Pillar-1 food: Meal plans

Many people request daily meal plans due to confusion about what to eat. As outlined in my guidelines from last week, our diet program offers complete freedom in choosing foods, provided they are plant-based whole foods (PBWF) and consumed within a narrow daytime eating window of 8-10 hours. Starting your day with green juice, fruits, nuts, and seeds for breakfast covers three of the five essential food groups, giving you flexibility for lunch and dinner. Here are some guidelines for a daily PBWF meal plan, assuming your eating window is from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Adjustments can be made for different eating windows.

Breakfast

10:00 AM: A glass of green juice

10:20 AM: A large bowl of fresh fruits and berries

10:30 AM: Oatmeal or porridge made with nut milk and dates as a sweetener. Idli, Poha, Upma or similar PBWF items. This meal can also be combined with lunch, the choice is yours.

Lunch

12:40 PM: A glass of green juice

1:00 PM: Choose any PBWF dish made with grains, beans, legumes, or starchy vegetables. Examples include Daal/Roti, Daal/Rice, Khichri, Peas Pulao, Bisibhili Bhat, Idli, Dosa, Uttapam, Upma etc.

Snack (optional)

4:00 PM: Tea or coffee and/or fruits and/or dry fruits

Dinner

5:10 PM: A glass of green juice or  salad.

5:30 to 6:00 PM: Any PBWF dish of your choice.

Note: The third glass of juice can be eliminated once you are off all medications, and the second glass can also be stopped after a year of no medications. Ensure you meet your daily intake of one tablespoon of flax/chia seeds and a few walnuts, although those watching their weight may limit this amount. Also, take a Vitamin B-12 supplement, with any meal. Remember, there is total flexibility with the meal menu. Any grains, beans, legumes, and starchy vegetables are acceptable.

You can make anything out of dosa batter; it takes care of two food groups:

Daal

Rice

In the long run your body will guide you, by making you feel like eating one thing or the other. After 12 months on PBWF diet, you cannot go wrong, if you listen to your body.

It would not be possible today,because there might be some unhealthy habits that need to be overcome first. It is a good idea to include a salad in your meal or have a salad as a meal.

Meal plan suggestions

Many people ask me as to what I eat for meals and what can be made with zero oil and zero sugar. Here is a list of foods regularly consumed at our home.

A. 100% compliant selections

Suitable for those trying to reverse chronic diseases and wean off medications:

1. Salads with Avocado, fruits, nuts, seeds and boiled beans and  toasted croutons.
2. Blended Vegetable Soups
3. Rajma, Rice
4. Chole, Aloo Chaat
5. Dhania Aloo Chaat
6. Imli Sonth Aloo Chaat
7. Sweet Potato Chaat
8. Chole with whole wheat Naan or Kulcha
9. Idli, Chutney
10. Ragda Patties
11. Khichri with vegetables
12. Sprouted Mung Salad
13. Japanese Spinach with Rice
14. Korean style eggplant
15. Vietnamese Pho Soups
16. Thai Spring Rolls with peanut sauce
17. Boiled, Baked or Hash brown potatoes
18. Eggplant Chokha from Kumaon

B.  95% compliant selections

These have one teaspoon or less oil and suitable for those who have already reversed their chronic diseases and are on no medications.

1. Daal, Rice, Roti, Subji
2. Appam and idi appam
3. Khichri with Vegetables
4. Rice Vegetable Pulao or Biryani
5. Ragda Patties
6. Sindhi Kadhi and Rice
7. Rajma Rice
8. Stuffed Parathas
9. Chole, Kulcha
10. Idli Sambhar
11. Paper Dosa
12. Uttapam
13. Upma
14. Dhokla
15. Muthia
16. Handwa
17. Poha
18. Sabudana Khichri
19. Patra
20. Cabbage Fried Rice
21. Stir fry veggies & Rice
22. Thai curry & Rice
23. Falafal or Veggi Kababs with Pita Bread
24. Bhel Puri with Potatoes

Desserts

For desserts here are the foods we make regularly. They all require zero sugar and rely heavily on dates, fruits and nuts.

1. Baked or boiled Sweet Potatoes make an excellent after meal dessert. Okinawan’s, who live the longest lifespan of all communities in the world, get 69% of their daily calories from this one source alone.
2. Date & Nuts Burfi
3. Base of overripe frozen Banana and vanilla Ice cream, with added fresh fruits and nuts. No cream is used. You can add cashew butter.
4. Chia seed Pudding in coconut or nut milks with dates and cut fruits as sweetener.
5. Carrot, Beetroot or Bottle-gourd Halwa made with almond or cashew milk.

Tips for tasty PBWFood 

1. Add avocados or nut butter to flour for whole wheat breads.
2. Use vegetable stock and soy sauce for stir-frying instead of oil.
3. Create fruit-based salad dressings with citrus, melons, and a touch of honey or balsamic vinegar.

Here are some suggestions:

1. A variety of Fruits & Berries should be consumed every day.
2. Sprouted mung with unroasted  peanuts and pomegranate seeds served with papaya.
3. Aloo chole ki Chaat with green and tamarind Chutnees.
4. Blanched Asparagus and Methi Salad (with onions and peanuts).
5. Dhokla without the tempering is always a safe bet.
6. I also eat Japanese sticky rice; it tastes very good with a little soya sauce. Here it is shown with Japanese style Goma-ae spinach

7. Sautéed Mushrooms with green vegetables in Soya Sauce go well with Sticky rice.

8. Zucchini wrapped tofu makes an excellent appetizer.

9. Thai Spring Rolls with peanut sauce make an excellent PBWF dish.

10. Lions Maine Mushrooms make an excellent substitute for Crab cake lovers.

Every body has to find their own taste buds. Do not eat something because it is socially the in thing. For example I have watched the younger hip crowds paying a lot of money for extra virgin olive oil and boasting about it. Why can’t you just have olives. Olives are healthy, olive oil is not.

Few additional comments

Stop looking for vegan alternatives to foods like fake meat hamburgers etc. Please remember your goal is to avoid processed foods also. Processed, prepackaged foods are full of additive which are Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) but truly aren’t.

Learn to make various chutney’s, and keep them ready in your refrigerator. They can add taste to any otherwise bland food. Tamarind chutney (Sonth) makes any food finger licking good. I find making chaats very easy for a quick meal and chaats have zero oil.

It is important to note that oil free food doesn’t mean spice free. Spices are rich in antioxidants and must be consumed with every meal. This plan ensures that you can enjoy a healthy, varied diet while adhering to PBWF principles, providing flexibility and promoting long-term health benefits.

To Read this article on Times of India click here