Changing to a plant based diet

If you could make one single change to your eating habitats to become healthier, it would be to move to a plant-based diet.

Eating plants has been the best change I’ve made in my diet. Plants have helped make me healthier, slimmer, stronger, more energetic and will increase my life expectancy (see below).

Changing your diet can be difficult, but it needn’t be. My personal journey was very gradual and not something that was pre planned. Over a period of two years I reduced my sugar intake, became vegetarian and then, in the last few months, totally plant based. I deliberately choose to use the term plant based rather than vegan as this is much less threatening to people who feel negatively about the term vegan. It is an inclusive word defining what the diet actually consists of, rather than an exclusive one which is what isn’t eaten – animal products.

What is a plant-based diet?

The simple answer, of course, is that you eat plants. You eliminate animals as well as animal products like dairy and eggs.

Eating a plant-based diet means you might widen the variety of foods you eat. For example: tofu, kale, quinoa, ground flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, sprouted seeds, almond and soy milk, a variety of nuts and nut butters, dates, avocados, lentils, black beans, spirulina, nutritional yeast, rye bread, cacao powder and sauerkraut.

Getting started with a more plant-based diet

1. Replace one, or better yet, two to three days of your week’s meals to vegetarian options. Start with the meatless monday and then, over time expand to other days of the week. Alternatively cut out red meat, and then poultry, then seafood, in gradual stages over a period of time that suits you. Add healthy meat alternatives such as edamame beans, tofu and organic soy products to add texture, fibre and healthy protein to your meal.

2. Eliminate eggs and cut out dairy. This can be the hardest for most people. Almond and soy milks are good alternatives which can take some time to adjust to, but for some people giving up cheese can be a sticking point. It helps that there are better and better cheese alternatives these days with new and interesting recipes to make your own too.

3. Eat low sugar, whole, unprocessed foods. The key is to eat a whole foods plant-based diet, not a processed vegan version high in sugar. Read the ingredient label of everything you buy. When you start looking at what’s in your food, you’ll start buying things that are better. The next step beyond that is to buy foods without ingredient labels — oatmeal, bananas, single food items that you can combine yourself at home. Even if you’re not much of a cook, you can prepare simple foods at home, like roast vegetables, soups and salads. If you prepare food yourself, you have so much more control over what you’re eating. You’ll have to spend more time preparing in the beginning, but once you start to find the habits and the things that work for you, it’ll start becoming part of a routine and not so time consuming at all.

What to eat

So what do you eat when you’re on a plant-based diet that focuses on whole foods? Try new foods, experiment with recipes, and explore different nutrients as you make the changes. Some of my favourites include:

• Vegetable curry: Either tomato or coconut milk based, use any vegetables and serve with brown rice or quinoa
• Vegetable chili: Made on the hob or slow cooker - most types of beans (cannelli, black, kidney, pinto etc) with rapeseed oil, garlic, onions, chilli, Himalayan salt, pepper.
• Soups: So simple, cheap and nutritious! Any vegetable with or without onion or garlic/spices will do the trick. A bag of frozen peas with a little mint and stock is my current favourite.
• Tofu scramble with vegetables:  Some organic high-protein tofu crumbled and stir-fried with rapeseed oil, garlic and tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms, and spiced with tamari, turmeric, sea salt and coarse black pepper.
• Baked sweet potato jacket with black bean sauce: Tomato sauce with rapeseed oil, garlic, onions, chilli and black beans added to sweet potato baked in the oven.
• Porridge oats: Healthy and wholesome cooked or cold soaked overnight  in nut milk, add ground flaxseeds, raw nuts, cacao, berries, cinnamon
• Smoothies: Blend some almond or soy milk with frozen berries, greens, ground chia or flaxseeds, hemp or spirulina protein powder. Lots of nutrition in one drink!
• Snacks: Nuts, berries or fruit or raw vegetables with hummus.
• Drinks: I drink lemon water in the morning and water throughout the day. Two cups of coffee as well as herbal teas. Soda water with a lime slice is low in sugar and great for alcohol free days.

Why plant-based?

Health

A longer life is most likely one of the best benefits you’ll see from making the switch. Numerous scientific studies prove that a plant-powerful diet can reverse the high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers that scientifically generated foodstuffs, genetically modified foods and animal products, scientifically generated foodstuffs and genetically modified foods promote. It’s not just cancer and heart disease that respond to this type of nutrition though. It may also help protect you from diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases, bone, kidney, eye and brain diseases. 

In the short term, your blood sugar, digestion and muscular pain should improve too.

Environmental protection

Industrialised animal farming is a huge factor that is contributing to environmental degradation. Anyone seeking to live a more sustainable or eco-friendly lifestyle cannot help but question the impact of their food choices on the environment. Once people learn about industrialised animal farming and the horrific treatment of animals in factory farms, embracing the animal-free lifestyle beyond their plate becomes a logical next step.

Animal welfare

Preventing the exploitation of animals is a key factor in their decision  to change to a plant based diet. Avoiding animals and animal products is one of the most obvious ways you can make a stand against animal cruelty. The treatment of farm animals in this country is unacceptable, and humans are very detached from how our food arrives on our table. Whilst this wasn’t the main reason why I made the change, the more I find out about this, the more it reinforces my food choices.

Want to get started?

I hope by now you’re not overwhelmed by all of this and want to give it a go. It is going to take some work, but it's worth it, I promise. Remember the big picture, think about your own food choices and anything you can do to move forward, no matter how small, will impact positively on your health not to mention the environment and welfare of animals. I wish you well!

Some tips to keep you on track

• Start simply and small, make gradual changes.

• Don’t beat yourself up when things go wrong, you make mistakes or eat foods that you feel bad about. Observe how you feel, and get back on track when you’re ready.

• There are lots of people who are going through the same thing, get support (online or offline) from others happy to help, inspire or share their stories.

• Get educated. The information you’ll get from films like Vegucated, Forks Over Knives, Cowspiracy is mindblowing. Subscribe to blogs, set up a must read/watch list and go through them slowly.

Namaste

Alison x

 Sources:

http://www.wellandgood.com/good-food/are-you-vegan-or-are-you-plant-based/

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/quick-benefits-youll-see-by-switching-to-whole-foods-plant-based-diet/

ttps://zenhabits.net/plants/

https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/why-go-vegan

http://yumuniverse.com/learn-more-about-a-plant-based-diet/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-pirello/vegan-diet_b_876614.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/24/quit-processed-food-megan-kimble-a-year-without_n_7648276.html

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-21926/9-tips-for-anyone-who-wants-to-go-plant-based.html