It’s a new year and a great time to focus on your nutrition. According to the Whole Foods Market’s Trends Council, there will be a greater focus on plant-based foods with simple ingredients in 2024.
As the American diet has typically consisted of foods high in sugar, sodium, refined grains, and saturated fats, and obesity rates continue to rise, it’s important to prioritize healthy eating for disease prevention and management, longevity, and an overall healthy lifestyle. If you’re interested in getting healthier and trying a plant-based diet, below are four tips on how to get started.
Start With Tried-And-True Principles of Plant-Based Eating
The best way to adopt a plant-based diet is to start with the basics of fruits and vegetables. They’re grown from the ground up, are natural, and filled with nutrients. They make up the foundation of most recommended nutrition plans, including the Mediterranean style of eating and the Healthy Eating Plate, which was created by the Harvard School of Public Health.
Try to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, and eat as colorful of a variety as you can. Whether it’s broccoli, zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, apples, oranges, berries, bananas, or kiwi, try to mix it up and add different fruits and vegetables to different meals.
Eat them raw where appropriate, and experiment with different ways to cook them as well.
Look Closely at Ingredients
If you’re interested in buying plant-based pasta, energy bars, or other types of snacks, be sure to pay close attention to the ingredient list. Many of these plant-based foods come with a long list of ingredients, making them questionable as healthy food options.
If you see a lot of artificial ingredients, chemicals, added sugars, sodium, or saturated fats, then you may want to keep looking. The fewer ingredients, the better. The nutrition content should be solid as well.
You want to avoid foods that have been processed as much as possible because that would defeat the whole purpose of plant-based eating.
Create Variety in Your Protein Intake by Adding Plant-Based Proteins
Whether you’re a meat eater, vegetarian, vegan, or follow other meal plans, you can still adopt a plant-based diet in all of these cases. The key is to find balance and maximize your protein intake to reach the recommended daily levels for your gender, age, and health needs.
While consuming protein in moderation through chicken, turkey, fish, and eggs can still be part of a healthy nutrition plan, protein can also be consumed with plant-based additions or alternatives such as lentils, beans, tofu, nuts, and seeds. Open your mind and kitchen to a variety of protein sources, and try new recipes to vary your meals and taste buds.
Protein is extremely important for building and repairing muscles and bones, repairing cells in the body, having a healthy metabolism, and much more. Therefore, ensuring you get enough protein through a plant-based diet is extremely important.
Focus On Eating Fresh, Natural, and Whole Foods Most of the Time
A healthy eating plan should consist of eating fresh foods in their whole and natural state. When grocery shopping, think about selecting foods found in the grocery store’s perimeter. That’s where you’ll find the healthiest, whole, and natural foods.
The middle aisles of most grocery stores contain the most processed foods, frozen foods, and unhealthy snack items such as chips, cookies, crackers, candy, and more.
If you’re focused on eating fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, you’ll be in good shape (no pun intended)! These foods are wonderful sources of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, which are good for the body and the brain. When you eat these types of foods, you’ll not only feel better, but you’ll function better as well.
Making dietary changes is smart if you want to improve your overall health this year. To make the changes as sustainable as possible, start with one change at a time. Once you’ve mastered one change and made it a part of your daily lifestyle, you can keep building from there!
