You’ve heard the news and read the studies about the health benefits of a plant-based diet. Now you’re thinking, if we want to enjoy a long and happy life together, we need to start upping our diet game. And, you’d be right! But, no matter how compelling the reasons, it can be HARD to make this kind of dramatic change.

25 yrs ago when I was starting out, options were limited. I’d decided to stop eating meat because I was appalled over the realities of factory farming and did so essentially overnight. I could not however convince my husband that those realities were sufficient for him to change his diet. That took many years and a mountain of evidence about the health benefits. Eventually, enough piled up to finally break the proverbial camel’s back. Plus, eating a plant-based (vegan) diet is so, so much easier now than it was those years ago.

During your research travels you have certainly read that the optimum is a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet. And we couldn’t agree more. However, going all in at once might be problematic for some. For this issue, our recommendation is to start with one thing. Everything you do counts and benefits is cumulative. The more you do the more it helps.

One tactic is to find ways to replace the animal-sourced ingredients with plant-based ingredients. For instance, if you have recipes that call for ground beef, replace your usual meat products with a plant-based alternative. There are many replacement products that we love. Companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods make terrific ground, patties, and sausages. Beyond Meat is a non-GMO and contains no soy. Impossible Foods is made from soy and contains soy leghemoglobin (Heme) which is the special sauce that makes their plant “meat” taste just like beef. 

You just cook meals like you are used to, easy-peasy, swapping out the beef for the plant-based alternative. Burgers, tacos, meatloaf, meatballs for spaghetti, and so on. The options are endless.

Granted, whole foods are best, but to get over the hump of transition this is a great option! So filling, satisfying, and tastes great! 

A little chemistry side note, the distinctive taste of beef comes from Heme. Heme contains iron, giving meat that bloody, iron-like taste. It’s found in animal blood and muscle — which make up a good portion of the cuts used in ground beef. Impossible Foods CEO talks about how they discovered a plant-based molecule that delivered the same taste as beef here: https://medium.com/impossible-foods/heme-health-the-essentials-95201e5afffa

Here are some details of each product. If you want to avoid soy products, fewer carbohydrates, no gluten, and non-GMO try the Beyond Meat. If you want a rich bloody taste, more fiber, complete proteins, amino acids, and added nutrients try Impossible Foods.

Beyond MeatTM Ingredients – https://www.beyondmeat.com/products/beyond-beef/

The Ingredient List: Water, Pea Protein*, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Refined Coconut Oil, Rice Protein, Natural Flavors, Cocoa Butter, Mung Bean Protein, Methylcellulose, Potato Starch, Apple Extract, Pomegranate Extract, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Vinegar, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Sunflower Lecithin, Beet Juice Extract (for color).

Impossible FoodsTM Ingredients- https://impossiblefoods.com

The Ingredient List: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Mixed Tocopherols (Antioxidant), Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamins and Minerals (Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12).