Easy Ways to Start Eating Plant-Based Meals

As Americans struggle to eat better, plant-based diets have become the rage, but exactly what are those and how hard are they to follow?

A growing number of people have turned to plant-based eating, as evidenced by the fact that the plant-based foods market increased by 29% in recent years, according to the  U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Still, even though the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says there are many health benefits to plant-based eating patterns, making the switch from consuming a diet rich in meat to one that centers on plants can be a challenge.

Just eating meatless once a week can reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity; along with reducing your carbon footprint AND saving precious resources like fresh water and fossil fuel. Trying plant-based meals once or twice a week has many benefits!

Why Is Eating Plant-Based Meals Good for You?

Eating plant-based meals has a number of health benefits:

• Helps to increase your fruit and vegetable intake throughout the day.
• Helps reduce your carbon impact. Decreasing meat intake has been shown to slow pollution, and water usage.
• Going meatless is much cheaper! Plant-based proteins are much cheaper than fresh or frozen meat and poultry.
• Helps to reduce your intake of saturated fat and helps to reduce inflammation in your diet.

Fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, seeds, fish and meat that contain a variety of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) should be included in a plant-based diet, according to a perspective published in the journal Advances in Nutrition.

A review published in the journal JAMA Oncology found that evidence supports plant-based diets for reducing cancer risk and improving metabolic disorders.

Better heart health may be another benefit of plant-centered eating. The American Heart Association (AHA) recently published a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association that revealed that young people who eat a plant-centered diet reduced their risk for stroke, heart attack, and other cardiovascular conditions in middle age.

Plant-based diets have also been shown to help control type 2 diabetes and obesity, and were linked to lower mortality risk, according to a study published recently in JAMA Internal Medicine.

How Is The Plant-Based Diet Different From Vegetarian Diets?

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) names different levels of vegetarian eating patterns, including vegan, lacto-ovo vegetarian and pescatarian diets. The key difference between all these eating plans and a plant-based diet is that only the latter includes small amounts of meat.

What Meatless Protein Sources Are There?

Sources of protein for plant-based dinners include:

• Soy
• Tofu
• Legumes
• Beans
• Lentils
• Nuts and nut butters
• Eggs
• Yogurt

What Are Easy Plant-Based Meal Ideas?

Plant-based meals do not have to be difficult or take many ingredients. Easy meat-free meal ideas include:

• Veggie omelets with feta cheese, side of fresh fruit
• Pasta dishes (can use veggie meat crumbles to add to sauces, tacos and chilis!)
• Veggie Pizza with homemade or pre-made wheat crust
• Breakfast for dinner: buckwheat pancakes, whole grain waffles, etc.

Here are key foods that are part of these plant-based diets:

• Green leafy vegetables like spinach, turnips, green leaf lettuce and kale
• Red, orange and starchy vegetables, including bell peppers, carrots, corn, and whole potatoes
• Whole grains such as brown rice, barley, wheat and oats
• Whole fruits like bananas, berries, oranges and raisins
• Dairy, including yogurt, dairy milk, and low-fat sour cream
• Unsaturated oil, including olive and sunflower oils
• A variety of plant-based proteins, including beans, legumes, seeds, soy, mushrooms, nuts and broccoli
• Limited amounts of protein from meat, fish, eggs, cheese and low-fat poultry

HealthDay News contributed information to this article.