What I Ate on Earth Day

I thought it would be fun to document everything I ate as I decided to challenge myself to only eat plant-based for the day! 

Over the past few weeks in my geology class, I've learned plenty about water consumption and mankind's contribution to carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. As part of our in-class activities, my professor had us calculate an estimate of both our water consumption and carbon footprint... WOW, what a day dampener!

Though these calculations caused a very real sense of guilt, they seriously motivated me to focus on being more aware of how I'm impacting the world. 

It seems to be fairly common that Earth Day sparks  motivation in people to make eco-friendlier decisions to honor the day, and I definitely did not want to count myself out of the positivity! After doing some research on the environmental impact I have being one who eats meat, I realized that by simply replacing meat with plant-based foods every-so-often could lift a decent amount of weight off of my carbon footprint. I'm in!

~~~ I eat a lot because I'm a pretty active gal so don't be surprised at how much food is about to bless your eyes

Breakfast:

Oatmeal!! (who's surprised) Cooked on the stove with water, almond milk, cinnamon, and maca. Topped with blueberries, chia seeds, walnuts, kiwis, and almond butter. Started the day strong with this one!

Snack:

An orange (I have been absolutely obsessed with oranges lately. I ain't mad about it, though)

Lunch:

My mom put together a little appetizer plate with banana, pineapple, mango, hummus and whole-wheat pita bread. This fun leaf platter (which I scored at a thrift shop for $4, by the way) made our backyard-luncheon all the more fitting! 

For the main lunch-course, I topped some sautéed kale, carrots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes with a homemade black bean patty and avocado. I kind of surprised myself at how good this lunch was. 

Another Snack:

My grandma and I started talking about smoothies which obviously made us want one... SO I made us a couple of spinach, peach, banana smoothies and added some cacao nibs, goji berries, and a bit of granola on top. 

Dinner:

I cooked some Banza rotini pasta, which is just garbanzo beans shaped as the beloved twisted noodle. This brand of pasta was a great addition to my no-meat Sunday, as it is loaded with protein. To the pasta, I mixed a bit Trader Joe's garlic sauce and tomato paste together for the sauce and added some sautéed mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and black pepper on top. 

In conclusion, this challenge was a billion times easier to complete than I anticipated. After the success of today, I will without a doubt feel more inclined to add more plant-based meals into my life. Not only were they all extremely enjoyable and filled with loads vitamins and nutrients, they reminded me how simple it is to make smarter choices. 

Whether it's one meal a day or one meal a week, I hope you seriously consider how easy it is to make eco-friendly food decisions with easy and delicious food swaps! Even though I'm not planning on making a full lifestyle change by dropping meat forever, I'm going to embrace plant-based options as a genuine plan B more often.

Just in case you happen to be curious of your environmental impact based on your eating habits, check out this link. 

And, of course, happy Earth Day!