If you’re wondering how to upgrade your diet with more plant based food, it’s is much easier than you think. Get started with my 10 Ultimate plant-based food swaps. They're easy and healthy whole food alternatives that are gluten and dairy-free.
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We’re constantly being bombarded in the news, and just about everywhere else we look, with information about food and diet.
When you’re looking to do something simple so that you can eat better, sleep better, feel better, it seems that everyone has an opinion.
It can feel overwhelming thinking of all the things you want to do, wondering where the heck you should start especially when constantly on the go.
I’m not going to tell you what or how you should be eating.
But what I’d love to do, is provide a place where you can grab simple, fun recipes and ideas to upgrade your diet without always having to cook.
By breaking overwhelming tasks into baby steps it becomes a whole lot easier and more fun to do.
Making healthier food choices meant trying to find both cooked and raw alternatives bit by bit rather than all at once.
Image by Mizina from Getty Images via Canva.
What did I do to upgrade my diet?
When I started out, I researched plant-based alternatives to what I was already eating.
So I looked for different sweeteners like maple syrup for example to replace table sugar, then looked for gluten free flour alternatives and wheat free grains etc. to see what I could find.
Then turned the whole thing into a kind of game so those times when I was feeling a bit bored with my routine I could always swap things up a little in my own cheeky way.
Well, I felt it was cheeky anyway.
Why tell the kids I was making brownies with beetroot or a tin of black beans?
I made cakes with coconut flour, ice cream with week-old bananas that had begun to go brown (they’re sweeter like this).
I started making raw sweets for fun using pitted dates and the almond-meal left after making nut milk.
Each food swap had to be an upgrade from my usual ingredients and also had to be gluten free, refined sugar free and dairy free.
So I started up a list of things which with time, just grew and grew and ended up creating a small chart which I stuck to the front of our fridge.
10 Easy plant-based food swaps.
1 - Simplify Fats
Instead of reaching into the cupboard to find all sorts fats I simplified to just these:
- Coconut oil, olive oil, extra virgin olive oil (for dips, sauces and drizzling)
- Avocado
- Nuts and seeds
- Coconut
- Olives
2 - Sugars
There are so many different names given to the sugar in our foods. I like to stick to these:
- Stevia
- Maple syrup
- Lucuma powder
- Coconut sugar
- Dates and date paste
3 - Table Salt
I swap this with unrefined sea salt / celtic sea salt because table salt is stripped of its natural mineral content during processing.
4 - Bread
Now that we have much better sources of gluten-free bread available to us this can be a fab alternative. Crackers, oatcakes, and sprouted grain breads can make a delightful change. There are so many to choose from now and do look out for those with the least amount of additives, preservatives and flavouring.
5 - Breakfast cereal
Make your own cereal using gluten free alternatives such as oats, buckwheat and quinoa. You can also use nuts and seeds - I love chia seeds, hemp, almonds and hazelnuts.
What favourites do you have?
6 - Cakes and cookies
Gluten free flours such as coconut flour and ground almonds can be used make wonderful cakes and tarts.
Have you discovered chocolate coconut bliss balls? They’re gorgeous!
You can make cookies and cakes with raw ingredients and you’ll be amazed at how simple and delicious they are.
7 - Croutons
How about using your favourite nuts or seeds instead?
8 - Dairy milk
Non dairy milks are easily available now in most supermarkets, but you need to watch out for added ingredients in some brands.
I love the taste of freshly made dairy free milks like oat milk, almond and hazelnut. I do sometimes buy pre-made alternatives from the supermarket when I’m pushed for time but they have to avoid using thickeners, flavourings, additives and preservatives in their produce.
9 - Eggs
Aquafaba (the liquid from tins of chickpeas), psyllium husk powder, ground flax seed, chia seeds.
10 - Wheat Flour
Almond flour, buckwheat flour, coconut flour, chickpea flour, gluten free flour.
As with any change in your diet you should always speak to your doctor or qualified healthcare professional before making changes and to discuss if including more plant-based and raw foods would be suitable for you.
If you enjoyed this post, I’d be so grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Facebook. Thank you!
Fresh cuppa anyone?
Bye for now.
Juliette
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