The plant-based movement is gaining momentum. Many are being inspired by popular documentaries like “What the Health” and “Earthlings.” Others are being encouraged by public figures, celebrities, friends, and family who have adopted a plant-based diet and seen results—weight loss, reversal of chronic disease, increased energy, and improved mental clarity.
Many people who make the switch don’t anticipate the common pitfalls when it comes to personal health. Below are the three most common mistakes people make when adopting a plant-based diet.
1. Thinking that if it's vegan, it's healthy.
Vegan junk food is on the rise, and food marketers are doing what they do best: convincing you to buy their products. They are sales people, not nutritionists or lifestyle medicine professionals. While these products may be better than their animal counterparts in terms of leaving a lighter environmental footprint and avoiding animal cruelty, that doesn’t mean they are good for your body. Many packaged, processed foods—even vegan ones—are high in salt, sugar, and fat. Thus, it’s important not to make those products staples in your diet. Instead, make whole plant-foods in their natural state your primary foods, and make processed convenience snacks and treats an occasional thing.
2. Gaining weight due to lack of understanding about calorie-density.
Gaining weight due to lack of understanding about calorie-density. While most people lose weight on a plant-based diet, some don’t. Sometimes it is due to Mistake #1, but other times it due to an effect called calorie-density. A pound of kale has 150 calories while a pound of walnuts has about 3,000 calories. Both are a pound of food in your stomach, but one will promote weight loss while the other will promote weight gain. Eating too much calorically dense food will promote weight gain. These foods include oil, nuts, seeds, and avocado. While plant fats are considered healthy fats, any variety of fat is not a more-is-better matter. A tablespoon of raw chopped walnuts or flax seeds, 1 to 2 times a day, is nutritionally adequate for most people without packing a big caloric punch. By contrast, eating 5 cups of kale is nutritionally powerful but not calorically dense.
3. Nutrient deficiencies due to over-emphasis on finding recipes.
When adopting a plant-based diet, most people focus on getting tasty recipes to try and finding meals while eating out. They don’t consider which nutrients may be lacking in a plant-based diet. When a dietary pattern lacks certain nutrients, it’s important to consider supplementation. The three I typically recommend to my clients are Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, and Algae-Based Omega 3. Vitamin B12 is absent from the plant-based diet, so supplementation is required. About half the population is Vitamin D-deficient (including meat-eaters) due to poor absorption of sunlight to synthesize Vitamin D and limited foods with Vitamin D. So taking in 1,000 IU in supplement form is prudent for most, unless your healthcare provider advises otherwise. Finally, even though your body can convert the essential omega 3 fatty acid ALA found in flaxseed oil into EPA and DHA, it does so inefficiently. Thus, supplementing with an algae-based EPA – DHA will ensure you’re getting enough of those beneficial omega 3s for heart and brain health.
Addressing these three common pitfalls will help you adopt and maintain a healthy plant-based dietary pattern for the long haul.
Want to learn more about plant-based nutrition? Check out the My True Self Nutrition Courses.
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