I struggled with the ability to lose weight effectively. Once I adopted plant based dieting into my repertoire, everything changed. I slept better. I lose weight easily. I enjoyed delicious meals without counting calories. These are a few of the reasons why it’s an excellent idea to try a plant-based diet.

If you’re someone who wants to work on losing weight while enjoying delicious foods, a plant-based diet might be perfect for you. It’s pretty hard to consume a plant-based diet and steadily gain weight. Therefore, it’s a great diet to consider to drop the pounds.

Pop superstar Beyonce famously went on a plant-based diet when she desired to drop pounds and get in shape for her iconic Coachella performance in 2018. A plant-based diet has tons of health benefits.

There are plenty of people who don’t respond well to medications. They don’t like the side effects or the fact that they’re required to take something in order to manage symptoms. It’s another thing to take medication that will lead to a cure. The right foods can serve as the perfect cure. This is because when you implement a plant-based diet, you’ll end up reversing a lot of the chronic health issues you’re dealing.

Plant-based diets are great for those who deal with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other health issues. There are tons of testimonials involving people who changed their lifestyles, implemented a plant-based diet and eliminated chronic diseases. With that understanding, a plant-based diet is great for anyone who wants to live a healthy, long-lasting life.

What Can You Expect From a Plant-Based Diet?

Once you decide to implement a lifestyle of plant based dieting, your lifestyle will definitely shift. Because a plant-based lifestyle completely eliminates animal products and animal by-products, you’re going to spend more time in specific areas of the grocery store.

Typically, all of the plant-based options are in the produce section. If you choose to purchase a pre=pacakged sauce, you’ll definitely need to read the labels to make sure the ingredients fit the requirements of your diet. As someone who is adopting a plant based dieting, you can expect to spend more time looking for restaurants that cater to your diet.

If you’re at a restaurant that doesn’t have that particular menu, you can always ask the chef to prepare a dish that eliminates any of the products you don’t eat. You can also expect a learning curve. If you’re not used to cooking your own meals from scratch, it can seem pretty daunting at first.

Thankfully, you can always prepare your meals in advance. Plus, it doesn’t take a long time to prepare a lot of vegetables. Plus, a lot of food companies recognize that many people are adopting plant-based living. As a result, they’re creating packaged foods that cater to the demographic.

Why Do People Go on a Plant-Based Diet?

There are plenty of reasons why people go on plant-based diets. In most cases, people go on plant-based diets because they want to improve their quality of life. Sure, this type of diet can help you in the area of weight management. It’s also excellent for making sure that you are able to live a long life.

Unfortunately, there are so many people dealing with chronic issues and health problems like cancer, diabetes and arthritis. If you want to reduce your chances of chronic diseases or symptoms such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, you’ll want to implement a plant-based diet for your lifestyle.

Advantages of a Plant-Based Diet

Fiber is such an important part of any healthy diet. This is mainly because fiber is essential for pushing toxins and waste through the stomach, intestines and the colon. If food stays within your body for too long, it’ll be easier to retain fat and toxins within the body. In addition to fiber, there are lots of vitamins, minerals and healthy fats found in fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains.

Advantages of Plant Based Dieting vs. Other Diets

The biggest advantage of plant based dieting over any other diet is that it’s naturally a low-calorie diet. If you’d like to steam a large bowl of kale, you won’t have to worry about counting calories. Once you stay within the realms of all things related to plants, you don’t need to measure or double-check the caloric content.

It is highly unlikely that you’ll overdo your intake of bananas for your morning smoothie. Even with bananas having more calories than most fruit, you’ll get sick of the taste before you consume enough calories to gain weight. Plus, you know that all of the nutrients you’re taking in will be conducive to your body’s health. With a ketogenic diet, you’re consuming tons of saturated fats that come from meats and animal byproducts.

Going on a Plant-Based Diet

Once you’ve made the decision to embark upon the journey involved with plant based dieting, it’s important to consider the foods you can eat. If you solely focus on what you can’t eat, you’ll feel miserable.

You can eat everything that’s considered a fruit. Fruits include everything from strawberries and apples to tomatoes and avocados. Anything with a seed is fair game. The same concept is encouraged with vegetables. It’s very healthy and smart to include all of the green, leafy vegetables within your diet. Learn how to cook interesting greens like rainbow chard and bok choy. Unless you’re allergic, nuts can be an excellent component in a plant-based diet.

While it’s fun to snack on almonds, pistachios and cashews, it’s great to use them in a variety of ways. Make nut milks as a base for delicious smoothies. Grind up the nuts to create a meal to be used in recipes like breads, cakes and more. Seeds are essential for plant-based cooking. Flaxseeds are excellent for the fiber they provide. The same is true about chia seeds. Throw in a tablespoon of chia seeds to any breakfast cereal bowl. Grains are also essential because of their ability to provide the satiating factor to any meal. Brown rice, quinoa and oats are just a few of the many grains to include in this type of diet.

However, it is good to be mindful of the foods you need to stay away from. Typically, you’ll want to stay away from heavily processed foods that are found in the middle of the grocery aisles due to their incredibly high sugar content.

Primarily, you’ll want to avoid animal products and animal byproducts. Animal products include pork, chicken, turkey and all seafood. Animal byproducts include milk, eggs and cheese. Once you steer clear of anything created by an animal, you’ll be within the confines of a plant-based diet.

Shopping for a Plant-Based Diet

There are a few places you’ll want to visit when it’s time to shop for food. Your main hangout spot will the produce section of any grocery store. Because produce isn’t supposed to last more than a few days, you’ll want to make a trip to the produce section once a week (at least). You can also frequent the frozen food section of your grocer. While it’s ideal to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, it’s easy to forget about them in the fridge. As a result, they spoil.

You can decrease the chances of wasting food by purchasing frozen options as well. You can purchase everything from brussel sprouts to mangos in frozen form. Whenever you’re ready to use it, you can pull it out, let it defrost a bit and it cooks pretty quickly.

It’s an excellent idea to visit the farmer’s market to enjoy seasonal foods. This is especially true during the spring, summer and fall seasons. Do your research to find out which foods are in season.

Typically, they tend to be cheaper when they’re in season. Food co-ops and health food stores are great to consider as well. Many co-ops encourage a membership so that you can enjoy discounts and other perks. Though health food stores and co-ops might be the priciest, you can always find some great deals.

One of the main reasons why people avoid plant based dieting is because they assume that it’s really expensive to maintain. If you really take a hard look at the numbers, it’s more expensive to eat fast food than it is to enjoy a plant-based diet.

Intentionality is the key when it pertains to maintaining a plant-based diet on a budget. If you prepare your meals ahead of time, you won’t have to worry about any exorbitant costs. You’ll also need to know where to find the best deals.

Start by purchasing certain items in bulk. When you purchase certain items in bulk, you can cut down on your costs. Vegetable oil, brown rice and quinoa are perfect items to purchase in bulk. The same applies to seasonings. If you want to enjoy delicious meals, season your foods properly with seasonings like onion powder, garlic powder and sea salt.

You can also purchase supplementary items in bulk such as soy sauce, red wine vinegar and more. These types of liquids take a long time to spoil. They also can do wonders for tons of dishes like veggie-based sushi dishes and vegetable stir-fry. Oats tend to last a long time. You can always add oats to a crockpot. Throw in a few seasonings like cinnamon. Sweeten the oatmeal with honey or agave nectar. Top the oatmeal with fresh fruit for a delicious breakfast each morning. It will fill stomachs and cost next to nothing to prepare.

Instead of purchasing the pre-cut vegetables and fruit, you’ll save a lot more money if you take the produce home and cut it yourself. Apples are excellent to enjoy as a snack. Purchase a bag, bring it home, cut the slices yourself and enjoy them with some almond or peanut butter.

It’s also an excellent idea to stock up on inexpensive snacks like popcorn kernels, which are very inexpensive. Once you pop the kernels yourself, add some vegan butter and seasonings for a delicious yet satiating snack.

If you don’t want to purchase certain items in bulk like quinoa or granola, there’s always another option. You can visit a local health food store that has a bulk food section. In this case, you’ll be able to measure out the amount you actually want. Perhaps you don’t want five dollars worth of nutritional yeast flakes. You can actually purchase two dollars worth. Depending on the cost per pound, that amount can last you a while. This is especially true if you only need the nutritional yeast flakes for one or two recipes for the month.

Even though canned beans can be really convenient, they tend to cost more. Purchase dried beans like lentils, split peas and black beans in order to get more food for your money. Once you soak the beans and let them cook in a pressure cooker, you’ll have a delicious option your family can enjoy.

Though there are lots of vegan pre-packaged foods on the market, you’ll want to be mindful of your intake. In most cases, pre-packaged plant-based options tend to cost more money. Sure, you can purchase pre-made black bean burgers. However, you can make a bunch of black bean burgers at home. Make them from scratch. Freeze a bunch of them as well. When you’re ready for more, you can always pull them out of the freezer, defrost them and enjoy a homemade option.

With plant based dieting, the main liquid for consumption is water. Save more on the cost of water by avoiding bottled water. Instead, it’s a great idea to purchase a filter. You can use the tap water at home and the filter will work to cleanse the water you already have at home. You’ll save a lot more in the long run. Plus, you’ll help save the environment by cutting down on the amount of plastic you use.

Temporary Diet vs. Lifestyle

When you’re making the decision to embark upon a plant-based diet, it’s okay to take baby steps. It doesn’t have to be a drastic decision where you leave your former eating regiment behind (cold turkey).

Plant-based eating becomes a part of a lifestyle. It’s important to remember that small steps in the right direction are still effective. If you’d like to try a temporary option, that’s perfectly fine.

In fact, start by challenging yourself to gradually let go of animal products and byproducts for any breakfast meals. You might even decide to do a “Plant-Based until Five” challenge, where you don’t consume any animal products or byproducts for the larger portion of the day. If you decide to have a small piece of steak or some lamb chops along with your grain and salad, that’s a great way to achieve balance and begin making the shift.

As you gradually eliminate the dairy from your regimen, you’ll gain the confidence to do the same with anything else that doesn’t fit within the realms of plant based dieting. Remember to be patient with yourself. You’ll achieve the health goals within your diet in due time.