Whether you’re a newly vegan or have been eating plant-based for a
while, you probably have asked yourself how much of everything should
you be eating to get all the necessary nutrients.
There’s a lot
of information out there that says we should make sure we get the right
amount of protein, don’t forget to eat avocados for healthy fat, and
don’t forget to drink the fortified nut milk for calcium!
How do you synthesize all the information and create a plan that works for you?
Over the last year and half of being a vegan, I read dozens of nutrition books and in this article, I’m sharing the best method you can follow to ensure you get all the nutrients your body needs on a plant-based diet. As you read every word of this article, you will find out practical tips on implementing this method in your everyday meals. Let’s get to it!
The Vegan Plate Method
The best way to make sure you’re getting all the nutrients as a vegan is to follow The Vegan Plate Method. This method shows all the critical foods and how much of each you should eat every day.
Many countries around the world use the Food Plate Method to show and encourage their citizens on how to get proper nutrition with staple foods available in that country. As you can imagine there are many variations of plates in the world.
Since I’m based in the U.S., I will be using the U.S. plate guidelines that have been modified for plant-based eaters. It is a good guide to use and having lived overseas, I believe all the foods I mention below are widely accessible and inexpensive.
Vegetables (5 servings a day)
We’ve always heard how important it is to eat vegetables pretty much from childhood. Now, that we’re adults we realize how important it is to include a variety of vegetables in our daily meals.
A healthy plant-based diet must include 5 servings of vegetables a day. Is this a lot or a little? What is one serving size? Is it even possible to eat that much in one day?
One serving of vegetables equates to:
- 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables (e.g. mushrooms, green beans)
- 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach, kale)
- 1/2 cup vegetable juice
Now, that we know what the serving size is, let’s break it down to see how it translates to daily meals. You should aim to mix raw and cooked vegetables during the day.
For lunch, have a side salad of one cup of leafy greens with shredded carrots, radishes, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Pair the salad with a whole wheat sandwich, 1/2 cup grilled mushrooms, grilled red peppers, and grilled onions. [3 servings of vegetables]
For dinner, have another side salad with leafy greens and fresh vegetables and include 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables as a side dish. This could be grilled bok choy, green beans, asparagus, or broccoli. [2 servings]
If you’d like to skip on a salad for lunch or dinner, then have ½ cup of freshly squeezed vegetable juice for breakfast or as a mid-morning snack. Juicing is the easiest way to up your daily vegetable intake. You can easily drink 1 cup of fresh vegetable juice in one sitting. Alternatively, you could have a green smoothie for breakfast with 1 cup of spinach or kale.
If you are not in the mood to cook for dinner, then increase your leafy greens to 2 cups and add more fresh vegetables to create a large, delicious salad.
Don’t shy away from having vegetables for breakfast either. Avocado toast, tofu or chickpea scramble with grilled vegetables all count as a vegetable serving for the day.
It’s also important to mix it up. I’d like to emphasize the importance of not only mixing things up during the day but also during the week. As humans, we are creatures of habit. If we like something, we keep eating it day after day. I’m this way with my smoothies and salads.
My best advice for mixing things up is to do it while you are at the grocery store. If you don’t know exactly which salads you’ll be making this week, spend 5 extra minutes in the produce section. Look at all the fresh ingredients. Does anything catch your eye? Watercress? White radish? Oyster mushrooms?
Be adventurous and grab something new. You don’t always need a recipe for everything! Eat it fresh or just grill it/roast it with some salt and pepper!
The key to ensuring you’re eating enough during the day is to track it. It could be annoying, I know. But if you really care about eating enough and making sure you’re getting the right amount of nutrients and vitamins, write it down every day.
You don’t have to track everything you eat, just write down the main ingredients you ate or cooked with each day. Over the course of the week, you will notice patterns. You will see if you favor one vegetable over the other. It will help you with your grocery shopping for the following week.
Fruits (4 servings a day)
Fruits are another key food group you should be having every day. Always choose whole, fresh fruit to get the maximum amount of nutrients and vitamins. Aim to eat fruits of different colors during the day and week. “Eat the rainbow” is very applicable here!
So, what does one serving of fruit look like?
- 1 medium fruit (e.g. apple, banana, orange)
- 1/2 cup chopped fruit (e.g. watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe)
- 1/4 cup dried fruit (e.g. dried apricots, figs, prunes)
Fruits are the powerhouse of vitamins and antioxidants. They contain all kinds of crucial Vitamins such as A (cantaloupe, apricot, mango), K (grapes, kiwi), C (blackberries, kiwi, citrus), B (banana).
Berries such as raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries are great sources of antioxidants. Antioxidants protect us from free radical damage. Free radical damage is the toxic byproduct of oxygen metabolism which occurs naturally in our bodies. Vitamins and antioxidants combat these radicals.
Should you consume fresh or frozen fruits? Fresh is always better. However, the reality is that not all fruits are in season year-around. Berries are a good example of fruits that are not in season in the winter. Therefore, it is perfectly fine to buy them frozen and add them to your breakfast in the morning. It is far better to have them frozen than none at all.
In addition, many food companies that pick and package frozen fruits commit to doing so at the peak of their ripeness. In some cases, frozen fruit can have higher nutrient content than fresh because freezing may actually preserve some of the nutrient content value.
Fruits are also great sources of fiber. Fiber is fundamental to ensuring regular bowel movements. It is key to preventing constipation. Fiber also positively contributes to gut health and weight management.
In recent years, some people may say that fruits contain too many carbs and that they aren’t good for us. That is such baloney! Fruits are essential to living a long and healthy life. Carbohydrates in whole plants are unrefined and mostly complex. These are not the same as refined carbs that are present in processed foods such as white flour and white or brown sugar.
And not to forget, carbohydrates provide us with energy to get through the day.
To increase your intake of fresh fruits during the day, add fruit to your breakfast. Add 1 banana (chopped or mashed) and 1/2 blueberries to your oatmeal. It will get you 2 servings of fruit for the day.
You can also add fruit to smoothies. My favorite smoothies are Green Breakfast Smoothies. These are smoothies where you add fruits, vegetables, and oats to create a filling breakfast smoothie. For fruits, mix up 2 different pieces of fruit such as banana + orange, or 1 cup of mixed berries. For vegetables, I prefer to add 1 cup of leafy greens such as spinach or kale. This one smoothie will give you 2 servings of fruit, 1 serving of vegetable, and 1 serving of grain (we will cover grains in just a bit).
Another easy way to increase your fruit consumption is to bring it as a snack to work or school. Grab some grapes, strawberries, or mandarins to enjoy in between meals.
Legumes (3 servings a day)
What are legumes? Legume is a simple, dry fruit contained within a pod. Popular legumes such as beans, peas, lentils, and peanuts are largely available worldwide making them staple food in many cultures.
Legumes are high in protein and should be incorporated into meals every day. Legumes are also high in two indispensable amino acids (IAA): lysine and tryptophan.
Protein is made up of chains of amino acids. There are two types of amino acids: indispensable and dispensable. IAAs are the types of amino acids that the human body cannot manufacture and must get from food. The other types of amino acids are synthesized within the body from the IAAs.
Therefore, it is important to ensure you’re consuming legumes on a daily basis to get the right amount of IAAs.
Lysine is an essential amino acid that is indispensable in producing protein. The World Health Organization (WHO) daily intake recommendation is 30mg per kg of body weight. Let’s say if you weigh 120lbs you should consume 1,620mg a day.
This number may seem like a lot, but you can get enough if you eat approximately 1.5 cups of beans a day. Other foods that are high in lysine are pistachios, pumpkin seeds, edamame, and quinoa.
Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that plays a role in maintaining healthy body tissues. The daily recommended intake of tryptophan is much lower than lysine at about 4 mg/kd/day. You can easily get that from your daily legume intake. Foods such as soy and pumpkin seeds are particularly high in Tryptophan.
It’s recommended to soak or sprout the beans before cooking to increase their digestibility. Soaking beans starts to break down their proteins which is a good thing. The proteins split into shorter chains of amino acids, essentially beginning the digestion process. Soaking beans also helps get rid of anti-nutrients such as phytic acid and lectins which cause gas.
In order to get the necessary nutrients, aim for 3 servings of legumes each day. Here’s what 1 serving looks like:
- 1/2 cup of cooked beans, peas, lentils, tofu, or tempeh
- 1/4 cup of peanuts
- 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
On a typical day, have 1/2 cup of beans for lunch, another 1/2 cup for dinner, and 1/4 cup of peanuts as a snack. You can incorporate beans into your salad or cook them into a meal such as falafels, burger, or stews. You can also sub peanuts for a pb sandwich or add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to morning oatmeal or smoothie.
Grains (3 servings a day)
Grains are excellent sources of complex carbohydrates, which are vital for energy, fiber, and protein. In a healthy diet, at least half of grains should come from whole grains. Whole grains are unrefined grains such as brown rice, quinoa, and barley. Example of refined grains is white flour and the foods made with it such as pizza dough and pasta.
Grains are low in fat and contain no cholesterol, they are affordable and widely available making them a staple in many cultures around the world.
In recent years, there has been some speculation about whether grains are good for you and some have advocated for grain-free, low-carb diets. Based on my research, I believe this trend stems from the fact that many Americans consume refined grains that are high in calories and low in nutrition value. Unrefined grains, however, such as cooked quinoa is a healthy choice of grain.
From a nutrition standpoint, cooked whole-grains are always going to trump whole-grain flour. To make flour, the grain must be processed which strips it from many valuable nutrients. The more the grains have been processed, the less nutritional value they have. Therefore, it is always better to consume grains that are intact. For example, cooked brown rice is better for you than crackers or bread made with brown rice flour.
Sprouting and soaking grains has also shown to enhance their nutritional value. Below is the list of most nutritious whole grains, listed in the order from highest to lowest:
- Intact (brown rice, quinoa)
- Broken (bulgur)
- Rolled (barley, rolled oats)
- Shredded (shredded wheat)
- Ground (flours)
- Flaked (cereal)
- Puffed (puffed millet)
What does 1 serving look like?
- 1/2 cup cooked grains such as rice, pasta, quinoa
- 1 slice of bread
- 1/2 cup corn
You can easily incorporate grains into daily meals. Have 1/2 cup for lunch and another one for dinner. This will be 2 servings. You can add another serving of grain by eating oatmeal for breakfast, granola bar as a snack, or add granola in yogurt.
Since grains are sources of complex carbohydrates and supply energy, you can adjust your daily intake up or down depending on your physical activity level. If you don’t exercise much and have a sedentary desk job, then it is safe to lower your intake a bit. On the other hand, if you are an athlete or exercise every day you should consume at least three servings and go up if you need to sustain energy level throughout the day.
As with vegetables and fruits, it’s wise to eat a variety of grains. I find it easiest to vary grains I eat from week to week. Cook brown rice one week, quinoa the next, and bulgur the following, etc. During the cold months, grains are great with stews and even soups. During the warmer months, you can cook them into burgers, stuff them into vegetables, or make salads and buddha bowls.
What if you are gluten-free? The reality is that most popular grains are not gluten-free. However, that is not to stay that there aren’t any gluten-free grains. In fact, here is a list of 9 grains that are gluten-free and offer superb nutritional value:
- Quinoa
- Millet
- Amaranth
- Sorghum
- Brown Rice
- Teff
- Oats
- Buckwheat
- Corn
- Nuts and Seeds (1 serving a day)
Nuts and seeds are key sources of healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals in a vegan diet. They tremendously enhance the quality of a vegan diet.
Nuts and seeds, along with avocado, coconut, and olives, are the most concentrated sources of plant-based fat. One of the best parts of consuming nuts and seeds as your source of healthy fat is that their fat content is unaltered. It is unsaturated fat vs. saturated fat present in animal products.
Nuts are high in antioxidants which protect them from going rancid. Antioxidants are molecules that inhibit the oxidation of other molecules, therefore protecting them. Walnuts are particularly rich in antioxidants in addition to containing high levels of vitamin E.
Many key vitamins and minerals are present in nuts such as B6, niacin, riboflavin, and folate. Nuts are very low in carbohydrates and have a low glycemic index making it a great snack without spiking insulin levels.
Nuts are also good sources of plant protein and are high in L-arginine. This is the amino acid that enhances blood flow.
Seeds also contain high levels of vitamins and minerals and are good sources of vitamin E. Seeds such as flaxseeds, chia, and hemp should be a staple in a plant-based diet. What I like to do is to mix equal parts of all the three seeds and keep in them in a glass jar. It makes it easy to add a tablespoon of this seed mix to smoothies, oatmeals, and salads.
One serving of nuts and seeds every day should be enough to supply you with the necessary nutrients. Here’s what 1 serving looks like:
- 1/4 cup nuts and seeds
- 2 tablespoon nut or seed butter
To consume every day, pack 1/4 cup of nuts and seeds as a snack to work or school. You can have it along with fruits. This combination makes it a very wholesome and energizing snack. It’s better than afternoon coffee!
It’s also a great idea to add 2 tablespoons of nut butter or tahini to smoothies or oatmeal if you’d like to consume it during breakfast.
Additional tips:
- Always go for unroasted nuts and seeds. Roasting oxidizes nuts and seeds decreasing the nutritional value. However, it’s worth noting that if you prefer the taste of roasted nuts, it’s better to consume them roasted than not consuming them at all.
- Go for unsalted kind. Salt adds unnecessary sodium.
- Vary it up! Mix and match nuts throughout the week to get a balanced nutritional profile. I also like to add dried apricots or raising to my nut mix to keep it interesting.
Some ideas on nut mixes you can make for a snack:
- Cashews, brazil nuts, dried mango.
- Pecans and pumpkin seeds.
- Pistachios, goji berries, and sunflower seeds.
- Peanuts, raisins, pumpkin seeds.
- Walnuts, sunflower seeds, dried apricot.
- Almonds, hazelnuts, and raisins.
In summary, the Vegan Plate Method is a very reliable plant-based guide. By following this method you can be sure that you will get the right nutrients your body needs to be a healthy vegan. Every day aim to eat 5 servings of vegetables, 4 servings of fruit, 3 servings of grains, 3 servings of legumes, and 1 serving of nut and seeds.
If you are a visual person like me, print out the Vegan Plate Method graphic and put it on your fridge. This way it’s always in front of you. Click below to enroll in my Free Vegan Nutrition Basics Mini-Course to get this graphic e-mailed to you along with three e-mail lessons that will teach you everything you need to know about vegan nutrition basics.