(BPT) - Key Takeaways
- A win-win for health & planet: A plant-powered diet supports your personal health with essential nutrients while also helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve natural resources.
- Embrace smart protein: Prioritize complete plant-based proteins, like soy, which have all nine essential amino acids in the right amounts, and combine other sources (beans, nuts, grains) for a well-rounded intake.
- Focus on fiber: Aim for a variety of plants to get the key types of fiber — insoluble and soluble — which help support regularity, heart health and gut health.
- Flexitarianism is key: Adopting a flexible approach that prioritizes plant-based foods without complete restriction makes sustainable eating more realistic and achievable in the long term.
Ever wonder about the power of the food on your plate? Enjoying a variety of plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes has been linked to a wide range of health benefits, from boosting the nutrient density of your diet to supporting heart health, metabolic health, gut health and more. Packed with fiber, protein, vitamins and healthy fats essential for overall wellness, plants are nutrient powerhouses — and their benefits don't stop there!
Choosing a plant-forward diet is also one of the most positive actions we can take for the environment as it's one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve natural resources.
So how do you get the most out of a plant-powered diet? Registered dietitian Kristie Leigh, Director of Nutrition & Scientific Affairs at Danone U.S, shares her top three strategies:
1. Diversify your protein sources
Protein is a power player when it comes to your health, needed for everything from muscle and immune health to hormone production and more. But not all protein sources are created equal. Many plant-based protein sources are considered incomplete because, unlike animal sources, they don't have adequate amounts of all nine essential amino acids (aka protein building blocks) that our bodies need but can't make on their own.
There are some exceptions though, one of which is soy. Soy-based foods like soymilk, tofu, edamame and tempeh are excellent, sustainable sources of complete plant-based protein for a more plant-forward diet. Other plant-based protein sources, like beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains, can be great, too, and can be mixed and matched to get all the amino acids your body needs.
2. Get fiber from a variety of different plant foods
Ninety-five percent of U.S. adults don't get enough fiber, and eating more plant-based foods is a great way to help close that gap. To maximize fiber's benefits, aim to get fiber from a variety of different sources to help ensure you're getting different types. Insoluble fiber has been shown to promote regularity when consumed in adequate amounts, while soluble fiber can help lower LDL cholesterol and help promote more stabilized blood sugar levels. There are even fibers that act as food for the good bacteria in your gut called prebiotic fibers.
Lots of plants contain more than one type of fiber, but some especially good sources of insoluble fiber are whole grains, nuts, cauliflower and green beans and some especially good sources of soluble fiber are oats, beans, avocados, apples and bananas. The most common food sources of prebiotic fiber are foods like garlic, onions, berries and oats. You can also find foods fortified with prebiotic fiber, like certain yogurts and protein shakes.
One rule of thumb that can help ensure you get all of these is the "rule of 30." Research from the American Gut Project found people who eat 30 different types of plants a week have greater gut bacteria alpha diversity, a potential indicator of good gut health, compared to those who consume 10 or fewer.
3. Mind the potential nutrient gaps
A plant-based diet can add lots of essential nutrients to your diet, but it can also make it more challenging to get nutrients more commonly found in animal foods, like vitamin B12 and iodine. That's why it's important to build variety into your day, emphasizing a variety of nutrient-rich foods for a well-rounded intake of vitamins and minerals.
Fortified plant-based foods also play a valuable and sustainable role in a modern diet. Many options — such as Silk Protein, which offers 13g of complete plant protein per serving — are thoughtfully fortified with key nutrients like vitamin B12, iodine, calcium, vitamin D and potassium to help fill these gaps.
Make sustainable eating a sustainable habit
"One way to bring these strategies together is to follow a flexitarian eating pattern," said Leigh. "This style of eating prioritizes plant-based foods without completely eliminating nutrient-rich animal foods like yogurt, cheese, eggs, lean meats and seafood — all of which can be easy sources of high-quality protein and other nutrients you need. For many, this flexible style can be more realistic and sustainable than completely plant-based diets, making it easier to reap the rewards of plant-forward eating in the long-term without rigid rules or feeling restricted."
The best way to start adopting a more plant-forward diet is with some easy swaps. Give your next taco night a twist by replacing half of the ground meat with beans, make a tofu and veggie scramble instead of scrambled eggs, or use soymilk as your base in smoothies. The more you experiment and find what you like, the more natural it will become!
