In this section you will find vegan recipes that are first and foremost delicious.
You do not have to be vegan to want to replace a few animal-based meals a week with plant-based ones. Eschewing animal products where possible has many health benefits, apart from the more obvious animal welfare and environmental concerns.
Meat is actually very hard on our digestive system. To put things into perspective, fruit takes 1.5 to 3 hours to digest, raw vegetables 12-15 hours, a cooked vegetarian meal 24-30 hours, cooked meat around 50 hours and raw meat a staggering 72 hours! When food remains in our system for so long, it will rot and cause unnecessary levels of bacteria – we are essentially generating poison within ourselves! In addition, our gut microbiome depends on variety (to be more precise, on fibre diversity, plant compounds and texture) to regulate everything from hormonal balance and metabolism to our immunity. Finally, the scientific link between meat-heavy diets and cardiovascular issues like high blood pressure has been widely documented.
Regardless of the above, yoga primarily builds awareness, and once our awareness is honed, it is much easier to notice for ourselves what kind of food suits us the most. So please go ahead and experiment! Observe how your body feels after eating different foods: does it feel agile, light, alert, energetic, or lethargic? That is an important part of Yoga.
