of the healthiest foods to eat.
Be selfish about lunchtime
Even if the break room isn’t your Achilles heel, weight management experts advise taking your lunch hour elsewhere. “We know that if we’re not paying attention to food, it doesn’t register in our brain, making us hungrier later,” says weight management expert and author Karen R. Koenig, LCSW. To avoid the cycle of mindless eating, she advises having at least one mindful food interaction each day. That means more than just untethering yourself from any multitasking temptations (hello smartphone!). It takes finding a space as free from interruption as is practical, and focusing not on the 10,000 things you need to accomplish next, but on the food that is in front of you. “I treat a good number of teachers who are always taking care of other people, some of whom can’t even keep their doors closed during lunch; there is this barrage of constant interruption,” Koenig says. “I encourage them to go sit in their car so they can have the peace and quiet to eat their lunch, and really enjoy it. When you eat, you should be present enough to know when you are full and satisfied.”
Make long-term food decisions
A 2014 study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology explored the influence of mood on food choice. Across four experiments, researchers analyzed the impact of positive and negative mood cues, with findings that will make you a believer in the power of positive thinking. According to the study, “a positive mood increases the salience of long-term goals such as health, leading to a greater preference for healthy foods over indulgent foods.” Instead of using food as a source of in-the-moment distraction, positive thinking lets us play the long game in our daily food choice. We are able to focus on the impact that a healthy food choice has on our long-term well-being, and we’re satisfied by it. Conversely, negative mood cues hamstring that focus, and we crave indulgent foods as a means of immediate mood management. Not only that, but when we’re in this state, we eat the indulgent options to excess. The bottom line? Keeping your health front of mind can go a long way in preventing a bad mood food binge. Keep from faltering with these 7 science-backed tips to stop your strongest food cravings.
Make mindfulness work for you
In a 2017 study examining mindfulness as a tool to reduce emotional eating, researchers confirmed that the approach leads to a significant reduction in emotional eating behavior. Study co-author Carl Fulwiler, MD, Ph.D., who also serves as medical director for the UMASS Center for Mindfulness, cites the concept of disinhibition, and our ability to control it, as a key driver in the prevention of emotion-driven eating. “At its core, mindfulness is about being more aware of our emotions, and understanding how they influence our thinking and behavior,” Fulwiler says. “When applied to weight loss and weight maintenance, it can have a profound impact on an individual’s long-term success.” Fulwiler’s exploratory research reinforces earlier findings from a study by Brown University researchers about disinhibition related to eating behavior. “What they showed pretty convincingly is that the internal component, or what we think, has much more to do with long-term weight control than external factors such as office social situations.” That’s welcome news for those who work in environments where tempting food cues are unavoidable. It can also be an effective tactic in curbing stress induced splurges.
Reduce triggers of emotional eating
Whether you love or loathe what you do, it’s undeniable that stress and work go hand in hand. “The combination of food being a low involvement choice and a stressful environment is what propels us select something indulgent—it makes us feel good,” Brumberg says. But how to recognize and stop the influence of stress on food choice? According to David Adler, MD, senior scientist for The Center for Health Solutions and Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, one solution is cognitive behavior redirection. “First and foremost, you have to be aware of your automated response to stress, which manifests itself in numerous ways, including eating,” he says. “If you are feeling upset and eating is something you find helpful, you’ll keep doing it.” And you’ll likely continue feeding the stress beast until you shift that automated response to a healthier alternative. (Believe it or not, a single raisin can be all it takes to exert control over our automated response to overindulge.) “One of the simplest solutions is to make a list, where the left-hand column lists the positive things you can do to manage that in the moment stress, and the right lists negative alternatives,” he says. Not only will the action have absolved you of any knee-jerk induced munchies, but it can also lead to long-term positive change with regard to your default eating behaviors. Here are 7 mind tricks you can use to prevent emotional eating.
Indulge in the occasional office treat
Perhaps the greatest news of all? Live a little! Besides making you a total buzz kill, restrictive eating does you no favors in the long run. If anything, the occasional cheat meal can help you sustain your long-term goals with respect to weight loss and weight maintenance. “It only makes you think of the things you’re not ‘allowed’ to have, and it sets you up to fail,” Brumberg says. Koenig, a self-professed former binge eater, concurs. “Depriving yourself of pleasure causes overeating,” she says. “If something’s on offer that you really love, enjoy it. Or take it home and eat it later. This whole idea that certain foods are forbidden just doesn’t work. Food is not a moral issue.” The key is keeping front of mind your long-term health and wellness goal. “It’s only problematic when ‘just this once’ becomes something we’re constantly telling ourselves,” Brumberg says. “Many office cultures include a cake for everyone’s birthday or after-work cocktails. Just be mindful of that and take part without caving into the social pressure to eat (or drink) more than you normally would.”
10/10 SLIDES
The post Vegan Bread Is Delicious, and Here’s How to Buy, Make, and Eat It appeared first on The Healthy.
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