Better for you and the planet.
Learning to cook plant-based
takes time.
Be kind to yourself and ease into the change.
Plant-Based Definition:
“A plant-based diet is defined as an eating pattern that minimises the intake of meat, eggs, dairy, and processed junk and maximises the consumption of whole plant food such as fruits, vegetables, legumes (beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils), whole grains, nuts and seeds, mushrooms, herbs and spices.”
How Not to Diet__ Michael Greger, MD
Recipes
You will find here that I make everything from scratch. I love knowing exactly what is in my food, for the sake of my body and the planet.
*Each Recipe comes with a Zero waste tip*
Plant-Based Motivations
Nutrition.
The Western Diet has moved away from nutrient-dense food and shifted towards calorie-dense food. Our bodies need more than just calories, they need nutrients. Almost no Americans are lacking in protein, but nearly 97% are lacking in adequate fiber intake. Part of the reason for this is attributed to misinformation and good marketing. However, our bodies are complex systems and these systems require diversity.
There is one part of our bodies in particular that desperately requires diversity-our gut. Doctor Micheal Greger states in his book, How Not to Diet, “We have trillions of bacteria living inside of us… there are more bacterial cells and genes in our own bodies than there are human cells and genes, and most of those bacteria live in our gut.” He continues, “The human gut has been considered the most biodense ecosystem in the world.” Like any dense, biodiverse system, it requires diversity to thrive. Like any symbiotic relationship, if we feed our gut-biome appropriately and with variety, it will help us in return. Our gut-biomes seem particularly partial to short-chain-fatty-acids (SCFA). SCFA’s can be found abundantly in fiber-rich foods. We can think of SCFAs as the food that feeds our good-gut bacteria, and fiber is the car that can deliver that food there.
Fiber is one of the largest deficiencies in a Western Diet, but is rarely spoken about. A lot of people don’t even know where fiber comes from. By definition, there is no fiber in meat, dairy, or sugar, it is found in plant-based, whole foods only. Unfortunately, fiber supplements don’t generate all the benefits of having real fiber-containing foods either, so there are no short-cuts to reaping the rewards. The benefits that fiber provide to the human body could fill a book, however, I will only mention a few.
Whole-food fiber benefits include: increased metabolism, anti-inflammatory properties, weight loss, regular bowel movement, lower medical costs due to less health complications, appetite suppression, and so much more.
One of the most significant benefits of fiber is its anti-inflammatory properties. Anti-inflammatory foods, like those found on a high-fibre diet, can help reduce inflammation in the body, which is good, since chronic inflammation can result in a long list of deadly or damaging human conditions.
The benefits of eating an anti-inflammatory, high-in-fiber diet includes: “Decreased risk of heart disease, decreased memory impairment and fragility in older people, decreased risk of prostate cancer in men; and decreased risk of breast cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, miscarriages in women, as well as decreased risk of: oesophageal, stomach, liver, pancreatic, colorectal, kidney, and bladder cancers.”
With all these amazing study-based benefits, one would think everybody would be well-versed in what does and does not contain fiber. However, the minimum recommended daily intake of fiber is 30 grams per day, yet most Americans are getting around 17 grams per day, missing even the minimum requirement. Foods that are high-in-fiber in order of “most-fiber” include: Chia seeds, oats, split peas, beans, legumes, and fresh fruit and vegetables.
Fiber is just one teensy benefit in a long list of other nutritional benefits that come with eating a plant-based diet. And remember, a plant-based diet is the reduction of processed foods, meat, and dairy, not the total lack-there-of. So, ease into it.
Environment.
A study conducted across 40,000 farms and 119 countries reveals that eating a vegan diet is the number one way an individual can reduce their environmental impact. While buying an electric car or flying less, would certainly reduce an individuals carbon footprint, eating vegan has been shown to be more impactful. Veganism not only greatly reduces a persons carbon footprint, but also reduces land use, water use, acidification, and eutrophication, according to the lead researcher of the farm study.
One of the reasons meat and dairy are so damaging to the environment is they demand a huge amount of resources to be used for production. Not only do the animals need land to live on, but they need to be fed and given water. This means more land is required to simply grow food to feed animals. Beef, pork, and chickens produce very few calories per acre compared to plant based proteins like soy beans, legumes, and peas. This means if the land used for livestock to live on, plus the land used to grow the food to feed the livestock, was used to grow plant-based food for humans instead, we could feed more people with less land.
Because plant-based food requires less land use, this could decrease deforestation. Deforestation is defined as the destruction or clearance of forests, jungles, or areas alike. Most often it is done for the purpose of building or farming. Deforestation is often achieved by burning or logging. When humans breath, we exchange oxygen and carbon with trees and plants, they are the keepers of our carbon. When trees and plants get burned, all of the carbon they hold, gets released into our atmosphere, contributing further to climate change. Additionally, burning or logging these diverse areas, like the Amazon, ‘put-out’ or kill thousands of diverse species and animals. Diverse ecosystems are crucial in the balance for life on earth. So, not only are we killing the lungs of the planet with deforestation, but also all the benefits that diverse-life serves.
It is worth mentioning the issue of “mono-cropping.” While corn is the most significant culprit, at least in the United States, other plants like palm trees (for palm oil), almonds, and soy beans can lead to mono-cropping due to their high demand. Mono-cropping is defined as the planting of a single crop over and over again on the same land. This practice leads to soil degradation, which eventually renders the soil unusable, due to its extreme lack of nutrients; plants need food too. The best solution for this, is diversity. Planting diverse plants and using crop rotation techniques means the land will not be stripped of the same nutrients over and over again. Plus, each plant gives back to the soil, leaving it more nutrient diverse. As a consumer, this translates to eating “in seasons” and eating what is available locally as often as possible.
Sustainable “farm-to table” and local meat is best when selecting meat options. This is not only due to the animal’s quality of life, but it has a lower carbon footprint, due to the lack of transport. However, it should be noted it has a much higher carbon footprint when compared to its plant-based counterparts. Someone once said, “There is a lower environmental impact when buying fruit and veggies from the other side of the world than when buying beef from your neighbour.” The truth is, simply due to the vast amount of resources required to raise even the happiest of cows, eating meat will always be less sustainable to both human health and environmental health. And remember, in the definition at the top of the page, a plant-based diet is about the “reduction” of meat. Even if you are unable to eliminate it all together, reduction is better than no change at all, for both human and environmental health. Small changes matter.
Health.
In a society that promotes crash diets, thin waists, strong abs, and negative body-image ideals, our relationships with food have developed into two categories in our heads: does this food make me bigger or does this food make me smaller? Flipping this concept on its head, and thinking about our food in terms of, will this food make me healthier or sicker? is far more sustainable and less traumatic.
Thinking about how my food is feeding my brain, muscles, and microbiome, shifts my thinking away from how it is affecting my hips and gets me thinking about how it affects my ability to function. Along side this, I have to do the mental work to unlearn the negative ways society taught me to think about my body and learn how to love my body as it changes and fluctuates (though I have to say my weight is the most stable it has ever been since eating plant-based). When I started loving my body based on its ability, and not its appearance, I began to enjoy food and exercise again. Diet and exercise was no longer just a means to a dissatisfying end. They became again, things I loved. When I make a meal that I know is packed with nutrients, I feel ecstatic to consume it. It feels like self-care. I love to think about all the nutrients doing their little jobs inside my body. When I exercise, I do it how I want to, and without a societal agenda. Exercise is for me and the things I want to accomplish, not for anyone else.
I won’t pretend that I eat zero junk or processed food though, because I do. I often regret it, not because I am afraid to put on the weight that could come with it but because I eat it so infrequently that it now actually makes me feel sick. However, every once in a while I do still eat junk if I am passionate about having some. Sometimes you just NEED that cookie or ice cream, for your mental health. Creating flexible rules is important in sustaining a healthy diet.
Animal Cruelty.
To be totally transparent, this is the topic I know the least about. While I have watched the documentary Cowspiricy and read articles here and there, I have not deep-dived this topic to the level it deserves. What is clear though, is animals, especially chickens, cows, and pigs are often forced into unimaginably small spaces and abused their whole lives.
Whether it is the killing of an animal that you are opposed to or it is the abuse they receive over their life-time, I don’t think anyone would disagree that factory-style farming is way out of hand. Some will feel okay with eating meat as long as it has had a happy and spacious life. However some would probably debate and ask if a happy life is even possible when cow’s calves are being taken away from their mothers and they are all susceptible to inevitable slaughter. Either way, whether you are on the side against killing animals altogether or simply against the abusiveness against animals (before the killing), we all contribute to the system, when we consume meat. The more meat we eat, the more companies will supply. It’s simple supply and demand. Therefore, a plant-based diet, one that simply encourages the decrease of meat and dairy in the diet, is a fight against animal cruelty.
Personal Sustainability.
I often say, I eat plant-based about 95 percent of the time. I tend to only eat meat when my partner hunts it, which ends up being once or twice a year. This lifestyle means I know exactly where the meat came from, and how it was treated and killed. At the moment, I feel okay eating hunted meat, especially because the hunted meat I am eating are deer and goats, which are considered ‘pests that destroy the natural landscape’ here in New Zealand. But, I keep space in my heart for this to shift too and one day I may eat more or less of it.
I don’t eat fish, due to the fear of consuming plastic. Period.
The 5% of flexibility mostly comes into practice at restaurants. If a restaurant can’t make a vegan meal work, I will happily eat a vegetarian dish. This means I may eat a little cheese now and then. Having this 5% of flexibility, makes my plant-based life-style sustainable. When we create hard rules for ourselves, we set ourselves up for failure. Whether it be due to cost or availability of food, mishaps are bound to happen and we will be forced to break our rules. Creating the mental space for some flexibility in my diet allows me to still feel successful, rather than defeated when my choices or options are limited.
When I first started to eat vegetarian, then eventually vegan, I eased into it. I started by eating vegetarian only when I was at home, but I would still eat meat when I was out-to- eat. As my cooking improved, I started eating-out less and less and eventually I found myself not craving meat at all. After eating vegetarian for a year and a half, and getting some solid recipes under my belt, I began to make the shift towards eating vegan. I had to learn how to cook in this style, so it took some time to fully make the switch, but once I fully made the switch, there was no looking back, because I was cooking and eating delicious food! I attribute this successful switch to my “easing-in process”. By allowing myself to slowly shift, over the course of years, to a plant-based vegan diet, it made the whole experience enjoyable, and dare I say, sustainable.
Accessibility.
Healthy, whole, plant-based food is not accessible to all.
In the United States, groups that tend to be more susceptible to live below the poverty line include: Women, Black People, Indigenous People, African Americans, Single Moms, People with disabilities, Non-citizen immigrants, and Hispanics and Latinos. Anyone who is at the intersection of any of these (ie: Black, single mom) will experience significantly more hardship. The reasons behind this increased chance of poverty include, but are not limited to: racism, discrimination, sexism, access to education, and access to health care.
These hurdles will make it more difficult for individuals to make money. These hurdles can push people into lower paying jobs, which means they have to spend more time working to afford to live. Limited time and money both act as factors that drive people towards consuming fast food. Fast food is convenient and cheap, playing into the time and money problem, so many will consume it not out of desire, but out of necessity. This lack of access to healthy food, due to time and money constraints, increases the chance of having health-related issues, which can result in increased cost for individuals, pushing them further into poverty. It’s a toxic loop that people get stuck in by no fault of their own, but rather the system’s discrimination towards people based on their race, gender, citizenship, or social status.
When we agree to subsidising unhealthy food or advocate for the ‘freedom to choose the food we want’, we are exercising a privilege. We exercise the privilege of having money or time which allows us to choose whether or not we consume healthier food or not. While we do this, while we exercise this privilege and advocate for this ‘freedom,’ we stomp on the minorities and the poor. We need to push for subsidies that fund healthy foods and introduce regulation around deeply unhealthy foods. Some will feel like this is taking away a freedom, but rather it is taking away the privilege. It is making it fair for all, to choose a healthy body or not. It should not be a privilege to have a healthy body and diet.
As we know, food and diet have a strong correlation to environmental impact. It should not be a privilege to choose a diet that helps protect the earth and environment. Access to whole, plant-based foods should not be subjective to race, gender, citizenship, or social status. All should be able to contribute to the cause if they wish.
Above all, we need to stop pretending it is a ‘choice’ to eat healthy. When companies are allowed to create biased scientific studies, form massive and influential lobbyist groups to fight food regulation, spend billions of dollars on advertisements per year, use behavioural psychologists to influence consumers buying habits, and inject their food with addictive food additives, there is no ‘freedom of choice’ there. People, even those with privilege, have to fight against all of this intentional misinformation to seek out what is healthy and what is not. How is that ‘freedom of choice’?
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