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  • Heather: Hey guys! This is Heather from healthyeatingstartshere.com.

  • So a lot of you know that I eat a vegan diet and a lot of you send in questions about how

  • to get balanced nutrition on a vegan diet, because you get a lot of questions from other

  • people asking you how you get certain nutrients; calcium, protein, whatever you want to put

  • in there.

  • It can get really frustrating because people are often critical of the vegan diet plan

  • for being too extreme, for being restrictive. Even if you look really healthy and you have

  • a lot of energy, and you are happy all the time, people will still ask you and it can

  • actually make you question whether you are actually getting enough of certain nutrients.

  • Now the thing I find funny is that I actually eat way better now than I ever used to before.

  • I get a wider variety of foods. I eat a ton of vegetables whereas I used to, just kind

  • of, force myself through salad. The other thing is that I just love food now I used

  • to hate cooking and I wouldn't be too excited for meals but now I love every single meal.

  • I really enjoy cooking and things have gotten so much more fun for me.

  • Okay. So for getting balanced nutrition, there are a few little things that you do need to

  • be aware of but before you are going to get into those, you got to make sure you have

  • the basics covered and let at the big picture of healthy eating in general.

  • So what I like people to focus on first is getting lots of veggies, fresh vegetables

  • and lots of fresh fruit as well. Eating whole foods. Getting a variety of them and cutting

  • out the junk.

  • So focus on those things first and even meat eaters, a lot of them don't have that covered.

  • So it's a really good place to start. Then once you have got those basics down, there

  • are a few nutrients to look at in more detail.

  • I've put together a bunch of articles for you guys that you can go through and you will

  • find them over at healthyeatingstartshere.com. Very quickly; protein, not as difficult as

  • most people think it is to get on a vegan diet. You can get plenty of protein from plant

  • sources if you are eating a variety of foods and you are getting enough calories, you are

  • probably getting enough protein.

  • Essential fatty acids you can get plant sources. Iron you can get from plant sources but there

  • are a few tricks to make sure that you are absorbing it properly. Calcium and magnesium;

  • there are lots of plant sources. You just need to make sure that you are eating the

  • right ones and eating enough of them. And then the two that may need to be supplemented.

  • While B12 definitely needs to be supplement for vegans because there are no plant sources.

  • Even the ones that say they have B12, like algae, your body doesn't use it the same way.

  • So you do need to take a supplement for that and then vitamin D, your body can produce

  • it when you are out in the sun but a lot of us don't get enough sun and you don't want

  • to get burned. So taking supplement for vitamin D might be the way to go especially in the

  • winter for those of us in the Northern hemisphere.

  • Now what you need to do is get in the kitchen, have some fun and find some really tasty and

  • fun with recipes to share with people and to get yourself excited about eating healthy

  • vegan diet. If you find yourself needing help through the transition, I've put together

  • in my Best Tips. You can sign up for them for free. You just have to go to our website

  • and put in your email address and I will send them out to you.

  • So that's it from me today guys. I hope you have a great day and I will see you next time.

Heather: Hey guys! This is Heather from healthyeatingstartshere.com.

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