The Nutritional Institute

FUNCTIONAL SPORTS NUTRITION - May/June 2022

We’re in an era where athletes seem to yin yang from one extreme diet to another, looking for a magic edge. In this nourishing article, Rachel Jesson argues for inclusion of more plants in our diets, but within an overall state of balanced nutrition.

We are living in a world where we’re causing great damage to the earth with commercial animal farming practices. A simple online search will present to you a plethora of information on this topic; I will spare you the details, apart from noting that the world’s consumption of meat, by volume, is staggering. The amount of people who actually know where their meat comes from is close to zero. Why is it that people don’t make an effort when it comes to food? We do all the necessary research when we buy new trainers, sports equipment, a car, a computer, or a house, but we do little to no research when it comes to foods that may or may not nourish us. Why do we care so little when it’s the right foods that will take us into an active old age, not the new car!

Many commercial animal farmers are injecting various growth promotors and hormones to speed up the life cycle of the animal. Additionally, antibiotics are used to keep the animals free of infections during their often cramped living conditions. Many are fed genetically modified corn and other derivatives, often with limited opportunities, if any, to experience natural sunlight. The end goal of farming is generally about profits, not human health. By eating this meat, we eat everything the animal ate or was injected with. We also assimilate their sad or aggressive nature as well.

Those of you who have taken time to research this topic may have decided to abort all meat and dairy consumption completely. However, becoming a vegan is extreme and is not the solution to this problem. It’s an incredibly restrictive way of eating, and unless you have done some sort of formal education on the topic of how to prepare foods creatively, and have quite a unique constitution and a very peaceful life, then I strongly advise against it. We’ve seen in our practice how some vegan athletes have suffered a number of personal ailments by following this dietary approach. What’s more, ironically, many of the processed vegan products available to us at the supermarkets are sourced via environmentally damaging farming practices.

The good news is that there are alternative food choices; it just requires dedication and some work on your part.

Firstly, when it comes to animal consumption, seek out the organic or biodynamic farms in your surrounding area. A farm visit is often a wonderful experience. These farmers welcome you in with open arms, proud of their practices. You will ideally want a variety of meat, which may mean a visit to more than one farm.

Secondly, commit to a single meal of no animal products every week. You can then increase the number of these meals as you become more experienced in creating them. And you could even progress to a full day of no meat products if you like.

Creating delicious meals from plant-based proteins

The advice I give to creating meals from plant proteins is to make them delicious and satisfying. If this doesn’t happen, it will be noticeable to the people eating the meal and they will then look for additional foods to fill themselves up, or satisfy their hunger. If the plate is full of colour, and contains various plants that have been cooked with good technique to make them delicious, digestible and satiating, the prospect of such a dish being eaten with gusto will be high. If you are new to producing plant-based meals, at no time announce that you’re cooking a vegetarian meal. For some people, the word ‘vegetarian' could come with a stigma. Think back to when you normally serve meals; do you announce them, or simply just serve them? The tastiness of the meal should speak for itself!

The main problem I see with most plant proteins is that they are served, even in restaurants, with minimal flavour. For example; a slab of sprouted tofu is tasteless if you simply pan fry it. Even if you use a few spices, it’s mostly bland tasting. The texture is generally soft and mushy as well.

What would I do with this boring slab of tofu? I would chose to firstly steep it in a strong spice-infused liquid to bring in some good background flavour. Tofu, like most plant protein, can handle big flavours because they represent a blank canvas. So spices like ginger or kaffir leaves would be my first choice. If I felt like colouring the tofu, I would do it at this stage by adding natural ingredients like beetroot or spinach powder or turmeric - just enough to dye it and not enough to these ingredients. These decisions would be made ahead of cooking, while thinking about what else would be served up with the tofu. So a cream-coloured slab of tofu on light brown rice wouldn’t do much to action my salivary glands. However, a vibrant yellow slab would, especially if the dish was served with some dark red beetroot, gloriously green broccoli, and a handsome dollop of kimchi to top it off.

However, before we get to the design of a full meal, I haven’t finished with the tofu yet. Depending on what I steeped it with, I now have a slab of tofu that is either pungent or sour as my first stage of cooking. I would then take it through a second stage to infuse further flavour and I could even chose a cooking method to adjust the texture. So I may roast it with another one or two dominant spices that will impart more flavour to the tofu: paprika, garlic and chilli are great choices. I would work this tofu until I’m completely satisfied with the taste, colour and texture. Only then will I move on to the different components of the dish design.

By including all five tastes in a dish, it will also help the individual's overall level of satisfaction. We may find that if we omit a particular taste, the person will head into the fridge or cupboards afterwards to search for the taste that was omitted from the meal. And this is one of the main reasons we crave desserts after dinner - because we forgot to include a sweet taste in our main dish.

How to include more vegetables in your diet

Another aspect to consider in our plant-based thinking is to fill up on more vegetables. There can either be more of them on the plate, or they can be hidden in various compilations. For example, the addition of carrot and courgette to a mince dish is mostly unnoticeable. Curries and casserole dishes are a flavourful way to get more people eating more vegetables. Even muffins and desserts can include vegetables as either the cooking liquid or binder. I love adding parsnips to my muffins and courgette to my chocolate cake - the kids have no idea!

Vegetables can be added to smoothies, even if you start with, for example, just a small handful of baby spinach. And juicing gives you an opportunity to process some of the vegetables the family don’t like eating by masking their flavour with fruits.

Bean dishes should ideally have an equal proportion of vegetables to beans, and if you’re making a bean soup, you can add lots more vegetables. By making a delicious bean soup with a good spice combination, blending the vegetables to create the substance, and then adding the beans back into the soup, most people will simply comment on a delicious soup.

Vegetable dips with crunchy homemade vegetable-seed crackers are also delicious treats. A popular dip is hummus, which can be found in an array of colours and flavours because of the addition of vegetables. Sneaking vegetables into a homemade sauce is also another creative use of plants.

There are lots of opportunities to become creative and inventive with vegetables. Overall, look to source all of your produce ethically and healthily. By doing so, you may be paying slightly more for your meats, and that may actually be a good way to eat less of them… It doesn’t mean that you need to go hungry; it simply means that the extra helping of veggies will fill you up, keep you healthy, aid in detoxification, support your antioxidant activity, and allow you to age with vigour and grace.

I will now introduce you to two of my creative plant-based recipes which contain a large proportion of vegetables!

Parsnip and passion fruit muffins (makes 11 muffins)

- 180g grated parsnip
- 4 passion fruits
- 2 large organic eggs
- 60g good quality honey (raw if possible)
- 80g melted coconut oil
- 50g almond flour
- 50g brown rice flour
- 1 tsp psyllium husk
- 1 heaped tsp baking powder
- Pinch of sea salt

Method

1. Grate the parsnip and pour the passion fruit pulp over the top and mix well.
2. Whisk the eggs and honey on high for about 5 minutes using an electric hand beater, until pale in colour.
3. Slowly drizzle the oil in while continually whisking on high.
4. Fold in the parsnip until well combined.
5. Then add the flours, psyllium husk, baking powder and salt.
6. Preheat your fan oven to 150 degrees centigrade.
7. Lightly grease your muffin tray with melted coconut oil.
8. Add scoop fulls of batter into each mould just over three quarters full. This should fill 11 moulds.
9. Bake until golden, around 25 minutes. Insert a skewer, which should come out clean.
10. Allow to cool completely and then store in an airtight container. They will last three days.

 

Bean tacos (serves 3-4)

- 2 tins of black beans, ideally organic
- 3-4 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 small punnet of mushrooms - sliced
- 2-3 medium onions - slivered/diced
- 6 large carrots - diced
- 3 large parsnips or equivalent swede or kohlrabi - diced
- 1 courgette - diced (optional)
- 3 cm knob of fresh diced ginger
- 1-2 fresh diced chillies - with or without the seeds
- 2-3 heaped Tbsp tomato paste
- 1/8 Cup water
- Sea salt - more than a pinch; you want to salt so all the flavours come together
- 9-12 tacos (or a fresh pot of brown rice or quinoa as an alternative ‘base’)
- Thick plain organic yoghurt - optional

Method

1. On medium heat, add the oil and sliced mushrooms. Then add diced/slivered onions, followed by the carrots, parsnips, and any other root vegetables you would like. If you’re using courgette, add it now. The more variety the better. Add the ginger and chilli and or any other spice that you crave. When all the vegetables develop a golden edge, and the aroma fills your kitchen, add the tomato paste. Then add the rinsed beans and mix well. Add a small amount of water to pick up the caramelisation at the bottom of the pan. Add salt to taste (1/2 tsp or more). Stir and add a lid to the pot, finishing off the cooking of the vegetables and allowing the flavours to infuse into the beans for at least 10 minutes.
2. While you wait for the flavours to infuse, make a small fresh side salad. I usually add this on top of the already constructed taco, and it’s just delicious. An example would be a combination of the following or similar ingredients you have in your fridge: shredded spinach, coriander, flat leaf parsley, diced tomatoes, diced cucumber, celery, fennel, spring onion, pineapple, apple, pear, pomegranate arils. Mix these ingredients together and serve them on top of the beans.
3. I like to add a nice dollop of homemade yoghurt on the top of everything. If you want to keep this meal vegan, you can omit the yoghurt - it will still be scrumptious either way.
   If you think you may still be hungry after three tacos, try serving them with some stir fry assorted vegetables.