Everything to Know About the Diet That Jay-Z and Beyoncé Swear By
Cookbookmarked! is our new series where we review the latest cookbooks from the foodie influencers you follow. Check back often to find out which new releases are worth your hard-earned cash and the recipes you should try first from each.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé have not been shy about adopting a plant-based diet — at least since 2013, when the rapper blogged about the couple participating in the 22 Days Nutrition program. The founder of this gluten-free and vegan meal plan, Marco Borges, has since become Beyoncé’s trainer and helped her become Coachella-ready last year.
Most recently, Borges published a new book on the diet called The Greenprint ($28), with an intro written by Jay-Z and Beyonce. The duo urges readers, “We want to challenge you, as we challenge ourselves, to move toward plant-based foods. We all have a responsibility to stand up for our health and the health of the planet. Let’s take this stand together.” As you’re thinking about which new diet to test out in the New Year, why not take a tip from this power couple and go plant-based? Here’s an overview of the diet, plus a recipe for you to try before you buy into it.
If you want to follow the plan that has helped the Carters lose weight and stay healthy, the book breaks down the exact rules of the 22 Days Nutrition plan. Two-thirds of the book go over the proven benefits of eating more plants; avoiding gluten, sugar, and alcohol; staying hydrated; and so forth. The remaining pages offer three transitional tiers to ease you into going plant-based plus a slew of recipes to fuel this new lifestyle.
To get started on the fly, follow the book’s breakdown of what food portions you should eat each day plus what your plate’s contents should look like. Then, keep scrolling to see a recipe from the book, an egg-less omelet that stars chickpea flour.
THE GREENPRINT PORTIONS
First, how much of each group of plant foods should you eat daily? Generally, the daily breakdown looks like this:
- Grains: up to 1 1⁄2 cups cooked
- Beans and Legumes: up to 2 cups cooked
- Starchy Vegetables (such as potatoes or sweet potatoes): 1⁄2 cup to 1 cup, or 1 whole starchy vegetable
- Greens and Other Vegetables: unlimited quantities; try to eat 1 to 2 cups of leafy green vegetables
- Nuts, Nut Butters, Seeds, and Seed Butters: 1 to 2 tablespoons
- Fruit: 1 to 3 servings (1 piece of fresh fruit, 1 cup berries or chopped fresh fruit)
- Healthy Fats and Oils: 1 tablespoon oil, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 avocado, or 10 olives
THE GREENPRINT PLATE
Put all of this together by visualizing your Greenprint plate at meals. It should look something like this:
- Half of your plate (50 percent) should be filled with vegetables. Think: broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, tomatoes, as well as leafy green veggies like spinach and kale. Salads are included here.
- One-quarter of your plate (25 percent) should be plant proteins: beans and legumes, or a combination of these with nuts and seeds.
- 15 percent can be cooked grains or starchy veggies.
- The rest of the plate is devoted to healthy fats.
Your plate may not look like this at every meal, but it’s a good guideline for building a healthy plant-based meal.
SPINACH TORTILLA (SPINACH OMELET)
(Serves 2)
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Spanish potato and onion omelets, known as tortillas, are quite common in Cuban households, and I grew up on them. This spinach tortilla is my healthy take on a traditional tortilla, minus the cholesterol and increased risk of disease that usually come from egg consumption. It’s a great breakfast dish but can be enjoyed for lunch or dinner too.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 small onion, minced
- 2 small Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
- 1/2 cup chopped spinach
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Hass avocado, sliced, for garnish
Directions:
1. In an 8-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and potato and cook for a few minutes, until vegetables are soft.
2. Add the spinach and 1⁄4 cup water and stir. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are soft.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour and 1⁄2 cup water. Season with the salt and pepper.
4. Add the potato mixture to the chickpea flour mixture and stir to combine.
5. Wipe out the skillet. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Transfer the potato–chickpea flour mixture to the pan, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom.
6. Uncover the pan and set a plate larger than the diameter of the pan over the top. Holding the plate and the pan together, flip them so the tortilla falls out onto the plate. Slide the tortilla back into the pan and cook on the second side for 5 minutes. Transfer the tortilla to a serving plate.
7. Top with the avocado, season with pepper, and serve.
Are you going to try the 22 Days Nutrition program? Tell us all about it @BritandCo on Instagram.
Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.
Recipe from The Greenprint © 2018 by Penguin Random House LLC. Published by Harmony Books, an
imprint of Penguin Random House.
(Photos via Getty, Laura Palese Design, and Lauren Volo)
