When I first switched to a vegan diet, I quickly learned that changing your eating habits isn’t as simple as just cutting out certain foods. Whether you’re considering veganism, vegetarianism, pescatarian, Atkins, Keto, or any plant-based diet, understanding basic nutrition is crucial for success. I’ve put together my top 16 health tips based on my vegan journey – these go beyond the obvious advice like quitting smoking, getting enough sleep, and staying hydrated. Instead, these are the practical insights I which were the most applicable to my vegan journey.
16 Best Health Tips For Vegans
Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Omega 3 EPA and DHA, Iodine and Zinc Nutrients Are Less Common in Plant-Based Foods.
Don’t ignore these nutrients and think that eating just fruits and vegetables will give you all the nutrients you need to be healthy. Choose the foods you like that include these key nutrients, but supplement them with vitamin B12, Vitamin D3, and Omega 3 EPA and DHA to ensure you consistently get these key nutrients. For a more in depth guide please see my blog “If The Vegan Diet is So Healthy, Why Do Vegans Need To Supplement?“
Check for Food Allergies Before Going Vegan.
If for instance, your body can’t tolerate legumes, or you have a nut allergy and you dislike tofu then you need to do some serious meal planning otherwise you might find a plant-based diet very challenging. The key to success with any diet is meal planning.
Vegan Junk Food Can Be As Bad For You As Regular Non-Vegan Junk Food
Try your absolute best to avoid highly processed vegan junk such as vegan candy, potato chips, pastries, cakes and foods with high added sugar and salt. Unfortunately, most vegan substitutes like vegan eggs, sausages, burgers etc. are considered junk food and are not any healthier than the non-vegan versions as these contain either high sodium, fat or added sugar.
Learn A Couple Of New Vegan Recipes
There are tons of free YouTube recipes, blogs and apps which include almost every vegan recipe under the sun. Make a list of dishes you would like to try and find a recipe that suits you. Not knowing how to cook is going to make your vegan diet more difficult to stick to. Also, knowing how to cook your own plant-based food will save you a fortune.
Stock Your Vegan Pantry Wisely.
This may include foods such as canned beans, wholewheat pasta and other grains as well as a wide range of herbs and spices which can be used for unplanned meals. Remember to not overdo canned foods as these generally come packaged with high sodium.
Explore Plant-Based Milk Options.
Not all brands of a particular milk taste the same, so it might take you some time to find the right one for you. I recommend starting with soy milk as I find it works best with tea and coffee and is the most nutritious. Obviously, the unsweetened plant milks will be healthier but with most brands, the amount of sugar added, is still less than the lactose sugar naturally contained in cow’s milk. The unsweetened plant milks might even still be too bitter-tasting for some.
Add Superfoods to Your Daily Meals
As a general guide, I would include berries, cruciferous vegetables, sweet potatoes, legumes, raw unsalted nuts, seeds, dark leafy greens, mushrooms and herbal teas. You might even find recipes that include most of these. Here is a full list of superfoods.
Cook Your Own Vegan Meals.
Restaurants and fast food outlets overcharge for vegan food and their foods are normally loaded with extra fat or salt. If there are no vegan options when eating out except fries, it would be healthier to not eat anything than to have fries.
Keep Healthy Vegan Snacks Ready.
Ideas could be foods like coffee, dark chocolate, unsalted nuts, roasted chickpeas, frozen banana ice cream or any snack recipes made from whole foods relatively low in calories, salt and sugar.
Most Store-Bought Vegan Cheeses Are Even Worse For Your Health Than Regular Dairy Cheese
The plant-based cheeses are normally made with coconut oil and potato starch and carry a huge load of saturated fat with no nutrients. I would avoid these at all costs. There are tons of nutritious homemade vegan cheese recipes which can be made with healthier ingredients and often much cheaper.
Avoid Refined Foods in Your Diet
Just because the food is plant-based doesn’t mean it is healthy. These types of foods have little to no nutrition and come packed with calories. When you start a plant-based diet, you will naturally consume more carbohydrates. You need to master controlling your blood sugar levels to control blood sugar spikes. Some quick hacks are to consume fibre before any high GI carb, try apple cider vinegar with water 20 minutes before a meal, only consume desserts or sweets after a meal and never consume high-GI foods on an empty stomach.
Prepare For Social Situations That Involve Food.
You will often be in social situations whereby everyone around you (non-vegan) may be eating something delicious that you used to enjoy before you were vegan, and you may be starving and tempted to give in. At those times remember the main reason you went vegan, which is for the animals, use this to keep you mentally strong and focused on the core reason for you being vegan
Make It a Priority To Kick Your Sugar Addiction
This will make it much easier to stick to a whole foods plant-based diet as you will not crave the rich high-calorie foods. This is a tough challenge but will be one of the most beneficial dietary adjustments when eating plant-based foods. These days there are tons of new vegan sweet treats to try. Don’t fall into this trap because the vegan treats are over-priced and not healthy.
Consume Dark Leafy Greens With Every Meal
Leafy greens are a great source of fibre, calcium and iron and are very low in calories. Including leafy greens with your meals could be one of the most beneficial health hacks anyone can do.
Stock Up on Nutritional Yeast
Some brands of nutritional yeast are fortified with vitamin B12 and other nutrients but all variants are high in protein. Nutritional yeast is great for making sauces or adding a cheesy flavour to any dish and is so versatile with vegan cooking.
Freeze Your Over-Ripe Bananas
Once your bananas are looking a bit over-ripe and squishy, put them into a freezer bag and freeze them. The reason for this is that frozen bananas are great for smoothies, banana bread and various other healthyish dessert recipes.
Conclusion
After being vegan for just over 6 years now, these are the tips I stick to and have helped me the most along my vegan journey.