Vegan 101: How to Start Your Vegan Diet

Getting Started With a Vegan Diet

Are you interested in improving your health, improving the environment, and reducing animal cruelty with a plant-based diets. Perhaps you've hesitated because some lady on YouTube or your mom told you that you cannot get all of the nutrients that you need if you refuse to eat pieces of dead animals. As a mindful plant-based eater, you're more likely to enjoy a healthy and varied diet that most of the careless omnivores around you. Still, you're wise to do some homework, but lucky for you, planning healthy plant-based meals and snacks is just not that hard.

If you'd rather skip the long-winded stuff, you can start with this great beginner's guide to keto: http://cravingscured.com/2018/11/23/a-healthy-vegan-diet-for-beginners/

Do Vegans Suffer From Nutrient Deficiencies?

The main vitamin that you will lack if you only eat plants is B12. Some doctors also have concerns over DHA, an Omega 3 fatty acid that your body can make but isn't very good at. If you read the guide above, you can see that these are easy to supplement with supplements or a variety of foods that come fortified.

You should also take care to consume enough calcium and Vitamin K2, and you need sunshine for Vitamin D, which isn't really a vegan thing. Again, lots of plant-based milk or grains come fortified, but you can also take a vitamin if it's a big concern. Plenty of vegetables are rich in iron and zinc, so you just have to include them.

What Do Vegans Eat Every Day?

Again,the beginner's guide linked above has resources that make it easy to come up with a healthy diet. You can find apps, books, and online charts to help guide you until you get used to this way of eating. Most doctors suggest consuming a variety of vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains. In other words, you get to eat all of the delicious side dishes and skip the meat, fish, fowl, and dairy.

Variety is the Spice of Vegan Life

It's important to focus upon variety. For instance, you should have a few servings of fruit, but you should vary this with berries, citrus, other typical fruit, and even a bit of avocado or olives. As for vegetables, try to include greens, calciferous veggies, and some starchy vegetables, like sweet potatoes and squash.

Vegans also don't eat eggs and many refuse to eat honey. Trust me, you won't miss them, and those animals also won't miss you! Again, the beginners guide has an outline of the suggested minimums that you should consume.

Leave the Meat for Carnivores

No, we didn't evolve our big brains by eating mostly meat. Through all of human history, we ate starch, fruit and vegetables when we could. Even our Neanderthal cousins ate plant food when they lived in environments that offered it. Besides, you're not a caveman with a life expectancy of 30, so why eat like one?

What Do You Think About Plant-Based Eating?

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