Going vegan means keeping to a plant-based diet and avoiding all animal products. People who choose a vegan diet do so for ethical, environmental, or health reasons. When planned well, the health benefits of a vegan diet are enormous: reduced blood pressure, less cholesterol, and reduced intake of saturated fats.
At the same time, a vegan diet can lower the risk of heart disease, some cancers, and can provide the body with vital nutrients that can help maintain healthier body weight. At the same time, even with all these benefits, a poorly planned vegan diet can mean that you are not getting all the nutrients that your body requires to stay healthy and function at its best.
For instance, if you see changes in skin tone, body weight, or the color of hair or nails, these can be indicators of serious nutritional deficiencies. You can prevent this by enriching your vegan diet with fortified and whole foods. If you are not sure how to achieve this, this article summarizes four (4) ways to get all the essential nutrients in your vegan diet.
- Take Supplements
As a vegan, you need to pay close attention to your diet to ensure that your body gets all the vitamins and trace minerals that animal products provide in the right amounts. This can be a challenge when your source of these nutrients is limited to plant products.
To avoid the health risks that are caused by the lack of essential nutrients that the human body requires, consider taking vegan supplements. For instance, protein is one of the most important nutrients that is required in every part of your body. It is responsible for maintaining the skin, muscles, organs, and bone health.
To get enough proteins, vegans should consume nuts, soymilk, seeds, peanut butter, legumes, tofu, and grains. The amino acids that comprise proteins are critical in the body because they help with metabolism. There are some foods that vegans should consume together in order to get complete proteins. When this is not possible, they can use a vegan protein supplement to make up for any deficits.
- Talk to a Dietitian
Engaging a dietician to help you plan a vegan diet can go a long way in ensuring that you get all the nutrients your body needs from your plant-based diet. A dietician will analyze the kind of foods that you have in your diet and determine if those foods are providing your body with all the nutrients it needs or not.
This nutrition-centered analysis can help in determining what you need in terms of dietary supplements to meet your daily mineral or vitamin intake. If you need to add supplements to your diet, the dietician will help and guide you about the types of supplements and the optimum dosage. This is important so that you don’t take too much or too little.
For example, high levels of calcium can cause heart and kidney damage over time. A high intake of zinc can suppress immunity, negatively affect good cholesterol, and even trigger headaches, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is the type of analysis that only a licensed dietician can do for you.
- Get a Vegan Cookbook
More often than not, people who opt for a vegan diet find themselves stuck with the same types of dishes. The lack of variety in food intake can be risky because, as mentioned, they may be depriving their bodies of important nutrients.
The best way to meet your daily nutrient intake effectively is to eat different kinds of plant foods. For instance, vegetables need to be taken alongside a variety of protein-rich foods such as seitan, tofu, spelt, tempeh, teff, and edamame. The ways to best turn these into tasty dishes can be found in vegan recipes and cookbooks. Using a vegan cookbook is one way of ensuring that you consume different dishes that provide your body with a wide range of nutrients.
- Plan your Meals in Advance
If you are traveling or going out of your home for some time, you need to plan your meals ahead of time. While it’s possible to find vegan options in restaurants in many places, you may find yourself in a place where there are no vegan-friendly establishments.
To avoid such situations, use GPS applications to check for vegan eateries in advance to avoid being inconvenienced. At the same time, you can also bring your own packed food just in case you find yourself in situations with no vegan options. Alternatively, always carry some vegan bars wherever you go so that you don’t skip meals.
Wrap-up
A vegan diet can offer you long-term health benefits. However, this is only possible when your meals include all the nutrients that your body requires. The best way to achieve this is by knowing the nutrients that your body needs, the ingredients or dishes that contain them, and preparing your vegan dishes in advance when necessary. Consulting a nutritionist or dietician can help you with a vegan diet plan that provides your body with all its required nutrients.
