Want To Ditch Meat? Tips And Tricks On How To Convert To A Plant-Based Diet

By
Mehmet Edip
-

Here are some tips to convert to a plant-based diet.

So this article is going to be coming to you from a personal perspective, as I have been plant based for over 5 years now and prior to that was practicing keto on and off.

Now my biggest concern prior to considering plant based was, ‘so what do I eat?’ and ‘what is my protein source going to be?’ 

As If It doesn’t come from meat, eggs, poultry and dairy then where will it come from?

Well I would essentially be getting the protein from the same place the animals get theirs from, plants. (among other things)

So today I am going to be giving you a breakdown to alternative plant based options which are readily available, and making sure you don’t die of protein deficiency … 

Protein Comparison

Tofu Scramble Instead Of Scrambled Eggs

Per 100g

So let’s begin by breaking it down with eggs.

One of the alternatives to eggs is tofu, as it’s a great source of protein and low in carbs too and can be scrambled.

Scrambled Tofu  Scrambled Eggs
Calories 102.7 113.4
Fat 7.7g 7.5g
Carbs 2.7g 0.6g
Protein 7.5g 10g

Eggs snatches the win on the protein front but tofu is not far behind and actually has less calories.

Steak v Ground Beef v  Seitan v Tempeh v Impossible Burger Beyond Ground Beef 

Per 100g

Let’s get to the meat of the matter, red meat! Take a look at the comparisons below:

Steak Ground Beef Seitan  Tempeh Impossible Beyond ground beef
AP AP PB PB PB PB
Calories 218 274.1 153.8 196.4 213.6 218.8
Fat 10.8g 17.8g 3.5g 11.4g 12.5g 15.8g
Carbs 0.5g 0g 7.1g 7.9g 8g 2.6g
Protein  28.1g 27.6g 26g 20g 16.g 17.5g

AP – Animal Product

PB – Plant Based

*

As you can see seitan comes lowest for calories, and lowest for fat content. Ground beef takes the lowest carb content and by not much steak takes the highest protein content. But as you can see the plant based options for seitan and tempeh boast a very high protein content per 100g.

Now let’s turn our attention to dairy.

Milk v Oat Milk v Cashew Milk v Soy Milk v Hemp Milk v Almond Milk v Coconut Milk

Per 1 Cup (244g)

Cow’s MIlk 

(full fat)

 Cow’s Milk (1%) Oat Milk Cashew

Milk

 Soy Milk Almond Milk Hemp Milk Pea 

Milk
AP AP PB PB PB PB PB PB
Calories 122 102 140 25 100 30 50 100
Fat 4.8g 2.4g 7g 2g 4.5g 2.5g 5g 4.5g
Carbs  12g 12g 11g 1g 9g 1g 1g 6g
Protein 8.1g 8.2g 8g 0.5 8g 1g 2g 8g

Plant-Based Milk With Additional Protein

So if protein is what you really desire then there are plant based options available with additional protein. That can include non-dairy protein sources for lean muscle. 

Orgain Milk Almond Organic Unsweetened Silk Unsweet Almond & Cashew Protein  Silk Unsweet Ultra Plant-Based Protein Drink  EdenSoy Unsweetened Organic Soy Milk
Calories 80 110 180 120
Fat 3.5g 7g 9g 6g
Carbs  4g 2g 5g 4g
Protein  10g 10g 20g 12g

Cheese v Nutritional Yeast

28g

I know cheese is addictive for many people out there and is very difficult to give up but a great protein filled alternative is Nutritional Yeast 

The reason I didn’t select a plant based cheese alternative is that many plant based cheeses lack the protein content required so nutritional yeast is a great option.

Cheese Nutritional Yeast
Calories 115 92.4
Fat 9,4g 2g
Carbs 0.9g 10.4g
Protein  6.5g 12.5g

As you can see Nutritional Yeast, other than having more carbs has less calories, fat and also has more protein per 28g (approx 3.3 tbsp).

Chicken v Tempeh 

100g

Now let’s look at chicken, I am going to compare it to tempeh which we also looked at earlier. I could compare to a faux chicken but I wanted to compare to a purer food source 

Chicken Tempeh
Calories 221.9 196.4
Fat 13.1g 11.4g
Carbs 0g 7.9g
Protein  23.7g 20g

So tempeh is lower in calories and in fat, but chicken has less carbs and just a tad more protein. But Tempeh has a considerable amount of protein per 100g also 

So as you can see we have covered quite a bit but this is merely scratching the surface.

If you are considering going plant based use this as a guide but also experiment and do your research, go to the store and look at labels, it may surprise you as to which items are also accidentally plant based

Eggs and Tofu

Beefs and Plant-Based Meats 

Milk

Cheese and Nutritional Yeast 

Chicken and Tempeh

Mehmet Edip
Mehmet Edip is a fitness writer, actor, and model who has worked in the industry for over 8 years. He focuses on achieving his physique through an all natural plant-based diet and shares his insight via his workout & nutrition guides.

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