What are the benefits of a plant-based diet?

[BadHare]

What are the benefits of a plant-based diet?

It could be time to shift the focus on our plates and make room for plants. Research suggests if more people could favour flora over fauna, healthcare costs would be significantly reduced. That's because such eating habits would lower the risks of diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers.

What is plant-based eating?

But what does plant-based eating even mean? Don't worry, you don't necessarily have to get back on the Veganuary wagon to qualify, reveals dietician Tanya Haffner. Having said that, she admits such campaigns have boosted public interest in a move away from meat. UK supermarkets reported a surge in sales of vegan food at the start of 2018.

Haffner explains that a plant-based diet is defined more by what it includes than what it restricts. Some people choose to go completely vegan while others will simply make an effort to eat more vegetables.

"Plant-based eating really means 'put plants first'. Instead of planning meals around meat, plan meals around plants instead," she simplifies.

It's something GP Dr Rupy Aujila can heartily agree with. In his recipe book The Doctor’s Kitchen, he reveals: "People often mistake me for a vegetarian or vegan because I get so excited about vegetables. I do actually eat all types of meat and fish but I focus my diet on plants."

Haffner believes plant-based eating is a good entry point to a healthier lifestyle for most of us. It’s not another fad diet; it's just about including more vegetable sources of protein (such as nuts and legumes), good-quality fats and eating a little less meat.

What are the benefits?

Scientists have been studying the benefits of the Mediterranean diet for decades. And while you might think that means piles of pasta and bread, the lifestyle actually involves a lot of plant-based sources of protein and provides plenty of fibre. In fact, it was one of the diets studied in the aforementioned study, along with a high soya diet.

The researchers looked at the evidence and concluded that Mediterranean and soya eating patterns both reduce the risk of conditions such a type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. This could be because plant-based meals are generally low in saturated fat, high in fibre and full of vitamins and minerals. And compounds from plants, called phytochemicals, are believed to protect our bodies from damage that could lead to cancer.

Haffner says: "Choosing a plant-based diet is good for the planet too - think less land, less water and less CO2. Recent research is also suggesting that if the UK could go plant-based it would save the NHS billions."

But are there drawbacks?

Haffner reveals that a key barrier to including more plant foods in the diet is a lack of knowledge about how to prepare and incorporate more vegetables into an established routine. Another big concern is losing out on protein. But you don't have to fear; there are plenty of vegetable sources of this important food group. And preparation doesn't have to be hard.

She suggests the following:

Vegetarian protein sources

Breakfast

Try beans on toast, or porridge topped with nuts. Soya or nut-based milk or yoghurts will also provide a plant-based protein source if you're looking for a dairy alternative.

Lunch

A tomato and lentil soup. Or try chickpea and carrot falafel with salad, hummus and a wholewheat pitta bread.

Dinner

There are so many options! From spaghetti with soya mince, tofu stir-fries, vegetarian chilli, or bean burgers. Try our recipe for wholewheat pasta with rocket and almond pesto.

Minerals to watch

One thing you do need to watch out for if you're cutting down on meat is getting enough iron and vitamin B12. Sadly red meat is the richest source of dietary iron but you can get it from plant sources such as lentils, fortified breakfast cereals, bread and leafy green vegetables. Vitamin B12 is found in eggs and dairy but not plant-based sources, so it's wise to take a supplement if you're vegan.

And if you're ditching dairy, you need to be aware of the importance of calcium for keeping your bones healthy. Luckily, many soya milk brands are now enriched with this mineral (to about the same level as dairy milk), so look out for this on the label.

Clean eating

And it would be wrong to mention plant-based eating without its connection to 'clean eating' and the possible implications of orthorexia. Adding more vegetables to your diet is rarely cause for concern, but studies have shown that eating disorders do occasionally manifest from an initial motivation to eat more healthily.

Journalist Laura Dennison is the co-founder of Not Plant Based - a website full of honest, non-judgemental advice to help those who are prone to disordered eating. While she points out that the name of her site is absolutely tongue in cheek, having suffered an eating disorder herself, she cautions that no one should make big restrictions to their diet lightly.

"We believe that a plant-based diet can be a wonderful thing but sometimes people can adopt these diets in order to add more restriction into their diet without anyone noticing. I would ask people to question their own motives for going plant-based, and if it is to mask an eating disorder, I would advise they seek professional help."

And ultimately, no one should be shamed for their eating choices. The way to get more people eating plant-based is to make it as accessible as possible.

Dennison adds: "It's all about balance and variety and moderation. If ready meals are all you can afford, or all you have time to make, there is no shame in this. Eat within your means and eat what you want. All you can do is try your best. The sooner we stop vilifying food, the sooner we can all relax into our meals, thus being healthier as a result."

How to add more plants to your plate

But if you have been persuaded to make your meals more plant-based, here are some initial steps Haffner suggests you try:

Put plants first and pile them high

"Don't plan your meals around meat; start with plants. Bring vegetables, fruits, pulses and nuts from the side of plate to the front and centre."

Start small

"Try Meat-free Monday. Or choose a plant-based protein-rich lunch instead of your usual ham sandwich."

Easy additions

"Boost your fibre and protein intake with a handful of rainbow vegetables in your stir-fry, or chopped nuts and berries added to your morning porridge."

"The point is to put plants first - because it's good for health, and good for the planet," Haffner concludes.

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[TheAwfulToad]

Well-written article. I think I've made my views on veganism clear in other posts, but this is a sensible presentation of how to add more vegetables onto your plate without getting fanatical about it.

It's not really surprising people don't eat their veg. British food has traditionally been very heavy on stodge (ie., potatoes in their many forms), and the typical British method of cooking veg - boiling them to death - isn't very appetising. Making things worse are an unholy confluence of silly agricultural rules, supermarket preferences, and shipping constraints that result in a boring selection of veg in the produce aisle. 100 years ago the average city market was overflowing with dozens of different types of any given vegetable, brought in via express train from market gardens within a 50-mile radius. These days, all you get in Tesco is whatever will survive shipping from Kenya, most likely dunked in preservatives: your "fresh" salad is probably at least five days old.

It's well worth growing your own and learning how to cook them properly (pretty much any other foreign cuisine has more creative recipes for vegetables than us Brits). Garden-fresh veg, creatively prepared, can indeed be the centrepiece of a meal, and it's pretty much the only way to get hard-to-find items like cardoons, scorzonera, yacon, wild garlic, etc etc etc.

IMO there will always be a place for meat, dairy, etc., but we should certainly be eating less of them.

[BadHare in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I've been veggie for just over 30 years, & have never had an issue with the quality of veg I can get, despite having no decent greengrocer within 2 miles. My favoured supermarket has a great range of fresh produce & a no GM/excess agri-chemical rule, & salad aside, the veg I buy at the weekend is fresh enough to last till my next shop. I also get organic veg box deliveries, & have the choice of substituting favoured veg for those I'm less likely to use, & again, the quality is great. Their are a few towns nearby that have good farmers markets, though they're not as varied as those I've visited in the South East, or London where they're often incredibly cheap, too. I'd love to grow my own veg as I'm limited to herbs & chillis, though my small outside space is devoted to plants that attract bees. Wild garlic is easy to find if people can find a dog pee free woodland zone.

[TheAwfulToad]

Dottie, just to clarify, what I meant was that IF animal welfare standards were raised (no, scratch that ... completely rewritten) then meat prices would rise. Not a lot, but they'd rise. I estimate 30-50%. Farmers would reduce their stocking density to something their land was actually capable of carrying: the price rise would be a natural result of reduced supply, not higher costs of ethical production (my gut feeling is that it's actually CHEAPER to treat animals properly if they're raised to have multiple economic outputs).

The result would be somewhat less meat in the average diet. Remember a fair amount of meat never actually gets eaten - it passes its sell-by date and gets thrown away. The typical reduction would be modest because people would be less likely to throw away a more expensive commodity.

Also, I was thinking primarily of countries like the US, where feeds are subsidized and the market is manipulated to deliver meat at completely unrealistic prices.