Why I started eating plant-based?

Last June we (my husband and I) started eating plant based. What we thought would be a short-lived lifestyle change experiment, ended up being a much appreciated and enjoyed way of life for us in the past months. Let me share how and why we made this change.

How it all started?

I am good with tastes and smells. Not to an extreme level, but it makes me enjoy food, different textures and tastes, and I prefer diversity when it comes to the ingredients I use. I love to cook and am a somewhat creative cooker, adding additional ingredients to the dish or experimenting. I love to try a new restaurant and every now and then go fine dining. Food is an important part of my life.

On the other hand, my husband doesn't have a great sense of flavors and have not been eating exceptionally well as a child. As an adult he preferred to eat a good quantity of food and preferably lot of meat.

My husband struggles with IBS which made some of our food choices and preferences more difficult to balance (e.g. cooking with onion and garlic – such a fundamental ingredient in Hungarian cuisine, bread and other gluten-based products, lactose, certain fruits and vegetables).

We deeply care for nature and environment and can't ignore the fact how bad meat production is for the environment and for our health. In the months prior our decision to go plant-based, we've seen many documentaries on the topic and it certainly triggered us to change.

What's plant-based eating?

Plant-based is not veganism or vegetarian. Plant-based eating means that you get most of your food intake from plant-based products. It doesn't necessarily exclude meat, dairy or fish fully, but the intake of animal-based product are greatly limited. Research suggests that this form of diet can reduce risk of cardiovascular illness and cancer and contribute to a healthy gut microbiome due to the high intake of fiber. If planned well, plant-based diet also enables a good intake of protein.

How does plant-based look like for us

As you can see plant-based eating is very individual. The ultimate goal is to get as much of your food intake from plants as possible. How you achieve it, is up to you. You can plan, tweak and adjust the diet to your wishes and needs.

For us what plant-based eating meant to eat clean and healthy, to ensure the intake of a wide variety of nutrients, to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses (e.g. high cholesterol or cancer), enjoy food, reduce our environmental footprint and transform our lifestyle to something that we believe is better.

In practice plant-based means to us:

• We aim to eat at least 30 different plant-based products a week (whole grains, fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts and seeds)

• Living in the Netherlands means we have access to fresh seawater fish, this was not really the case back in Hungary. So we eat fish regularly, preferably two times a week for dinner (cooked) and once or twice smoked or canned (smoked mackerel and smoked halibut which are both just delicious, and have you tried smoked eel?). We aim for diversity, eating both oily and white, meaty fish to ensure a high omega-3 fatty acid intake but avoid overconsumption of mercury.

• We eat meat usually once or maximum twice a week. My first choice goes to chicken or turkey, and every once and a while we would make a nice sous vide steak or roast duck. We eliminated ham, sausage and other kind of cold cuts almost entirely from our diet. I admit, every once and a while I can't resist to a pizza prosciutto or tapas plate or a Dutch tosti (grilled cheese with ham).

• We were on the same page of not giving up on cheese. After all, there's so many good cheese here in the Netherlands and many more imported from France that I just can't resist. So most of the time we have a slice or two for lunch, or make a yummy cheese tapas plate.

• For the rest of the week, I started experimenting with cooking vegetarian, or trying to recreate a recipe that we love, and substitute meat. Tofu worked very well for us, we love tempeh when pre-marinated (I haven't figured out yet how to make it tasty myself), beans, chickpeas, peas, mushrooms, and at times, we try vegan meat (I always check the ingredient list to make sure there is as little color, preservatives and salt in it as possible, and that they are high in protein).

• I experiment with cooking different kind of vegetables and in different ways to keep it fun, exciting and diverse. I cook almost every night (or other night for two evenings) and use as much as possible whole food ingredients.

• And yes, we do once a week take-out and we like to go to a restaurant and more often than not, we pick their meat specialty. I must admit though that I am more conscious lately to check the fish and vegetarian option as well. We have also found a lovely fine dining place in our home town which serves exclusively plant-based. It was an amazing dining experience.

• We have also reduced our snacking to popcorn, cashew or pistachio nuts, peanuts, baby carrots or dried fruits and barely buy chips or other ultra-processed snacks. I didn't believe but the last time I ate chips, it actually didn't taste good at all. Chocolate is hard to give up, but I'm trying to go with the options that are high in cocoa and low in sugar.

I truly believe that what really matters is to ensure a good diversity of food intake, balanced plate (good ratio of protein, carbohydrates and fiber) and whole foods as much as possible, even if not eating plant-based. Even better if eating plant-based. I don't recommend that but we changed rather drastically. From one week to another we started with our 1-2-4 eating pattern (1 meat-2 fish-4 vegetarian dinner). While I do take vitamin supplements, have done so before as well, I didn't really notice a difference. I did notice that I had the same or even more energy, that I was in a better mood, felt lighter, did lose some weight, and became more conscious of my food choices and started to enjoy food even more due to the variety of tastes, ingredients and colours.

What matters is how through food we can maintain a healthier lifestyle, enjoy flavors and reduce our environmental footprint. And there's so much more to it: how food affects our mood, how it prevents or (e.g. ultraprocessed foods) increases the chances of illnesses, how it socially connects us. Nutrition is such an important part of our life and has such a great impact on our wellbeing. What is one healthier food choice you can make today?