With the new year just around the corner, many people will betrying a vegan diet in 2021 for the first time. The turn of theyear is a good opportunity to join hundreds of thousands ofothers in swapping their usual meals for meat and dairy-freealternatives. But what exactly are the health benefits of a vegan diet? And what should you look out for when choosingvegan foods?
What’s a healthy vegan diet?
As with most diets, whether they’re healthy or not depends on the variety of foods you eat. Vegan diets that consist of plentyof whole grains, vegetables, pulses, nuts and fruits contain lots of important nutrients and vitamins. That includes vitamins C, E and A, magnesium and potassium. These are very beneficialfor overall health. In fact, many of the superfoods you can find at your local shop tend to be vegan.
Plant-based diets can also boost weight loss. That’s becausemany animal products are high in saturated fats which aren’tgood for heart health. When you’re choosing healthy fats andswapping animal fats like butter for plant alternatives like olive oil, it could help lower your level of cholesterol too.
For a healthy vegan dietary plan, it’s best to include plenty offresh vegetables and fruits, legumes like beans, nuts and seeds, oats, tofu and calcium-enriched milk and yoghurt. Manysupermarkets now stock plenty of meat-free alternatives, but while ready meals are a nice treat from time to time, a vegan diet that consists entirely of processed food is unlikely goingto deliver the same health advantages as one that incorporatesfresh alternatives. Over time, swapping meat for plant foodscan improve gut health because the fibre in the plants isbeneficial for the microbiome.
What to look out for when choosing a vegan diet
A vegan diet can lack certain nutrients and micronutrients like vitamin B12 and iron. For some people it may therefore not beadvisable to eat only vegan foods. It’s possible to determinewhether you would benefit from a more plant-based diet byusing an intestinal test like INTEST.pro from BIOMES. Such tests are designed to identify the bacteria in your gut andprovide tailor-made nutritional recommendations. That wayyou’ll quickly learn what foods work best for your health.
Some examples of healthy vegan snacks
Snacking doesn’t have to be boring when you’re going vegan. Here are some ideas for delicious, nutritious vegan snacks:
