Vegan nutrition can seem really complicated at the beginning. You are uncertain whether you get all the necessary nutrients and whether you can stay healthy on a vegan diet. If you follow these 10 simple rules, you can be sure that you are on the right path to a balanced and healthy plant based diet.
Rule 1
Eat as varied as possible. Eat the rainbow! Try to eat as colorfully as possible.
Rule 2
Fresh fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains should be part of your daily diet. These foods are the foundation of a healthy vegan diet.
Rule 3
You should take vitamin B12 either as pills, injections or in form of toothpaste or fortified foods and drinks. Once a year you should get your blood tested and have the B12 level and other important nutrients like iron checked.
Rule 4
Especially in winter, go outside and sunbath. You should be outdoors for at least 15 minutes a day, exposing as much skin as possible to the sun, so that your body can produce vitamin D. But make sure to not get sunburned. If you still feel tired in winter, you can take vitamin D as a dietary supplement. You can take pills with vegan vitamin D2 or with vitamin D3.
Rule 5
Eat algae or iodized salt regularly to be well supplied with iodine. But please don’t overdo it. Too much iodine is also not good and can even make you sick.
Rule 6
Drinks or eats vitamin C-containing beverages or foods with meals to optimize iron intake. For example, you can drink a fruit juice with your meal or eat vegetables such as spinach, paprika, broccoli, green cabbage or Brussels sprouts that contain a lot of vitamin C.
Rule 7
Eat linseed, chia seed, linseed oil or walnuts regularly to get omega-3 fatty acids.
Rule 8
Additional fats and oils, especially inferior oils, should only be consumed in small quantities, e. g. do not eat fried foods every day. Fats should be consumed primarily in the form of healthy, wholesome foods such as seeds and nuts.
Rule 9
You should only eat refined sugar and wheat flour in moderation. Instead you can use cane sugar, coconut blossom sugar or birch sugar or sweeten with stevia, agave syrup or maple syrup. Instead of wheat flour you should prefer wholemeal or spelt flour.
Rule 10
Industrially processed foods (such as vegetable oils, spreadable fats, refined sugar) should only be consumed rarely.
Source: https://www.provegan.info/fileadmin/pdf/broschuere-vegan.pdf
