Finding good vegan diet menus can be a little challenging since you don't eat any animal by products at all. That means no meat, fish, poultry, and no dairy products. With so many restrictions it can be a little challenging to get variety as well as all the nutrients you need to get into your diet every day.
But for many, coming up with vegan diet menus is a small price to pay for to become what they believe is more ethically and environmental responsible. If you have any underlying health concerns, make sure you talk to your doctor before you change your diet in such a drastic way. cutting out the fat and cholesterol that is in a normal diet can do a lot of improve your health in many ways. Lowering cholesterol is just one of many possible health related benefits so it might be a good idea to try, after you have discussed it with your doctor.
Here are some ideas of menu ideas:
1. For breakfast you can have a bowl of whole grain oat cereal, with soy milk of course. you can add various fruits to your cereal to get more flavor and some fruit into your diet. You can have toast, but no butter. Pancakes, just check the ingredients and make sure that they don't have anything in it that you shouldn't have. Of course, just having some fruit will work too. Or, you can combine one or more of these things and mix and match to get some variety.
2. For lunch you can have salad or non meat, non cream soups. Use only vinegar and oil for dressing (since you can't have any cream or dairy based products, stay away from creamy dressings). Make a tomato sandwich. Some people hate them, but I like them. It's simple, just cut up a fresh tomato and put the slices between two pieces of toast.
3. For your snack, you can have soy yogurt, with or without fruit, or some fruit. If you want a fruit cup make sure you get the type with no sugar added. That will cut the calories that you are taking in by a lot.
4. Dinner can be a combination of rice dishes and vegetables. Or, you can get a veggie burger and cook it on the grill. There are a whole line of soy based products that mimic the flavor, and texture in some cases, of hamburgers, hotdogs, sausages, etc. Adding these to your diet can allow you more variety.
It's important to check the labels when you try new types of processed foods. It can be sometimes difficult to figure out what all is in your processed foods. Once you have a menu set up, things will get easier. You will learn what you can and can't have. It's also a good idea to get one or more vegan cookbooks for some ideas and inspiration.
Planning your vegan diet menus may take more time than your current menu planning, but once you get the hang of it it will become second nature. With the help of some good cookbooks, and possibly your doctor or dietician, you will be cooking meals that have no animal by products, and enjoying all the health benefits, in no time.
