It's no secret that consuming a plant-based diet, or at the very least incorporating more healthful plant-based foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, etc.) and less meat products, refined grains, sweetened beverages, sweets, etc., has extremely positive benefits on health - including reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and can even help manage diabetes. (1, 2, 3)
Sometimes it's not realistic to make the full switch because of the way our society is and our deeply engrained behaviours - and that's okay.
I personally find it a challenge to move my whole family to a completely plant-based diet. My husband has been trying to incorporate more plant-based foods and less meat and processed foods over the years, and that is all I can ask of him. The kids are so used to eating meat and I have also just been trying to introduce them to more plant-based foods so they have a good balance. As with anything, it won't happen overnight, but my hope is that it will continue to get better over time. That's all anyone can ask for!
Even just making a conscious effort to increase the plant-based foods mentioned above in your diet and reduce the not so healthy foods above can really help improve the way you feel as well as your long-term health.
Now to the main point of this article - tofu - you either love it or hate it (I personally love it!). However, I do find a lot of people who have tried tofu and don't like it, just have not had it cooked properly.
That is why I wanted to post this article on how to make crispy and delicious tofu that you could literally add to any meal to replace meat or for extra nutrition (soy has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol and can help with menopause symptoms and is a great source of protein and other nutrients).
Crispy Tofu
This recipe is from my Plant-Based Recipe eBook that includes 58 plant-based recipes, as well as meal plans and grocery lists that incorporate the recipes. All recipes also include calorie, carb, fat and protein info as well as identifying if the recipe is gluten free, dairy free, etc.
Baden, M. Y., Liu, G., Satija, A., Li, Y., Sun, Q., Fung, T. T., ... & Bhupathiraju, S. N. (2019). Changes in plant-based diet quality and total and cause-specific mortality. Circulation, 140(12), 979-991. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.041014
Medawar, E., Huhn, S., Villringer, A., & Witte, A. V. (2019). The effects of plant-based diets on the body and the brain: a systematic review. Translational psychiatry, 9(1), 1-17. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-019-0552-0
Qian, F., Liu, G., Hu, F. B., Bhupathiraju, S. N., & Sun, Q. (2019). Association between plant-based dietary patterns and risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA internal medicine, 179(10), 1335-1344. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2738784