5 Ways You can Start Eating Plant-Based Today

Ready To Live Your Best Life?

By now, you may be wanting to eat more plant-based to build your health the right way, have less risk of chronic disease and more quality time with loved ones. But what’s the BEST way to start as you are beginning your plant-based diet transition?

Even if you’re not ready to start a full plant-based diet, there are easy steps you can already take to make your meals and your day more plant-focused. Try these 5 simple strategies below to get started.

 
Add in a Green Smoothie to Your Day

Enjoy a green smoothie for breakfast, as a snack or any other time of the day. Keep some frozen berries, mango or cut up ripe bananas in your freezer, and then it becomes easy to whip a smoothie together. Don’t forget the key ingredient – some leafy greens!

A simple combination would be 2 cups of a chopped leafy green (like organic spinach or kale), an apple, a fresh banana (or frozen banana chunks), a cup of fortified plant-based milk and some ice (optional).  If you like, you can add in many other additions such as nut butters, other fresh fruit, nuts, seeds and even some lentils or beans!

 Plant-Fuel Your Breakfasts

This is one of the easiest ways to start if you’re a regular breakfast person. Instead of white bread, choose 100% whole wheat toasts or 100% whole grain toasts, then add a combination of ingredients to it. This could be as simple as some mashed avocado on toast, topped with sesame seeds, sliced tomatoes and roasted sunflowers seeds. Or begin with a nourishing oatmeal bowl or green smoothie as mentioned previously! For many, it often works out well to begin with breakfast and make that fully plant-based throughout the week, before focusing on making the other meals of the day more plant-based.

Start Having a Salad at Lunch

For some, lunch is the largest and most important meal of the day, because breakfast is often rushed or skipped in the mornings. If that’s the case, let’s power up this meal first!

One easy way to do so is to either add a fresh garden salad to what you’re having for lunch, or to just enjoy a big satisfying lunch salad. Recently on a ‘sisters only’ lunch outing, we ordered a large salad that was composed of fresh leafy greens, cherry tomatoes, pickled beet slices, blueberries, freekeh, black barley, toasted almonds and roasted pumpkin seeds, tossed in a sesame-miso dressing. It was so filling and delicious! Here’s what it looked like:

So if you’re tired of the usual carrot, cucumber and iceberg lettuce combination, try to think outside the box! Try other leafy greens which are packed with nutrients, or variations such as adding in some quinoa as a cooked whole grain, sprinkling on chopped pecan nuts, dried cranberries or toasted pine nuts. There are so many possibilities!

Try Simple Meal Combinations

Start out by trying one or two simple and easy new plant-based recipes in the first week of starting plant-based eating. This could be just a dinner from canned green lentils cooked into a tomato pasta sauce and served over legume-based pasta or whole grain pasta. Another fast meal option is a hummus sandwich with additional veggies like leafy greens, bell peppers, tomatoes, red onion slices and cucumbers. Eating plant-based does not have to be complicated!

As an award-winning recipe creator, one of my delights in the kitchen is to create tasty yet easy-to-make recipes that are nutrient-packed with plant-powered goodness, and that are simple enough to make again and again! :)

Add in a plant-based soup

Vegetable minestrone soup, lentil soup, split pea soup, white bean soup, black bean soup, roasted red bell pepper soup…there are so many delicious plant-powered soup options! Choose one soup option to enjoy as a side to your meal, or throw some cooked whole grain like quinoa or farro, whole-wheat pasta, other whole grain pasta or legume-based pasta in for a full meal on its own.

 

A Final Tip

If you want to switch completely over to 100% plant-based eating immediately, you can use all the strategies shared above to make your meals fully plant-based. But if you choose to do a more gradual transition, pick one or two of these strategies to start with, then add on another strategy or two as you get more comfortable. Remember - you want to move forward in a way that will help you sustain this lifestyle change better in the long-term!

Before You Go, Grab this FREE Resource

If you’re wanting to learn how to start plant-based eating or begin a whole food plant-based diet, grab this FREE resource “Beginner’s Quick Guide to Must-Know Plant-Based Diet Basics” to help you on your journey.

This FREE guide gives you the essentials you need to get started, including key terms to know about, rich plant-based sources of nutrients, and some top budget money-saving tips. This guide is perfect for all beginners interested in transitioning to a plant-based diet. So grab this guide if you’re looking for tips for eating a plant-based diet for beginners!