4 Plant-Based Meals for Vegan Eating

By Mother Earth Living Staff
Published on June 9, 2016
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Photo by Fotolia/travelbook
Plant-packed meals provide a variety of positive health benefits.

We all know fruits and vegetables are good for us, and that we should eat plenty of each every day. But getting a wide variety of types of produce into our diets is as important as quantity. A diet rich in produce offers many positive health effects: It can lower blood pressure; regulate blood sugar; keep the appetite in check; reduce risk of heart disease, stroke, eye problems and digestive issues; and even prevent some types of cancer, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. But no single fruit or vegetable provides all of the nutrients needed to perform all of these superhero functions. The nutrition experts at Harvard suggest we seek out recipes that include more vegetables, especially dark, leafy greens; cooked tomatoes (note that conventional canned tomatoes usually contain high levels of the endocrine disruptor BPA); and brightly colored vegetables and fruits.

Vegan chef Laura Theodore, aka PBS television host The Jazzy Vegetarian, makes eating a plant-full diet easy with her new cookbook, Vegan-Ease: An Easy Guide to Enjoying a Plant-Based Diet. The following recipes from Vegan-Ease all contain about 10 plants and cover all of the bases the Harvard researchers recommend for getting maximum nutrition from our meals. Even though the ingredient lists are long, each of these recipes is simple to prepare. 

Discover delicious vegan-friendly recipes:

Lentil, Brown Rice and Carrot Stew Recipe
Quinoa and Butternut Squash Paella Recipe
Carrot, Cabbage and Walnut Coleslaw Recipe
Walnut and Quinoa Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms Recipe

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