can also help our bodies regulate blood sugar levels, help with heart problems, and have anti-cancer properties.”
your day-to-day life. “Nutrition and fitness are important, but it’s a long-term game, which is why it has to become a part of your daily lifestyle, without a granular focus on a short-term outcome,” he explains. “Food is supposed to nourish, be enjoyed and even bring people together. It’s not meant to create anxiety, cause people to seek unsustainable crash diets and focus solely on short-term goals that don’t support their health. “Daily health-promoting habits practised consistently (daily exercise, good sleep habits, adding plenty of colour to your plate, and spending time with friends and family) are far more productive and effective in the long term.”
Take a whole lifestyle approach
It’s important to remember, however, when it comes to supporting your health, what we eat is just part of the picture. Plant-based coach and holistic wellbeing advocate Jeffrey Boadi (jeffreyboadi.com) suggests thinking about your lifestyle overall, rather than fad diets and quick-fixes. “Focus on how your daily actions — around your nutrition, training and sleep — support your long-term health, as opposed to quick hacks,” says Broadi, who went plant-based in 2017.
Opt for ‘real’ foods rather than processed
Going vegan doesn’t automatically make you healthier either, especially if you’re still relying on processed foods and not getting that all-important variety of whole ingredients. “The rise of plant-based diets has seen a huge surge in ultra- processed plant-based foods that are ready to consume with no or minimal preparation. These foods can have similar profiles as ‘bad’ meat products and can negate the benefits usually associated with plant-based diets,” says Sinopoulou. “Ultra-processed plant-based foods can lead to higher body weights, just as other ultra-processed foods.Taking the time to prepare a healthy and nutritious salad is more beneficial than eating a pre-prepared vegan burger, high in calories from meat substitutes. “There are a lot of plant sources rich in calcium. Spinach, soy, chickpeas, almonds, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and oranges are a few good examples.”
Photo: Jeffrey Boadi.
What about protein?
Getting enough protein in our diets is always important – and it can be possible even with a fully plant-based diet.
“I shifted to a plant-based diet after coming across a lot of information about how it could be beneficial for long- term health,” he adds. “I fell in love with the process of cooking from scratch and creating dishes that tasted great and were able to continue fuelling my training and lifestyle. My preference is to steer towards whole foods, but I’m not dogmatic about it — particularly in social settings.”
“If you cut off meat and meat-derived products,then legumes (beans, lentils, peas), mushrooms, soy (tofu, soymilk), nuts and seeds are your friend,” says Sinopoulou. “There’s also protein in bread, pasta, potatoes and many vegetables. “Plant-derived protein used to be seen as of lesser quality than protein from meat products, however, that’s now considered old-fashioned thinking, as we know that the muscle mass of people who meet their protein requirements from plant-derived sources is not different to meat-eaters.”
Keep things simple
Boadi doesn’t think healthy eating needs to be difficult, but for it to really be beneficial, it needs to become a part of
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