A Buddha Bowl Is Not Just a Buddha Bowl

Make It Work For You

I believe in keeping things pretty simple. Including finding inspiration for making meals. To be honest I don’t often love following recipes but I will take inspiration from them, at least that’s the best I am capable of. I like to think that I can make food work for me instead of the other way around.

I’ve been mostly successful at adapting a new plant based diet as a result of keeping things simple. Although I do fail from time to time especially when trying new combinations. That being said, nothing ever resulted in a meal that was so terrible I couldn’t eat it. I just downed it and didn’t ever try that combination again. The only time things go really bad for me is when I am trying to make sauces or dressings or something that involves a lot of ingredients. Like the one time I attempted a curry sauce that was saltier than the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea it salty, right. Whatever the case, I rarely try my own sauces. If you are someone who is seriously cutting oil, salt or sugar out of your diet, you may need to master this skill, however. Just make it a mini-personal challenge for yourself and simplify in other ways. In the meantime for me- hot sauce and a few go-to store bought dressings.

Simple.

A Buddha Bowl Is Born

I have to say I’ve known about “Buddha Bowls” for sometime but never garnered much attention to them. It wasn’t until I read an excerpt in “Finding Ultra” by Rich Roll that the idea began to make total sense.

A few months into preparing/making the switch over to a plant based diet, I was pretty deep into listening to the Rich Roll podcast (I still am and if you aren’t already a subscriber I highly suggest you do that now. It is the daily inspiration that seriously keeps me going everyday). As a result of listening to Rich, I was inspired to read his book.

Then something really hit me as I neared the end of his book.

There was no “two week meal plan”, no “hour-by-minute-here’s-everything-ever-to-be-successful”. Rather it was a collection of honest statements by the author “…these are some of the things that work for me, I eat rice and beans with hot sauce”. Or maybe he said lentils. And this clearly isn’t a direct quote.

But the point was never more clear to me – simple sustenance.

So simplicity in sustenance is exactly what I started doing. I can tell you it works and it gets me by. It also helps that Buddha Bowls are really tasty. Here’s what I conjured up today.

You can see a few pantry staples involved. If you are someone who doesn’t like broccoli, prefers red salsa over tomatillo, favors chickpeas, hates quinoa today and wants brown rice, then whatever! Grab some stuff that sounds good to you put it together, eat it and get on with your day!

This little daily blend has become quite a treat in my life

Don’t Meal Plan

So as a I began stocking piling staples like beans and brown rice, prepping veggies, and batch cooking some basics, it quickly became easier to throw something together to eat and get on with my day. Making a big commitment in your life to go plant based is hard enough. Being strict enough to not supplement that diet with Vegan-ized convenience junk food (you know what I’m talking about) is even harder.

In order to be successful in adapting a new diet, we need to form habits and create routines that make it easier. The more you free your mind from meal planning or stressing out on what you are going to eat three times a day (including snacks), the more successful you will be.

Here’s what I suggest- get some enjoyable, easy meals in your life that works for you (i.e. Buddha Bowls), and build around them.

Don’t stress out about having too much food around you all the time. I used to stockpile my desk with a ton of stuff. Because file drawers aren’t refrigerated it was all processed convenience food. Don’t do that. You don’t need to eat that much anyways.

Carry some fruit with you and drink water. Simple.

The more you eat this way, drink more water, also the more you incorporate healthy caffeine habits (I have one cup of mushroom coffee in the morning, sometimes another in the afternoon), the more energy you will have throughout the day. Not right at first but it will come. I sit at a desk all day looking at a computer screen and believe me my mind wanders and I get tired but I can tell you- you will start to have more energy. You will crave less junk and your mind will begin to be more focused.

Don’t overthink it. Don’t eat too many heavy carbs around lunch and drink more water. Best advice I can give you for today.

Until next time, thanks for reading my blog and would love to hear your ideas on how you keep things simple.