Introduction to Plant-Based Nutrition

Introduction to Plant-Based Nutrition

With World Vegan Day around the corner, some of you might be thinking of switching to a plant-based diet, incorporating more plant-based foods in to your diet, or maybe you’re just curious about plant-based nutrition and how it works. In this article, I’ll give a brief rundown on how to approach plant-based nutrition, what foods are best to replace animal products with, and how to cover your nutritional needs.

Transitioning to a Plant-Based Diet

When I decided to make the switch six years ago, I found it quite easy due to my background in personal training, nutrition and diet planning. I realise though, that many people aren’t in that position.
It can be quite confusing for some people when all our lives we’ve been told that we need meat for protein and iron, that we need dairy products for calcium, and so on. We’re never really told that plant foods can also provide us with all of these things if we know what foods to focus on.

Where Do Vegans Get Their Protein?

The number one question people ask when it comes to a vegan diet is, “Where do you get your protein?” It’s become a cliché at this point. Again, because we aren’t educated properly about nutrition in our younger years, many people aren’t aware that we can get protein in abundance through lots of different food groups; beans, lentils, grains, nuts and seeds are some of the plant foods to focus on, but we can get protein in varying amounts in virtually all of our food.

Understanding Amino Acids

Protein is made up of amino acids and there is an old prevailing myth that many plant foods are missing certain amino acids. The truth, however, is that ALL plant foods contain ALL nine essential amino acids in varying amounts. The old myth stems from the fact that some plant foods are quite low in certain amino acids and will have to be combined with other foods to create an optimal amino acid profile for muscle growth and recovery. While this is true, there are also many, many plant foods that already contain an optimal amino acid profile on their own and don’t need to be combined with other foods.

Key Sources of Protein for a Vegan Diet

While focussing on legumes, nuts and seeds is helpful for protein and healthy fats, it’s always a good idea to focus on lean protein sources such as tofu, tempeh and seitan; tofu being the more popular of the three. Tofu is basically just mashed soybeans with the husk removed. What you are left with is a lean protein source that can hold its own when compared to any meat product. Play around with seasoning and marinades and you’ll find it can be a very versatile staple in your meals. I’ll be doing a follow up blog about other protein sources at some stage so keep an eye out.

Calcium in a Plant-Based Diet

With regard to calcium, we are constantly told from childhood that dairy is the food group we should be focussing on. However, people following a plant-based diet can get more than enough calcium by eating plenty of green vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and fortified foods and plant milks.

Sources of Iron for Vegans

Iron is another nutrient that is brought up from time to time. Most people focus on red meat as their primary source of dietary iron, but those of us on a vegan diet can consume plenty of iron by focussing on green leafy vegetables, whole grains, beans, lentils and seeds. Omega-3 can also be eaten in abundance on a vegan diet if we make the effort to include chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds and walnuts in our diet.

The Importance of Vitamin B12

B12 is definitely something else to consider on a vegan diet. Contrary to popular belief, we can actually get B12 through some plant-based foods. Certain varieties of seaweed, particularly Nori, can provide us with a decent serving of B12. However, I would still recommend that a B12 supplement be included every day. I would generally recommend that everyone, not just vegans, take a B12 supplement as vegans only account for 3-4% of the population but around half of the western population of the planet are deficient in B12. This is due to farming practices leaving our soil severely deficient in cobalt.
To summarise, if you’re thinking of making the switch to a vegan diet, your focus should be on plenty of varied fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, starchy carbohydrates and lean protein sources.
I’ll be following up with more blogs that delve into specific topics to do with health, fitness and plant-based diets. But, as always, if you have any questions about plant-based nutrition in the meantime just pop in to either store and we’ll be more than happy to help.

Cal Walsh,

Personal Trainer