Getting Started on a Plant-Based Diet: 12 Tips

How to Start a Plant-based Diet

Where are you right now? You may be thinking as I did a few years back … did I even eat any vegetables today? Yep, there was a time when I realized that vegetables were almost totally missing from my diet. I’m not sure what spiked this realization. 

 

Maybe it was because of what I’d read about the health benefits of eating plants or because I was getting older, or because I just wasn’t feeling up to par. I’ve always liked vegetables, but sometimes they seemed like an afterthought and weren’t always that interesting. At any rate, getting started as a plant-based eater needed to be a priority on my to-do list! Does this sound like you?

Eating a plant-based diet was a lifestyle change I needed to embrace!

I decided to make fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and plant-based cooking my focus. I started this website to keep track and paid attention to interesting recipes brimming with vegetables. It wasn’t all that hard, and getting started can be easy for you, too.

It’s THE best thing you can do for your health, helping climate change, and for the animals.

It can be as easy as doing something new every week. Something like trying non-dairy milk, having a smoothie for breakfast, or trying a deli meat alternative. By the end of the year, you’ll have 52 new habits.

Why eat plants?

Plant-eaters live longer, healthier lives with fewer problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, or diabetes. They also usually have fewer aches and pains. It’s never too late to start. Many of these conditions are reversible. Plant eaters have healthy bones and higher blood protein levels than omnivores and average fewer nutrient deficiencies, as well. (source) Read my in-depth article, “Why Eat Plants,” to learn more.

Although there are differences between the plant-based doctors and leaders in the movement, if you include FRESH FRUITS and VEGETABLES, LEGUMES, WHOLE GRAINS, NUTS, and SEEDS but NO DAIRY or EGGS and very little or NO MEAT or PROCESSED OIL, you can consider yourself a plant-based eater.

So, let’s get started. Since starting a new diet can seem overwhelming, here are 12 tips for the best way to start a plant-based vegan diet.

Remember a couple of things before you get started eating whole plant foods…

• A plant-based diet does not include any animal products or dairy products.
• You’ll be getting enough protein, and essential nutrients using plant protein on a plant-based diet and your nutritional needs will be met (except for vitamin B12).
• Your overall health should improve, and you may even lower the risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases.
• You might even experience weight loss.
• Make small changes if you find it too overwhelming. Progress over perfection!
• Reduce your purchases of processed foods.
• Don’t be afraid to try new things.

12 Tips for Getting Started

1. Remember Your Why

On 3 x 5″ cards, write the reasons you want to stick with a plant-based diet. Keep them handy in your pocket, your purse, or on your mirror, and read them often. (Ideas: be able to hike 2 miles, look better in my clothes, walk without pain, live to see my grandkids, get off my meds, etc.) This idea is from “The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person,” which I highly recommend.

2. Find Recipes

There are so many easy ways to find new recipes these days. You can peruse my Recipe Categories for ideas or check out Pinterest. Print the recipes you’ll be using for the week and keep them in a folder in the kitchen somewhere. 

3. MAKEOVER YOUR FAVORITES

One of the easiest ways to start is to take the recipes you’ve grown to love and make them plant-based. Luckily you can find vegan versions of just about any food these days, and you can turn your favorites like Mac & Cheese, Burgers, and even ice cream into plant-based goodness. Just search for your favorite recipe and put plant-based or vegan in front of it. Or read my article, “Meatless Makeover,” for more ideas.

4. Make a Meal Plan

Start planning your meals each week. You can download my handy Weekly Meal Planner if you’d like. And read this post, “Beginner’s Guide to Easy Plant-Based Vegan Meal Planning.” What do you already eat that’s an easy switchover to plant-based? Rice as a side made into the main dish, meatless chili, pasta with veggies, soup, veggie burgers instead of meat? It’ll just be easier for you if you know what to eat.

Here’s one day to get you started.

• Breakfast: oatmeal with berries or bananas, .5 oz. walnuts, and soy milk.
• Lunch: large salad with sliced peppers, red cabbage, red onion, black or pinto beans, 1 tsp. pumpkin seeds and dressing (non-fat preferred).
• Snack: apple and hummus.
• Dinner: Thai curried potatoes with chard.

5. Clean Out Your Pantry & Fridge

Go to your pantry (or fridge) right now and spend ten minutes throwing out, or recycling. the following items: sugary cereals, soft drinks, packaged chips, cheese, milk, meat including deli meats, white bread, and creamy sauces. There must be more – just do it! Then, stock your pantry with easy-to-use staples. Here’s a list of meals that you can quickly make with these items.

6. Discover New Foods

Spend ten extra minutes in the grocery store locating any new items on your plant-based grocery list – like quinoa, tempeh, soy milk, and fat-free pasta sauce. And, if you have trouble finding them, refer to my list in this freebie of some uncommon ingredients you might find on a whole food plant-based diet.

7. Put Healthy Items on the Top Shelves

Although it’d be ideal if you didn’t have unhealthy food in the frig, it can happen, especially if you have other members of your household eating a different diet than you. The solution? It’s a good idea to put your healthy snacks and food, like sliced carrots or peppers or tofu and tempeh, in clear containers on the middle two shelves. That way, you’ll see them and choose them over less healthy choices. Put the unhealthy items in the drawers, so they’re out of sight. (From Slim by Design which I also highly recommend.)

You can find glass containers at your local kitchen store or on the Internet* for storing your plant-based snacks, like hummus and carrots, or your leftovers.

8. Go MEATLESS on MONDAY

Meatless Mondays have been around for over 20 years, and it’s a great way to start. Find oodles of recipes that are easy and delicious in the “Main Dish” category, or hop on over to meatlessmonday.com to find more. Join the Meatless Monday movement and try one day, then another, and so on. Surely there are meatless meals that you enjoy. Pasta with tomato sauce and sliced zucchini, anyone?

Or, go MEATLESS for Breakfast and Lunch until you’re ready for the whole day. What’s not to love about a strawberry smoothie, creamy oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts, or a tofu scramble? For lunch, try a large salad with beans or rice added in, or make a sandwich using a deli meat alternative.

9. Eat a Salad a Day and Make Your Own Salad Dressings

Eating a salad a day is a great way to get in those nine servings of fruits and vegetables, and it’s recommended by Dr. Fuhrman. Then discover my oil-free salad dressing formula freebie for making oil-free salad dressings and make one today.

And, If you have access to a healthy salad bar, by all means, stock up on salad because it can make your life easier. Shopping for dinner? Make a salad from the salad bar for the next day’s lunch. Just avoid creamy, gloppy dressing choices and the meat dishes and get excited by the other plant-based choices.

10. Try meat substitutes

Although not the healthiest choice because meat substitutes usually have oil and other additives, if they help you make the transition, give them a try. They’re better to use than animal proteins. There’s “turkey” deli slices and “sausage” and even vegan Toona. Then jump in and embrace whole foods when you feel more comfortable without meat.

11. Focus on what you’re adding to your diet

Don’t focus on what you’ve left out. There’s such a plethora of colorful, beautiful vegetables in the market. Your plant-based recipes don’t have to be elaborate but give them the same love you’d give meat. Chicken is boring by itself without added spices and some fancy cooking. There are so many recipes to choose from. Read recipes, watch cooking videos, and get inspired! And then try one of these easy recipes made from your pantry items, plant-based approved, of course.

12. Stay Motivated

• Meditate on Your Goals for 10 minutes, visualizing them and imagining yourself thin and/or healthy.
• Read “7 tips for Sticking with a Plant-Based Diet.”
• Read “Staying Motivated on a Plant-Based Diet.”
• Be Accountable. Tell 3 friends that you are starting a plant-based diet and have them ask you how it’s going in one week.
• Read the lists you made in step 1 to keep your goals fresh in your mind.

ANY CONCERNS?

And read my post that includes frequently asked questions about eating a plant-based vegan diet.

Congratulations

Congratulations on making the leap to a healthier diet plan and this new way of eating. I hope these steps help you and your family members more easily make the transition to eating less meat. Your hard work will pay off if you stick with it. 

You’ll be eating smarter and, hopefully, live longer, and the good news is that you’ll be much happier, as well..

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