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The Plant Centered and Thriving Podcast
Welcome! If you're looking for plant-based inspiration, you've come to the right place! This podcast is here so you don’t have to feel alone on your plant-based journey. You'll hear from individuals who have taken the leap to go plant-based, why they did it, the struggles they faced, their words of wisdom for you, and how they're thriving now.
The Plant Centered and Thriving Podcast
7 Walls We Help You Knock Down that are Keeping You From Going Plant-Based
Are you drawn to a plant-based lifestyle, but can't seem to make the switch because you think there are hurdles standing in your way?
Today we lay out the playbook for effortlessly hopping over these 7 common barriers to a plant-based diet:
- I’m worried I won’t get enough protein
- I’m worried people will think I’m a freak
- I feel like I’m gonna do it wrong and I don’t have enough time to research
- I’m worried I won’t get the nutrition I need
- Vegan food is gross
- I’m too broke to go plant-based
- Its too hard
We hope this episode can shed some light on these worries for you and help you take the steps you need to this wonderful way of eating!
Resources from this Episode:
Get My Plant-Based Starter Kit Here!
Previous Episodes:
Episode 14: Busting Protein Myths
Episode 113: A Guide to Answering Questions About Why You are Plant-Based
Darë Cheese
Bloggers:
Minimalist Baker
PlantYou
Plant-Based on a Budget
Chloe Coscarelli Vegan Italian Kitchen Cookbook
The Post Punk Kitchen - Isa Chandra Moskowitz
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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Have a question, suggestion or comment for the podcast? Fill out form here
Plant Centered Nutrition Essential Resources:
Welcome to the Plant-Centered and Thriving Podcast. I'm your host, ashley Kitchens. I'm a plant-based registered dietitian and virtual nutrition mentor. I was raised on an Angus Cattle Farm, grew up with a lot of GI issues and used the power of plant-based eating to promote healing. Here you'll find inspiration, ideas and encouragement for your own plant-based journey. I'm so thrilled you're here today. Let's get started. Welcome to the show Plant-Centered listeners.
Speaker 2:My name is Ashley and I'm Katie, and I just learned how to wear a turtleneck the right way, Diving right into the real deal. No, we're so, so happy that you're here, but, seriously, I'm wearing a turtleneck right now and Katie informed me that you can flip it on the inside. How to bring it on the outside. I don't know if that makes sense, but if you're wearing a turtleneck right now, give it a try. That's actually pretty cool. Thanks, TikTok. We are so excited for today's topic. It's seven walls we help you knock down when going plant-based. I just picture this wall maybe not real bricks, but paper bricks and you're just going up and kicking it down.
Speaker 2:Yes, we're going to get rid of all of the excuses. We're going to let you know that there are ways around them, so there is nothing stopping you If you're in that phase where you're thinking about going plant-based. This episode is brought to you by our plant-based starter kit, which is a great guide if you're just looking to kick off your plant-based journey. There's a lot of great things in there, for recipes, meal plans to guidance on how to find your why, to really help you get over that hump and start going plant-based today, yes, I'm going to talk about all the humps that we face that may prevent us from doing it, and so that starter kit is really going to help jumpstart that journey. Yes, okay, you know we have to talk about the first one being I'm so worried that I'm not going to get enough protein on a plant-based diet. So, number one, we can let go of that. You're how many years going strong? 12 years, over 12 years? Yeah, and it's February, so I just had my meat-free anniversary 14 years. I'm very happy with you guys, but I don't know about you, but I've never met anybody any vegans that have died from protein deficiency. Nope, it's actually very, very rare. It's actually very hard to do. You'd have to work pretty hard, especially in the US, let's put it that way. So, yes, it's not something you have to worry about and it's something that can be really easily obtained, especially if you're one getting enough calories.
Speaker 2:Two, getting in variety. We know that variety is really important. I wouldn't tell you to eat 10 cups of kale a day, because we know kale is good for you. But the reason I wouldn't recommend that is because then that's going to crowd out you getting in other leafy greens or vegetables or whatever that may be. So that's number two is getting in that variety. And also three, leaning into those protein dense foods. So things like tofu, tempeh, seitan, nuts, legumes, dark leafy greens, all those great things. All plants have protein. All plants have protein. And in the starter kit it actually gives you a bit more tips and tricks on how to make sure that you are getting enough protein. So it gives you some guidance there as well.
Speaker 2:And of course not of course, I guess we haven't started this yet, but we are, katie and I are in the process of creating a high protein plant based snack kit. We've been getting a few kind of questions about that. So we figured why not put it into a kit that you can take and use in your home? Yes, so it won't be an excuse anymore. We're going to let you have a really nice digestible list of some easy go tos for getting your protein in.
Speaker 2:And if anyone asks you where to get your protein, I mean really one of the best responses is Plants have all of the protein you need. There really is no need to worry about it. So what we kind of say is let the critics, the plant-based protein critics, worry about where you get your protein, because you don't have to worry about it. And if you want to do a deeper dive, we have I'll link up our previous episode that we kind of dive into protein and all that good stuff. So I'll make sure that in the show notes that you guys can dive into that previous episode.
Speaker 1:All right, so what's number two?
Speaker 2:number two, oh my gosh. What if everybody thinks of a freak? Oh, yes, a freak like us? That's a good thing to be, is a good thing to be. So, number one, I think and you here, Ash, and I talk about this a lot is Understanding your why.
Speaker 2:Why are you drawn to this way of living? Is it because, when I feel better, you want to have more energy? Is the animals, environment? It doesn't really matter if everybody else understands your why. It matters that you understand your why.
Speaker 2:Whatever draws you to it is gonna help you Hold and your convictions and really help in those difficult conversations of family and friends challenge you. Yes, yeah, and the thing is now I feel like it's becoming a bit more normalized. I mean, people still get made fun of and that you know, maybe given a hard time for being plant-based vegan, whatever it may be, katie, I met someone so I judged a vegan mac and cheese contest, oh yeah. And I met someone who had been vegan for 30 years and she said you wouldn't believe the things people label me as because I was vegan also, too, if they love you the people in your circle, because, honestly, that's who matters most friends of family, if they truly love you, they're going to want what's best for you and it's really important that you do with us for you to along the way.
Speaker 2:We have a couple of episodes where we talk about difficult conversations and some scripts to use. But I always tell people is have a little script going and then practice it in the mirror so you can practice saying it. You know, sometimes with talking about plant-based, there's some kind of science E data stuff that you might want to to use as kind of evidence, and sometimes that might take some Some getting used to kind of rolling off the tongue. So it may sound silly, but I'm always one for being prepared. So yeah, saying in the mirror, making you feel more confident about it, I think it's a really great idea.
Speaker 2:And then, one thing that we always recommend is when anyone is asking you questions or maybe even challenging you, which you can challenge someone in a kind way. But it's really important to recognize whether or not they're coming at you from a place of genuine curiosity. Do they really want to know why you're plant-based or why you're doing what you're doing, or they come into a place of judgment so you can kind of Navigate where that person is coming from and decide for yourself whether or not you want to proceed the conversation. It's coming from judge and be like see ya, and it's so funny. Actually I were talking about this how in high school it wasn't really cool to stand out, and I think now it's much cooler, so it's okay to be, you know, the only one at the table that eats. A certain way, I kind of wear it as a badge of pride, yeah.
Speaker 2:I like my free flag. The third thing we wanted to mention is that I feel like I'm going to do it wrong and I don't have enough time to research and we know Gray rat right now, because everyone is so busy, we don't have time to be spending time on Dr Google trying to figure out how to perfectly eat a plant-based diet. When you're going plant-based, it can be very beneficial to get out of that planning phase and just start. It could be you starting with one meal, like starting with breakfast, starting with a snack, starting with dinner once a week, whatever that may look like for you. Just get out of being in that wishy-washy planning phase. Just start taking those steps. You are going to be so glad that you did it and guess what you will learn along the way. That's pretty much how we did it, but I struggled with this a lot in the beginning because I am I call myself a recovering perfectionist and sometimes that analysis proposes it prevents any progress from happening and that's, you know, the opposite of what we're trying to do. So those little steps and that goes for anything in your life If you want to clean your house, if you want to start working out you know you don't immediately go to the gym and start lifting 200 pounds. You got to take baby steps to work up to it, so just start, just do something. I think that's the secret sauce. Yes, yeah, and I think it's really important, especially when veganism and plant-based has a little bit of kind of like this movement, this kind of cultural movement behind it. When we're talking about ethical and environmental implications, a lot of times you have this pressure to be all or nothing. If I'm not 100% vegan, then they're not gonna let me in the club, and that's just not true. It's so much better for you to take those little steps as opposed to trying to do everything all at once overnight. That's just really setting us up for failure. I could not agree more.
Speaker 2:The fourth one is saying I'm worried I won't get the nutrition I need, and I completely. I mean this is such a valid thought process because when you're transitioning from the standard American diet which most of us were raised on, it can be concerning scary to go plant-based and be like wait a sec, I thought protein came from meat or I thought I needed gosh. I don't even know anymore. What are you saying? I'm a product store Cow's milk for calcium, like that type of thing. There are some valid questions that maybe you need to figure out for yourself, but the great thing about a plant-based diet is it can provide everything that you need, which, of course, we do talk about vitamin B12. We're cutting out the middleman. We're just going straight to the supplements, because now animals are supplemented with vitamin B12, so we don't need them anymore. The great thing is, we live in this modern day and age where we have access to all different sorts of plant-based foods and supplements that can help supplement our diet Absolutely, and I think this is where, if you do take the time to do some research, I think this is the place to start, and our starter kit is a great place to start because we'll touch on kind of the basics and sometimes you go down that rabbit hole and it can be overwhelming.
Speaker 2:So, if you really want to understand, just start with the basics. You know you can start slow with this process. You don't have to jump in and go plant-based overnight, and so I think that's important too. Going slow is going to also allow you to figure out things as you go, to learn from other people, whether you're following people on social media, talking to a dietician or a doctor who promotes a plant-based diet, or maybe you know a friend or a cousin who has gone plant-based. You can kind of just get a little bit of information from them. We don't want you. The thing with the planning is we don't want that to prevent you from moving forward. Sometimes that's just a start and then figure out things as you go. The thing is you're not going to get a nutrient deficiency overnight. So that's good news, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And if you think about it, especially like how I ate as a child, my diet was anything about balance, eating the standard American diet. It was chicken nuggets, it was pizza, it was mac and cheese and that was pretty much it. So if you follow that adage, eat more plants, that's it. We're not even talking about eliminating anything. If you just start there, I think that's a great rule of thumb Just incorporate more plants into your diet. You know APPC.
Speaker 2:Have you seen Katie using different like reels or memes where someone presents a dish to somebody and like, hey, try my delicious pie. And then, like, after they eat it, like, oh wow, that's so good. And like, oh well, let's begin. What I knew there was something off of this dish. I know it tasted funny. So that's number five is Munching up, thinking a vegan food is gross, when in fact we know that it can be, can be very delicious, just like any other way of eating. Oh my gosh, ashley and I just chow down on, shout out to dairy cheese. Oh my gosh, it is the best vegan cheese ever, so good. I think they're out of Asheville.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, in North Carolina with cacoledickey yeah, it was so good, so I was part of our lunch today. But With vegan food, especially with plant-based food, just kind of start with some easy swaps again. It doesn't have to be this big change that you make overnight. We're just like starting to swap out things periodically. Like if you drink cow's milk right now, maybe try Soy milk or almond milk or P milk. Like just try a few and see what you like. Or if you tend to do a lot of burgers, like try switching it out for a veggie burger, black bean burger, even like a beyond or impossible burger, and see what you think and that can help get you acclimated to plant-based foods.
Speaker 2:We are lucky enough to be in the internet age. Recipe Anything dreams could imagine. It is out there and is veganized for you. So we have a couple bloggers that we really like that are usually simple, few ingredients. So minimalist Baker if you want to join our newsletter, we post recipes every week and she is usually among them. Plant you Carly is a great Instagram page and then Tony with plant-based on a budget. So if you are a budget shopper, like I am really delicious recipes but super, super simple and very cost effective.
Speaker 2:And the plant-based foods include things like fruits, red most people love red, red and vegan apples are vegan Veggies. You know it. Just, it doesn't have to be this like bland pizza, tofu that you're eating. It can be a lot of really cool thing. My goodness, instagram these days. You type in like plant-based recipes, plant-based foods, and you're just in a date of like all these gorgeous meals, so delicious.
Speaker 2:And this is I think this is one of the biggest myths, I think is that going plant-based or going vegan it's too expensive. So that's gonna prevent me from making that goal, and I think that's a big myth because a lot of the what we call kind of transition foods the plant-based Alternative, plant-based meat alternatives can be really expensive. And if you stick to kind of simple foods potatoes, grains, rice, bananas, banana, all of that stuff you know this peasant food is vegan and it's very cost-effective, so you know you're not really required to eat these kind of plant alternatives. Those are really just serves as to kind of get you over the hump if you want to. But those are kind of special occasion foods at my house. Yeah, I would say so too. I typically eat those like on the weekends and they are expensive. And I add that if you buy a lot of those convenient plant-based foods it can get pretty pricey, but, like Katie was saying, I mean a lot of whole plant-based foods are really affordable. We didn't mention beans gosh beans are gonna be on there.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. Actually I think it was. Pcrm did a study that showed you can save around 16% on your grocery bill 16% by switching from a standard American diet to a plant-based diet. I've seen studies show that you can save like $500 a year, $750 a year. I'll give some anecdotal evidence those of you who know that Ashley and I used to work together this is where I think planning can be beneficial. She taught me how to meal plan on a plant-based diet and my budget was cut in half, half, 50%. It was amazing, and so I'm a. She turned me into a believer for sure.
Speaker 2:Again, I'm walking proof that it doesn't have to be expensive, that you can actually save money. Yes, big time, and especially with the rising prices with eat dairy eggs like my beef is the way to go, in my opinion. I'm feeling that it's not going to get any better. Yes, also, we talk a lot about you know if you want to go to your local farmers market, sometimes that can be beneficial in saving you some money. Buying in season can be helpful, not just in saving money, but the food typically tastes better. Buying in bulk, whether it's from a place like Costco, sam's, even Amazon, can help you save some money on those ingredients that you use frequently. I have Mewch as a subscription in bulk because we go through it so often. Shout out to Nudes which is nutritionally east.
Speaker 2:So I have an Amazon subscription for that, because the stuff at the grocery store comes in a small container and I'm like oh, oh, oh you can't do that, go through like cups a day or not a day a week Busted, but I think it's a good reminder that any effort is better than no effort. So, 80%, if you're 80% plant-based during the week and then you want to eat whatever you want on the weekends, that's better than 0%. So, again, let go of that kind of perfectionist mindset and start slow and just see what works for you. Yeah, I could not agree more.
Speaker 2:The last one that we wanted to mention and this is something that we see in the many, many clients that we've worked with and just people that we talk with on social media is that it's too hard or it is challenging, and there are aspects of plant-based that can be challenging because, again, you're doing something completely different or, for the most part, pretty different than what you've done growing up or how you were raised or what you've been doing for the past few years. The thing is, katie had mentioned meal planning. That can be your saving grace to making this transition easier. We cannot recommend meal planning enough and, I'll be honest, I was so resistant to meal planning at one point in my life even meal prepping, and now I can't imagine a life without it because it saves me so much time and energy.
Speaker 2:I go to the grocery store, I know exactly what I'm getting for the week. I don't overbuy, I don't underbuy usually, so it can be just really beneficial in helping you make that transition. So if you feel like going plant-based, just this big brick, actual brick wall that you have to knock down meal planning can be really, really beneficial, just setting aside even just like 30 minutes of your week to plan out your meals for the week and really be helpful. I'm I'll preach about me a plan to the day.
Speaker 2:I die because I don't know about you guys, but it just caused so much stress for me during the week and this makes it the Elimination of that stress is just worth it tenfold. I think of how many times you're going to the grocery if you don't. Oh, I know I haven't been to the grocery store and I can't. I order. I can't. Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 1:I cannot remember the loss I would at the grocery store.
Speaker 2:But that's because of meal planning. I may. I list and I know exactly. I do one order, one week and Easy-peasy. It's like clockwork and set up what do you want. Or, for me personally, I was making lots of convenience choices, so it just makes going plant-based so much easier when you have that kind of guideline to help steer you, yes, where you want to go. Yeah, one thing that can make the meal planning process fun, and even going plant-based fun, is having themed nights. So you've heard of taco Tuesday, so imagine doing that for the other days of the week, just to make your life a little bit easier, so that each week you know, oh, I don't have to come up with this brand new recipe or idea for dinner. I'm following sort of a guideline that I set up for myself. So you could do like a Mediterranean Monday at taco Tuesday. Am I gonna do? You can make tacos. So many different ways, so many lentils you can buy, you know, free made vegan ground beef if you wanted to. My favorite is oh.
Speaker 2:It's just like it, guys. I'm not even joking. It is so good cauliflower tacos like. There's just so many different things that you can do. A Few other ideas to see. Wednesday could be like instant pot Wednesday. Pizza night Friday can't forget that we had pizza nights every night when I was growing up, from Domino's, right, yeah, but now it's like what? How many different iterations of pizza can we make? Plant-based? Yeah?
Speaker 2:so many, so many. I think my sister does like a curry Thursday. So there's just a lot of different ways. Especially if you're cooking for Several people in your family can be nice to have that theme and that waiver could be like oh, we're having tacos tonight, like this is kind of what I want you know for the week, or whatever it is. Oh, my god, we forgot your favorite game breakfast for dinner.
Speaker 1:Oh, breakfast for dinner. Yes, you have to try that one too. That's definitely my favorite.
Speaker 2:And then cookbooks. They're so actually, I'm just talking about this how many good cookbooks there are out there. I'm gonna show Ed. Oh, like I mentioned, tony has a great cookbook and you has a great cookbook, ed was just on our loving bread. I know Ed was just on Ed and his partner was just on for the podcast bread it's a big no-workout person.
Speaker 2:Beautiful cookbook, oh my god. Yeah, if you love sourdough, that's definitely cookbooks you get. So I think cookbooks give you some inspiration, especially if you're the type of person that loves to be in the kitchen. You want to be inspired, you want to try stuff and experiment. Yeah, I think cookbooks are a great way to kind of make it feel more fun, more easy. Definitely, yeah, and we talked about earlier with transitioning to plant-based.
Speaker 2:If it does seem like a big hurdle, starting with one meal Whether it's one meal a week, one meal a day can help make the transition of it easier too. It just gets you formated to what shopping for a plant-based meal looks like, what even looking for a plant-based recipe Looks like and cooking one. So it gives you sort of a nice little intro to what this lifestyle is. Amazing lifestyle. I think it's about setting yourself up for success. Like you know, look around. What can make life easier for you. So is it what? An insta pot? Would that make Cooking beans be easier for you? Or, like we said, buying a cookbook with that? Give you a Direction to go to if you really like Italian food guess what? There's Chloe, what's her name? From post-pump kitchen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she has an Italian cookbook. That's on this too, yeah, but I've heard it's fantastic. So there's, there's lots of different things that you can do to kind of set yourself up for success, to kind of Make your path as easy as possible. Yeah, yeah, no matter how you're knocking down these walls, what we do know is that Baby steps, small changes, add up over time. They add up to big results over time. And so, even if you're just knocking down one brick at a time, over and over again, you're eventually gonna break through that wall and you're gonna be on the other side and you're gonna be like, oh, we did it and and think about that future self. That's kind of the goal, that's what you're gonna get, get, get towards, and it feels like you're like looking up at Mount Everest. But just think about it. It's not that it's hard, it's just different. Yes, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's someone our favorite business mantras yeah not hard, it's just new, or?
Speaker 2:different? Yeah, just new. So I think it's a little bit of a mindset shift, just one little step at a time. Yeah, yep, either way, no matter where you're at on your plant-based journey, we love helping you not just break down walls, but if you're already on the other side, and congratulations to you.
Speaker 2:I know that there were probably some walls that you had to knock down on your own end to get to where you're at today. So we're on the other side of this mic cheering you on through your headphones. If you're looking for a bit more guidance, that starter kit is really a great place to start to kind of help get you over some of these humps, these hurdles, these little brick walls, and Highly recommend that you can click below in the show notes to access that starter kit really easily. It's amazing and and we really developed it with that in mind that To try to take away some of the struggles that we faced when we first started. So we know we've been there, so we did the work for you Well, thank you so much for tuning in today. We appreciate you. We can't thank you enough for being here. We hope you have a lovely rest of your day. Thanks, we'll catch you on the next episode. I know we're ready. It's good. It's gonna be a good February. Yep, yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening to the plant centered and thriving podcast today. If you found this episode inspiring, please share it with a friend or post it on social media and tag me so I can personally say thank you. Until next time, keep thriving.
