Health Made Simple, Days 32-35

I'm almost to week 6 on Health Made Simple! Week 6 is the final full week on the meal plan, and the last two weeks will be about transitioning off the plan. Not totally sure what that means, but all will be revealed soon I assume. Health Made Simple sends twice-weekly videos and emails to let us know what's coming up. But I still have some time before I get to the transitioning stage!

In case you're just now catching up, I've been doing No Meat Athlete's 8-week Health Made Simple plan. It's a whole foods, plant-based plan with a focus on eating simply and healthfully. It's not about restriction. It's not about weight loss. It's just about eating whole plants as often as possible (and not sweating it when you feel like eating a doughnut or some fake meat every once in awhile). 

Anyway, here's my Thursday-Sunday recap. Thursday morning started with a Simple Truth Apple Cinnamon Date Bar before my Body Pump class at the Y. I followed that with some white rice with avocado and lime juice (for post-workout carbs and fat!). My breakfast was strawberry-banana smoothie. Morning snack was fresh fruit. Lunch was leftover black bean tortilla soup from Halloween night, and afternoon snack was baked corn chips and salsa. 

Dinner was my favorite thing on the whole meal plan so far! Falafel Pita Sandwiches! I made baked, oil-free falafel using the HMS recipe and served it in whole wheat pitas with Lantana beet hummus, tahini, avocado, kalamata olives, tomato, pickled onion, and lettuce. My pita bread fell apart, but this was still delish. 

After dinner, I went to my friend Shara's for our bi-weekly girl's night and had some of her amazing olive oil-popped popcorn and some Smarties (cause they're vegan and delicious).

On Friday morning, I'd planned to go to bootcamp, but my foot was a little sore. Still recovering from this stress fracture, and while it's much better, I do get some soreness sometimes. I skipped bootcamp in favor of a Yoga with Adriene video at home. Breakfast was another date bar and a mango jalapeno smoothie.

Morning snack was veggies with cashew-hemp Italian dressing (a new-to-me dressing recipe on the plan that's soooooo good!). Lunch was a leftover falafel sandwich, which was a little tough to eat at my desk. But I managed! Afternoon snack was a fruit bowl. 

For dinner, I'd planned to make a pasta recipe on the HMS plan, but my friend Megan invited me to dinner at Imagine Vegan Cafe! So I had Imagine's Southern Staple instead. This has black beans, collard greens, brown rice, garlic aioli, and cornbread. It's one of the healthiest things on the menu and one of my faves.

Megan and I went to the Indie Memphis Film Fest after dinner, and I had a Crosstown Brewing Co. Raspberry Wheat beer.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and had this awesome bowl of Savory Oats with broccoli, tomatoes, flax, nooch, sriracha, and turmeric before my yoga class.

Morning snack was fruit. Lunch was the leftovers from Imagine Vegan Cafe. And my afternoon snack was veggies and beet hummus. For dinner, I made the HMS recipe for BBQ Tofu with Tahini Slaw. Loved this simple baked tofu and slaw! The slaw is dressed with a tahini dressing seasoned with herbs. A nice alternative to mayo. I made some quinoa too.

Megan and I went back to Indie Memphis Saturday night, and then we met some friends at Dru's Place (our favorite gay bar) for a drag show. I had a Sweetwater IPA and a White Claw lime hard seltzer there.

On Sunday morning, I had Avocado Toast with tomato and pickled onion before embarking on a day full of chores!

I snacked on apples and clementines while cleaning the house, and I stopped cleaning to have a lunch of leftover BBQ tofu and slaw over quinoa. My afternoon snack was veggies and cashew ranch. And then for dinner, it was pizza night! This Whole Wheat Pita Pizza was so fun to make and eat. It has cashew cheese, bell pepper, olives, and red onion.

Since this was kind of a light meal, I made an extra-big salad on the side. This had black beans, corn, cucumber, tomato, romaine, and an avocado-lime dressing.