By Kathleen Sharp
When it comes to food and a healthy diet, there is no catch-all diet. With foods obvious ties to culture, health, and values, the way you choose to feed yourself is a deeply personal choice, often predicated on research, the influence of your surroundings, your wallet, and what your body likes. With this in mind, we’ve curated a list of food blogs that cater (pun-intended!) to different diets.
PLant-Based
While Brussels sprouts have long gotten a bad rap, it’s no secret that eating a plant-based diet is an environmentally-friendly alternative to standard eating. In fact, researchers at Oxford University found that “cutting meat and dairy products from your diet could reduce an individual's carbon footprint from food by up to 73 percent.” And even if reducing your carbon doesn’t persuade you, maybe the health benefits of a plant-based diet will. Reducing your red meat consumption lowers your risk for certain cancers, and it also improves your heart health. Making a switch to a plant-based, vegan, or even “flexitarian” diet can be daunting. Here are a few bloggers whose easy-to-follow, delicious recipes will make you wonder why you were ever hesitant to ditch meat in the first place.
Pinch of Yum
Who else could go for a cauliflower burrito bowl right about now? Image Credit: Pinch of Yum
Lindsay Ostrom, the blogger behind Pinch of Yum, grew her blog by posting food that people can actually follow in their real lives, not 53-step recipes with exotic, hard-to-come-by ingredients. While the blog is not dedicated to vegan cooking, the site has a large range of vegan recipes. One of my favorites is the Roasted Cauliflower Burrito Bowl which is filling and feel-good without compromising on taste.
Another great recipe on Pinch of Yum is the Spicy Peanut Soup which is not only vegan, but gluten-free, and without refined sugar. This recipe is quick to whip up, and comes with its own Youtube video showing you step-by-step how to prepare it.
Cookin’ on a Budget
15-Minute Salad Bar Vegetable Lo Mein. Image Credit: Budget Bytes
While eating at home is usually cheaper than eating takeout or restaurant meals, the cost of groceries and the cost that goes into cooking your own meals counts. If you don’t have the money to spend big at Bio c’Bon or Whole Foods, following the advice of an experienced food blogger takes some of the guesswork out of meeting your money goals.
Budget Bytes
Microbiologist-turned-food blogger Beth Moncel created Budget Bytes with the frugal consumer in mind. Struggling to make ends meet and growing sick of ramen, Moncel decided to track the budget she allotted to food. And that, she says, is where the magic happened. The blog lists the cost of individual ingredients as they cost per amount needed for a recipe.
This “15-Minute Salad Bar Vegetable Lo Mein” costs just $3.17 USD per serving. And believe it or not, this is one of the more expensive recipes on Budget Bytes. Many serving sizes fall within the $1 to $3 range.
Gluten-Free
Gluten has been a diet buzzword for awhile now, and our culture’s gluten-free kick doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon. The jury is out on whether gluten really is bad for people who don’t have Celiac’s disease.
Elana’s Pantry
A mouthwatering gluten-free low-carb strawberry shortcake. Image Credit: Elana’s Pantry
A great place to start is the blog of New York Times best-selling author Elana Amsterdam. After being diagnosed with celiac disease in 1998, Elana struggled to find recipes and restaurant meals that worked for her. A true gluten-free pioneer, she developed recipes of her own which focused on health and shared them on her blog Elana’s Pantry. Instead of cheap high-carb alternatives, her recipes substitute gluten with choices full of healthy fats, fiber, and protein.
Be sure to check out the dessert section! Traditionally, desserts tend to contain gluten: cakes, cookies, pastries, doughnuts… Elana’s Pantry simplifies the daunting task of at-home gluten-free baking so that the end result is that much more enjoyable.
The Beginner CHef
Could you somehow manage to burn water or mess up frozen pizza? Cooking is for everyone. No matter your skill level, or perhaps lack thereof, you can benefit from learning simple, practical recipes.
Real Food by Dad
If you’d like to start with approachable, fast recipes, look no further than Real Food by Dad, a food blog run by a father of three boys. On his blog, Matt Robinson offers handy recipes including ones for the grill, appetizers, and drinks. In addition to easy-to-follow culinary creations, Real Food by Dad is complete with beautiful photography and other lifestyle blog posts.
