Last Updated on November 17, 2022 by Lori Geurin
Have you ever tried a vegan meal plan? I hadn’t before last week. Until now, I’ve always been an omnivore, eating both meat and vegetables. Living in southwest Missouri it’s kind of a given. In this area, people love their steaks, burgers, and barbeque. Eating meat is considered an American tradition in this part of the country.
If you’ve been following the blog lately, you may know that I’m working to lose about 17 pounds I’ve gained since the quarantine began for COVID-19. (So far, I’ve lost 5.8.) So when I was approached about trying a new eating plan the idea excited me because I thought it would a great opportunity to boost my motivation and weight loss.
When I went to check out the website for Beyoncé’s 22 Days Nutrition I really had no clue what it was about. But it didn’t take long until I realized it was a vegan meal plan.
Thanks to my sponsor, 22 Days Nutrition, for supplying the free product so I could write this post today. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my personal views.
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Will This Vegan Meal Plan Work For Beginners?
To be honest, learning the plan was vegan felt a little scary because I’ve always eaten meat. And, to be honest, the thought of having to deny myself meat, fish, and eggs was a little stressful.
I mean, this vegan concept isn’t entirely foreign to me, but I had to wonder if the plan was appropriate for a beginner.
A total vegan newbie.
Not to mention the effort it would take to entice my husband and children to actually try a vegan meal. And would I even survive without all the protein my body was used to having, I wondered?
So many questions.
But then I remembered the meatless main dish I enjoyed just last night for dinner and how delicious and filling it was. I made it with white beans, broccoli, pesto, and freshly grated Parmesan.
After this realization, my attitude shifted. I opened my mind to new possibilities and returned to the website to look around.
I was instantly impressed by the stunning layout and minimal design. But who would expect any less from Beyoncé? (After all, she has a net worth of $400 million, according to Forbes.)
What’s The 22 Days Nutrition Meal Plan?
After giving birth to their twins, Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z followed a vegan eating challenge for 22 days. According to her website, doing this helped her embrace a healthier life.
Beyoncé and her trainer, Marco Borges, created 22 Days Nutrition Meal Planner, which provides online plant-based diet and recipe plans.
When you sign up for the plan, you customize it based on the following:
- your cooking habits
- nutritional goals
- allergy concerns
- how many people you’ll be cooking for
- what appliances you own
I found this customization aspect to be really nice. It was super simple to use and self-explanatory. Plus, you can go back and readjust your settings if you want to change them later.
Who Is The 22 Days Plan For?
This plan is for anyone vegan. But it’s also good for people who want to add more nutrient-dense foods to their diet. In the short time I tried it, I found that it made me more aware of how many fruits and vegetables I was eating. It’s definitely a good way to upgrade your intake of micronutrients.
22 Days Simple Vegan Recipes
There are thousands of yummy recipes on the website. As I mentioned before, the site design is appealing, and all of the recipes include gorgeous photos with delicious-looking meals. You can find everything from healthy snacks to meals and plenty of smoothies too.
I like how they let you choose how much time you want to spend preparing your meals and snacks. I chose the minimal option because this week is a busy one for me, and even though I love to eat, I don’t like spending a lot of time in the kitchen.
You can also choose the difficulty level for food prep involved. I switched between all 3 (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) because I wanted to get a feel for all the available recipes.
What About The Nutritional Information?
What I love most about the recipes is the amount of detail they give you about the nutritional information. You can see what I mean in the screenshot below.
I noticed a curious thing when I was searching for different recipes. Because I love creating healthy coffee drinks, I’m always looking for new coffee recipes, so I searched for ‘coffee,’ but there was nothing there. Zero results.
Now I’m wondering… does Bey not do coffee?
But aside from that minor inconvenience, one thing that concerned me was that many of the recipes had such a high carb count. And so much bread. Because I’m used to eating low-carb, this was surprising. It just didn’t gel with what I’ve learned about how keeping your carbs lower is beneficial for your blood sugar and can help prevent and treat diabetes.
Despite my concerns with the carbs, I wanted to make some recipes and try them out.
Vegan Recipes I Actually Made Myself
For example, I made the Spiced Chickpeas & Sweet Potatoes Over Brown Rice, pictured below.
I substituted organic baby spinach for the kale. And I was out of brown rice, so I subbed it out too. One serving has 84.14 g of carbohydrates. There are 15.63 g of fiber, and once you subtract this from the total carbs brings the net carb count to a whopping 68.51. This is often more carbs than I eat in a day so it seemed like a lot for one meal.
The meal was easy to prepare, different than most I’ve made before, and tasted delicious. Plus, it was so filling too. My teenage daughter even tried it and said it tasted good, plus we had enough for leftovers which heated up well the next night.
I’ll admit I cooked scrambled cheesy eggs to go with the meal for extra protein. Beyoncé might disapprove, but they sure did taste yummy! (And I thought this might be the only way to get the rest of my family to try a vegan meal.)
Some of the other vegan recipes I prepared included the ever-popular avocado toast, Chia Oat Peanut Butter Parfait (my husband’s favorite), Speedy Snack Lunch, peanut butter toast and banana, hummus with carrots, and the Tomato & Avocado Stack.
22 Days Nutrition Grocery List + Delivery
One feature I love is the grocery list. When you’re looking at a recipe you want to make, you can select the ingredients and add them to your grocery list. Then once you’ve added all of your items to your list, you can print it out.
Or, get your groceries delivered from either
- amazonfresh
- instacart
- Peapod
Unfortunately, I don’t think these services deliver to our area because we live in a small town and not close to a metropolitan area. I’d love to see them add the Walmart app or Sam’s Club for pick-ups because this is what’s available to us where we live.
Summary – Beyoncé’s 22 Day Diet Plan Review
I’d tried different nutrition plans in the past, including Keto, Paleo, Whole30, 30-Day Diet, and even the Blood Type Diet (at a doctor’s suggestion). But eating vegan, even though it was just for a few days, has been an interesting, eye-opening experience.
The more I learn about nutrition, the more I’m convinced that there’s not one specific eating plan that’s perfect for every person. We’re all unique and have specialized nutritional needs. And those needs can change over the course of our lifetime. Mine sure have.
This is why I like to focus on eating real, nutrient-dense food and avoiding processed food as much as possible.
This vegan meal plan experience allowed me to enjoy eating real healthy food and preparing simple home-cooked meals. It caused me to eat a little more vegetables and fruits (and fiber) than I would on an average day. Plus, it was a great way to use lots of fresh produce from our garden!
Vegan Diet Meal Planning: The Verdict
Unfortunately, the fact that so many of the recipes are high in carbs would prevent me from following this plan exclusively because I know my body doesn’t function optimally with so much sugar and carbs. This is especially true since dealing with severe reactive hypoglycemia in the past. And because of that, I try to keep my carb intake fairly low overall.
(For more on this, read How Intermittent Fasting Cured My Hypoglycemia.)
That said, I’m happy I was able to try out the plan because it showed me that I could eat vegan meals and not starve. It also encouraged my family to try new dishes they haven’t had before. My membership lasts for a year, and I plan to make more vegan meals and snacks to add to my repertoire.
I also realized that some of the things we were already eating were vegan, like avocado toast, one of my daughter’s favorites. Plus, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, overnight oats, meatless main dishes, and many of my favorite snacks, including nuts and hummus.
If you liked this, check out my review of N4L at Nutrition For Longevity Review: Farm Fresh Meals.
What about you? Have you tried a vegan eating plan, and if so, what did you think? Share your comments below!
