Vegan 'Healthy' Budget Food
Being a healthy vegan does not require special skills, special food or an elitist lifestyle.
One of my absolute favourite foods are sweet potatoes. Aside from being one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet, they are also in my superstar low budget status foods list as one of the cheapest. We all know that anything GREEN ranks up at the top of any vegetable listing so a combination of sweet potatoes with greens is my starting point when I work with clients who live way below the line in terms of affordability of food choices.
Affordable for all
I encourage all of my clients and students to invest in their health. When they have this information, they can make informed choices and seriously change the course of their life to one of longevity with great energy. Instead of spending two or three pounds on junk food, i.e. cheap frozen meals, pizza, etc., they can bulk up on sweet potatoes and greens that will last them for days. The added bonus here is that both of these foods are at the top of my list for nutrient density.
Don't Eat Vegan Junk Food
People tell me all the time, oh, I cannot afford to be vegan, it's too expensive. And yes, for many they believe that to be true because they are looking at the vegan ready-made processed fake burgers etc., and it's good to note that junk food is not necessarily cheap food. Many of the processed vegan foods on the market are loaded with salt, sugar and fats just as non-vegan processed food is. It's all junk.
There is also so much misinformation about having to take loads of supplements if you follow a vegan diet. However, when I introduce people to my way of eating a HEALTHY vegan diet of grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds they see this as doable.
Another important point to make here is that processed food is linked to many types of cancers, obesity, type 2 diabetes but discovering that not only are my beloved sweet potatoes jam packed with nutrition, they may have special cancer-fighting properties. In 1931, a unique protein was discovered in sweet potatoes. Later renamed, 80% of the protein in sweet potatoes is a type of protease inhibitor, with potential anticancer effects. How does a sweet potato protein ever get into our bloodstream? As soon as most proteins hit our stomach, they start getting digested. Remarkably, though, this class of proteins doesn’t just survive digestion, but may be absorbed into the bloodstream intact. Not only does sweet potato protein slow down the growth of colon cancer cells, but decreases cancer cell “migration and invasion.”
Low Budget Recipes & Home Cooking
Research shows that cooking meals at home actually improves health outcomes. Do people who cook live longer? Researchers in Taiwan found that those “who cook their own food are healthier, and do, indeed, appear to live longer. We began the long process of turning over to the food industry many of the decisions about what we eat. Today, our staggering rates of obesity and diabetes are testimony to the faith we put in corporations to feed us well. But the food industry is a business, not a parent, it doesn’t care what we eat as long as we’re willing to pay for it, vegan or non-vegan, it's junk.
Home cooking these days has far more than sentimental value, it’s a survival skill. Join me in my plant based nutrition workshops and cooking classes and learn how to be a healthy vegan on a low budget.
You will also find a variety of low budget vegan recipes in my latest book Go Vegan
In good health
