How To Switch To A Plant-based Diet

Any serious lifestyle changes have an impact on the body and health, and changing the diet is no exception. If you are thinking about switching to a plant -based diet or have already made such a decision, do not rush: this process should be approached responsibly and consciously.

Let's learn more about how useful plant -based nutrition is, and how to make the transition careful and safe for the body.

Veganism : benefit or harm

A vegan diet involves the complete absence of products of animal origin, including dairy products , which are permissible in some types of vegetarianism. There is no unequivocal answer to the question whether it is useful or harmful to be a vegan . On the one hand, such a diet consists of more vegetables, and this is good. The world's leading organizations that develop nutrition recommendations - WHO, NHS, USDA - recommend that all adults consume 400 g of fresh vegetables and fruits every day.

At the same time, due to the lack of animal fats , proteins, vitamins and minerals found in dairy products , meat and fish in the diet, vegans may have nutritional deficiencies that are difficult to supplement with plant -based products .

For example, the deficiency of fats is especially dangerous for women, because their sufficient amount is necessary for the proper functioning of the reproductive system. Vegans are often deficient in calcium, which can lead to decreased bone density and mass and an increased risk of fractures. From this point of view, a healthier dietary option is pescetarianism, which allows the consumption of dairy products and fish. But vegans also have the opportunity to eat in a balanced way , you just need to pay more attention and time to the composition of the diet in order to correctly combine all the ingredients.

Plate method

To make it easier to navigate how to make one meal correctly, especially at first, you can use the plate method. It is suitable for planning main meals: breakfast, lunch or dinner. Each time, imagine it in the form of a plate, which should look like this: half of the plate - vegetables, fruits, berries and greens (in appropriate combinations, of course), a quarter - whole grain products (ie, cereals), and another quarter - plant sources of protein .

Vegetable products contain less protein than animal products, but it is still there - you need to get protein by eating tofu, peas, chickpeas, lentils and other legumes. Nuts and seeds also contain small amounts of protein. Bean and soy products should be preferred in the protein part of the plate. The main goal is for the body to receive all the essential amino acids contained in proteins.

Whole grains also contain protein, but they are mainly sources of slow carbohydrates and fiber. In addition, with the help of cereals, you can diversify your diet : pay attention to brown rice, quinoa, spelled, bulgur, green buckwheat.

It is important not to forget about fats, adding a sufficient amount of them to food (2 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon per meal). First, these are not dehydrated oils - olive, hemp, rapeseed, etc. Secondly, an additional source of fats is nuts and seeds. Give preference to unsaturated fats and eat a balanced diet.

In any diet , it is important to follow the principle of diversity: to eat not just vegetables, cereals and legumes, but to alternate their different types throughout the day and week. This is necessary so that the body receives all the nutrients every day. Why, it is better if your dishes consist of many different ingredients. Bowls, for example, which are now popular, are prepared according to this principle.

• Vegetable salad and brown rice with beans.

• Buckwheat noodles with tofu and vegetables + apple.

• Hummus, whole grain bread and vegetable sticks.

In addition to the nutrients (substances that make up food and that the body uses to get work and function) from food, vegans can use additional vitamins. But each portion of vitamins must be prescribed by a doctor, based on the results of analyzes of their content in the blood. Self-prescribing vitamins and dietary supplements and their dosage is at least useless, at most - dangerous, because you can get hypervitaminosis (excess of vitamins), which can also lead to acute symptoms. In general, a lack of calcium, iron, vitamin B12, vitamin D is typical for vegans .

General principles of a healthy diet for vegans

• Eat 5 servings of vegetables and fruits. A portion is one medium fruit or vegetable, about 80 g.

• Use complex carbohydrates as the basis of meals: cereals, whole grain pasta and bread, etc.

• Add plant - based dairy alternatives , such as soy milk or yogurt. It is advisable to choose low-fat products without sugar, enriched with calcium and vitamins.

• Add vegetable sources of protein, such as legumes, and some unsaturated fats (nuts, seeds, vegetable oils).

• Drink enough water without added sugar and fats.

The most common mistakes of vegan beginners

People who rapidly switch to a plant -based diet cause the body a significant stress, which it begins to resist. Often the result is several basic mistakes made unconsciously, as a reaction of the body to sudden changes and a lack of understanding of the real nutritional value of plant products .

There is a very common misconception that vegan means healthy and less caloric. But often vegetable products have even more calories than ordinary ones. For example, you can order a seemingly perfect vegan brownie at a coffee shop, and then discover that one portion of the dessert contains 900 kcal. And this is about half of the daily norm of a healthy woman - after such a dessert you can stay full for almost the whole day.

In addition, the body, not receiving the usual amount of necessary nutrients, begins to send impulses to replenish, so a constant feeling of hunger may arise. At these moments, people often start abusing plant -based desserts and pastries, which are higher in carbohydrates and fats than traditional ones.

To avoid this, at the beginning of plant -based nutrition , you should read labels, inquire about the nutritional value of vegan products in stores, ask about calorie content in restaurants and cafes - usually, almost everywhere there is a technological map with this information available. This does not mean that you need to maniacally control the number of calories consumed to the hundredth and tenth, but it is important to learn to navigate in the world of new products and dishes.

Modern nutritional recommendations - whether for vegans or not - say that it is necessary to add more unsaturated fats and less saturated fats to the diet . That is, saturated fats provoke an increase in bad cholesterol and, as a result, clogging of blood vessels (atherosclerosis) and increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

All animal fats are saturated, and therefore, at first glance, vegans have a more advantageous position, because they a priori refuse to consume most saturated fats. But in practice, among vegetable fats there are also saturated ones, mainly coconut oil. Most vegan desserts are made on its basis, it is often used for frying, especially in restaurants. Palm oil also belongs to saturated fats.

Here again, reading labels, understanding the composition of the dishes you see will help. Give preference to those products that contain unsaturated fats - for example, olive, sunflower, corn, hemp, sesame oil, grape seed oil, nuts and seeds.

The most obvious group of foods that a vegan can eat are carbohydrates. Vegan bars, whole grain waffles, cereals - these foods contain a lot of carbohydrates. If you give these products ¼ of a plate, then nothing terrible will happen. But if you make bread, cereal pasta, bread, vegan pastries and sweets the main part of the diet , forgetting about vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and protein products, the body will be overloaded with carbohydrates. Such an imbalance can provoke a constant feeling of hunger and, as a result, breakdowns, overeating and excess weight. In addition, deficiencies of fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals can occur, leading to loss of muscle mass and other health problems.

The advice is unchanged: study the composition of products , use the plate method. Do not forget to look for new balanced recipes, and you can also try soy and other plant -based meat substitutes - today they are becoming more and more accessible and diverse.