Side by side

24 days of eating a whole food, plant based diet and we are going strong.  I can count on one hand the exceptions .. hello summer, ice cream is irresistible!  We're still trying to eliminate processed foods, but haven't had the time or energy to make our own naan or buns.  We have completely eliminated meat and nearly eliminated dairy, oil and processed foods.  All in all, our consumption of fat and cholesterol has dramatically decreased.  I hope our cholesterol numbers are doing the same!  Brigham has lost 4 pounds in a month and the last time I was weighed was January 31st and I've dropped 11 pounds since then.  Wouldn't a side by side nutritional comparison of our meals on January 31st compared with our meals yesterday, June 12th be interesting?  I thought so!  Especially since June 12th was an ice cream day..

6/15/17 Update!  I realized the coq au vin recipe didn't have any nutritional facts which completely skewed my results.  I updated the totals and my thoughts.

January 31st
Total calories: 1572
Fat: 75g
Fiber: 16g
Carbs: 169g
Sodium: 3314mg
Protein: 77g

Breakfast: black tea with sugar, whole milk, sprouted grain bread with butter, egg
Lunch: bed of kale with cauliflower gratin (pictured above), roasted red pepper soup and mint tea
Snack: mandarin orange
Dinner: Coq au vin, mashed potatoes
Dessert: butter cookies

June 12th
Total calories: 1662
Fat: 41g
Fiber: 41g
Carbs: 286g
Sodium: 1354mg
Protein: 57g

Breakfast: steel-cut oats cooked in banana/water 'milk', raspberries, strawberries, flax seed, mint tea
Lunch: bed of kale with mushrooms, beets, hulled hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, flax seed, tomatoes, red bell peppers, and a sprinkling of dried cranberries
Snack: red grapes
Dinner: smoky, oat, bean burger (pictured above) with homemade mayonaise (tofu!), kimchi, on a brioche bun with a red cabbage slaw
Dessert: UDF strawberry and vanilla ice cream

The ice cream is definitely atypical and added 400 calories and 18g of fat to our daily total.  I think it may have added the only source of cholesterol we had all day too.  But you have to treat yourself occasionally!  Strictly looking at calories, we did eat more.  But I think it was much more nutritionally dense.  The carbs increased, but the sugar did not.  The sodium decreased considerably and even though we had ice cream, the fat was also considerably less.  57g of protein is definitely less than 77g, but the average adult only needs between 45-60g per day, so we're doing alright.  Even thought the totals changed slightly, I'm still going to say it's true what 'they' say!  You really can get everything you need from a plant-based diet.  I've started to use a much more detailed nutritional tracker so will repeat this comparison in a couple weeks and include all of the vitamins and minerals.