Why You Should Consider A Plant Based Diet…

WHAT IS A PLANT BASED DIET?

A plant-based diet is a diet that consists of vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fruits and tubers.  All of these foods come from plants. More and more Americans are changing their diets in order to make healthier choices.  The world is slowly becoming awakened to the unhealthy food choices that the food industry is promoting.

 

WHAT CAN YOU EAT ON A PLANT BASED DIET?

When you do your research on plant-based diets, you will find a vast amount of recipes of fruits and vegetables that you may not of even have heard of.  You can eat a lot of the foods that you love but just from predominantly plant-based recipes. For example, I love to eat spaghetti. Instead of using pasta I could eat zucchini noodles as a substitute for pasta.  I would use a spiralizer to create the noodles or purchase the zucchini noodles at a grocery store. I could still add my sauce and add roasted vegetables. Currently there are vegan sausages that I use in place of meat.  In addition to that, let me tell you it is absolutely delicious!! For many recipes I use Pinterest or YouTube as my main resource.

 

WHAT CAN YOU EAT FOR BREAKFAST ON A PLANT BASED DIET?  

There are many options for breakfast.  You can eat oatmeal with cut up fruit in it.  You can have yogurt, granola, and fruit. You can also eat an English muffin and top it with fresh tomato and avocado slices and maybe even add some fruit to it.  This is just an example of what you can prepare for breakfast.

 

 

HOW DO YOU START A PLANT BASED DIET?

There are many ways to start a plant-based diet.  First you want to change your mindset on how you eat, starting with meat.  Know that meat is not the only source of protein. You can get protein from nuts, beans, seeds and quinoa, just to name a few.  Contrary to what people think, plant-based foods provide more nutrients, minerals and vitamins than meat.

 

Start adding more vegetables to your plate.  Try to incorporate a meatless meal at least one day of the week.  Eat less meat. It would be advantageous to cut out pork and red meat from your diet. These meats have been linked to causing negative effects on the body. For example, meat is a major factor in acquiring cancer.  In addition, it is also a major contributor towards heart disease and diabetes.

 

Another way to start building a plant-based diet is to eat more fruit.  For dessert instead of cake, cookies or pie eat a slice of watermelon or a mango, peach or an apple.  These foods will satisfy your sweet tooth and also give your body the necessary nutrition.

 

IS A PLANT BASED DIET THE SAME AS VEGAN?

Plant based diets are not necessarily vegan or vegetarian.  Most people recognize that their current diet is not healthy and they want to make a change for the better.  Incorporating more fruits and vegetables in your diet is a great start. If one ultimately wants to become a vegetarian or vegan adding more legumes, fruit and vegetables will help to transition you into becoming solely a plant-based eater.

 

If you have any questions or comments or you would like to share your experience of changing your diet, please leave a comment. If you enjoyed this article please like and share!