Keep it simple.

Even though I’ve been vegan for years, it’s still sometimes a struggle for me to know what to eat. At the beginning of the week, I’ll put together a simple meal plan. Basically, I just write down all the recipes that sound good at the time and then assign them to each day of the week.

But this honestly hasn’t been working for me because it doesn’t really give me any room to improvise. If I miss just one of the meals I planned earlier in the week, I get all stressed and end up wasting a bunch of produce. I guess it just makes cooking feel like more of a chore, which I’m not a fan of. I love cooking, but recently it’s just been anxiety inducing for some reason.

I talked to my therapist about this and he gave me a really simple, but incredibly helpful suggestion. He said before even deciding if I want to cook, it may be helpful to set all the ingredients out on the counter. This way it doesn’t feel like I’m forcing myself to cook. But at the same time, I’ll be more likely to cook with all of the ingredients already being set out.

The night before he gave me this advice, that is exactly what I did. I had no desire to cook but knew it would be good for me. Sitting everything out on the counter made the recipe feel much less daunting and just made the experience much more enjoyable because it didn’t feel forced. I realized what I wanted to make was pretty simple, and THEN decided to cook. It’s so simple but it helped me, so maybe it could help someone else??

Sharing this anxiety kind of makes me feel vulnerable. I guess it makes me feel bad because I’m basically complaining that I can’t find the motivation to cook when all the food is literally sitting in my kitchen waiting to be used!! I guess it just frustrates me because there are people who don’t even have enough food to meet their nutritional needs and I’m over here simply lacking the motivation to cook what I already have.

But this brings me to the point I am trying to make. I get so caught up in making sure that what I am eating is nutritious that I end up making it too complicated, and in turn probably don’t get all the nutrients I need. I just need to keep it simple. Food is fuel and I should treat it as that.

I don’t own a car, but look at it this way… if I am so worried about finding the best gas that I never actually put gas in my car, what good is that doing me?? I won’t be able to get anywhere without putting gas in my car. We too need fuel.

The more complicated I make it, the more complicated it will be. Being vegan can be simple. You can basically veganize anything!! Some dinners we veganize pretty frequently in the Brown household are cheesesteaks, stuffed shells, and stroganoff. YUM!!

This week my goal is to keep it simple. I have a list of everything I plan to make, but I haven’t decided when I’ll make what. I’ll just decide what I want to make as the week progresses.

It’s kind of similar to writing these blog posts. Actually, I just realized it’s basically the same thing.

I have a running list of blog post ideas that sound really good at the time I write them, but then when I go back to figure out what to write for the week, none of them sound as good as they once did. It’s just like when I look at my meal ideas for the week when it’s time to cook something. At the beginning of the week, they seem great... but then when I’m trying to figure out what I should make for lunch, all the lunch ideas seem boring.

But when I look at food as FUEL, and not an art project 😂… it doesn’t matter how boring the meal is, it just matters that I give myself fuel. My meals don’t all have to be aesthetically pleasing. The same goes with my blog posts. Neither of them have to be all extravagant to be enjoyed.

So, let’s keep it simple. One meal at a time. And one blog post at a time.

Also, to make this more of a conversation I'd love to hear what your favorite not so pretty simple meal to make is in the comments!!

- Lindsay