I seem to be eating lots of dairy and eggs lately, rather than my usual mostly-vegan diet. Greek yogurt, eggs, cheese, milk and even the odd whey protein shake – all of these foods have been slowly creeping back into my life ever since I started going to the gym again.
As much as I enjoy these foods, I’m still a little conflicted. I feel much cleaner when I’m eating vegan. But at the same time, the extra, high quality, totally complete protein from the eggs and dairy really helps with me recover from my workouts. Or maybe I just tell myself that so I can feel good about eating Greek yogurt with my muesli, which tastes really damn fine if I do say so myself.
Last Friday I rediscovered one of my favourite dairy foods: cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is a popular health food for its high protein, low carb, calcium-rich properties. But did you also know that cottage cheese makes a great sandwich?
It’s simple: take a piece of toast, top it with cottage cheese, fresh mint, tomato, a little salt, and a good grind of pepper. Sounds weird, tastes unbelievably good.
- Gym: 2000m swim, 55mins
- Breakfast: Bircher muesli with Greek yogurt and bananas
- Snack: Pear with almond butter
- Lunch: Cottage cheese and tomato sandwich with salad and more cottage cheese
- Dinner: Pan-fried smoked tofu and mashed potatoes with sauerkraut and purple sprouting broccoli
Breakfast
Bircher muesli with Greek yogurt and bananas
Snack
Pear with almond butter
Lunch
Cottage cheese, tomato and mint sandwich with salad and more cottage cheese
Dinner
Pan-fried smoked tofu and mashed potatoes with sauerkraut and purple sprouting broccoli
This all looks so wonderful! And although I’m not vegan, I know what you mean about being conflicted about eating certain foods. For me, it’s the chemical stuff. I always feel bad for eating the fake sugar stuff, but I also don’t want the extra calories. Perhaps you wanting those items, is your body’s way of telling you it needs something there.
Alyson, I have the same issue with fake sugar – I’m a glutton for diet soda! Can’t keep it in the house. I wish I enjoyed drinking water more… but I try to be cool about it. A little aspartame here, a little yogurt there, it’s not going to kill me, and it’ll keep me sane until I figure out how to LOVE water and get enough protein from non-vegan foods. =) Diet is always a work in progress and it will never be perfect. I think it’s best to just accept that and move on!