I’m not going to follow a “clean eating” diet, eat Paleo, or do a cleanse, but I do need to clean up my diet. I don’t think I need a major overhaul, as my diet is usually pretty healthy – 100% vegetarian, lots of fruits, veggies and grains. I eat a wide variety of foods, more than most of my omni friends.

I also try to eat a vegan diet about 90% of the time. However over the last week or so I’ve been on a slippery slope, and that slippery slope is covered in my greatest weakness: dairy. Mainly cheese. As I’ve shared before, cheese and I do not have the best relationship. I won’t go into details but it makes me feel like crap. My recent indulgences, which started innocently enough but quickly turned into cheese at almost every meal and one delicious hot fudge sundae, have left me feeling bloated and sluggish and I’m ready to end that.

Side note: I am a vegetarian for both health and moral reasons, and I do have moral objections to the dairy industry as well. I consume eggs but I buy them locally from responsible farmers as much as possible. My objections are not to the consumption of eggs/dairy but to the treatment of the animals kept for these purposes. If dairy didn’t make me sick I would buy it from our local farm with no problem. I prefer not to get preachy about this, even on my personal blog, and I strongly believe it is each person’s right to choose what they are OK consuming. I don’t judge and I don’t believe in telling others what they should and should not eat. My own husband is an omni. So if you were wondering, there you go.

I’ve read in multiple publications that what I eat during pregnancy will impact my baby’s food preferences later in life, so it’s especially important that I eat well now. I don’t believe in cutting anything out my diet entirely (except meat, duh), but I do need to clean up my act and get back on track. Which, for me, means consuming less, or no, dairy and jacking up my veggie intake. I do eat carbs and a low-carb or no-carb diet just doesn’t work for me. My goal is balance.

The good news is, I am actually craving vegetables. That’s when I know I’ve been really bad – when my body is begging me to eat some veggies. Meal planning for the week was pretty easy. Oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. Salads or leftovers for lunch. And balanced dinners. Soups are a great way to eat a ton of veggies, and are perfect for this snowy New England weather. So this week I will make:

Triple lentil recovery soup

Creamy sun dried tomato soup

White bean soup – A new-to-me recipe!

I’m also planning a comfort meal in the form of cauliflower mac and cheeze. I adapted this recipe by Mark Bittman, which was featured in Runner’s World, to be vegan. My version skips the gruyere and uses nutritional yeast for a cheesey flavor, and a nutritional yeast/flax seed/bread crumb topping, with a bit of Earth Balance to help with browning. I actually like it better than the original recipe. In the past I’ve used about 1/3 cup of Daiya cheese but I am going to try to skip that in an effort to cut down on processed food (even vegan processed foods are not great for you).

What are your go-to meals to get your diet back on track?

Do you follow a low-carb, no-carb, or Paleo diet?