Get Your Greens On!
A balanced plant based diet can provide you with all the essential nutrients you need to thrive! What’s more it’s linked to many other health benefits.
A pure vegetarian/vegan diet is derived wholly from plants and contains no animal products, typically proving to be lower in saturated fats and cholesterol whilst containing more fibre, folate, antioxidants, phytochemicals and cartenoids than standard meat based diets.
As with any diet it’s of great importance to consume a large variety of different foods. While special combining of certain foods may be beneficial for obtaining more complete protein and for enhanced digestion, you don’t necessarily need to fuss over this if you’re eating a solid, healthy, and varied diet.
As a general overview below is a table of some plant derived nutrient sources people are commonly concerned with when switching to a plant based diet.
|
Protein |
Almost all foods contain protein in some form. Some of the best plant sources being legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, soy products such as tofu & tempeh, seitan and other meat alternatives. Or for something quick and easy on the go try a protein shake made from soy, pea or rice protein such as Phyto Protein, Nitrofusion, Sun Warrior and more. |
|
Iron |
Dark green leafy vegetables, molasses, chia, beans, pulses, sunflower seeds, seasame seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, tempeh, fortified breakfast cereals, soy milks, meat alertatives and more. |
|
Zinc |
Wholegrains such as quinoa, seeds (pumpkin, seasame), tahina (sesame paste), nuts or nut butters (peanuts, cashews, almonds), wheat germ, various beans, fortified meat alternatives (sanitarium range). |
|
Calcium |
Dark green leafy vegetables (kale, collard greens...), fortified non-dairy milks (soy, rice etc) & soy yoghurts, some tofu, beans & pulses. |
|
Vitamin B12 |
Nutritional yeast, fortified non-dairy milks, cereals & meat alternatives (eg sanitarium roasts or mince), marmite. |
|
Omega 3 Fatty Acids |
ALA sources such as flaxseeds, walnuts, canola oil. DHA sources from sea vegetables and microalgae (can be found in capsule form) |
|
Vitamin D |
The sun! Fortified foods such as margarines and cereals. |
Remember, the key is eating a well balanced variety of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Variety is the spice of life. Furthermore it’s important to mention that when at different stages of life ie pregnancy, childhood, infancy etc there will be different nutritional requirements that you should always take into consideration.
Don’t forget, while eating a healthy diet is key to improving your health and fitness many other lifestyle related factors play a major role in helping or hindering you from reaching your optimum health. Smoking, drinking alcohol, caffine, eating refined sugars and doing little exercise isn’t going to help you on your mission. Start putting the good stuff in and the bad stuff in the bin..!
