Health | Why I Changed My Diet & 5 Tips on Changing Your Diet

If you haven’t realized through my social media posts and stories, I’ve been changing my diet to exclude meat, dairy, and processed foods. Pretty much a plant-based diet. Since many of you have asked, I wanted to share with you why and some tips on how I’ve made the switch thus far.

*Let me precursor that I’m not 100% plant-based/vegan yet.* I began making the switch in August and now on a good week, about 90% of my diet is plant-based and on a normal week about 80%. Growing up in a Puerto Rican household, meat is served with every meal. My mom is an amazing cook – so at times it’s hard to come home and smell her food and have to make my own plant-based meal. (Especially after I’ve had a long day at work and class.)

You may be wondering why, I’ll highlight and quickly go through a few reasons: health, environmental, and ethical reasons. Let’s quickly go through the reason people usually think I solely based my decision on ethics. It’s true, what animals endure is inhumane and cruel and it haunts me. (Feeling intrigued, google animal slaughterhouses – I’ll spare you the details)

However, the main reasons I’ve switched are for the health and environmental factors. Brandon is a complete nerd (cute nerd) when it comes to diet, natural wellness, and best practices. He’s read so many books, studies, and has watched almost every documentary out there. (not kidding) Through these various sources of information one thing is conclusive, consuming a plant-based diet is the best thing for your body and offers numerous and countless health benefits like increased energy, better skin, significantly lower risks of cancers, heart diseases, diabetes, etc.

Environmentally, it is not sustainable whatsoever. In fact, raising animals for food uses 45% of Earth’s total land and is responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction, with 1-2 acres of rainforest being cleared every second. On top of that, animal agriculture is responsible for 80-90% of water consumption, more than any other activity in the United States and to put things into perspective one pound of beef requires 2,500 gallons of water. There’s SO much research out there – I encourage you to check it out sometime.

If you’re considering on decreasing your meat consumption, a few tips that worked for me:

• Start slow – cut one meat meal from your week, then two, etc. I started out by cutting out meat for lunch if possible then 2 dinner meat meals, then three, etc. Right now, I would say I only have one to two meat meals a week.
• Do your own research – look up protein sources, recipes, articles, and anything that may help you when transitioning. You don’t want to fall short on the number of carbs, protein, etc. your body may need.
• Prepare – this is really important, try your best to meal prep at least one of your meals a day. Also, make sure your cabinets and fridge are loaded with healthy snacks and easy to prep meals so you don’t cave.
• Have someone to hold you accountable/go through this experience with you – luckily my boyfriend fills that role since we’re doing it together.
• Let people know – whenever I go out to lunch with friends or coworkers, I let them know I’ve been switching my diet so they don’t tempt me into trying their foods. If they know you’re serious about it, they’ll be more accommodating to picking restaurants that may have some options for you.