This month we are celebrating five years of BOSH! To mark the occasion, we’re looking at some of HQ’s favourite recipes and extracts from each of the five BOSH! books.
Today’s focus is on BOSH! How To Live Vegan, and BOSH’s five golden rules to living vegan and exploring a plant-based lifestyle!
EAT THE RAINBOW
When we put together a plate of food, we roughly aim for it to be made up of 50% fruits and veggies, 25% whole grains and 25% plant-based protein: the 50/25/25 rule. This is also broadly in line with the NHS Eatwell Plate, Canadian Food Plate and Vegan Power Plate. We call it the rainbow ratio, and it’s an easy way to aim for a balanced diet – no laborious weighing or measuring out of ingredients or portion sizes. It will ensure you are getting loads of fruits and veggies in your life on a daily basis, and adequate amounts of protein and grains without any faff.
MIX UP YOUR PLATE
At every meal, as well as varying the colours, think about different textures, spices and seasonal foodstuffs to give your body a broad range of vitamins and minerals. Mixing different protein sources across the day will also mean you’ll get all the protein you need (see page 140 for more on plant-based protein.)
EAT YOUR GREENS
Your parents always told you to eat your greens and they weren’t wrong! Get as much dark green in as you can, turbo-charging your daily diet with kale and spinach-rich green smoothies. Anything dark green is packed with micronutrients that your body loves, so gorge on them. We like to kick-start every day with a massive green smoothie. It’s such a great way to get ahead on your plant-based goodness!
THE 80/20 BALANCE
Follow the 80/20 rule: 80% healthy and 20% whatever you fancy. It’s OK to eat a more unhealthy option from time to time, especially if it’s home-cooked. Just balance it out with healthy and colourful foods the rest of the time. Food is there to be enjoyed! It plays a huge part in our culture, in our family lives and in our sense of wellbeing, so it’s really important to find a way of eating that fits within your life and makes you feel good. Maybe you will decide to eat healthily in the week and ease off at the weekend? Whatever works for you.
GET YOUR VITAMINS IN
We like to back up all our good eating with a daily multivitamin and B12 booster. That takes away any worry about hitting our nutrition goals. Take responsibility for learning some basic nutrition and, if you have concerns, think about checking with your doctor to make sure all’s as it should be.
BOSH! have been changing the world, one plate at a time, for five years! Check out their full library right here.
