What I Eat in a Day – High Protein Simple Healthy Vegan

Food

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Wellness visionary & inspirational speaker, author of Let Your Fears Make You Fierce, & Founder of The Get Loved Up Community. My core mission is to promote daily self-care, oneness & eco-friendly living.

Hi, I'm Koya

Hi love. Thanks for being here today.

As an athlete who works hard and plays hard, I get a lot of questions around what I eat to keep myself fueled and energetic throughout the day — especially because I’m vegan. For me, making vegan meals and snacks is all about having fun and finding out what works best. If you’re just joining this vegan lifestyle, just know you can do it. When I started out, I didn’t have these staples. I had to figure out through trial and error what works best for me and my lifestyle.

I hope these tips inspire you to just keep trying different things. As a long-time vegan, I used to make hard, difficult recipes that had tons of steps and ingredients — things like vegan lasagne, vegan quiche, and other amazing dishes. At some point, though, I shifted my focus to just getting the right nutrients and spending less time in the kitchen. To sustain the vegan lifestyle, you need meals that are quick, easy, and simple to prepare.

These are the meals that I eat every day and have come to love. Usually, I start the day with a smoothie, eat a kale salad for lunch, and finish the day with a veggie dish. I eat all this in a day with snacks in between, and in this post, I’m going to give you all the details.

Wake Up Breakfast Smoothie

First, we’ll start with my smoothie. A smoothie is so important in the beginning of the day. I start with two cups of water. Sometimes I make one smoothie pre-workout and then another smoothie post-workout. Other days, I might just have one smoothie. Today, I’m hungry, so I’m going to make two servings. First, I’m going to add some water — about 24 ounces — to the cup.

Next, I add bananas. In the store, you want to look for bananas that look all beaten up. Brown spots tell you that the bananas are ripe enough. Peel back your banana to check the inside and make sure it’s nice and ripe. You don’t want your banana to be too green or too fresh because it will be harder to digest.

Add one banana to your water and blueberries — two bowls of blueberries if you’re making two servings. After the blueberries, add a handful of spinach (two handfuls for two servings). Then, for our plant-based protein, you can add a scoop for one serving. In this video, I’m adding three scoops because I’m extra hungry today. Then, we’re going to put about a teaspoon of cinnamon on top followed by an inch of ginger. Pro-tip: If you want to measure an inch of ginger, it’s about the size of your thumb.

I’ve added all these ingredients to a high-speed blender, but if you’re using a normal blender, you may want to chop up the ginger a little. The last thing I add is vanilla. I love vanilla in my smoothies — makes it nice and sweet.

And that’s it. That’s the whole recipe — easy, right? Blend it up, put it in a jar, and if it looks a little thick, add some more water to it.

Four-Ingredient Kale Salad

Next, I make a kale salad every day for lunch. I call this a “dirty kale salad” because it’s only four ingredients. I’ve been making a salad and a smoothie every day and guess what — it works. It’s delicious and nutritious.

This salad starts with two to four tablespoons of Bragg’s on top of your kale salad. If you’re not familiar with it, Bragg Liquid Aminos is a liquid protein concentrate made from certified NON-GMO soybeans and water. Then, squeeze a quarter or a half of a lemon on this dressing, depending on how lemony you want it.

The secret to this salad is the final ingredient: avocado. A lot of time, people put dressing on their salad. You don’t really need to do that — all you need is some nice, yummy avocado. Avocado has tons of fiber and healthy fats. If I’m just making one serving of salad, I’ll use one avocado. For two people, use two avocados.

Massage your avocado using your hands into the kale, and you’ll start to see your kale wilt a little and shrink in the Braggs and lemon juice. That’s exactly what you want. It’s starting to break down a little and become easier to digest. Plus, the avocado makes your hands nice and soft. If you’ve never massaged kale and avocado before you should really try it. It’s really, really amazing.

Once the salad shrinks a bit, transfer to a bowl and add some of your favorite toppings. You could put any toppings you want on it — raisins, walnuts, cashews, coconut. My favorite toppings are walnuts and raisins. Take a handful of walnuts, crunch them in your hands, and sprinkle them all over. Something else I love to add is a little bit of cayenne because that really speeds up your metabolism and aids digestion.

And there you have it — that’s your dirty kale salad. Meal number two is done. How easy was that?! I have not tasted a salad that I love better than this one, and I’ve eaten salads all over the world. Let’s prep for meal three.

Vegan Quinoa Dinner

It’s time for dinner. Again, I used to be really into making elaborate, complicated vegan meals. Now, I’m all about getting nutrients in and getting out the door. So this meal is pretty simple.

One of my favorite things to have for dinner is quinoa. Quinoa is sprouting, so it’s living and even though you cook it a little bit, it’s still alive. I feel vibrant when I eat quinoa. Take about a cup of quinoa — or two cups. I’ll be honest with you — most of the time I eat two cups of cooked quinoa at a time. To make it, you add one part quinoa to two parts water. Bring that to a boil and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until it looks nice and fluffy. Once it gets nice and fluffy, you know it’s done.

Next, we’re going to add some microgreens. Microgreens are so fabulous, especially for protein. A lot of people don’t understand how much protein you can get from greens, but microgreens especially have tons of protein and antioxidants in them. They also have a lot of fiber in them to sweep out any debris and toxins from your body.

Next, let’s add some mushrooms. These are some of my favorite ingredients. They’re nice, they’re hardy, they give you a good texture as well as a lot of nutrients. And to top it all off, I’m going to put some salsa on top. My favorite salsa is from Trader Joe’s. Sometimes I’ll put the whole bottle in there, but today we’re going to put about four scoops. Then mix it all together.

The salsa is just coating the quinoa, mushrooms, and microgreens. You would think you slaved over the stove for this recipe, but you really just heat up the quinoa and those greens and sauce in there. It’s ready in less than 5-10 minutes and is absolutely delicious. I always like to sprinkle a little seasoning on top. Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning is one of my favorites. This is my go-to dinner dish because it’s so easy, simple, and nourishing.

Don’t Forget the Snacks

We all love snacks, right? I have to eat snacks between these meals to keep me going during the day. These are some of my favorite go-to snacks for the last ten years. I keep coming back to these, and I hope you like them, too.

Number one, let’s talk about the healthiest of the snacks: a simple, easy protein shake. When I’m traveling on and off a plane, I can always get water. I take a little travel pack of protein, which has about 20 grams of protein. I add that to my bottle and take it through security without any liquid. I can get that through and fill it up with water on the other side. Boom — instant protein shake.

Another snack I like is kombucha. Let’s say you’re tired. You’re traveling, or you had a long day. Kombucha is my favorite. It just relaxes my brain, to be honest. It has probiotics in it and it really helps your digestion. Anytime I eat something heavy, like sweet potatoes or heavy bread, even even if it’s vegan, I love to drink kombucha.

The last thing I love: popcorn. I’ll be honest with you guys: I love potato chips. I love snacking on nuts and seeds and potatoes, granola, but guess what? I eat way too much. I’ll admit that I have kind of an addictive personality. You can’t give me a big bag of granola and expect me to just eat a handful.

The same goes for popcorn. I know I’m going to eat a whole bag of popcorn in one go. I get low sodium kind, and I can snack on it for longer whereas the other things — even nuts and seeds — are just way too much. Popcorn is one of my go-to snacks, and so is dried mango. I love dry mango because it’s sweet and it’s juicy. It is a little dehydrating, but as long as you hydrate an hour before or an hour after you eat mango, it’s absolutely okay.

Last but not least: my protein bar. I like to grab these when I don’t have popcorn or dried mango or my shake — especially when I need something on the go. I love grabbing a protein bar. It’s so good and tasty. My favorite flavor is blueberry, but I also really love the caramel. These bars have about 17 grams of protein, 16 grams of fiber, and 212 calories each.

These are my favorite snacks. I always have a snack on me for if I’m hungry throughout the day. What are your go-to snacks? Let me know in the comments below.

What Do YOU Eat in a Day?

Making these meals has become part of my daily routine — they’re tried-and-true classics that give me energy and make me happy. I do a lot in a day, so I need a ton of calories to sustain my lifestyle, and these vegan meals deliver all the good stuff to keep me fueled up.

You can get your own supply of the protein that I use in my breakfast smoothie every day. Try the Get Loved Up Organic Vanilla Protein with Moringa — it’s full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids that help improve your mood and maintain energy levels. It’s a great way to start the day.

If you want to see me make these meals live, check out this video where I walk through the whole thing. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel for more recipes, diet tips, and health information.

What are your favorite vegan meals and snacks? Tag me, @koyawebb, on Instagram, and let me know your go-to vegan meals. And, if you’re new to veganism, let me know if you try and like any of these recipes.

Thank you so much for joining me today, love. Until next time, love yourself, love others, and love the world.