We all know that protein is the base of all meals and that protein is the most important macro when trying to balance out meals. Recently many of our clients have talked about limiting meat or considering going meat-free for various reasons. Have you done that or are you plant based? We have had both vegan and vegetarian clients do very well with the StressLess Lifestyle, we just adjust the carbs slightly and work on finding healthy protein sources. In the past I have been vegetarian (truly it was pescatarian plus a burger every few months) and I really loved it, meat just didn't sit right with me, probably because I eat food in mass quantities...haha. I became a meat eater for 2 reasons:
1) I am severely anemic and when I was pregnant meat was the only thing that would help keep my iron up. After pregnancy, meat was still the only really easy way to get iron without taking a ton of pills.
2) My husband hunts and I love the fact that the meat is grass-fed and finished, it's humanely killed and all the parts are used by the Mennonites that processed it. I also appreciated that my husband was very involved in land and environment conservation and controlling the deer population was important. Plus, having our own deer saved us nearly $2k per year in meat!
Point 2 really changed my mind...especially the $$ part lol. Currently I eat meat most all days of the week but have 2-3 days a week that are meatless, and usually 1-2 meals per day that are meatless. My favorite sources of non-meat protein are eggs, plant-based protein, tofu, and seafood. I also really only eat turkey and chicken for my meat sources so even then, I'm very limited... I'm just like you guys that call yourselves "picky"! I just eat those 2 types of meat in many different ways to create variety.
Back to being plant-based! I would definitely be more plant-based if I didn't need the iron and
crave meat sometimes. Below is one of my favorite ways to get in protein that is plant-based and ultra delicious with an Asian flair. I will add the macros for the "base" of the curry, any rice or noodles you would add to MFP separately.
Ingredients:
1 package extra firm tofu
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbsp oil for cooking tofu
1/2 jar of Yai's Thai Yellow curry sauce (dairy free)
1 tbs hot chili oil
1 can of bamboo shoots
1-2 bell peppers
Garlic, salt, pepper to taste
Directions:
Cook tofu in a large pan with garlic and some rice vinegar to your liking, I like it cooked crispy! Add in bell peppers to cook in same pan for about 5 minutes, add lid to keep moisture so you don't have to add more oil. Add 1/2 jar of curry sauce and bamboo shoots, let all simmer together. Done! This makes 4 servings per MFP (but I usually log 2 for myself).
Macros for the "main ingredients":
Protein- 8.5g
Fat- 9.8g
carbs- 5.8g
Total cals per 1 serving- 141
You can serve over cabbage like in the picture here or you can serve over cauliflower rice and you won't have to log any additional items (if you follow the StressLess Lifestyle). You can also serve over zoodles, palmini noodles or shirataki noodles (konjac) and none of those need to be logged either!
If you have carbs to use up in your macros and want to add noodles or rice then you'll log your servings of the curry recipe and then just log separately the amount of whatever carb you use to add to your meal.
Let me know if you ate this or how you have modified to make it even better!!
-Nicci