A running list of questions…
- Isn’t it hard to follow a plant based diet?
No. It’s simple, just eat plants. Of course, the answer is more complex than this. Eating a plant-based diet really is as simple as just eating plants, but doing this can be difficult in our society where food has become a product and cultural norms influence much of our behavior around food. I’ll be writing more on this topic at a later date. - What about protein?
Everyone wants to know about protein and where do plant-based people get it. Read _Slaying the Protein Myth for starters and if you want to go more in depth listen to Dr. Garth Brooks. In addition to the podcast linked to above, The Rich Roll Podcast has lots of great episodes about plant-based nutrition and veganism. Contact me if you’d like any more episode recommendations. - How can I find plant-based foods where I live or while I am traveling?
Check out Happy Cow. They have an iPhone app as well. Not every place in every city is listed, but this is still a great resource. Also, simply use the Google or your search engine of choice and type in where you are and the word vegan. - Isn’t it expensive to eat this way?
No.And yes.
If you simply eat fruits and vegetables a plant-based diet is a very economical way to eat. Utilizing a local farmers market can save lots of money as well as preparing dried beans and whole grains. If you decide to shop at luxury supermarkets (I’m looking at you Whole Foods) and add in lots of specialty products such as meat analogs and exotic super foods, then the price goes up.
Buying all organic fruits and vegetables can also be more expensive. Check out The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen to figure out which products you should consider purchasing organic and which are okay when raised conventionally. By the way, isn’t it strange that we refer to heavily engineered and chemically infused farming conventional agriculture?