Plant-Based Power!

Yay it's Friday!!!!

 

Guess who is the puppy of the week? Yes, you guessed it, my one and only baby boy!

 

 

Champ LOVES barrel rolling around everyone. He's like a stinking acrobat. Once he gets going it's absolutely hilarious. He usually wears himself out and ends up falling asleep in the position shown in the second picture. I love having my own little puppy to post cute Friday pics of!

 

Since participating in the Thrive in 30 program, I have been trying very hard to include more plant-based protein in my diet. I am not a vegetarian, but there are so many benefits of occasionally choosing plant-based proteins over meat sources of protein that everyone could benefit from an plant for meat protein swap every once in a while!

 

Here is what Brandon has to say on the matter. “Plant-based proteins have many benefits: easy to digest and alkaline-forming, plant-based proteins are also low in saturated fat and promote a healthy body weight. In contrast to proteins from meat or dairy sources, your body is very efficient when digesting plant-based protein.”

 

Other benefits of plant based protein:

• Better for the environment 
• Free of the antibiotics, growth hormones and steroids found in farmed animal protein 
• Free of the mercury and heavy metals found in some fish
• There are several sources of complete protein sources including hemp and chlorella.

Some quality plant-based proteins include:

• Hemp protein (it has one of the most complete amino acid profiles of any plant-based protein)
• Yellow pea protein
• Brown rice protein
• Flaxseed
• Chlorella (a microscopic, freshwater green algae from Japan)
• Almonds
• Legumes (soy beans, black beans, chick peas)
• Pseudograins (including quinoa and buckwheat)

There are so many delicious plant-based proteins, it's really not hard to incorporate them into your everyday meals. On Thursday, we had taco night so I simply cut up a morningstar black bean burger and swapped for the ground beef in my taco. It was delicious!

 

I threw some chick peas on the taco too and had black beans on the side. After teaching Zumba and running on the treadmill this morning, I was starving for lunch! I HAD to stop by Whole Foods to pick up some new protein powder (recap on this on Monday), and just HAD to take advantage of their amazing salad bar! :) I clearly had no choice. I loaded up on veggies, beans, quinoa, and tofu!! It was awesomeness in a bowl!

After this power packed lunch, I got some serious cleaning done! I swept and mopped the kitchen, wiped of the counters, swiffered all of the wood floor, vacuumed, and cleaned the two thrones in the house (if you know what I mean-yuck)! It felt great to check those things off of my to-do list!

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful weekend!

Q's and A's:
What is your favorite plant-based protein?
What are your plans for the weekend?

In health,