Don’t fill up on starchy carbs
Skip the grains, potato or pasta and let the beans alone be a double-whammy of protein and carbs that will really fill you up. Fill the rest of your plate with leafy greens, maybe some starchy seasonal veg (like squash) and some nutrient dense deliciousness like tahini, miso, mushrooms and cold-pressed oils.
Make easy dairy swaps
Milks and yogurts are easy to replace now, and for anywhere you’d use butter, just use a really delicious extra virgin olive oil, maybe with a little salt added. I was never crazy about cheese, but I know many people struggle with replacing that. Well, if you think what cheese is, it’s comforting, fatty, umami-rich and often salty, so you’ll just have to find ingredients which have those same properties and combine some of them. Realise that your connection to cheese is very emotional. Find something else that you adore that can fill that hole. Use white miso and nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavour and don’t scrimp on adding a good-quality oil. If you want a special treat there are loads of amazing vegan cheeses constantly being launched by artisanal and small-scale makers.
Start the day right
Start your day with oats, hemp and coffee. I love oats and hemp, both are local crops and so versatile – I use them in anything from creamy overnight oats to pancakes and banana bread. Coffee has obviously travelled a bit further to get to my breakfast table, but I choose the most ethical kind I can afford and savour each drop. I regularly have a creamy oat, date, hemp and coffee smoothie for breakfast – super filling and really gets me going.
Stick to the no-single-use plastic snack rule
If I’m snacking in-between meals, I apply a no-single use plastic pack rule, which rules out a lot of stuff that’s not really going to give me (or the planet) sustained energy.
For me the main thing is to eat really satisfying, nourishing meals, and that way I have less need to snack. At meal-times, I try to fill myself up with an honest amount of food, a variety of flavours and good quality ingredients. I find that by having some sweet element to a savoury meal I don’t often crave sweets after. Dried figs are great for this as they are less sweet than other dried fruit and because they have all those tiny seeds they keep you fuller for longer.
