Eating plant-based sounds like a big challenge to most folks, and it makes sense. Everyone grew up with their own expectations and relationships with food, recipes and a personal taste for flavor.
There are many misconceptions about eating a plant-based diet, such as you can only eat salads or super healthy foods. People who eat plant-based actually eat more kinds of foods than meat-eaters, as they need to branch out and find new ways of cooking from what they were accustomed to.
The biggest hurdle seems to be changing your mindset about consuming less meat and eating plant-based. Research shows that the older you get, the less likely you are to change your lifestyle and eating habits. The groups most likely to switch to a plant-based lifestyle are university-aged people and folks with more access to information about the health and global benefits of switching to plant-based.
Changing Your Mindset About Meat
It is difficult to break away from your customs and beliefs about food, health and your personal tastes. There is a misconception that without eating meat, you won't be able to get enough protein and nutrients.
Protein is in everything, even grains and vegetables, making it easier to get than you expect. The average American eats 220 pounds of meat per year, which is more than 10 times the recommended dietary amount (about half a pound of meat per week), according to nutritional experts.
Another easy way to change your mindset about eating meat is learning about the global impact of meat consumption. Of course, many vegetarians and vegans chose their lifestyle for animals rights, but there is a lot of hard science about the global impact.
The global impact of the meat industry in terms of carbon emissions is roughly equal to that of driving and planes, globally, according to a study. A vegetarian diet has the lowest carbon impact, at just 1.5 tons, which is a great way to lower your overall carbon footprint to do your part in stopping the planet from reaching 2 degrees more.
Learn more about how changing up your diet and reducing your meat consumption can have a significant impact on your health and fight climate change.
Finding New Recipes
Finding new recipes to switch up meal times is hard, no matter what kind of diet you have. Most people cook what their families fed them, without thinking about making changes for health or taste.
When becoming an adult, the skill of cooking is vital for your health and survival. Since you need to take the step to learn more recipes, why not learn more plant-based ones? You don't have to make extravagant vegan chicken nuggets or chocolate cakes every day just to learn plant-based eating. You can keep it simple with new recipes for cooking vegetables, salads, soups and all kinds of food that you would eat anyways.
The best part about a plant-based diet is you can eat more carbs! Pick whole grains such as wheat pasta and rice, or beans to add hearty elements to any dish.
It has never been easier to find plant-based recipes with social media and influencers constantly creating new content around veggie recipes. Follow plant-based accounts on Instagram, watch some cooking TikToks and check out TheRecipe for finding new dish inspiration for your weekly meal preps or even a Friday night date night.
Adjusting To The Lifestyle Changes
Everyone has their own personal hurdle with changing their habits and especially with changing their diet. Deciding to go plant-based is a big lifestyle change, it isn't just learning new recipes, but also new products.
To make it easier on yourself, ease into the change. If you want to go cold turkey on meat and animal products, power to you, but there is no shame in taking it slow and making it a transition.
Start by consuming less meat, or committing to a certain amount of vegetarian meals per week. Deciding between cutting out meat, and cutting out animal products altogether are two different hurdles, and frankly different races. Be clear with yourself about your objectives with changing your eating habits and consumption patterns.
Above all, be good to yourself and eat plenty of healthy foods. Listen to your body always, especially during a time of transition it may send you mixed signals. One way to manage the transition is making a food journal or planning out meals for the week. That way you can do one big shop, and decide on ingredients giving you back a little bit of your time each day.
Consuming less meat, and going down the plant-based road is committing to the long haul of lifestyle changes, have fun with it and enjoy the journey.
