- What's up, LIVEKINDLY family?
It's Ri, back again
on today's episode of the LIVEKINDLY series.
I'm gonna be sharing with you guys
my vegan journey with IBS,
along with a few of my favorite recipes.
Okay, before we get started,
I want to let you guys know that I am not a doctor.
I am not a dietician.
I am simply sharing with you my vegan journey with IBS.
If you guys have any questions or concerns
about your own personal journey,
I highly recommend seeing a doctor or a dietician.
So yeah, I was diagnosed with IBS about seven years ago.
I've had this condition all of my life, but like I said,
up until seven years ago, I didn't know what it was,
I didn't know what was wrong with me.
Before I was vegan, my diet was so restricted.
There were so many trigger foods,
such as broccoli, cauliflower, tomato-based foods.
So many different things
that really, really restricted my diet.
But once I did get the diagnosis, I actually cut out dairy.
I will say that was a huge relief for me.
I was a little better.
I had a lot of bloat still.
I had constipation still.
I started watching what I eat in a day vegan YouTube videos,
and I had never heard of anybody not eating meat,
not eating cheese, so this was very, very new to me,
and I decided that I was at a point in my journey
where I will try anything, you know?
Keep in mind, all I did at that point
was watch YouTube videos and how these vegan YouTubers ate,
and I tried it and like, it just wasn't my thing.
It wasn't for me.
Fast forward a couple of months later, April 2017.
At this point, I had done extensive research,
besides watching YouTube videos,
and I highly recommend this for anybody
who wants to go plant-based, wants to be vegan.
Do your own research.
Do not let YouTube videos alone be your research.
April 2017 is when I went vegan,
and I've been vegan ever since.
So I did have a few hesitations
when I decided to go plant-based.
In the beginning of my vegan journey,
when I ate things like black beans or pinto beans,
there was a little bloat,
but you have to keep in mind that, for one,
if you're gonna cook them from scratch,
you want to soak them overnight
because that helps with digestion.
I've been plant-based for almost four years now,
and the more that you eat those things,
the more that your digestive system will get used to it
and the bloat will, it will subside
and you won't really have it anymore.
Since being vegan, my digestive system
has completely improved, like, so, so much.
I can honestly say this is the best decision
that I've ever made personally for my health,
for my digestive system.
If you're a person who suffers from IBS,
you know that it always feels
like there is something in your stomach,
that bloat or the food, like you feel it there.
It's just so mind blowing to me
how a simple lifestyle change
can improve my digestive system, my health,
and just my overall wellbeing.
So now that I've talked about my journey,
I wanna share two recipes with you guys
that I pretty much eat every week.
They're very, very good for digestion.
If you have digestive issues,
I highly, highly recommend these recipes.
So, I like to start my day off
with either a smoothie or a juice.
Today I'm gonna share a smoothie recipe.
I actually call it the strawberry milkshake.
So basically you wanna start off with hemp milk.
I also like to add vegan collagen
and Beauty Dust by Moon Juice.
Both of these are completely optional.
Three tablespoons of hemp seeds,
a half a teaspoon of vanilla extract,
a teaspoon of pitaya, three dates, and then you wanna go in
with a tablespoon of coconut butter,
and then you wanna go ahead and go in with your fruit,
about one and a half cup of frozen strawberries
and one frozen banana.
I'm telling you, using frozen fruit is the key to
not only making this smoothie,
but if you want a creamy smoothie, use frozen fruit.
Then obviously you're just gonna blend all that up.
Sometimes I have to add a little more milk.
Today I did not.
(uplifting music)
So the next thing that I love to make,
it's like little bowls, like, I guess Buddha bowls.
And I usually just make this
using the ingredients that I have at my home.
It's really, really good if you're like,
at the end of the weekend
and you're trying to have, like, a fridge clean out.
I love these bowls because they allow me
to get a lot of veggies in, a lot of variety of vegetables
and grains and stuff like that.
And that is another thing
that is really, really good for your digestive system.
So like I said, this requires a lot of components.
The first thing that we're gonna cook are potato rounds.
If you know me, you know I love potatoes
and I put 'em in pretty much everything.
You wanna slice your potatoes in about one inch rounds,
put a little grapeseed oil on 'em
and garlic salt, smoked paprika and black pepper,
and put 'em in the oven for about 20 minutes
at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
About halfway through, you're gonna wanna flip it over,
season it with those same spices
and let it cook the remaining amount of time.
The next thing we're gonna make our barbecue chickpeas.
And when I tell y'all, I didn't even,
I didn't even like chickpeas before I started roasting them
and, like, adding spices to them and sauces to them.
They were no bueno for me, okay?
But now I love them.
So this is really easy.
All you're gonna do is, like I said,
rinse and drain those chickpeas.
It will help with your digestive system, trust me.
And then put 'em on a sheet lined with parchment paper.
Put about two tablespoons of barbecue sauce,
and you mix them well. Then you're gonna wanna put it
on that top rack.
Put the potatoes on the bottom rack.
Put the chickpeas on the top rack.
They take about 15 or 20 minutes to cook, as well.
So like I said, I highly recommend using the ingredients
and the vegetables that are available to you.
So you just wanna chop those up,
as well as your lettuce or mixed greens or whatever.
I also decided to use a yellow pepper
because I love when my bowls are super colorful.
And obviously avocado.
Avocado just, it finishes off the entire meal.
So once the chickpeas and the potatoes are done cooking,
you're gonna wanna assemble everything.
Put in the mixed greens,
the rice, the chickpeas,
and then top everything off with those vegetables
we just sliced up.
And then today I had sprouts.
So I added some sprouts to it as well,
as well as sauerkraut.
Then I like to top it off with, if you're a spicy person,
'cause now I can enjoy spicy foods,
crushed red peppers, black sesame seeds,
and a little bit of garlic salt.
(smacks lips)
Chef's kiss.
I'm telling y'all, it is so bomb.
(uplifting music)
Yeah, that is pretty much everything
that I had to share with you guys today.
Thank you so much for being here with me today
on this episode of LIVEKINDLY.
Let me know, what has your vegan journey been like?
Do you also suffer from a condition like IBS
or any other digestive issues?
If you are looking into being plant-based,
like I said before, I highly, highly recommend
that you speak with a dietician.
Comment down below also let me know
what recipe you will be making from this video.
Thank you guys again for being here with me.
This is Ri for LIVEKINDLY,
and I will see you guys next time.