one green planet
one green planet

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Being mentally healthy can look like a variety of things, from self-care time to simply making time for your favorite activities. But, of course, there’s much more to mental health than just doing face masks and body scrubs. Sometimes, it’s making sure you’re eating well on days when it’s tough, or even remembering to drink water before you get thirsty. This meal plan is foods to help support your brain, like including brazil nuts, spinach, oatmeal, and chia seeds in your diet. There are also some stress-relieving foods such as lavender, to help you unwind!

If you’re looking for more on mental health, check out these articles: Totally Zen Out With These 7 Top Foods That Can Lower Your Stress Levels, Understanding Stress: Tips and Plant-Based Foods to Unwind and Sadhguru: A Yogi’s 5 Simple Tips For Mental Health.

We also highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App  — with over 20,000 delicious recipes it is the largest meatless, vegan, plant-based, and allergy-friendly recipe resource to help you get healthy! And, don’t forget to check out our Weekly Meal Plan Archives!

Are you ready to have a week full of delicious vegan food that leaves you nourished and content? Let’s get started!

This week, we’re bringing you brain-boosting and stress-relieving foods for you to enjoy for your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert! And, they are fully vegan and plant-based!

Monday

Vegan Asian Sesame Noodle Salad

Source: Berry Lavender Poached Pears With Granola

Happy Monday! Celebrate mental health this week by taking care of yourself a bit extra this week, and this includes what you put in your body! These brain-healthy foods will help you get through your Monday. From this deliciously filling coconut chia pudding to these yummy lavender poached for dessert, your day will fly by!

Tuesday

Vegan Cheesy Broccoli Soup

Source: Cheesy Broccoli Soup

Have you ever made breakfast cookies? These ones are wonderful to make and keep in the fridge to enjoy throughout the week! End the day with a warming and cheesy broccoli soup, and don’t forget to take some time for yourself today, no matter what that looks like!

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Wednesday

Vegan Sautéed Mushroom and Spinach One-Pot Pasta

Source: Sautéed Mushroom and Spinach One-Pot Pasta

The middle of the week can feel endless sometimes! Having a way to deal with hard times is a great way to help yourself when you’re stressed, tired, or when life gets tough. Of course, mental health isn’t just food and self-care, but it might look different or harder on some days. But, having a few tools to help you through rough times can be beneficial.

Thursday

Vegan Almond Burgers

Source: Almond Burgers

Happy Thursday! Celebrate this mentally healthy week with some yummy almond burgers for lunch! These burgers come together quickly and you can add your favorite toppings to them, like sprouts or sriracha mayo!

Friday

Vegan Asian Sesame Noodle Salad

Source: Asian Sesame Noodle Salad

It’s the end of the week! If this week has been tough, find a way to celebrate small victories or even talk to someone about why. There are so many ways to be mentally healthy that go beyond food, and it definitely looks different for everyone. These foods may support healthy brain function, but that’s only part of the picture. But, ending the week with some homemade ice cream might just be one way that’ll help. :)

Reducing your meat intake and eating more plant-based foods is known to help with chronic inflammation, heart health, mental wellbeing, fitness goals, nutritional needs, allergies, gut health, and more! Dairy consumption also has been linked to many health problems, including acne, hormonal imbalance, cancer, prostate cancer and has many side effects.

For those of you interested in eating more plant-based or even giving one of these vitamin-rich citrus meals a try, we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App — with over 15,000 delicious recipes it is the largest plant-based recipe resource to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy! And, while you are at it, we encourage you to also learn about the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet.

Here are some great resources to get you started:

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

  • Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
  • Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
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  • Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
  • Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!