A healthy diet means eating the right balance of different foods to make sure you are getting the vitamins and minerals you need. Perhaps you are thinking about a plant-based diet to not only help your eating habits, but also help with your sustainability goals.
According to nutritionists, a plant-based diet is any diet that focuses around foods derived from plant sources. This can include fruit, vegetables, grains, pulses, legumes, nuts and meat substitutes such as soy products.
The basic principles of a whole-foods, plant-based diet are as follows:
• Emphasizes whole, minimally processed foods.
• Limits or avoids animal products; however ,small amounts of eggs, poultry, seafood, meat or dairy can be included.
• Focuses on plants, including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, seeds and nuts, which should make up the majority of what you eat.
• Excludes refined foods, like added sugars, white flour and processed oils.
People following plant-based diets and consuming a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and pulses (edible seed from a legume plant) are likely to have good intakes of fibre and the vitamins and minerals that are present in fruit and vegetables, including folate, vitamin C and potassium, all of which are important for good health.
However, it is worth noting that ‘plant-based’ does not automatically mean ‘healthy’, particularly when it comes to processed and packaged foods. Technically, products such as refined sugar, white flour and certain vegetable fats can all be labelled ‘plant-based’ as they are vegetarian, but this does not mean that they should make up the bulk of a healthy diet.
When following a plant-based diet there are some key nutrients that you should focus on. These include protein, vitamin B12, the vitamins and minerals needed for bone health including calcium and vitamin D as well as the essential omega-3 fatty acids.
If you are significantly changing your diet, it may be useful to start slowly – perhaps introducing two or three plant-based meals, or days, a week. This allows your body to adapt to new foods and to the changes in the proportion of certain nutrients, such as fibre. And talk to your doctor to make sure you are making the right diet choices for your overall health.
