THE HEALTHY VEGETARIAN

Now as much as I love my meat and couldn’t be a vegetarian (slash don’t want to because I love chicken and steak) I respect and find a big place in this world for vegetarians. The ongoing issue with being vegetarian is that they don’t eat enough protein and tend to eat white carbs and cheese constantly. One of my mates recently decided to go vegetarian and my best friend is also vegetarian so I thought I would research into it and create some high protein meal plans that don’t consist of tofu tofu and tofu.

Firstly eggs are a great source of protein as is dairy, nuts, seeds, lentils, pulses and some grains. Here are my top 10 high protein vegetarian ingredients,in no particular order.

eggs
yoghurt
cottage cheese
peanut butter
quinoa
protein powder
raw nuts
tofu
chickpeas and lentils
buckwheat

Sounds like a pretty delicious shopping list right there, just load the plate with added greens and you will be right on your way to a healthy high protein vegetarian lifestyle that is most importantly sustainable!!

DAY 1

Breakfast: 2 eggs and avocado on rye toast >> recipe here

Lunch; raw pesto courgetti with feta broccoli and crushed almonds >> similar recipe here

Dinner; chickpea cauliflower curry with quinoa

Snacks; protein smoothie (recipes >> here) AND some natural peanut butter and apple.

DAY 2

Breakfast; porridge with peanut butter and banana. Other porridge ideas >> here.

Lunch; boiled egg and goats cheese salad with buckwheat and greens

Dinner; lentil bolognese eggplant stack >> recipe here (sub mince for lentils)

Snacks; hummus and carrot sticks AND yoghurt with berries and chia seeds.

DAY 3

Breakfast; green banana avocado smoothie. recipe >> here

Lunch; zucchini slice without the bacon. Recipe >> here.

Dinner; 5 hidden vege Mac n Cheese >> recipe here

Snacks; 2 boiled eggs on quinoa buckwheat crackers AND handful of almonds/nuts

Now remembering that I am not a dietitian or nutritionist but I have a lot of experience in writing high protein vegetarian and vegan meal plans and these are just a few of my ideas. Take from it what you wish and most importantly ENJOY what you are eating because being healthy starts with your relationship with food.