Nutritionist Rohini Bajekal (vegan) on Transitioning to a Healthy Plant-Based Diet

While some have succeeded in changing their diet overnight, others have taken more time and had some challenges in effectively transitioning. We joyfully invite you to listen to Ms. Rohini Bajekal, a highly trained British nutritionist, as she imparts to us savvy suggestions and helpful hints for a successful switch. The nutritionist and her mother hold online vegan cooking classes for Made in Hackney, the UK’s first plant-based community cookery school.

What should one eat during the transitioning term? “There are lots of gently processed foods such as tofu or canned beans or things like that that can help us. And I also believe that transition foods have a place in the diet. So, for example, if you're transitioning to a plant-based diet, it could be helpful to swap cheese for a vegan cheese just while you're starting out. But the truth is we all need to educate ourselves on the healthiest, cheapest, most delicious and nourishing way to eat, which is definitely cooking from scratch.”

“We should also be minimizing, limiting our consumption of oils. We can get all the fats that we need from things like avocados, nuts, seeds, soy, and these are all great examples of where we can get healthy fats, healthy monounsaturated fat. One of the things I really recommend for optimal brain health is taking omega-3 supplements such as a DHA or EPA supplement. This is from algae which is where the fish get their omega-3s from. But you can actually get all the omega-3s that you really need by eating whole plant foods like ground flax seeds, walnuts, hemp seeds and milled chia seeds.”

“My advice is go for it, you won't regret it. Being vegan is not a sacrifice. It's a diet of abundance. There are 20,000 edible plant species, and we eat the same six animals. My vision is that people start thinking about these things more and more, and together, we can all create a more kind, compassionate world.”