With thousands of people taking part in Veganuary this year – 440,000 and still rising – it’s a barometer of the growing interest in the ethical and health benefits of a plant-based diet. But despite all the publicity surrounding the campaign, it’s not easy being vegan – a healthy one, at least, according to registered dietician Azmina Govindji, who is keen to remind newcomers to this way of eating that it takes time to find the perfect nutritional balance.
‘Going vegan is not just about dropping meat and animal products and choosing vegetables instead. You need to think about how you’re going to replace the protein on your plate, and consider if the foods you’re substituting will offer an equivalent quality of nutrients,’ she says. ‘I recommend taking some time to gather information from the right sources – that way you are more likely to stay energised and healthy. Go ahead and by all means get started on plant-based eating, just invest a little time in understanding the best way to get all the nutrients you need in a tasty way.’
An award-winning registered dietician, consultant nutritionist and best-selling author, as well as a media spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, Azmina has recently published a brilliant new nutrition guide for anyone following a vegan or plant-based diet. Vegan Savvy (Pavilion, £12.99) works as a companion guide to use while shopping, meal planning or alongside vegan recipe books, offering tips and tricks for super-charging the nutritional impact of every meal with just a few tweaks.
The idea for the book was sparked when Azmina’s own daughter announced she was going vegan in her early 20s. ‘I felt I’d done a good job of teaching her about healthy eating, and then she came home one day and made this announcement, and I thought I can either get into a panic and say I don’t think this is going to work, or I can embrace it and try to help her do it in the healthiest way,’ laughs Azmina. ‘I admit I was initially rather sceptical that she could get all her nutrients on a vegan diet.’
Plant-based planning
Azmina decided the best way to support her daughter was to go completely plant-based herself for eight weeks, to provide the best possible insight into this way of eating. ‘The first thing I discovered was how important it is to plan ahead. It’s harder to be spontaneous and just look in the fridge and make a sandwich for lunch – you can have avocado or hummus, but you’d soon get bored of that every day. I realised very quickly that meal planning would be really important.
‘You also have to be prepared for the increase in fibre – I was in the loo several times a day to begin with – initially I thought I was going to have to call the doctor, but then I mentioned the problem to my daughter and she said it was normal!’ she says. ‘Fibre is great for gut health and is also very filling and satiating, so when I started having more beans, lentils and wholegrains they filled me up, and I found I was eating less overall and getting fewer calories. In some ways it’s great – and I did lose some weight – but if you’re not as aware of nutrition as I am, then you could easily not eat enough of a wide variety of foods to get the right nutrients you need to be healthy.’
Azmina quickly discovered that one of the pitfalls of a vegan diet, especially if you’re not a keen cook, is that you can become too reliant on convenience and readymade products, some of which are packed with sugar, salt and additives. But she also found that some meat alternatives are surprisingly beneficial. ‘My research into meat substitutes did really surprise me,’ she says. ‘I didn’t have high hopes for them nutritionally, but actually I found that some foods based on tempeh, seitan and tofu provide a digestible source of good quality protein, and can be very valuable in a vegan diet. Ideally, I’d recommend you buy the plainest versions of these foods and add your own flavours, but if you’re going to buy more processed products, just keep an eye on the labels for the salt, sugar, saturated fat and additive content.’
Sensible swaps
Finding suitable swaps for the meat on the plate, without always resorting to processed products, can be tricky, especially if you’re factoring in the nutritional quality too. ‘Some replacement products can in some ways be better for you than the meat-based versions,’ says Azmina. ‘If you compare vegan burgers with meat burgers, for example, the vegan ones are usually higher in fibre and many are high in quality plant-based protein such as pea or soya protein. They won’t however give you the same amount of iron or certain vitamins and may still be potentially high in salt. Fat levels are often lower in the vegan burgers, depending on how they are cooked.’
Ideally, though, anyone committed to going vegan needs to start developing a repertoire of new recipes. ‘You have to find things that are delicious and realistic substitutions for your favourite foods,’ says Azmina. ‘You’re unlikely to maintain this new way of eating in the long term if you simply swap a chicken breast for a slab of plain tofu. It has to be tasty, quick and easy to prepare, and this is where some convenience foods can be really useful, like smoked tofu or frozen edamame beans. But you don’t have to be great in the kitchen or spend hours cooking to eat well as a vegan. There’s a lot of vegan recipe inspiration out there; just choose carefully as I do find many recipes are not nutritionally balanced. Often the protein isn’t sufficient for a main meal, or the dish a great source of iron but there’s nothing to help with iron absorption from a vegan meal. Often there are key ingredients missing that could really enhance the nutrition of a vegan recipe.’
This is where Azmina’s ‘VVPC plate’ concept is really handy. ‘In my book I’ve included a visual guide to a balanced vegan plate, although it can work for mixed diets too. If you fill half your plate with veggies, that automatically cuts your calories and ensures you are getting plenty towards your five a day, and you’ll be covering many of your micronutrients. Then there’s a quarter of your plate for protein and a quarter for carbohydrates, as most of us tend to eat too much of both these macronutrients.’
Discover Nutrient Bridges
Although the VVPC plate covers the macros, Azmina recognises that people are less aware of the importance of micronutrients. ‘People on a plant-based diet really need to think about where they are getting their Omega 3, zinc, B12 and iodine, for example. If you’re not having dairy and you’re having an oat drink instead, does your brand provide iodine? If you’re having an almond drink, is there enough almond content in there to provide the good protein that milk does? The answer to these questions is often no, and the lack of these micronutrients can lead to health issues such as fatigue. It’s really worth paying attention to food labels and choosing fortified versions so you have a better chance of getting your essential micronutrients.’
This is where Azmina’s unique idea of ‘Nutrient Bridges’ comes in, and Vegan Savvy is packed with easy ideas for boosting nutritional benefits with everyday ingredients. This might include adding a handful of sliced almonds to your plant-based yoghurt in the morning to pack in more calcium, or adding orange segments to stir-fried kale to improve iron absorption. ‘Nutrient Bridges are the difference between a healthy plate of food and an amazingly healthy plate of food,’ she says. ‘Adding little extras such as nutritional yeast for B12, some sesame seeds for extra calcium, or crushed walnuts on a salad for omega 3s can make all the difference. All you have to do is look at the Bridges in Vegan Savvy and add a little extra something to your plate to add these missing nutrients.’
Despite Azmina’s initial scepticism, after doing all the research to support her daughter and write Vegan Savvy, she’s now a convert to predominantly plant-based eating. ‘My husband and I kept to a vegan diet as an experiment, but it really stuck with us, and I’d say we are now about 80 per cent vegetarian. We do it on a 5:2 basis, so we are veggie or vegan during the week and maybe just have meat or fish at the weekend. In fact, I really believe all of us should be moving towards a more plant-based diet, both for health and the planet.’
Azmina’s top 5 tips for staying healthy on a vegan diet
Eat wholefoods as much as possible.
My best tip is, as far as possible, to base your diet on mainly wholefoods, such as whole grains, beans, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit.
Get the balance right.
Use my VVPC plate visual to help you achieve the right balance of macronutrients – vegetables, protein and carbohydrates.
Start with small, achievable changes.
Introduce realistic, small changes that fit with your current dietary preferences, your taste preferences and your lifestyle habits. Choose what is realistic for you and do it gradually, as that’s the only way you’ll be able to maintain it.
Remember that not everything labelled vegan is good for you.
There is this myth that if something is vegan it must be healthier, and that’s not always the case. Vegan fast food can be just as calorific as the meat versions, for example.
Get your nutritional advice from the right sources.
Be careful about who you are getting your nutritional advice and recipes from. There are vegan influencers who have huge followings but have no letters after their name and no nutritional qualifications. I’d encourage everyone to get their advice from reliable sources such as a registered dietitian or registered nutritionist.
Find out more at www.azminanutrition.com or follow @azminanutrition on Instagram.