Plant Chat: Ginny Messina, The Vegan RD

Going vegan may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. In this interview with Ginny Messina, she explains how to overcome challenges in a vegan diet, her best tips for becoming vegan, and the benefits she gained by eating plants. 

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ginny Messina, The Vegan RD, and author of Vegan For Life and Vegan for Her. Ginny has twice co-authored the American Dietetic Association’s Position on Vegetarian Diets and also helped develop a food guide for vegetarians and vegans. In addition to writing her blog, she is the National Vegan Examiner for the examiner.com site, and works as a consultant in vegan and soy nutrition. Additional information on Ginny can be found here.

In this interview, you’ll gain some insight in regards to the steps we’ve made in terms of accepting plant-based diets and also learn how far we still have yet to go.

When and why did you decide to become vegan?

I became a vegan when I started working for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in 1989. I was already vegetarian at the time for ethical reasons, but didn’t know very much about factory farming or about how it impacted production of eggs and dairy foods. Working at PCRM was my first exposure to that information and also my first exposure to research on vegan diets and health. Once I learned about the reasons to avoid dairy foods and eggs, I started a transition to a vegan diet and then eventually a vegan lifestyle. I’ve never looked back!

After becoming vegan, what personal benefits did you gain?

In terms of health, I can’t honestly say that anything changed for me. I was already a vegetarian, and was eating a relatively healthy plant-based diet. So for me, the personal benefits were really a little bit broader. It felt good to see my dietary and lifestyle habits falling into accord with my perspective on animal use and to feel like there was real meaning attached to my food choices. Those are the long-term benefits that are most important to me, although I also appreciate the health benefits of plant foods, especially as I get older.

What are some biggest challenges in eating a vegan diet?

My own experience is that the biggest challenges are always around social situations, especially at the homes of non-vegans. My friends and family all know that I’m vegan, of course, but it doesn’t mean that they always remember to plan for me at larger gatherings. It’s not difficult at all to bring a few dishes to share—it’s just that we vegans have to always remember to plan for ourselves and not count on food being readily available for us.

What do you think are the biggest challenges for others wanting to adopt a more plant-based diet?

Those challenges are going to vary since the concept of plant-based diets varies so greatly. Those who are eating a plant-based diet that includes some animal foods like dairy products and fish are unlikely to run into many challenges at all. People adopting a vegan diet, on the other hand, may worry about meeting nutrient needs and also about simply finding foods that they like. My books, Vegan for Life, and Vegan for Her, are aimed at helping to dispel those concerns by giving people the basic essential information they need to meet nutrient needs and also by encouraging a gentle transition.

It’s also one of the reasons that JL Fields (my co-author for Vegan for Her) and I started the veganforher.com community. We wanted to create a place where women could share ideas and get help with both nutrition and vegan lifestyle.

What are your best tips you can offer to people wanting to incorporate more plant-foods into their diet?

First, there are a number of small super-easy changes that people can make by choosing a few simple substitutions. Replacing cow’s milk with almond or hempseed or soymilk or any milk made from plants, for example. Or enjoying a veggie burger instead of a beef hamburger. There are so many options for vegans and vegetarians these days that making whatever substitutions feel easiest is a good way to start.

I also encourage people to start exploring foods that may be new to them. For example, many Americans didn’t eat beans when they were growing up, and might not be too familiar with them beyond hummus and bean burritos. So, taking time to try a few easy recipes or preparation ideas can be a good way to take some steps away from animal foods and toward more plant-based eating.

Do you feel that people are becoming more inspired to take on a plant-powered lifestyle? If so, why?

I think that most people understand the health benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables, and they also generally seem to view vegetarian diets as healthy options and often as realistic ones. So in that respect, plant-based diets have a good image and hopefully will continue to attract more people.

But I think many people are a little bit less sure about vegan diets from a practical and health standpoint. Hopefully, as information about the ways in which farmed animals are treated becomes more and more available, people will be willing to explore veganism and become more comfortable with it as an option. RDs can really help in this regard by helping their clients find realistic ways to adopt vegan diets and by giving them science-based information about eating healthfully.

What are some of your favorite plant-based resources for recipes and other health inspiration?

I have a huge pile of cookbooks and read many blogs and am also constantly finding new vegan recipes on pinterest—so to narrow it down to just a few is impossible! There are so many wonderful cookbooks, plus thousands of free recipes on the internet.

Finding good information about vegan nutrition can be more of a challenge, though, since there is plenty of not-so-great info on the internet and elsewhere. I’m extremely picky about what I’ll recommend; I want vegans to have solid evidence-based information about meeting nutrient needs and for making the most healthful food choices. I like The Plant-Powered Diet very much, of course! And I also recommend Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina and Simply Vegan by Dr. Reed Mangels. Naturally, I’m partial to my own two books as well—Vegan for Life written with Jack Norris and Vegan for Her written with JL Fields.

What are some of your favorite foods?

Another tough question! I love so many foods. Some favorite meals are black bean burritos with guacamole; tofu and veggies with spicy peanut sauce; and pasta tossed with sautéed vegetables and toasted pine nuts. I eat lots of quinoa salads—such as quinoa with corn and shredded carrots, topped with a tahini sauce. I like big crunchy salads with chickpeas, walnuts and lots of raw vegetables tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Although I eat them less often, I like veggie meats, too—smoky soy curls and Field Roast or Tofurky sausages and all of the Gardein products are favorites in my house. I love chocolate, too, and am grateful that the one and only vegan dessert that my local health food store offers is an excellent fudgy chocolate cupcake!

Do you think the health care community is more open to plant-based eating and why?

I think many people in the health care community understand the benefits of plant-based diets. After all, benefits of Mediterranean diets and of Asian-style eating have long been topics of nutrition research. So, it’s clear that people in the health care community appreciate that diets that are rich in whole plant foods and that limit animal foods can improve health. But, of course, many people working in health care are not especially knowledgeable about nutrition. There is still a common belief that animal foods are important for meeting certain nutrient needs.

Do you feel there has been a shift among dietitians towards more emphasis on plant-foods within recent years?

I think there is a great deal of interest in this way of eating and I frequently get requests from dietetic groups for information about vegan diets or requests to work on vegan projects. But since I don’t really work much within the mainstream dietetics community, I don’t have a real sense of what other dietitians are advocating in their practices. Certainly, dietitians recommend diets rich in fruits and vegetables, and whole grains and they also encourage plant-based meals. But I suspect that most also recommend regular consumption of dairy, fish and poultry. And I continue to see lots of misunderstanding about vegan diets coming out of the dietetics community. So we still have work to do in that regard!