Welcome to Lettuce Veg Out where I am empowering vegans to live a balanced life and gain confidence in the kitchen.
Lettuce Veg Out is an online business specializing in Plant-based Food and Nutrition. This site was created by Nicole Stevens, MSc, RD, a vegan Registered Dietitian.
Lettuce Veg Out provides science-backed information about vegan health as well as balanced vegan recipes.
Empowering Vegans
Being vegan can be challenging. With an abundance of nutrition information online, the conflicting messages are impossible to sort through.
As a Registered Dietitian, it’s my passion to learn about the science behind food and nutrition. As a vegan, I want to help people thrive with their chosen lifestyle. That’s why I’ve spent hundreds of hours researching how to thrive on a vegan diet, how to meet nutrient needs as a vegan, what foods to include in a balanced vegan diet as well as other approaches to eating that are health promoting.
My mission is to empower vegans to live a balanced lifestyle but cutting through the inaccurate and potentially harmful nutrition information online. I also pride myself in being a voice of reason for balanced living, meaning I don’t promote overly restrictive eating patterns that are hard to sustain.
Empowered vegans are those that can really help make a change in this world and I’m happy to do what I can to support them!
Living a Balanced Life
Among the confusing nutrition messages out there, many people promote overly restrictive diets, or make completely inaccurate claims about vegan nutrition.
To me, a balanced vegan life involves two things:
- Balanced nutrition aka meeting nutrient needs as a vegan
- Balanced lifestyle aka enjoying yourself and your food with no guilt and no stress
There are nutrients that vegans need to be aware of and unfortunately, in the promotion of veganism, this can get overlooked or ignored. Some people want to position a vegan diet as being ideal and make claims that supplements are unnecessary or that nutrient deficiencies don’t happen. It’s important for vegans to properly educate themselves to ensure they meet nutrient needs.
In addition, veganism often becomes intertwined with the pursuit of health. Veganism itself actually has nothing to do with the health of the individual (it’s about the animals). The danger here is that overly restrictive diets are often promoted as the only way to health. These overly restrictive diets can make eating as a vegan challenging, stressful, mentally taxing and overall unhealthy for a variety of reasons. They can pose even greater risk for nutrient deficiencies and could possible lead to disordered eating. Not a balanced approach in my opinion.
A balanced life is one where nutrient needs are met and food is enjoyed without stress.
Gain Confidence in the Kitchen
As important as it is to understand how to life a balanced vegan life, to put this learning into action you need to get cooking! Cooking can be a challenge area for many people and preparing balanced vegans meals may seem even more daunting.
I’m here to help!
Lettuce Veg Out started in 2016 as a recipe blog. I’ve been cooking since I could stand and it’s one of my passions in life. Developing recipe to share is one of my favourite parts of running this business!
I truly believe recipes that are simple and tasty are key to incorporating nutrition evidence into your lifestyle.
The Veg Out Approach to Food and Nutrition
Every dietitian has their own philosophy about nutrition. Often these views evolve over time. My nutrition philosophy hasn’t changed much since I first wrote about it in 2016, but I have added some new ideas along the way! My approach to food and nutrition is the basis for my work here at Lettuce Veg Out as well as any work I do with clients.
Enjoy the Foods you Eat
It’s extremely important that you enjoy the foods you eat. There is no point in eating something you hate just because it’s “healthy”. Guess what? There is no single food that you absolutely must consume to be “healthy” so if you really hate kale or quinoa or any other “health food/ superfood” don’t bother with it.
On that note, many people underestimate how delicious plant-based foods can taste. If you’ve only ever had overcooked boiled vegetables, or plain tofu, I don’t blame you for not enjoying that. If possible, try new ingredients prepared a couple different ways before making up your mind on them! It can also be nice to try foods you don’t like every few years because taste buds can change.
Finding Balance
As noted above, the cornerstone to my nutrition approach is finding balance. Balance can mean something different to everyone, so it’s really up to you to define what balanced feels like.
To me, balance is being able to enjoy any food without guilt while being comfortable about meeting my nutrient needs. I personally achieved a balanced approach to my vegan lifestyle by implementing the principles of intuitive eating.
Want to learn more about me? I have a whole page dedicated to that: Meet Nicole, a Vegan Dietitian.
Thank you for reading about Lettuce Veg Out and the Veg Out approach to food and nutrition. I’d love to keep in touch by having you sign up for the Veg Out weekly newsletter where you will be updated with all the latest content about vegan food and nutrition!