A vegan diet plan often gets criticized as being extreme and restrictive. Even if you look and feel incredibly healthy, people can be critical.
It can be frustrating, and it can make you question whether you really are getting enough of all the nutrients you need.
The truth is, I actually eat a wider variety of different foods now than I ever did before shifting to a vegan diet plan.
And I love eating! I never feel restricted or deprived, I get excited about every single meal.
Before worrying about the small details of planning a vegan diet plan, it’s important to get an overview of the big picture of a healthy eating plan. If you don’t get the basics right, nothing else you do will be nearly as effective.
So what’s the big picture of a healthy balanced diet? Eat lots of fresh veggies and fruit, stick with whole foods, and avoid junk. You can say the same thing whether you eat meat or not, and lots of meat-eaters don’t have those basics covered.
If you need help with figuring out what exactly the healthy foods are that you should be eating, and what to look for in the grocery store, check this out: Heather’s Healthy Food List
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If you’ve got the basics down, and are ready to look at the details of which nutrients are important for a balanced vegan diet plan, take a look at these articles:
- Protein: It’s not nearly as hard as people think to get enough protein on a vegan or even vegetarian diet plan. Try out this online calculator to figure out exactly how much you should aim for.
- Essential Fatty Acids: Certain plant sources of omega-3 can help balance out the ratio to omega-6 for a healthy eating plan.
- Vitamin B12: It’s important to be aware of the deficiency symptoms and to take a high quality supplement.
- Iron: There’s lots in certain plant foods, but there are some things you need to know in order to absorb enough of it.
- Calcium: The cause of deficiency isn’t always a low intake, and plant sources are often a better choice than dairy.
- Vitamin D: Deficiency symptoms often come up during the winter, and supplements can be really helpful any time of year to maintain healthy levels.
- Magnesium: It’s a natural energy booster, helps your body absorb and use calcium and can be found in lots of healthy whole plant foods.
