Adopting a Plant Forward Diet

Have you considered adopting a plant forward diet and you don’t quite know where to start? Awesome, I’m here with 6 steps to solid success! The beauty of adopting a plant forward diet is in the simplicity and realization that this is not an all or nothing diet. This is simply the addition of more whole, plant based foods combined with a reduction of processed, animal based foods.

• Every time you eat a plant instead of an animal — you’re good!
• Every time you eat a whole food over a processed food — you’re good!
• Every time you slip up and overindulge, not to worry! You haven’t violated any cardinal rules so long as you get over it and put your emphasis back on unprocessed, plant-based foods.

Ready to get moving towards adopting a plant forward diet? Here you go!

Step 1: Get Clear on your Goals

You’ve got to understand the benefits of adopting a plant forward diet. New things always sound fun. But Plant Forward eating is not a 3-day challenge. It’s a lifestyle so understanding why you’re making this choice is the key to your longterm success.

Is it for your body? Is it for your longevity? Is it for your family? Is it for the planet? It can be a combination fo them all, but be sure to get clear on it and even write a note to yourself in case you need a reminder.

Step 2: Get Clear on the Details

Make sure you review the post “what is a plant based diet” so you know what you’re getting into here. But essentially, you’re putting the focus on the preparation and processing of your food. You’re going to increasing whole foods from the earth (i.e. plants) and limiting processed and animal based foods (i.e. cookies and hamburgers).

Step 3: Clean your Kitchen

You’ve got to get rid of the junk in boxes. If you look in your fridge or particularly, your pantry and see a bunch of if it’s in a neon colored bag or boxes with ingredients lists longer than six items and words you can’t pronounce — you should probably chuck it.

Pro Tip: If it has no ingredient list or nutrition label, keep it! It’s a fresh food and gets a green light (i.e an apple, is just an apple).

You need to do this purging when you’re strong because it can be hard. But like just about everything hard, it’s worth it. When you clean out all the stale junk, you’re physically making room for freshness in your life. Once you’ve tossed it all, take out a wet rag and wipe the bottoms of your cabinets and your refrigerator.

You won’t want to bring home your fresh food and put it in a dirty space. Creating a clean kitchen with lot’s of open space is essential.

Step 4: Add some Color to your Kitchen!

With plant forward eating, you’re putting an emphasis on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes with responsible portions of high quality animal protein and dairy. You’ll find the colorful/unprocessed foods around the perimeter of the grocery store with the exception of some grains and legumes down the center aisles. Do not leave the store until all the color groups are in your cart!

If you like to have a good plan when you’re headed to the market, here are some excellent resources. Whether you’re hunting for ingredients for just one recipe or a whole week of meals, a shopping list is always a good idea:

• Set up a new recipe board on Pinterest! Now start collecting digital recipes. I suggest organizing them by color, so you can make sure you eat a variety of new foods.
• Get a new cookbook! I love a new hard copy cookbook fuel your cooking motivation! While I haven’t put one together myself (yet!) you can still find some on Amazon, check this one out!
• Get yourself a 1-Week Plant Forward Meal Plan! Yes, this one I did make. I put all my favorite and simple plant forward foods into a format so you easily know what to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks for the entire week!

Step 5: Consider a Meal Service

At the core of plant forward eating, and where all the benefits to your body come from is the consumption of unprocessed and minimally processed foods. This means…you’re going to have spend more time shopping for fresh food and cooking in your kitchen.

If that is not something you can or are willing to do, good news! Eating fresh food is SUPER trendy these days so there are dozens of meal services that can help you!

• If you like to cook, but want to skip the store, a Meal Kit Service is a great idea. This is where all the ingredients and recipes are delivered to your door . There are about a dozen big companies doing this now, but my favorite is Purple Carrot (it’s a vegan meal kit company).
• If you want to skip cooking all together, then you need a Meal Delivery Service. In this case, I wouldn’t recommend any of the big companies. Freshly prepared meals are extreme perishable and should be sourced, prepared and delivered locally. Do a google search for “healthy food delivery in ((insert your city)) and see what comes up. Yelp is another great resource to find these local companies. If you’re in San Diego, good news, you can order from The Clean & Colorful Kitchen!

Step 6: Eat and Enjoy…

Yes, there is some work in unprocessed eating. But once you get in the swing of things it will become second nature. The way you shop and view restaurant menus will be forever changed as you realize how delicious plant forward eating can be!

And the fact that you’re going to look better, feel better, naturally have more energy and probably will lose some weight are all just side effects of adopting a Plant Forward Diet.

[bctt tweet=”Six steps to sustainable plant forward eating: how to eat well and feel amazing!”]

Are you ready to clean up your kitchen and add some color to your diet by adopting a Plant Forward Diet? Ask me any questions you have at all and let’s celebrate you getting started!