Do You Want To Eat A More Plant Based Diet

I have had so many of you asking about veganism and asking me questions about it, so I decided I had to find someone on to talk about it with you guys! I try to keep up with my research but talking to someone who specializes in going plant based the best way to get you the information that you are asking about!  There is so much bullshit out there and my goal was to get Valeria on here so we can cut through it right now!!

I found Valeria Hernandez on Instagram and I was drawn to her immediately! She is a Vegan Health Coach, she is so REASONABLE, she’s knowledgeable and she isn’t this hardcore vegan who is going to tell you, you can’t do this, you can’t do that. Vale is a Plant-Based Coach who helps ambitious women eat plant-based vegan in a healthy and empowering way so they can revamp their energy and fuel their dreams sustainably!

Vale’s mission is to help you skip the struggle & build sustainable, life-long food habits that empower you to live a fulfilled life. She knows that eating a plant-based vegan diet is not only healthy but also FUN & incredibly powerful!

Now, we are well aware that not everyone wants to go 100% vegan and I am ok with that. But I think that it is important that you have knowledge on it so you can make an empowered decision and align it with your ethics, your sustainability, etc.

We want you to have that knowledge so you can have a diet that helps you feel energized and thrive and feel really good about what you are eating too!

Vale looks at her diet as a Whole Food, Plant-Based diet, where she transitioned from being an unhealthy vegan eating a lot of processed foods, to hiring a coach and finding the right way to be vegan. Figuring out what to eat, how to be totally plant-based and how to stay away from the processed vegan substitutes that can really be a detriment to a vegan’s diet if eaten in large quantities.

So how do you know what is junk food vegan and what is good vegan food when it says plant-based products’

So, the easiest way when you are in the store, is to ask yourself WHERE AM I” The perimeter where the produce and fresher products or the inside part where the packaged and processed food is’ Try to stay in the produce section, and the whole grain and legumes sections the most. The key is to KNOW WHAT IS IN YOUR FOOD!
If you want to grab something like beyond burgers, eat them sparingly, not every night. Because those are really processed and that you truly want to limit. It is good to have these other options, but just like all foods, there are bad vegan foods as well. So, try and eat the over processed foods as sparingly as possible.

Ask yourself, Is it good for me and I can eat every day, or is it a treat’

A lot of people assume that going vegan is healthier, but that is not always the case if not done right. There are so many ways to overeat the processed vegan foods and not eat more whole foods. 85% of the people who go vegan don’t stay vegan and go back to eating meat. And a huge part of that is because they don’t go vegan in a way that is benefiting them and not going at it in a healthy way. So, they stop. A lot of people are not getting enough vitamins, B12, iron all these things vegans tend to be deficient in. And there is not enough talk about what it means to be a healthy vegan and eating meals that are balanced and fulfilling and actually stick with veganism.

What would a healthy vegan look like’ What would they eat’ 

What Vale eats is exactly what she teaches! And sticking to these food groups is the best way to truly get the most out of becoming vegan.

• Legumes; beans lentils edamame chickpeas.
• Whole grains; quinoa, brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain bread, whole grain pasta and gluten-free and protein pasta.
• Product; fruits and vegetables ALL!
• Seeds; chia seeds, flax, hemp, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, etc.
• Avocado & hummus; good sources of healthy fats
• Treats 20%; Daiya pizza, beyond burgers, potato chips are my kryptonite.

Know your go-to meals that are going to include a plant-based protein, complex carbohydrates, and vegetables. And then try to eat fruit with breakfast and when it comes to snacking, it is usually hummus and veggies.

Batch prepping comes in handy as well. With veganism there is a lot of cooking. (so be prepared to cook!) So, meal prepping might not always work depending on what it is you are eating.  Batching is a great way to substitute meal prep. Vale makes a bunch of different foods that can be put together and switched up during the week. On Sunday she makes tons of chickpeas in the instant pot with brown rice, quinoa, sauteed black beans with onions and spices. And just prepares a bunch of veggies. So, come the week she’ll mix and match all week with these things. One day may be a Buddha bowl, the next stir fry or pasta with vegetables. Preparing these things ahead of time works for her so that when she goes to make her food it takes 10-20 minutes max!

For those that are vegan-curious, should you truly like to cook, or is it sustainable to be vegan to do take out if you have the budget’

This all depends on where you live! If you live more in a city, there are going to be so many more options vs if you live in the middle of nowhere, where vegan restaurants are not available. If you are not sure what is around you, find a Facebook group for vegans in your area and you will be able to find tons of information in those groups. Also, just simply google maps and search for a vegan restaurant or a restaurant that serves vegan dishes. A lot of meal services have vegan options as well online, so possibly look into those for at least one meal of the day from them to help you get meal ideas, or for healthy options without the fuss.

How do you be vegan curious when you have a family and other mouths to feed’

You can cook the same food for everyone, just when it comes to the protein, definitely add a meat protein on the side for other options for your family and you just eat the vegan options. You always want to add before you subtract. Be sure to add something back in if you take out the animal products!

You can also identify one meal of the day that maybe other people in your family are willing to cut back on the animal products. And make that your vegan meal. Maybe breakfast and lunch are the easiest to do this so start once a day or once a week switching this up and see how it goes. Eventually you will start to get more creative and find new ways how you can incorporate this more so your family will like it. Take one of their favorite meals and make it vegan and see what they say!  They may like it and you just have to open their mind to new possibilities!

How do you start going vegan”

When going vegan it’s just like everything else. It is so important to wade into the water instead of just diving in. It is so easy to FAIL miserably when you dive right in. The best approach is slow and steady. If you are looking into making this a lifelong thing, doing a little bit at a time is really the best way to do it. If you cut out everything all at once, it gets too much, and you are going to say EF THIS and go back to your old ways. Start with the easiest thing first.  What is the easiest plant product to give up’ And move outward from that. Move onto now what is 1 meal a day you can go totally plant based on’ So on and so forth.

DON’T focus on what you can’t have. Focus on what you CAN have.

Don’t go to team hard. Go to team easy, because becoming vegan CAN be easy. Maybe you are 80/20 vegan, maybe you are 50/50 vegan. Maybe you are plant based’ You set the definition for that term and you may not be a hard core vegan, because there are so many things in the vegan community. But at the end of the day, you choose how you want to do it or be! YOU MAKE THE RULES. You define where you start, where you end. Think of it as a process, and there is no one size fits all approach to this. You just have to look at it as why you are choosing to do this and go at it the way you want to.

I hear a lot of people want to go vegan because they want to lose weight, but I know plenty of people who have gone vegan and still have the weight to lose. So, it all depends on how you go into this and how you do it. Whether you are eating animal protein or now, it is still really important to track your food. Even though you are eating a plant based, organic whole foods diet, it is really easy to overeat vegan food. So, tracking and knowing what is going in is really important.

It’s all about the FOOD CHOICES.

If you are overdoing it with the fats, beans, legumes you are going to have a hard time losing weight. You can overeat calories even as a vegan! So, we recommend that if you are struggling with this, you need to have a conversation with a professional if you want to go down the weight loss route. Work with a professional who can better guide you through the process so that you reach your goals and make the right food choices. Working with someone like Vale when starting your vegan journey is so beneficial, so definitely look her up on Facebook and Instagram because she has so much knowledgeable information on there to really help you do it the right way!

You have 2 forever homes in the lifetime. The earth and your body. And the plant-based diet can help take care of both of them. So you can feel truly energized every day. Don’t be shy, if you are curious at all, I love meeting new people so send me a DM so we can connect! – Valeria Hernandez

What makes you feel magical’

Is it cheesy if I say vegetables’ Broccoli is in my pantry every week and I always eat it! I have really loved it since I was little. So yeah, vegetables!

Guys! Go follow Vale! I promise you will LOVE her like I do!!

https://www.instagram.com/vegivale

https://www.facebook.com/vegivale

https://www.vegivale.com/

Empowered Eating Intensives 🙂 https://www.vegivale.com/1-1-offers

FREE Plant based recipes https://kimbarnesjefferson.lpages.co/plant-based-recipes

LINKS

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Website: https://kimbarnesjefferson.com/

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fit-girl-magic-healthy-living-for-women-over-40/id1476883661