“Why did you become vegan?” “What do you even eat?” – these are the two questions I would hear every day following the creation of Plant Only Recipes, the Facebook page and brand under which I share my vegan recipes.
Until May of this year, I never gave much thought to what I was eating. I’ve always been a huge food lover but, because I was naturally slim, I tended to just eat what I wanted when I wanted, without much thought to its calorie content or the effect it had on my body. In the beginning of 2015, towards the start of my first year at Oxford, I started to struggle with energy, enthusiasm and general well being. I was diagnosed with depression and, unhappy to have to take medication, began looking at other means of treating it. Around the same time, my dad had been struggling with his diabetes and my mum was looking to lose some weight (which, by the way, was totally crazy because she’s almost 50 years old and a size 12!) With this in the background, I began looking into food, diet and nutrition.
I watched so many documentaries; it was fascinating and addictive! My recommendations include: ‘Forks over Knives’, ‘Hungry for Change’, ‘Food, inc’ and ‘Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.’ Documentaries like these boldly address the impact of what we are eating and the effects it has on our body. I found it shocking how far away our diet has come from anything remotely natural – think confectionary, fast food, junk food, convenience food, long life products etc. Fundamentally, in the last 50 years, science and global companies have developed western food to a point completely removed from what our bodies have evolved to digest. During the same time, the incidence of obesity, heart disease and cancers in western society has sky rocketed – see where I’m going with this?
There is an overwhelming correlation between not only processed food but also high concentrations of meat and animal products and increased circulatory disease, cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Since I became a vegan, I have seen and heard stories of people who have reversed: 1) plaque build up in their arteries 2) diabetes and 3) obesity by adopting clean eating habits – meals packed full of nutrients, vitamins and natural products. For more information about clean eating, I recommend the Deliciously Ella blog or http://www.cleaneatingmag.com.
So, over night, I decided I would become a vegan and one who would steer well clear of refined and processed goods (white bread, white pasta, white sugar, oils, crisps, biscuits etc.) In essence, I wanted to adopt more natural eating habits for personal health reasons. However, in addition to the health benefits, documentaries, like ‘Vegucated’, address the ethics behind animal slaughter and the impact it has on our environment. The welfare of animals in meat production is truly shocking: chickens are now bred for a larger meat mass which their bones cannot support. Pigs are killed by being dumped in boiling water vats. Animal feed is supplemented with antibiotics and steroids which derive from chemicals that they were never meant to absorb and that we have ended up eating in their meat! I could go on. As is well known, there are also many environmental factors which push people to becoming vegetarian or vegan: meat production has become the biggest environmental polutant in the world.
So there you have it, these are the reasons behind my diet and the creation of Plant Only Recipes. Every recipe (unless otherwise stated) I made up myself and use only plant ingredients. In addition, they are gluten free and free of refined/processed goods – but still delicious, I promise! The idea behind it was never totally to convert people from meat and animal products, but just to show healthy, delicious and easy alternatives to them.
I believe we would be happier people in a happier world if we adopted more balanced eating habits – say, consuming meat and animal products in one daily meal as opposed to all 3 of them, plus snacks! This would not only lower pollution, lower the cost of your shopping and lower the number of animals slaughtered, but also lower your risk of developing the world’s most fatal illnesses.
Saying all this, my conversion to a plant only lifestyle wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows! I had no idea what to eat and underate so much that climbing the stairs became a challenge. If I thought about the meals I used to eat and take out all the meat/animal/refined products, spaghetti bolognese would essentially become a tin of chopped tomatoes and a red onion. Not what you might call fab.
Things started to improve when I thought about food differently and discovered new ingredients – chickpeas, beans, lentils, squashes, buckwheat etc – and the creation of plant only flapjacks, cookies, brownies and cakes (my first successful recipe you’ll find below) was/is my highpoint. You can seriously eat some delicious things without heaps of butter, sugar, eggs, milk and I will prove it to you! Plus, you don’t have to worry about getting fat because it’s natural foods that your body can actually utilise instead of “store for the winter” which, in our day and age, isn’t quite the famine it used to be. Oh and against popular belief, it’s also quick, cheap and super easy! ALSO, you don’t have to worry about bacterial contamination like salmonella.
How has it helped me and those close to me? Well I have cut my anti-depressant dosage to half and feel so much better! I have so much more energy and honestly feel like I can take on the world. People have commented that I look good too; my skin is glowing and my hair is shiny. I’ve also lost some weight and become much leaner. I am nearly always in the gym by 8am and no longer feel exhausted by 8pm. In short, my body is flourishing. My dad has reduced his diabetes medication too; he’s lost weight and is seeing fitness improvements. My mum looks and feels fantastic, not least because she’s now buying size 10 skinny jeans!
Oh, and one final word on the biggest myth around: protein deficiency. Nuts, seeds, quinoa, oats, soya, broccoli and lentils are all listed in the top 20 high protein foods. They’re all far lower in calories than meat, egg and cheese and contain no saturated fats. What’s not to love?
So, without further delay, my first creation: Apple & Almond Flapjacks (6 bars)
4 tbsp Apple Purée
1 tbsp Coconut Oil
1 tbsp Almond Butter
4 tbsp Maple Syrup
1 mug Oats
2/3 mug Almonds
1/3 mug Chia Seeds
Handful of Pumpkin Seeds
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Firstly, there are a few options for the apple purée: 1) shop bought, 2) homemade: blend an apple, 3) grate an apple & cook gently with a splash of water.
Whichever way you do it, add your apple purée to a saucepan with the coconut oil, almond butter and maple syrup. Heat gently and stir into a delicious mixture. Measure out the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and pour over the liquid. Stir well so there are no dry patches. Pour this out into a lined baking dish, firmly pack the mixture down and bake for 10-15 minutes. I always like mine soft and sticky so go for closer to the 10 minute mark but by 15 it should be browning at the edges.
These are protein & fibre heavy which is great but, for me, their main purpose is to satisfy my mid afternoon sugar craving. If I’m feeling like I want to be healthier however, I may switch out the maple syrup for mashed banana.
Enjoy!
To find more of Natalie’s amazing plant-only recipes, visit https://www.facebook.com/plantonlyrecipes?fref=ts
