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- The best way to eat healthily is to eat more plant-based food.
- Frozen vegetables are sometimes cheaper and more nutritious than fresh produce.
- Adding spices to your plant-based dishes is key to making them tastier.
Last year, many people realized that being healthy should make you feel satisfied, energized, and full rather than hungry, deprived, and weak.
While experts disagree on some of the concepts of healthy eating, they all agree that consuming more plants is more beneficial to both the body and the planet. However, it doesn’t mean you have to ditch animal products altogether.
If you’re unsure how to start a diet with more plants, try this simple plan that aims to make plant-based eating more manageable and crave-worthy.
Day 1: Go over your pantry.
The first thing you should do is to find out what you have. Go through your pantry and discard anything that’s expired. Then, arrange everything you have so everything’s visible.
Next, shop for spices, like cinnamon, turmeric, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and cardamom. These ingredients are crucial to making your plant-based foods more flavorful.
Day 2: Ask for recommendations.
Going plant-based is a better experience when we don’t go at it alone. Share your favorite plant-based dishes with your family and friends, and solicit theirs so you can add new ones to your recipes. Incorporating your plant-based diet into your social connections can help you enjoy sticking long into the future.
Day 3: Fill up your freezer.
Your freezer is a great tool to help you on your journey to eating healthy. Frozen veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, cubed squash, and cauliflower rice are often more nutritious than fresh vegetables since their nutrients aren’t lost during storage and transportation. They’re also usually cheaper.
Day 4: Have a green smoothie for breakfast.
Having green smoothies for breakfast is a great way to jumpstart your healthy eating journey.
When you have a green smoothie in the morning, you will have eaten more veggies than most people eat all day before noon. Make it more delicious by turning it into a milkshake. You can try mixing a handful of leafy greens, healthy fat, protein, frozen fruits, and flavorings.
Another breakfast option is to dress up your eggs with wilted kale or spinach or roast cooked vegetables and top them with cooked egg.
Day 5: Use non-dairy milk for your breakfast drink
Make your morning coffee or matcha healthier with plant-based milk or creamer instead of dairy milk.
Day 6: Visit the farmers’ market.
Most people who go plant-based enjoy the benefit of eating seasonal produce because it helps them feel more connected to the earth and its rhythms and allows them to add a natural variety to their diet depending on the product’s availability.
Visiting your local farmers’ market is the best way to find out what’s in season, and you can also ask farmers for tips to prepare the products you bought from them.
Day 7: Minimize food waste with your freezer.
To keep your fresh veggies from going to waste because they’ve all gone bad, wash your veggies and fruits, blanch them real quick in boiling water, and freeze them to prolong their life. If you have an extra avocado, you can smoosh it into an ice cube tray and use them or your guacamole or toast later.
Source: Well + Good