Chick’n and Brocco(li): Oil-Free, Vegan

Hey babes,

So, there used to be this idea in the gym crowd that in order to sculpt your body, you have to smash in tons of protein powder, and eat dry chicken breasts, rice, and broccoli. The amount of times I have seen guys pull out plastic Tupperware with chicken or turkey burgers, maybe rice, and a heap of unseasoned broccoli blows my mind.

Frankly, I’d rather be a meek softy than eat a dry chicken breast. Setting aside the health and ethical points, I have no desire to chew on something the texture of couch stuffing. Luckily for me, a fellow vegan and Youtuber by the channel name of Unnatural Vegan led me to finally try a plant-based staple I’d been sleeping on for ages: Butler’s Soy Curls.

One Hell of a Butler (Soy Curl)

Now I’ve had plenty of mock meats and plant-based proteins. I love some tofu, tempeh, seitan, and TVP. But oh was I pleasantly surprised by soy curls. In terms of processing, I would consider them a green-light option in the same realm as tempeh, in that nothing harmful is added and nothing beneficial is removed, according to the manufacturer’s processing information. Just look at those nutrients:

Brassica oleracea, First of Her Name

Broccoli is a typical addition to these sorts of fitness, weight-loss meal preps because of three factors, as far as my research and polling could decipher. First, it’s cheap and available everywhere. You can get two pounds of it frozen for $2.00 at any large grocery retailer, and it gets even cheaper in larger portions. Second, it is has a low calorie density (30kcal/cup raw), so you can fill up on it without breaking your energy budget. And last, each cup contains only four net carbohydrates (six total carbohydrates minus two grams of fiber, for the uninitiated), which gives it a starring role on all the “BEST LOW-CARB FOODS” lists you see blasted into every corner of the internet and media at large.

Of course, those are all great. No marks against that cruciferous queen. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the secrets broccoli is keeping. Broccoli carries a massive dose of vitamin C in every serving (1 cup has 140% of the DV), as well as K1, folate, potassium, manganese, and iron. That vitamin C, especially paired with our soy curls and some iron rich grains, helps boost the absorption of iron, especially useful for us herbivores.

Like my beloved kale, broccoli is also bursting at the seams with antioxidants, most noteworthy of which is sulforaphane, an isothiocyanate that works against the formation of cancer by reducing oxidative stress at the molecular level. While preparation methods can affect the amount of sulforaphane released, you can boost it easily with one little tweak: mustard powder. From a 2018 study that put the effect to the test, “when powdered brown mustard seed is added to cooked broccoli, the bioavailability of sulforaphane is over four times greater than that from cooked broccoli ingested alone.”

Que Mas?

I like to start a lot of my lunches with a base of quinoa, red lentils, and riced cauliflower. Now before you accuse me of anything, no I am not on that low-carb lifestyle. But I am a small lady who has a relatively small TDEE, and I like to snack, like all day. Carrots, edamame, chickpeas, seaweed, fruit of all varieties, love it all. As a result, I keep my meals on the lighter side. I’ll spell out exactly how I make the prep for five days of lunches, and you alter the portions as fits your needs. So, here we go, the full shebang. Let me know what you think and let me know your favorite healthy meal prep!