Ania is a Plant Based Educator. She conducts 👩🍳 cooking classes and 👩🏫 nutritional workshops. She loves to share delicious recipes especially with tofu and tempeh. As a certified nutritionist, she hopes to help more people transform their diets and take their first step towards healthier living through her classes and workshops. Ania recently shared with Meatless Movement the different strategies which one can implement straight away to go vegan.
Please tell us more about yourself
My plant based transition has been completed and I don’t have any more cravings
@livingveggiebyania
I am originally from Poland, It’s a country with a strong ‘ meat’ culture. I turned vegetarian when I was 11 years old, when it wasn’t a particularly popular choice.
I’ve been living in Singapore for the past nine years. In 2017 I began my journey to develop and expand the awareness of healthy eating and plant-based diets. To promote my aims I launched my own company in Singapore, LivingveggiebyAnia. I graduated in Plant Based Nutrition from both Cornell University (USA) and Winchester University (UK).
Would you like to make a transition to a healthy plant-based diet are but not sure where to start?
@livingveggiebyania
With easy-to-follow cooking courses, demonstrations, and educational events (both for individuals and corporate organisations) I aim to spread the message that vegan food is not only healthy but also tasty and easy to prepare. I have presented at a number of festivals including; London Plant Power Expo, Singapore Vegan festival, The Conscious festival, Green and Healthy festival.
I am a passionate foodie, I love to cook and create new recipes, I believe that vegan food does not need to compromise on flavour. I use my knowledge about the science behind the food and to demonstrate the links between our food, health and wellbeing Through my events, I want to show what to put on your plate, but more importantly, what not to.
Everything pointed me to whole foods plant based diet
@livingveggiebyania
I became vegetarian when I was 11 years old, but in all honesty, I never liked any meat. My mum told me that when I was a little girl and she served me ham sandwiches I would scoop out the ham and eat only bread and butter. Apparently, there were also a lot ‘dramatic scenes’ in my kindergarten when as a stubborn 3 years old I refused to eat meat. Being vegetarian was just a natural choice for me.
Going vegan 5 years ago was more ‘tricky’. I had a very unhealthy relationship with cheese, I had it almost every day, sometimes several times a day. It took me about 6 months to completely eliminate dairy from my diet. I fell into ‘ cheese’ temptation many times over this time.
But today I can proudly say it’s not tempting anymore. The main reason to switch to a vegan diet was for my health. No, I didn’t suffer from any disease (even though I had a pretty unhealthy vegetarian diet). Being in my 30s I started to do my research about cancer, cardiovascular diseases…..and had my Eureka moment. Everything pointed me to whole foods plant based diet. I did some further studies, to get myself familiar with the research of Dr Campbell, Dr Esselstyn and Dr Barnard etc. and decided to give it a try. I’ve never regretted it since.
It’s slowly changing
@livingveggiebyania
In past few years the vegan scene has grown, and you can now find plenty of vegan options when eating out. I can finally be picky at restaurants. Veganism is trendy now so a lot of restaurants include vegan options just to follow trend. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of dishes / menus were not very well thought through. I’ve seen a lot of boring salads or uninspiring pastas.
Don’t get me wrong I love salads and pastas, I would just like to get something more than lettuce or spaghetti with olive oil, when eating out. Sometimes I feel that chefs don’t take seriously their vegan customers and they don’t try equally hard when preparing vegan dishes. Luckily, it’s slowly changing, and recently we can even see Michelin Star vegan restaurants appearing. Another problem when eating out is the lack of understanding of vegan nutrition. So many restaurants serve, for example, pasta/ noodles with vegetables or a vegetable burger. These vegan options are often missing some good quality proteins.
I feel more much energised than before…and generally happier
@livingveggiebyania
I turned vegan 5 years ago…and it sounds cliché but I regret it happened so late. I had so many objections and reservations, I was under the impression that vegan food was boring, can you imagine ? But, back then I hadn’t tried rich, creamy , yet dairy free pasta sauces or decadent coconut cakes.
Strategies on how to go vegan
To overcome these issues, I am trying to raise the awareness of what makes a balanced vegan dish , I’ve been working as a consultant for some restaurants, designed vegan menus and trained chefs. I can’t change the entire dining scene…but am happy with one restaurant at a time.
Even if you don’t want to go fully veggie just try to implement as many as possible plant based options in your diet. Check how you feel, start with one day a week or one meal per day.
I believe that each meal we eat is an investment in our future. What we eat has a significant impact on the length and quality of our life. Each breakfast, lunch or dinner is your investment into future, meal by meal, like dollar to dollar you are saving for your future.
Share with us some of your favourite recipes
Falafel is a vegan staple, unfortunately shop or restaurant bought versions are often deep fried and soaked in fat.
Stop ! You don’t need oil to prepare delcious falafels. Try my recipe which recommends baking rather than frying, it might be less crispy than your regular take away version, but I think it’s a tasty swap which helps you to cut out a lot of fat and calories. 👇👇👇
Nigvziani Badrijani- another Georgian appetiser- eggplant rolls with deliciously addictive walnut filling
Spinach Phkali – is an appetiser from Georgia (do not confuse with US states, it’s a country in Central Asia), this is a type of spread, hard – pressed spinach with spices shaped into a ball, with pomegranate seeds. In Georgia it’s served on its own, but it also works great with bread or crackers
Experiment, don’t be afraid of new flavours, ingredients, herbs and spices.
@livingveggiebyania
The more ‘good’ meals : fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts the more chances for long, healthy life.
I know that eliminating meat and dairy from your diet might sounds extreme, but my advice is just to start slowly. Enjoy the process of discovery of meat free options – sausages made from beans, walnut mince meat etc.
It amazes me how little awareness/ knowledge there is about the benefits of a vegan diet, not only the public but also medical professionals. It seems that the curriculum of medical studies doesn’t cover nutrition in enough depth. Before Covid – 19 I used to run supermarket tours, I had a young GP doctor on one tour. She was very curious about going vegan, but still had some fears about protein and calcium which she might miss in her diet. I was truly shocked when I found out that doctors are not aware of plant-based sources of important nutrients.
I also find it scary that people prefer to take pills or go through surgery than try dietary changes. There are programs run by Dr Esselstyn or Dr Barnard in the US where they use a whole foods plant based diet, not only to prevent heart disease but in some cases even to reverse it. I found this absolutely fascinating.
livingveggiebyania
Plant Based Educator
Education
👩🍳 Cooking classes
👩🏫 Nutritional workshops
🏋️♂️ Healthy weight loss
🥦 Helping to change diet
🍽 Restaurant consulting
all images courtesy of @livingveggiebyania