Thomson - The XXL Plant Based Diet Cookbook for UK: 2000-Day Delicious, Healthy Whole Food Recipes for Beginners (21-Day Meal Plan)

What are the benefits of eating a plant-based diet, and how can you make sure it's healthy and balanced? Our nutritionist shares her top tips...

A plant-based diet is any diet that focuses around foods derived from plant sources. This can include fruit, vegetables, grains, pulses, legumes, nuts and meat substitutes such as soy products.

People often have different interpretations of what plant-based eating looks like. Some people still include small amounts of animal products such as meat and fish, while focusing mainly on vegetarian foods this is referred to as a semi-vegetarian or flexitarian diet. Plans that cut out meat but still include fish are referred to as pescatarian diets. People who dont eat meat or fish but still include dairy and eggs are referred to as vegetarian, while those who cut out any animal derived products, including dairy, eggs, honey and gelatin are referred to as vegan.

People following plant-based diets and consuming a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and pulses are likely to find it easier to meet their five-a-day target. Due to this, they are also likely to have good intakes of fibre and the vitamins and minerals that are present in fruit and vegetables, including folate, vitamin C and potassium, all of which are important for good health.

However, it is worth noting that plant-based does not automatically mean healthy, particularly when it comes to processed and packaged foods. Technically, products such as refined sugar, white flour and certain vegetable fats can all be labelled plant-based as they are vegetarian, but this does not mean that they should make up the bulk of a healthy diet.