How to start a vegan diet
Learn the principles of the vegan diet to transform your current lifestyle into a healthier one, and follow our practical tips for making a risk-free transition to a diet free of animal foods.
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| How to start a vegan diet: transition tips |
Not everyone realizes it, but the vegan diet is only healthy if it is perfectly balanced. It is, in fact, important to understand that following a vegan diet does not mean eliminating all types of protein in favor of a diet rich in carbohydrates and sugars in general. Far from it: what a proper vegan diet relies on is the perfect balance of vegetables, fruits, complex carbohydrates and plant proteins.
Protein intake is important and it is crucial that it includes the essential amino acids needed to stay healthy. With insights from a groundbreaking book, Greenprint, the plant-based diet (M. Borges - Ed. Sperling&Kupfer), you can discover how to go vegan in a smart, step-by-step way.
What is the vegan diet
The vegan diet is a diet devoid of any food of animal origin. So, specifically, it is an eating pattern that does not include the consumption of meat, fish, eggs, milk and dairy products, animal rennet and even honey. Vegan diet, however, does not mean eating only vegetables, pasta, rice and bread. Much less, sweets in large quantities.
On the contrary, a vegan diet is a great starting point for learning how to follow a healthier lifestyle that is also more sustainable for the environment. And as far as health is concerned, it is essential that the vegan eating pattern is drawn up and decided together with a nutritionist so as not to incur risky and debilitating deficiencies.
The benefits of going vegan
Becoming vegan, following a balanced eating pattern, brings great benefits to the health of an adult without any particular disease. First of all, the elimination of animal protein also causes one to reduce levels of bad cholesterol in the blood. Specifically, there is, on average, a 19% reduction in LDL cholesterol and a 400% greater decrease in body fat than vegetarians. This leads, inevitably, to a reduction in cardiovascular risk.
When combined with a healthy lifestyle and the consumption of foods such as whole grains and legumes (with a net reduction in the consumption of simple sugars and pre-packaged foods), the vegan diet also allows you to detoxify and shed those extra pounds. In addition, again through the acquisition of a healthy and active lifestyle, your blood sugar will also have its benefits by keeping stable in optimal levels. Finally, it has been shown that those who follow a vegan diet can decrease their risk of being affected by degenerative diseases. And that the veg diet predisposes to better sleep and, if followed well, also raises energy levels.
There are, of course, some "thoughts" if not followed by a nutritionist, the DIY (dangerous) vegan diet can lead to severe vitamin B12 deficiencies, and these deficiencies instead predispose to neurodegenerative diseases such as, for example, Alzheimer's.
One week as a vegan
To start a vegan diet intelligently and with common sense, it is good to become aware of a new lifestyle. The book Greenprint, the plant-based diet, outlines the principles of this first phase and summarizes them in no less than 22 laws. Among them, one of the most important is the admonition, "Eat more vegetables and less of everything else." This mantra could be a good incipit for a radical change in diet but also for a temporary and limited change such as a vegan detox week.
The second piece of advice is to eat less junk food. So what to focus on? First of all, always on vegetables. And particularly on seasonal green leafy and colorful vegetables, legumes, vegan proteins, good fats, and whole grains. Gradually decreasing, or eliminating altogether with the help of the nutritionist industrial vegan foods. Then, it is necessary to plan well the weekly eating pattern considering all possible and possible nutritional deficiencies. Specifically, care must be taken to avoid deficiencies in: iron, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, protein, calcium and zinc.
Better, finally, to shop at the market and go for organic, so as not to clog the body with toxins and genetically modified ingredients. But let's get into the nitty-gritty, for the transition to the vegan diet, there are 3 phases: the gradual transition, the increase and the full regime. Let's look together at a typical vegan day and its menu.
Vegan recipes
The vegan recipes designed for your veg week or a veg day, but also ideal for starting a new lifestyle, that we are about to illustrate here have always been suggested to us by the book Greenprint, the plant-based diet, and they start from breakfast and go all the way to dinner.
For the first meal of the day, the basic suggestion is a smoothie. But, mind you, this is not just "any" smoothie but a real complete and balanced meal. To prepare it, you'll need: 240 ml of water or vegetable milk, 1 banana, frozen berries, green leafy vegetables, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, one scoop of vegan protein powder. If you prefer something more substantial on the palate, aim for an oatmeal and fruit porridge prepared, of course, with vegetable milk.
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| How to start a vegan diet: transition tips |
At lunch, however, go for super soups (whole grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts and seeds) and mega seasonal salads. If you get hungry mid-afternoon, go for smoothies as above (if you had oatmeal for breakfast) or eat a handful of nuts and oil seeds (excellent source of essential fatty acids).
What about dinner? Enjoy it, the vegan diet is not sad! You can indulge in velvety purées and creams, vegetable stews, baked vegetables, pizzas (even with a cauliflower base), burgers, and meatballs--all using vegan proteins, imagination, and a balanced pattern.
Short on time and eating out? Try, for example a quick but complete lunch recipe with avocado toast with sunflower seeds and sprouts. You only need: 2 slices of gluten-free vegan bread, 1/2 Hass avocado, the juice of 1/2 lime, 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds, 50 g broccoli sprouts, 1 pinch of smoked paprika. Toast the bread, and meanwhile mash the avocado with the lime juice. Then spread the puree on the bread and top with the sprouts and smoked paprika.
What to use instead of eggs
As for traditional recipes, what to replace eggs with, for example? The book recommends the use of special veg "eggs" namely flax eggs and chia eggs. Basically, to form an ingredient with similar properties, sufficiently gelatinous, and able to act as a binder to doughs and compounds of various kinds you need to soak 1 tablespoon of flax or chia seeds in 3 tablespoons of warm water. And let it sit for a few minutes before using the mix.
What to use instead of lard and butter
Lard and butter are ingredients that even those who do not follow a vegan diet should definitely limit. Especially in baking. So, these tips are useful for everyone. How to replace these condiments?
Butter and lard can be replaced, raw or otherwise, with equal amounts of non-dairy spreads (almond cream, for example), coconut oil, olive oil, avocado puree (good fats). Then think that 100 g of prunes combined with 60 ml of water, for example, is equivalent to 220 g of butter.
What about oil? This absolutely vegan but very undietary food can, if necessary, be replaced with lighter ingredients. It depends very much on the recipe you want to make; for desserts, a mashed banana may do the trick.
What to use instead of milk and cream
Instead of milk and cream, to follow a balanced vegan regimen or simply make your diet lighter and healthier, you can use a vegetable drink (soy, oats, almond, cashew, hazelnut, walnut, amaranth, rice...) always better if it is sugar-free.
To make a kind of vegetable whipped cream at home, let 1 can of whole coconut milk cool overnight. Then, put the thick white cream that forms on the surface in a bowl and whisk it all up as if it were "regular" cream. You can also use the resulting vegan cream in place of condensed milk.
What to use instead of cheese
Instead of traditional cheese, you can make cashew cheese at home for your veg diet. Or, more convenient and practical, go for the vegan cheeses commonly available on the market. You can buy these in health food stores, but not only that-you can now also find them in supermarkets. For example, tofu is now available in every refrigerated counter.
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