Uncategorized

50 Meal Ideas for Women with Lipedema Switching to an Anti-Inflammatory Vegan Diet

If you’re a woman with lipedema making the transition to a vegan, anti-inflammatory diet, you might be wondering: What can I eat?

Lipedema is a chronic condition that causes fat accumulation, pain, and inflammation, particularly in the lower body. While there’s no cure, following an anti-inflammatory diet can help reduce symptoms, promote weight management, and support lymphatic health.

A vegan anti-inflammatory diet focuses on:
Whole, unprocessed foods (fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds)
Omega-3-rich foods (flaxseeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and algae-based omega-3 supplements)
Antioxidant-rich foods (berries, leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, turmeric, ginger)
Low-inflammatory protein sources (tofu, tempeh, lentils, beans, hemp seeds, pea protein)
Gut-friendly foods (fermented foods, prebiotic-rich fiber)
Balanced meals that support stable blood sugar and lymphatic function

A lipedema-friendly vegan diet should:
✅ Include familiar, easy-to-find foods
✅ Focus on protein, healthy fats, and fiber
✅ Be low in refined sugars & processed foods
✅ Reduce inflammatory foods like dairy and meat

Here are 50 meal ideas with simple ingredients you can find at any grocery store!


🌞 Breakfast Ideas (10)

  1. Peanut Butter Banana Toast – Whole grain toast with peanut butter and banana slices.
  2. Berry Protein Smoothie – Frozen strawberries, plant protein powder, flaxseeds, and almond milk.
  3. Vegan Pancakes – Made with oat flour or whole wheat flour, topped with maple syrup.
  4. Avocado Toast – Mashed avocado on toast with hemp seeds and red pepper flakes.
  5. Cinnamon Oatmeal with Walnuts – Old-fashioned oats with cinnamon, maple syrup, and walnuts.
  6. Tofu & Hash Brown Scramble – Crumbled tofu cooked with breakfast potatoes and bell peppers.
  7. Almond Butter & Apple Slices – Sweet and crunchy morning snack.
  8. Breakfast Burrito with Beyond Sausage – Scrambled tofu, avocado, and dairy-free cheese in a tortilla.
  9. Vegan Yogurt with Granola & Berries – Coconut or almond yogurt with granola and blueberries.
  10. Protein-Packed Overnight Oats – Oats soaked overnight with almond milk, chia seeds, and cocoa powder.

🥗 Lunch Ideas (10)

  1. Vegan Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup – Made with dairy-free cheese and whole wheat bread.
  2. Chickpea Salad Sandwich – Mashed chickpeas mixed with vegan mayo, celery, and mustard on whole wheat bread.
  3. Vegan Mac & Cheese – Made with cashew cheese sauce or dairy-free cheddar.
  4. Spaghetti with Meatless Marinara – Whole wheat pasta with plant-based ground beef and marinara sauce.
  5. BBQ Jackfruit Sandwich – Pulled jackfruit in BBQ sauce on a whole wheat bun with coleslaw.
  6. Vegan BLT – Whole wheat toast with tempeh bacon, lettuce, and tomato.
  7. Loaded Baked Potato – Topped with dairy-free sour cream, chives, and black beans.
  8. Lentil Sloppy Joes – Lentils cooked in a smoky tomato sauce on a bun.
  9. Vegan Quesadilla – Whole wheat tortilla with dairy-free cheese, black beans, and avocado.
  10. Beyond Burger with Sweet Potato Fries – A classic American meal, made healthier.

🍽️ Dinner Ideas (10)

  1. Vegan Tacos – Made with lentil taco filling, dairy-free sour cream, and guacamole.
  2. Plant-Based Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes – Made with lentils or Beyond Meat.
  3. BBQ Tofu with Corn on the Cob – A classic backyard meal made vegan.
  4. Buffalo Cauliflower Wings & Fries – Baked cauliflower bites with buffalo sauce.
  5. Vegan Chili with Cornbread – Lentils, black beans, and tomatoes with homemade cornbread.
  6. Stuffed Bell Peppers – Peppers filled with brown rice, black beans, and salsa.
  7. Dairy-Free Alfredo Pasta – Made with cashew sauce and whole wheat pasta.
  8. Vegan Pizza Night – Use a whole wheat crust, tomato sauce, veggies, and dairy-free cheese.
  9. Baked Ziti with Cashew Ricotta – Comfort food made plant-based.
  10. Shepherd’s Pie with Lentils & Mashed Potatoes – A hearty and filling dinner.

🥑 Snack Ideas (10)

  1. Popcorn with Nutritional Yeast – Savory, cheesy flavor without the dairy.
  2. Hummus & Whole Wheat Crackers – Easy and protein-packed.
  3. Dark Chocolate with Almond Butter – A satisfying sweet snack.
  4. Homemade Trail Mix – Nuts, seeds, and dried fruit.
  5. Celery & Peanut Butter – Crunchy and satisfying.
  6. Roasted Chickpeas – A crunchy, high-protein snack.
  7. Apple Chips – Naturally sweet and fiber-rich.
  8. Graham Crackers with Almond Butter – A childhood favorite with a healthy twist.
  9. Coconut Yogurt & Granola – Simple and gut-friendly.
  10. Vegan Cheese & Crackers – A familiar, satisfying snack.

🥤 Drinks & Smoothies (10)

  1. Chocolate Protein Shake – Plant-based protein, cocoa powder, banana, and almond milk.
  2. Strawberry Banana Smoothie – Classic and delicious.
  3. Iced Matcha Latte – Made with coconut milk and sweetened with stevia.
  4. Green Detox Smoothie – Spinach, pineapple, banana, and almond milk.
  5. Golden Turmeric Latte – Coconut milk, turmeric, and cinnamon.
  6. Vanilla Almond Milkshake – Frozen banana, vanilla extract, and almond milk.
  7. Hibiscus Iced Tea – Hydrating and antioxidant-rich.
  8. Coconut Water with Lime – Electrolyte-rich and refreshing.
  9. Spiced Chai Tea Latte – A cozy, caffeine-free option.
  10. Classic Lemonade with Stevia – A sugar-free summer drink.

Transitioning to a vegan anti-inflammatory diet doesn’t mean you have to give up your favorite foods! With a few simple swaps, you can enjoy familiar meals that reduce inflammation, stabilize blood sugar, and support your body while managing lipedema symptoms.

The key is to focus on whole, plant-based foods that reduce inflammation, support circulation, and stabilize blood sugar. By incorporating healthy fats, fiber, plant protein, and antioxidant-rich ingredients, you’ll help your body function optimally while managing lipedema symptoms.

🌱 For more meal ideas, recipes, and lipedema-friendly nutrition tips, subscribe to my newsletter! 🌱

Photo by Lisa from Pexels on Pexels.com
Fat Loss Strategies · Mindset and Motivation · Uncategorized

“Intuitive Eating” and Other Lies the Internet Tells

The internet is filled with people who want to tell you good news about your bad habits. 🧁 People who have never experienced obesity think that their 25 pound weight loss (if that!) gives them the authority to tell overweight and obese people that eating the foods that made them fat in the first place will result in weight loss, if they just listen to their bodies. 🤡 Here is the problem with that logic:

🍎 Obesity is caused by insulin resistance and overeating. If people could control their overeating, they wouldn’t be obese in the first place. What’s the solution? Eat the right foods that cure insulin resistance, such as those advocated by @masteringdiabetes ! Whole food plant based low fat foods for the win!
🍎 Obese people often have stretched out stomachs from years of overeating. Is a 100 calorie pack of Oreos going to help them reach their a healthy weight? No- but a low fat whole food plant based diet allows for individuals to eat higher food volume since veggies, fruit, whole grains, potatoes, and legumes are so calorie dilute versus all of the processed crap in the grocery store.
🍎 Obese people have disregulation of their grehlin and leptin systems- which may actually be a genetic issue. Telling obese people to “just stop eating when you are full” is absolutely fat shaming. But filling up on high water content and fiber foods that stretches the stomach lining and effectively signals to the brain that the meal can end is the solution. Not oily foods or processed protein powders, but real whole plant based food filled with micronutrients.

I’m not afraid to use the word “obese” because I’ve been there. And when I studied neuroscience in my undergrad, my professors were involved in research equating the effects of high sugar and high fat foods on the brains of obese people to that of cocaine on the brains of addicts or alcohol on the brains of alcoholics.

I’m definitely not saying you can’t enjoy a slice of birthday cake or some vegan pizza on your date night, but if your goal is weight loss, the name of the game is discipline in eating whole food plant based to create a consistent calorie deficit. The caloric deficit is the only way, and it’s a lot easier to accomplish long term by focusing on whole foods!

Photo by Andres Ayrton on Pexels.com
Fat Loss Strategies · Mindset and Motivation · Uncategorized

How to Lose Weight on a Budget

Whether your new year’s resolution is to lose weight, go vegan, or follow a budget; this article is for you! I am one of the hundreds of thousands of people who quit their full time job in Fall of 2021. I was a teacher for 10 years before a second career in healthcare/medical education. At the start of the pandemic, I started a local business which took off and allowed for me to become a full-time entrepreneur! I now run three businesses AND am preparing to buy a second real estate property for investment purposes in the next few months!

Being a full-time entrepreneur has been so exciting, but there are certainly aspects that require adjusting when you are coming from the security of a 9-5 career. One of those things is the need for an emergency savings fund! Right after I quit my job, my home’s air conditioner broke (of course!!). $8,000 later, we had a new furnace and AC unit but a dwindled emergency savings fund.

My new year’s resolutions are to continue losing weight on a whole food plant based vegan diet AND to keep my monthly meals under $350 total per person! Here’s how my $350 in food cost is broken down:

$350 divided by 30 days in a month = $11.67 in food costs per day

Three meals a day = $3.89 each Typical meals look like the following:

Breakfast= 2 baked sweet potatoes (97 cents), totaling 0.75 pounds, with a drizzle of maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and hot sauce. Berry smoothie featuring 1 cup of frozen organic berries ($2.25) and 1 cup of frozen spinach (38 cents). TOTAL COST: $3.60

Lunch= 1.5 cups of rice (appx 50 cents) and 8 oz of frozen vegetable stir fry ($1.39), with 2 tbsp of teriyaki sauce, and an apple (75 cents)! TOTAL COST: $2.64

Dinner= A tray of roasted vegetables, including 3/4 pound of potato ($1 cents) and 2 cups of frozen green beans, (42 cents) and 2 tbsp of ketchup. TOTAL COST: $1.42

Dessert= 2 frozen bananas (60 cents) with 2 tbsp of cocoa powder to make chocolate banana nice cream! TOTAL COST: $0.60

These three meals cost $8.26 for the core food groups, allowing for some wiggle room in purchasing condiments, coffee, almond milk for that coffee, tea, etc!

Over the past several months, I’ve shifted my baseline diet to an ultra nutrient dense, whole food plant based diet. My current shift is to lower the cost of my groceries for financial freedom as I run multiple businesses and build an emergency savings fund! As I enter week three of this new eating and budgeting arrangement, it’s going great! Legumes, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits for the win! Follow my blog and find me on IG for more budget-friendly vegan weight loss tips!

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Mindset and Motivation

A Guide to the New Healthier You!

If you are overweight, you have an overweight mindset. As much as we want to feel like victims to a cruel world that made us fat, ultimately it was our decisions that made our bodies overly fat. Recovery starts by realizing that we have a problem with our current behaviors and taking responsibility for the changes we want to see.

If you are eating junky processed foods, it’s no surprise that you “can’t lose weight”. If your day is largely sedentary, it’s no surprise that you “can’t lose weight”. If you eat clean all week and then go buckwild on the weekends, it’s no surprise that you “can’t lose weight”. In contrast, how would your weight look if you walked at least 5 days a week for 45 minutes, if you did strength training at least 2 days a week for 30 minutes, if you broke up long periods of sitting with a quick Zumba workout, if your everyday breakfasts and lunches were predictably healthy yet satisfying, if dinnertime prep consisted of chopping loads of fresh veggies and whole plant foods?

Perhaps you overeat when you are stressed out. Perhaps you can’t say no when your favorite snack foods are on sale. Perhaps you drink alcohol when you are bored or frustrated. Perhaps your alcohol consumption leads to decreased inhibitions when it comes to food choices. How do we get to be the people we want to be? How can we reprogram ourselves so that our baseline behaviors are healthy ones, perhaps with the exception of special occasions?

Highly successful people know that change comes from within ourselves. The change you seek is seeking you. The person you want to be is always one decision away. Each day, we must choose to be the healthier version of ourselves with our thoughts and behaviors. Would the healthier version of you finish off the tray of Oreos? Would the healthier version of you snack on processed foods while watching Real Housewives reruns? Or do those behaviors belong the the old you- the one that is long gone at this moment, because you decide it is so.

One of the first vegan resources I ever came across was a book series called “Skinny Bitch”. Her attitude, while controversial, was that if you wanted to lose weight, you had to stop acting like a fat person. You had to stop eating what fat people eat. And you needed to start behaving more like a skinny person. This approach received some pushback because there is thin line between this type of reasoning and the flawed reasoning associated with addictive eating disorders. However, I think that overweight folks do need to understand that they are never going to be like that one friend who can eat burgers and fries at the drive through and never gain a pound. If your life experiences have taught you that your genes are programed to accumulate adipose, then behaviors must be changed. And that all starts in the mind.

There is incredible research into manifestation and multiple universe theories that assert that we truly design our future with each thought, behavior, and action. However, this all begins with our thoughts- what we think is possible, what we think we are capable of… You are capable of living a healthier life. You are capable of sticking with it. You are capable of turning your life around and being an inspiration to others. But it begins with your decision to be the new you! More to come on mindset and motivation, but please reach out at weightogovegan@outlook.com or comment below if you are ready for the new you!

Photo by Andres Ayrton on Pexels.com
Satiating Plant Based Meals · Uncategorized

5 Must-Have Kitchen Gadgets for your Vegan Weight Loss Journey

Microwave steamer: I am absolutely obsessed with this steamer! It is made of silicone, which won’t leach weird chemicals into your food as it cooks. Underneath those luscious veggies, there is a riser that is designed to keep the veggies a few centimeters under the little bit of water you add before placing the lid on. The water boils and circulates to steam the veggies in 8 minutes or less! THIS is why rice and steamed veggies is my fave quick, 10 minute lunch!

Potato Express: This is my favorite contraption for cooking sweet potatoes and potatoes quickly! When I have the time, I oven roast, but at work and when time is limited, I use this fabric bag. Simply wash whole potatoes and pop in the bag. No need to stab with a fork- they will not explode in the bag! A full bag that can lay flat takes about 8 minutes to cook the potatoes! I always have one of these in my desk at work!

Instant Pot: I own two Instant Pots! I have one large one that I cook my rice in each week, and a mini one (linked to the left) specifically for cooking morning oats (1 cup of oats/groats, 3 cups of water, porridge button = makes 2 servings)! This smaller one is great for single meals, while the larger is great for meal prepping!

Silicone baking sheet: These baking sheet covers are game changers. Not only will you save on aluminum foil and cleanup, but they really great in the nonstick department. Although I still use a quick spray of Pam when roasting veggies, these are so quick and easy to clean. AND you will save money on baking sheets. I’ve had mine for years!

Large stainless steel wok: This wok is amazing. My husband cleans the dishes after I cook, and he always raves about this product! When you are eating whole food plant based, you are preparing a LOT of veggies. You will not survive with some medium sized frying pans. This wok is incredibly nonstick AND holds your biggest stir-fries! We use it often to sauté peppers and onions, which can be a messy task with no oil. Soak it with soapy water, and all that gunk comes right off. It’s also stainless steal so you don’t have to worry about any of those cancer causing nonstick coatings! Check it out!

Fat Loss Strategies · Uncategorized

To Count Calories or Not to Count Calories…

Ahhhh few things stir up debate within the “weight loss” community as the topic of counting calories. Several years ago, a YouTuber named Freelee the Banana Girl and her partner DurianRider famously proclaimed that you could achieve extremely low body fat by eating 3000+ calories, as long as they are of plant origin. This led many vegans, myself included, to go to town on all their favorite whole plant foods, and low and behold, we gained weight because we were not exercising as much as this pair. It is true that consistently eating more calories than you burn leads to weight gain, although that is not the only factor that makes people overfat.

However, it is also detrimental to create extreme caloric deficit. Certainly, eating fewer calories than you burn will result in weight loss. But long term extreme caloric restriction has a multitude of side effects including mood disorders, endocrine dysfunction, disordered eating patterns, and so forth. There is also great debate over the term “metabolic damage“. I personally have experienced long term difficulty losing weight after prolonged periods of extreme caloric deficit, so although there is little research to support this concept, I know first hand that it is true.

There is an anti-diet culture on social media today, and it is easy to understand why. For decades, corporations have made billions of dollars selling “diet” products while purposely confusing the consumer. In actuality, these corporations don’t want you to succeed at weight loss. They want you to become hooked on their product to maintain weight loss. This anti-diet culture often pushes a “fat tolerance” message as well, asserting that it is OK to be fat. I know from personal experience that overweight people are often discriminated against. But obese people are at an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer- the top killers of Americans.

So what is the answer for those who are striving to achieve their ideal body weight? What is the answer for those who are not comfortable being overweight and obese?

Well, you do need to eat less than you burn, but not too much less. This can be achieved by eating more of the low caloric density foods (indicated in green below) and less of the yellow and red food categories! The foods in the green category below are also filled with water and fiber to increase satiation and fullness, a necessary component of a healthy lifestyle. And we all know what it feels like to be on a diet where you never feel full. A caloric deficit of about 500 calories per day will be the goal, but please know that only calorie calculators (and the ones on exercise machines and pedometers) are wildly inaccurate.

Counting calories daily is not necessary when eating calorie dilute foods! However, once you get into the groove of this whole food plant based lifestyle, I would advise that you enter your calories into a calorie counter to make sure you are not overeating (or undereating), especially if you are coming from a binge eating or disordered eating past. I checked my calories yesterday while following the #eatyourvegchallenge, and found that I was eating 1700 calories which is a great amount for weight loss for my height, weight, and activity level! More about binge eating in my next post!