tips on how to transition to a plant based diet

mshannond
mshannond Posts: 60
in Food and Nutrition
As I live at home with my mum who cooks for the family, I will be eating lean meat like turkey or chicken for dinner normally with sweet potato/ brown rice/ butternut squash and veggies as I am gluten intolerant due to ibs.

for my skin and digestions sake I want to try and eat a more plant based diet and try to stick to meat only at dinner time.
I'm scared as this involves a lot of carbs.
I've bought brown rice protein to add to smoothies and oats in the morning however I'm scared to over do the carbs. I'm used to keeping them to around 30g until dinner and eating eggs & veg for breakfast and chicken at lunch, and I'm worried about how too many carbs will impact me.
please help!

Replies

  • 0smiile0
    0smiile0 Posts: 22
    What is your carb goal in g?There's no need to be afraid of carbs. Especially good, plant-based carbs. They fuel your body. :smile:
  • mshannond
    mshannond Posts: 60
    under 100g :)
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    Try hitting up the produce aisle for fresh fruits and veggies and see if it impacts your hunger (the reason to keep carbs low is that it provides appetite control for some people). The other issue with switching to more plant based is digestion. Fiber is great, but if you aren't used to it, it can take a few days for your system to adjust if you aren't used to getting much. So perhaps ramp it up over the course of a week or so. And if any particular vegetables give you trouble, don't eat those or eat very small amounts, perhaps steamed or cooked. I have issues with broccoli and spinach.

    I will say I have slightly more hunger issues on plant based than I did on low carb, but my carbs were far lower than under 100. They were usually under 20. I was always in ketosis. You might not have this issue. And even so, I find plant based quite doable, at least so far (been vegan not quite two months now). The hunger issue is nothing compared to when I was eating bread and cookies every day.

    The biggest issues I've had so far are overdoing the homemade trail-mix, and overloading my roasted veggies with oil and salt (which tends to make me overeat). Otherwise, I'd say I have more energy than I did on very low carb, my skin looks just as good (it was awful before), and I feel really good in general.

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