Are you thinking about switching over to a plant-based diet? If you’ve recently been inspired to take on a plant-based diet- whether that’s vegan, vegetarian, or anything in between-, there are a few things to keep in mind before getting started. It’s easy to fall in love with a new way of eating for a short while. It’s the honeymoon phase where you feel energized, happy, and powerful. But soon enough, everything goes downhill. First is that you realize the diet is meant for the long run. And second is that all of those benefits start to go in reverse. You’re tired, cranky, and crumbling. That early “glow” has disappeared, and you’re ready to call it quits. But not so fast! Before you give up, make sure that you were doing things right. That way, you can decide whether or not a plant-based style of eating was right for your body. So, to help you optimize your plant-based experience, here are a few tips for you to consider.

Eat Enough Calories

Despite what most people think, plant-based diets are not just salads. By definition, a plant-based diet is one that is mostly based on plant foods. These include vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, and optional superfoods from seaweed, mushrooms, and nutritional yeast. While all of these foods are great for your health, they also tend to be low in calories. A lot of people who feel awful on plant-based diets are those who tend to under-eat. Their meals end up being mostly salads, and they stick to small portions. The result? Low energy due to consuming fewer calories.

Here’s what you can do to fix this. First is thinking about volume. If you’re going to eat something like a kale salad, don’t treat it as a side dish like you’d normally do as an omnivore. Make it become the main course; 2-3 cups instead of ½ to 1. Instead of eating a half a cup of cooked beans or lentils, go for the full cup or even two cups. If putting on weight is a concern, incorporate foods that are higher in calories. Hummus, peanut butter, nuts and seeds, avocados, coconut, and olive oil provide healthy sources of fat as well as calories. Including an extra snack during the day works, too. It can be anything from a handful of nuts, fruit, protein shakes, smoothies, guacamole, and chips, to peanut butter and celery.

While I don’t recommend counting calories, I do think it’s a useful tool for troubleshooting your diet. Beginners also benefit from using it to get an understanding of their eating habits. For those of you that are new to plant-based eating, it might help to temporarily track your calories to see if you’re eating enough.

Whole Foods Over Processed

Beware the allure of processed foods! Just because a food claims to be “plant-based” or “vegan-friendly” does NOT mean you should eat it. Take meat substitutes, for instance, which include things like the Beyond Burger, tofurkey, and plant-based, animal-free “tuna” (yes, it’s a thing!). Take all of them together, and what do you have? Fake food! These imposters all contain heavily processed ingredients, including GMOs from soy, corn, and gluten. These foods ruin gut health, trigger hormone imbalances, and promote inflammation. I prefer you make a veggie burger at home instead of having the refined, processed ones at the store. Other things to watch out for include plant-based dairy products (sweetened nut milk, yogurts, cheese), desserts, snacks, ready-made smoothies, and microwave meals. And if you’re going to have soy, make sure it comes organic and fermented; tamari, miso, and tempeh are all great. If you’re gluten intolerant, stay away from seitan, which is made from modified wheat gluten. 

Avoid Deficiencies

Like it or not, plant-based diets are notorious for causing nutrient deficiencies. Most notably Vitamin B12, D3, Calcium, Iodine, Iron, and Zinc. There are three takeaways I’ll leave you with.

First is staying on top of your bloodwork. Get your annual physical and make sure you’re not becoming deficient in essential nutrients. Often it takes years for them to show up and cause people to go running to their doctors. Avoid this scenario by staying on top of your bloodwork from the get-go and letting your doctor know what you’re doing.

Second is looking at your diet. Here are the best plant-based sources of food for the common deficiencies I mentioned.

• Vitamin B12: nutritional yeast, unsweetened dairy-free milk (check the label); vegetarians can easily get it from seafood, dairy, and eggs [1] 
•  Vitamin D3: sunlight, unsweetened dairy-free milk (check the label), UV-exposed mushrooms; vegetarians can get trace amounts in eggs, salmon, sardines, cod liver oil, and dairy [2]

•  Calcium: unsweetened dairy-free milk (check the label), tofu, tempeh, edamame, white beans, navy beans, black beans, chickpeas, blackstrap molasses, almonds, tahini (sesame seed butter), amaranth, teff, kelp, bok choy, spinach, and collard greens; vegetarians can easily get enough from dairy foods and bone-in canned salmon and sardines [3]

•  Iodine: seaweed (nori, dulse, kombu, kelp, etc.) and iodized salt; vegetarians can get it from seafood, eggs, and dairy [4] 

• Iron: tofu, tempeh, edamame, soybeans, lentils, red kidney beans, navy beans, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, split peas, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, tahini (sesame seed butter), hummus, spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, tomato paste, tomato sauce, potatoes, and sweet potatoes (with the skin, which is where most of the iron is concentrated), mushrooms (cooked), hearts of palm, amaranth, spelt, oatmeal, quinoa, coconut milk, dark chocolate (raw cacao), blackstrap molasses; vegetarians can get iron from seafood and eggs [5]  To increase iron absorption, pair these foods with vitamin c from sources like citrus and bell peppers. Consider cooking with a cast-iron skillet, which provides 2-3 times more iron. Avoid drinking coffee or caffeinated tea around meals. And soak, sprout or ferment grains, legumes, and seeds to lower nutrient-blocking compounds like phytates. [5]

• Zinc: cashews, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, oatmeal, chickpeas, lentils, peanuts, tofu, tempeh, peas, quinoa, rice, and dark chocolate (raw cacao); vegetarians can get it from shellfish (shrimp, oysters, crab, mussels), eggs, and cheddar cheese [6] [7]

Protein: Quality AND Quantity

Protein isn’t only protein. It’s technically made up of amino acids. While plenty of elite athletes have proved the benefits of a plant-based diet, they forget to mention the sheer quantity and quality of their diet. Like it or not, animal-based foods have higher concentrations of amino acids compared to plant-based foods. To catch up to the carnivore sources, plant-based dieters will have to consume more protein-rich foods to get enough amino acids. That means more legumes, grains, nuts, seeds, nutritional yeast, and optional protein powders. If you’re not vegans, this task will be much easier to accomplish with foods like dairy, seafood, and eggs.

Play with Carbs

Another reason why people fall off the plant-based wagon is carbs. Or rather, too many carbs. While some people thrive from eating high carb, others (myself included) do not. That’s not to say you can’t be plant-based, though. You could go more Mediterranean-style by treating animal-foods as the side dish and plant-based foods as the main course. Or, you can play with your carbs. For instance, vegans can consume fewer grains, legumes, and certain fruits and increase their fat intake from nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut, and olives. (Check out this post for more info!) The point is that you don’t necessarily have to give up plant-based eating because of carbs. Just adjust your intake and see how your body responds.

Over to You

Now it’s your turn. How would you approach a plant-based diet? Do I have any vegan followers? I’d love it if you’d share your thoughts down in the comments! And in the meantime, if you want to try my approach to plant-based eating, then check out my Shred & Glow Plant-Based Meal Plan. As a disclaimer, it’s not 100% vegan, but you can definitely swap out the animal products for something else. In the meantime, I hope these tips help!

Sources:

[1] https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrients/vitamin-b12/what-every-vegan-should-know-about-vitamin-b12
[2] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/9-foods-high-in-vitamin-d
[3] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vegan-calcium-sources#The-Bottom-Line
[4] https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrients/iodine
[5] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/iron-rich-plant-foods#section7
[6] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/best-foods-high-in-zinc#section10
[7] https://veganhealth.org/zinc/#foods