Why you're not eating more plant-based (even though you want to)

No matter which fad diet is currently trending, pretty much everyone seems to agree that eating more fruits and vegetables should be a top priority. 

You know this, and you really want to be that person that loads up on kale and beans and says no to drive-thrus and diet soda. 

But this often goes one of two ways.

1. Overwhelm takes over and wanting doesn’t seem to turn into doing.

• You have neither the time nor the energy to scour the internet for meal ideas. 

• On the rare occasion you do venture down the recipe black hole, you’re met with long, complicated recipes with 25 steps and a bunch of ingredients you’ve never heard of. 

• Your family is not exactly adventurous and you don’t know if you’ve got it in you to fight that particular fight.

• Everyone always asks where vegans get their protein. Is this something you really need to worry about?

2. You jump in feet first without a real plan (and end up doing all kinds of things that don’t ultimately get you that much closer to your goal).

• You google “plant-based recipes” and start following every vegan recipe creator on every social media platform.

• You pin all the yummy looking plant-based recipes you find to your new “Vegan!” board on Pinterest.

• You buy alllll the produce but soon realize cooking an entire meal from scratch with unfamiliar ingredients is just not on today’s bingo card.

• You stock up on all these new and exciting (albeit kinda weird) ingredients… but then shit happens and you order pizza.

Do you know what both of those scenarios have in common?  

Neither one of them actually gets any plants from your fridge into your belly. And I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that if you’ve made it this far, that’s probably your goal.

Sure, following recipe creators and researching “Can I get enough protein on a plant-based diet?” can feel like progress. Believe me, I get it. 

I am the queen of procrasti-learning*. “I’m just going to watch one more documentary, read one more book, save a few more recipes AND THEN I’ll actually start making some changes.”

But again, none of that actually puts plants on your plate.

So, just start somewhere. 

• Add extra veggies to a family recipe that’s already in the rotation. [PRO TIP: If you chop them small enough, no one will ever know 😆.]

• Throw some extra fruit and plant-based milk on your morning cereal.

• Find a new simple, plant-based dish you think your family might actually eat (and just try it. If it’s a total disaster, oh well. At least you gave it a go.)

• Take just one meal this week and replace the meat with a plant-based protein.

You don’t need a 7-day meal plan or every fancy kitchen gadget you see on Amazon. Just one tiny baby step at a time, and before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your plant-based goals.

Who knows. Maybe you’ll even learn to love tofu. 🤩

If you need a little inspiration, check out My 5 Simple Swaps to Add More Plants to Your Plate guide. It gives you some simple, straightforward ways to start eating more plants this week.

(*A big thank you to Denise Duffield Thomas for putting a name to what I’ve done literally my entire life: Procrasti-pretty-much-any-activity-that-means-I-feel-like-I'm-making-progress-without actually-doing-the-big-scary-thing-I-do-in-fact-really-want-to-do.)