7 Tips To Be a Healthy Vegan

Woman making lunch

I remember when I first went vegan, I wasn’t sure what to eat. I didn’t know how much to eat to get the right amount of calories or nutrients. Sound familiar? Transitioning to a vegan diet can be difficult at first because you have to relearn how to view food. Once you grasp a few concepts, it’s much easier and clearer.

I’m here to give you some shortcuts through my own experience, education, and from working with vegetarian/vegan clients for the last 12 years. I want to share my top 7 tips to be a healthy vegan!

1. Learn how many calories and how much protein you need.

You want to make sure you are eating enough but also not too much. Use this calculator to figure out how much you should eat daily to maintain your current weight. If you need to adjust later to help with weight gain or weight loss you’ll already know your numbers.

2. Supplement to cover your bases.

Especially B12, D3, and Omega 3. Here are the supplements I use and recommend: Complement multivitamin. This one covers many of the vitamins that vegans may fall short of. This is important at the beginning while learning how to eat a well-rounded vegan diet.

3. Have fun!

Try out a local vegan restaurant to explore new foods. Join vegan community groups and cooking classes. Realizing you have like-minded people around you is so helpful to your success as a healthy vegan!

4. Buy a vegan cookbook

I recommend investing in a healthy vegan cookbook like Practically Vegan. You will have balanced recipes at your fingertips and learn how macronutrient-balanced meals look. This will then teach you how to prepare your meals.

5. Protein is in all plant foods!

Even fruits and vegetables. You will get plenty of protein as long as you are getting a wide variety of plant foods daily. There are foods higher in protein such as TVP (textured vegetable protein), beans, tofu, tempeh, seitan, and lentils. Plan to include a couple of servings of one or more each day. These are all minimal to unprocessed whole plant proteins that are lean machines. 

6. Have healthy food staples in your pantry and fridge.

Buy beans, rice, and textured vegetable protein in bulk so you never run out.. Keep one or two leafy greens and low-fat toppings like salsa in your refrigerator. With these items, you will always have a balanced meal when you need it. 

Try this Taco Bowl recipe!

½ cup black beans
¼ cup brown rice
¼ cup TVP (textured vegetable protein)
2 tbsp taco seasoning
Spinach or other greens
Salsa, hot sauce, or other desired toppings

Warm rice, beans, and TVP according to there in instructions. Mix all together with taco seasoning. Chop your favorite greens and fill a corn tortilla or bowl. Top with salsa or hot sauce!

7. Exercise, especially resistance training

Exercise is essential no matter what your diet is. Using your muscles regularly will help utilize the amazing plant proteins you are eating. The coolest part is we can prove to others that you can build and keep an amazingly strong body, even with a vegan diet!

Thank you for reading!

Let me know if you have any other questions about food, fitness, and/or veganism. 

If you are looking for someone to help you with any or all of these, email me to set up your call. If you are looking for a fitness and wellness coach I offer an intro package of 3 sessions for $175 for you to try out my JustFit Vegan sessions! Let me know how I can help you further! https://www.justfitla.com/personal-training/

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