Off to Nepal!

Today I leave for Nepal! I'll post different recipes and meals I come across while we're there. Stay tuned!

Swayambhunath, Kathmandu, Nepal

Nepali eggplant & red beans

Left side of plate: Eggplant & scallions; right side of plate: red beans.

This will be the first of many Nepali recipes, especially since I am about to spend three weeks in Nepal!

These dishes are very easy to make and the ingredients are super cheap :-)

Nepali red beans
Ingredients:

• Cans of red kidney beans
• Can of tomato paste
• Tomatoes
• Oil (optimal is vegetable/canola oil)
• Onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Spice: cinnamon sticks, anise seeds, red chili, bay leaves, turmeric

The amount of each depends on how much you're cooking and how spicy you want it to be. Next time I cook it I'll take pictures of each step and update this to show the amount of ingredients used. Hint: better to use too much garlic, ginger, and spices than too little!

Directions:

1. Heat vegetable oil with some anise seeds and pieces of cinnamon sticks.
2. When the anise seeds start to pop, turn off the heat, add some small pieces of ginger, red chillies and turmeric, and shake with lid on.
3. Add the red kidney beans when the pot is cool, and crushed garlic, tomato paste, water, salt, powdered cumin, coriander, black pepper and cinnamon.
4. Optional: add cubed fresh tomatoes and big bay leaves. Heat to a boil.

Running relevant info on the main ingredients. The serving size (grams given), carbs (grams), dietary fiber (grams), fat (grams), protein (grams), amino acid score, and calcium & iron as percent of daily value.

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Nepali eggplant
Ingredients:

• Oil (optimal is vegetable/canola oil)
• Eggplant
• Green onions or leeks
• Crimini mushrooms (optional)
• Spices: turmeric, cumin, coriander, and salt

Directions:

1. Saute chopped mushrooms in oil with turmeric (optional)
2. When oil is hot, add turmeric and place chopped eggplant in pot
3. When eggplant starts browning add chopped leeks.
4. Mix in salt, cumin, and coriander

Running relevant info on the main ingredients. The serving size (grams given), carbs (grams), dietary fiber (grams), fat (grams), protein (grams), amino acid score, and calcium & iron as percent of daily value.

the finished product!

Welcome!

There is a general misconception to be an athlete, especially a high-performing (or novice) distance runner, requires eating a lot of meat! This simply is not true, and instead a plant-based diet can not only provide you with all the nutrients you need, it can help you be a lean-mean running machine!

This blog is not going to be focused on the science of plant based eating. Check http://www.thechinastudy.com/ for more information about that. 

The focus of this blog is providing recipes and information on great meals that are nice to fantasize about while running and even nicer to eat after (or before) a run!

I'll add a post to this site every week or two. Each blog will include a recipe, some nutrition facts especially useful for runners (ie. iron, protein, calcium), and a picture of the finished product. Sometimes I'll post a feature on a vegan athlete.  There will of course be a very strong bias towards track and field athletes and marathoners/ultrarunners.

Eat plants, go run.

Pill supplements: 

I should probably mention here that ever since I started distance running I've taken iron pills. Some people absorb iron really easily, others don't. Some pills absorb easily, others don't. To figure out which works for you I recommend checking out this blog post. 

Since becoming vegan, I've added B12 pills to that regime. If you drink dark beer or eat whole grain wheat bread often, depending on your mileage you may be able to skip taking B12. However, if you're above 50 miles per week (mpw) and/or training at altitude, you may feel better taking B12 supplements. Since this site isn't offering medical advice and I'm not a dietician, this is something to either ask a doctor/nutritionist or look into elsewhere. 

Besides iron and B12, I take no other nutritional supplements.