Discover the power of plant-based eating

It can hardly have escaped your notice that recently there has been increasing attention to the importance of a more plant-based food supply. Plant-based eating has a positive effect on health, climate and animal welfare. In this blog, you can read about exactly how this works. In addition, we provide tips to make any transition easy, website tips for recipes of simple plant-based dishes and the points of interest that are important if you want to start eating more plant-based.

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Health benefits of plant-based eating

Cutting down or eliminating animal products from your diet can be very healthy, but it doesn't have to be. Whereas vegetarians and vegans used to rely on trying to make their own bean burgers, there is now a very diverse and growing range of substitutes for animal products, such as meat, fish and cheese. For each product there is a lot of difference in additives, such as how much salt, for example. Even junk food now has substitutes, such as the vegan magnum or pizza. And junk food remains junk food. In general, unprocessed food is always the healthiest choice.

Studies and opinions plant-based eating

The largest dietician organization in the world; The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic, states that a well-balanced vegetarian or vegan diet is healthy, contains sufficient nutrients and has health benefits in preventing certain diseases. They also state that a plant-based diet is suitable for everyone, at any age and at any stage of life including pregnancy, if you are breastfeeding, children, the elderly and athletes.

By eating less meat and more whole grain cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits and plant-based meat substitutes, you reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. The Voedingscentrum does still have unprocessed meat in the disk of five, but also clearly mentions that eating meat is not necessary. If you do eat meat, they advise eating no more than 500 grams of unprocessed meat in the week.

Processed meat (all meats such as sausages and ham, as well as marinated white or red meat) and red meat (from cattle and pigs) are best avoided altogether. Research has shown a clear link between eating these and the risk of certain types of cancer (including colon cancer), type 2 diabetes and having a stroke.

Climate and plant-based eating

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently published a report on the link between land use and global warming. This report is an analysis of more than 7,000 studies, which were reviewed by 107 experts from 52 countries.
One of the most important conclusions of this study is that both our land use and our food system must be drastically reformed in order to limit the rise in temperature to a relatively safe level.

Plant-based food better for the climate?

There are several reasons why animal agriculture has such a big impact on the environment. Meat consumption worldwide has increased tremendously over the past few decades. Thus, to meet the demand, an awful lot of livestock must be raised, and thus the environmental impact has also increased tremendously as a result.

To give a picture of the Netherlands: In 2018, just over 640 million animals were slaughtered. This amounts to about 1.8 million animals per day. These are huge numbers. There are several reasons why keeping so many livestock has harmful effects on the environment:

Greenhouse gases: Raising livestock releases gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. These gases contribute to the greenhouse effect and climate change. Global livestock production accounts for 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Disappearing nature: Two-thirds of the world's farmland is used as pasture for grazing animals or growing fodder. As a result, more and more nature is disappearing, such as the millions of acres of rainforest cut down in South America. This is done for the cultivation of soy. This soy is not intended for consumption by vegetarians and vegans, but is used as animal feed. Figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics show that the Netherlands imported 7 million tons of soy last year. This makes the Netherlands the second largest soy importer in the world. According to the World Resources Institute, livestock farmers are responsible for 80 percent of deforestation in the Amazon.
Pollution and disappearing biodiversity due to manure: Because we keep so many livestock, we also have mountains of manure to dispose of. That manure pollutes the air, water and soil, causing plant and animal species to die out.

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Everything you need to know if you want to start eating more plant-based.

So going plant-based(er) has many benefits, both for your own health and the health of the earth. It is also better for animal welfare if the demand for meat decreases. Have you become motivated and want to start eating more plant-based? Then read on now!

Where do you start to eat more plant-based foods?

If you want to eat plant-based(er) for the health benefits, it is important to make vegetables the main part of your meals. Fill the rest with whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and fresh herbs. If you have a different motivation to get started, it may be helpful to start with 1-to-1 substitutions.

Then simply replace the meat variety with the substitute of the product in question. So you replace minced meat with vegetarian mince, chicken with vegetarian chicken pieces and a regular hamburger with a plant-based burger. Generally, this is a bit more expensive because meat substitutes can be pricey. Although many supermarkets are currently responding to the increasing demand and all now have cheaper alternatives of their own private label. In terms of taste, there is a lot of difference in the different products, so try some things out and find out what products you like!

Points of interest

There are a few things to watch out for when switching to a (more) plant-based diet. Protein, iron, vitamin B1, B2, B12 and calcium are nutrients found in animal products. It is therefore important that you make sure you get these nutrients from somewhere else. You can do this just fine, except for vitamin B12. You will read more about this later. Variety in your diet is important to avoid deficiencies. But of course, this does not specifically apply only to people who eat plant-based foods. By varying your diet a lot, you get many more different nutrients. So the more variety, the healthier this is!

Sources of protein, iron, B1 and B2

To get enough of these, it is recommended that you choose something from the following list every day:

Legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, brown beans, white beans, kidney beans, aduki beans, mung beans, soybeans, garden peas, black beans. Legumes are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. They contain no cholesterol and saturated fat, unlike animal protein sources.
Legume-based products such as tempeh, tofu, soy milk, lentil paste and chickpea flour.
Nuts (unroasted and unsalted) kernels or seeds: a handful every day, adding variety. This will also ensure you get enough of the essential fatty acids omega 3 and 6. Omega 3 is a concern here, as it is only found in a few specific foods (flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and walnuts).
Certain vegetarian substitutes. These may also have added iron and vitamin B12.

Sources of calcium

Calcium is not only found in cow's milk, but you can also get it from other products without any problems. So a plant-based diet need not affect your intake of this. By varying your intake of vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, and using fortified plant-based milk and other plant-based milk products, you will soon get enough calcium. Choose something from the list below and vary it:

Sesame seeds
Tofu
Tempeh
Kale
Enriched soy milk
Green beans
Chickpeas
Peas
Broccoli
Endive
White beans

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Source image: https://www.lisasteltenpool.nl/hoe-ziet-een-gezond-vegan-dagmenu-eruit/

Vitamin B12

If you switch to a (more) plant-based diet, it is important that you supplement vitamin B12. This is the only vitamin that you cannot obtain from a plant-based diet.The consequences of a B12 deficiency can be very serious and cause permanent damage. So pay close attention to this!
B12 is produced by bacteria that live in water, on plants, and in your intestines, among other places. Because B12 is only produced at the end of your intestines, it can no longer be absorbed. In addition, we live in such clean environments nowadays that there is virtually no B12 left in our drinking water and plant-based foods.

But this also applies to the water and feed our livestock receive today. For this reason, some animals in the industry are given B12 supplements. Vitamin B12 can be obtained by eating animal products or by taking supplements. If you switch to a (more) plant-based diet, it is important to take B12 supplements. The less animal products you eat, the greater the chance of a deficiency. (Although people who eat meat every day can also become deficient due to absorption problems. So even with eating animal products, there are no guarantees!).

Our comprehensive blood test provides insight into blood levels and some vitamins such as vitamin B12 and Vitamin D.

The Vegan Challenge

As a vegan, you don't use animal products at all, including in food. So vegans eat completely plant-based. A good way to start eating (more) plant-based food is to join the Vegan Challenge. This challenge starts October 1. If you participate, you will challenge yourself to eat vegan for 30 days.

You can sign up for this for free and you will then receive newsletters full of information, facts, tips and recipes during those 30 days. The recipes you receive are completely supermarket-friendly, so there is no need to get your groceries from special organic stores, for example. Also, the recipes fit well with an average Dutch diet. Do not expect only healthy recipes, but also recipes for, for example, cakes or other treats. You can subscribe via this link.