If you want to cleanse your body, reduce inflammation, improve your cardiovascular health, going plant-based is so worth considering! If you have Netflix, you will hopefully have already watched ‘What the health’ and ‘Game changers’.
I am truly excited to hear how many are taking part in Veganuary. I believe the world would and will be a better place if we all ate far less animal products! F0r further information on this growing trend and the reasons, check this article
Why are vegan diets on the rise? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44488051
Personally, I can’t currently call myself vegan although I’m mainly plant-based. The nutritional mistakes I made coupled with muscle testing I did on my family and clients in the time that I was totally vegan and since has taught me so much... This is exactly what I want to share with you so you can avoid the main nutritional mistakes many vegans (and those simply wanting to reduce animal products) tend to make.
1. Fridge/freezer full of Quorn and Vitalite etc?
It’s all too easy to go overboard on vegan foods like Quorn or vegan butter/cheese which isn’t good for you and for the environment. So if you’re making plant-based options for your health or the environment, avoid vegan replacement foods. If you want to be an environmentally friendly vegan, make your own as much as possible: hummus, milk (buy a nut bag).
2. Digestion feeling sluggish?
· Almost all vegans I muscle test are deficient in probiotics (with some whole families developing candida in the early days of converting to a vegan diet) which vegan sites don’t mention much. The cheapest and easiest way of rectifying that is home fermenting (check out how easy and fun it is to make via my DIY clip https://youtu.be/Iv4ZL7b8v1M). If you want to supplement, it’s a matter of finding the right strand(s) for your body (that’s where a Kinesiologist can help).
· Promoters of a vegan sometimes play down the B12 deficiency problem: It’s a complex topic but let me just say, based on my own experience, research and muscle testing vegan clients, let me just urge you to supplement B12. Not all B12 supplements are equal. Personally I was taking a high quality B12 supplement for weeks which wasn't doing a thing as I needed a methylated one, which only became apparent during Kinesiology muscle testing.
3. Grabbing biscuits and chocolate as a snack?
Likelihood is you went vegan for your health or at least maybe amongst other reasons so just remember just because it is vegan doesn’t mean it’s healthy! I emphasize that as I see how excited even some non-vegan people I know get when a new vegan café opens filled with delicious looking cakes or street food, as if vegan = plant-based = healthy. Not true! So for nutritional as well as practical reasons, I always have these within reach and on the go: nut butter, bean spread, marmite, Engevita (nutty stock flakes), nuts, seeds, fruit, rice crackers, ferment.
4. Eating more bread, pasta and other carbs?
In the early days, my family was eating too much bread to get fuller quicker: I couldn't keep up with the amount of veg I needed to prep. Just like with people going for vegan replacements, it’s all to easy to carb load when first converting as many think it’s what you need to be full and satisfied. Fact is if your food waste kitchen top caddy isn’t full to the brim within two days in your family, you’re not eating as much vegetables you need to be a nutritionally healthy vegan. Change to wholemeal/brown rice, pasta, bread but be sure not to go overboard on these.
I hope these 4 points help you benefit hugely from going plant-based. Your health and the environment will thank you!
If you fancy being inspired on vegan dishes to cook for your family without fancy recipes, why not check out my blog on FB ‘Vegan dishes made simple’
If you want or need to check that you definitely don’t have any nutrient deficiencies during your journey towards becoming a healthy vegan, please get in touch.