nikaLIVE: How to love plant-based food?

A varied diet based on products of plant origin is recommended by WHO and other international organizations and societies as the basis for good health and well-being . How to switch to this type of diet and convince yourself to eat plants, we talk to a nutrition educator, author of a series of books titled: "Smakoterapia", host of the program "Cook for me, mom!" and vocalist Iwona Zaszuwa . The recording of the conversation can be viewed at this link.

Is switching to a more plant-based diet a big challenge?

Iwona Zasuwa: It's actually not very difficult, the most important thing is to learn certain patents on how to use commonly known plant products. For the first time, I received a recommendation from a dietitian to include them in my son's diet. The main goal was to implement a natural, unprocessed product . It is not difficult to eat plant-based when we only buy ready-made products from the store. But the task was more difficult - everything had to be cooked from scratch. I remember that when I put millet on the table, which I was supposed to serve to my son every day, I didn't agree with it a bit. In my opinion, millet was bland, bland and tasteless. I love taste, so this aspect is very important to me. I added carrots, parsley, celery, onion, beetroot and other pickles to this groats and I really had no idea what I should really do to make it edible. So, in my opinion, the hardest thing is to switch and acquire certain skills . To achieve this goal, participating in workshops and learning how to use natural products is very useful. Of course, it's not about being constantly tense about this issue. The diet must be adapted to our lifestyle , we cannot be slaves to food. I myself follow the philosophy that if there are no health problems, we can afford an 80/20 balance, i.e. 80% of a good, balanced diet and 20% of sins, which in this proportion will not harm us. Let's not stress about our diet, let's not strain ourselves over the plate, because then the whole process will fail.

Maybe you could also share some practical tips on where we should start?

First, we should look for our "own" flavors . Let's play with spices and experiment with additions. Our taste buds also have their habits, but that doesn't mean they can't be changed. From childhood, we are taught a variety of nutrition, but at the same time, we make a lot of mistakes that we do not know about. We eat huge amounts of wheat, completely giving up other healthy grains: oats, rye and barley. We eat a lot of dairy products, a lot of meat, and unfortunately it is most often a poor quality product. Processed meat, with huge amounts of salt, sometimes even sugar, make the diet total
mish mash.

Second, we should educate ourselves . Learn what to choose, how to shop, how to cook to get the best from food. My suggestion is to make these changes gradually. To make plant products taste better, season your dishes generously with your favorite additions. I am a supporter of non-drastic changes and small steps . My experience shows that people start making changes too late - when something hurts, we are tired, the so-called diseases begin to appear. "food basket", i.e. diet-related diseases. Health is one and this vehicle in which we travel through life on earth is non-replaceable. It is much easier to take care of prevention than to later reverse the effects of what has already happened. This is my passion - drawing on medicine and knowledge from the Far East, where the main focus is prevention.

To sum up: to change our eating style, we first look for theoretical information, e.g. books, blogs, TV programs, and then we try to sign up for workshops to try out the acquired knowledge in practice. In your opinion, is this the most effective method?

Definitely yes, although we must be aware that the Internet is full of mutually exclusive theories . It's not that simple, many people come to me with a lot of knowledge, but they cannot systematize this knowledge. For example, two extreme dietary concepts: vegan raw food, i.e. eating everything plant-based and only raw, and on the other hand, the keto diet - both of these concepts only make sense when selected in appropriate cases. The most important thing here is the individualization of indications , preferably from a specialist who will recommend which direction to go based on the tests and clinical picture. Of course, if we are permanently healthy, there is nothing wrong with us, that is, we get up in the morning without needing coffee, we have a lot of energy, we do not feel tired after a meal, which means that we have a lot of energy and we most likely eat properly. In Chinese medicine, there are two main sources of energy: our own (so-called genetic, pre-birth) and what we get from our lifestyle, i.e. from nutrition, breathing, movement and the relationships we establish. If we are forced to use only the energy we obtained before birth, we take a large loan from our body.

However, if we take care of at least the four points above: conscious breathing, rational nutrition, regular exercise and peace of mind , we have much more energy. Of course, we do not live in an ideal world, I often examine my conscience because the constant rush of everyday life even leads to impaired breathing. I have been singing for 30 years and I work on breathing and I try to emphasize that breathing is the only automatic activity of the body that we can influence . Stopping on this breath and checking whether we are breathing correctly - deeply, including the diaphragm - is very important. Speaking of food, man is not created to eat the so-called "dry food" . What I mean here are poor sandwiches filled with coffee or, even worse, cold sheikh or tea.

I guess the big problem is that nowadays few people have time to cook everything from scratch. Things that can be eaten immediately (e.g. sandwiches and fast food) in most cases contain animal ingredients, and of questionable quality. Therefore, plant-based and natural nutrition at the modern pace of life is a challenge. Where to find this time and how to fit it into your life schedule?

I would turn this question around and ask it a little differently - when do you have time for yourself? When do you become your own priority? Unfortunately, I notice that we only become our priority when we are in pain. It is known that youth has its rights and many times we do not even feel that something bad is happening. It's a matter of working on yourself and being for yourself, which goes beyond dietary recommendations. We have a tendency to leave ourselves at the end of the string of responsibilities . And here I encourage you to examine and analyze - "where am I with my needs? How can I carve out some time for myself every day? Will I be able to set myself high enough to cook this soup for myself and, for example, preserve it? There are methods, such as preserving, that will allow us to save some time without losing the quality of the meal. In my book I included a recipe for the so-called "instant soup" . I put any paste at the bottom of the jar, which will be the essence or concentrate of my soup. I add chopped vegetables and take it to work, where I just pour boiling water over the jar and have dinner ready. We also live in times when we have quite wide access to good quality products. There are also catering companies that offer a really good product.

However, the starting point should be the reflection "at what level of my responsibilities am I?" . My work on myself showed me that, unfortunately, I simply did not fit on my list. Unfortunately, it turned out that none of the things I did during the day were done with myself in mind. This is probably why all my workshops are never strictly culinary, because life does not end with food alone. During the workshops, I often heard participants say: "I can cook, I even found time for it, I know the rules of healthy eating, and yet it turns out that I don't feel like eating anything in the evening." I always say that this is the moment to find a place for yourself in your life. I encourage you to take care of yourself, take care of your breathing, nutrition, movement and emotions - all of this strongly correlates with each other and translates into our overall well-being. On the other hand, I encourage you to have fun with food, to set aside, for example, 2 days a week in which we devote ourselves to cooking something that we like and love. It's all about the fact that we don't value ourselves. We underestimate our health.

Men often defend themselves with the argument that plant food is not very specific and they do not eat it well. What can we do about it?

The first thread is: we do not evangelize anyone, we do not persuade anyone to change their lifestyle . If someone does not want to take any action in this direction, we cannot force them to do so . I'm not talking about children here, but adults with whom we live every day. We can work with children primarily by setting a good example for them , in my opinion this is the easiest way to encourage a child to eat well. Coming back to the topic of men - our cultural tradition is that the lady of the house takes care of what her husband eats. I completely disagree with this. On my way, I hear the voices of many women who lament that their husband eats mainly pork knuckle and beer, and it is women who suffer the most because of this. I always answer that we do not have the power to force someone to change if they do not want it. We are responsible for our own lives, not our spouse.

Another thing is that our society has many myths about plant-based food . When we hear the word "plant-based", we see a bowl full of lettuce in our imagination. Meanwhile, we have a really wide range of fantastic products and ready-made dishes at our disposal, in which it is very difficult to recognize that it is completely plant-based. They are filling, tasty, and taste very similar to meat. It's a matter of composition, what is in this dish - there must be protein, fat and carbohydrates inside . For example: the addition of shitake mushrooms greatly enhances the taste and sometimes it is impossible to distinguish a burger based on mushrooms and cauliflower from one made of 100% meat. My favorite dish is zucchini stuffed with delicacies and I always describe it as a dish for real lumberjacks, because it is something that men like and they feel full after it. But here again I must refer to the quality of the products . By obtaining food from unknown sources, we run the risk that the food will be unpalatable. In every type of cuisine, quality comes first, and it is no different when it comes to a plant-based diet.

Mrs. Iwona, I have one last question: if we start our adventure with plant-based eating, what consequences can we feel from such changes?

If we adapt our diet to our daily needs, as well as the climate zone in which we live and the changing seasons, the first thing we will notice is an increase in energy . We feel lighter, we don't feel heavy after lunch and we stop making our day so dependent on coffee. In some cases, we will even eliminate headaches and spine pain . Another very important issue is our immunity, which largely depends on our diet. You should be aware that it is in summer that we build immunity for the coming winter. The same applies to children - with a rationally selected diet, they suddenly stop getting sick.

It is also worth knowing that in summer we should not cool down too much. We can't live on cold cocktails all the time , and even though the holidays are not conducive to this, let's try to think about soups and hot breakfasts around August. I will always encourage you to take care of yourself in a natural way . Biologically, we are the same being that lived 500 years ago, but our world has changed dramatically. That's why I encourage you to listen to nature, eat according to the seasons, and don't go for strawberries in January. Everything with your head, with understanding and gentleness towards yourself , without going to extremes and keeping up with it - that is, without suffering because of it.