PLANT BASED DOESN’T HAVE TO MEAN NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS

Whether you are concerned about the environmental impact of your diet, you’ve been advised by a health practitioner, you’ve watched a documentary, or Jenny from the office is raving about it – there’s no doubt there is a big shift at the moment towards plant based eating.

I feel there is a lot of confusion around what this actually means however. Plant based does not have to mean going 100% vegetarian or vegan. It definitely can if you feel that’s the right step for you and there are many positive benefits to doing so, however plant based can also mean that majority of what you eat is plant based, but not necessarily everything and research is showing this will still lead significant health benefits. Some may call this or refer to this as a flexitarian diet but let’s be real, you don’t need to label your diet anything so take that or leave it as you wish.

There is an abundance of research to support eating more plant based foods and there is no denying this is the best step one can take to improve their diet and therefore their overall health. Only 7% of us are currently eating the recommended servings of vegetables so if only people would focus on improving this stat instead of looking for quick fixes and dabbling in every FAD diet they can find, we would start to see a shift in the troubling obesity rates that we have. I hear you though, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Which is why I want to break this down and make it more achievable for you.

Let’s consider what the recommendations currently are for vegetable intake: minimum 5 serves per day. One serve = 1 cup of raw salad vegetables (imagine a cup full of spinach, cucumber, carrot and beetroot) or ½ cup of cooked vegetables (imagine a cup half full with steamed zucchini, cauliflower and broccoli). What a lot of people don’t realise is that legumes also count towards vegetable intake due to their incredible nutritional value so ½ cup of cooked beans, lentils or chickpeas also counts towards the 5 servings.

So the first step I recommend is to focus on hitting these targets and then filling in the gaps with our other important macro nutrients such as complex carbohydrates, quality protein and healthy fats. A good tip is to utilise lunch and dinner to get 2 serves at each of these meals. You may have heard me say before that enjoying a mix of both raw and cooked foods is great so try adding 1 cup of raw salad vegetables + ½ cup cooked vegetables for each of lunch and dinner. So that’s 4 serves down already with just one serve to go! (If you add ½ cup legumes to one of these meals then well done you, you’ve hit your 5 serves - easy as that!). If you need to get that extra serve in then consider options like raw veggie sticks for snacks, 1 cup of spinach in your smoothie, ½ cup cooked veggies with eggs for breakfast, or just an additional serve with lunch or dinner. Don’t forget that the 5 serves is recommended as a minimum for adequate health, so if you want optimal health then up the serves even more!   

Already you can see how sticking to this means vegetables will make up the bulk of your diet. Now you can look to fill in the gaps with;

-          Complex carbohydrates in the way of wholegrains, sweet potato, potato, bread, wraps, noodles and also legumes.  

-          Quality protein. If you wish to include animal products this would be grass fed/organic meat, poultry, fish, seafood or eggs. To a less extent but still providing valuable protein would be dairy products such as cheese, yoghurt, kefir etc. For plant based protein this would be tempeh, tofu, quinoa, amaranth, hemp and also your legumes as well (and nuts and seeds to a lesser extent).

-          Healthy fats. Avocado, nuts, seeds, extra virgin olive oil (this would be ticked off you had oily fish with your meal such as salmon, sardines, anchovies etc).

So if you’re a current meat eater you can also be plant based by following the guide above. Naturally this will mean consuming less meat but this is a positive in many ways. For one, the amount of meat you currently buy will stretch across more meals meaning reduced cost per serve and also less impact on the environment. Not to forget that the Heart Foundation recommends a limit of 350g of red meat per week, spread across 1-3 meals for heart health.

If you are currently vegan or vegetarian you are likely, but not guaranteed to be reaching closer to the recommendations for vegetables but let’s not forget many ultra processed junk foods are also vegetarian/vegan friendly. If you’re making the switch or currently eating this way keep an eye out for highly processed protein alternatives and instead stick to the wholefood suggestions above.

So hopefully this has instilled some confidence in you that regardless of if you want to include animal products in your diet not, you can still gain the benefits from a plant based diet that the research is so strongly supporting for the best health outcomes.