About five years ago Dr. Tyler Smith and his family started to make a concerted effort to include more plant-based protein in their diets. It was a matter of the stars aligning. Dr. Smith has familial hypercholesterolemia anemia. He takes medicine for this inherited condition and attends the Healthy Heart Cardiac Prevention Clinic at St. Paul’s Hospital. It was there that a dietician reviewed his eating habits.
“She flagged that even though what I ate was fine, she thought moving toward more plant-based fats rather than animal-based fats would benefit me,” recalled Dr. Smith. “At the same time, my wife and daughter were becoming more aware of the ethical implications of meat consumption. We also considered the impact of animal agriculture on the environment, the higher cost of meat, and the fact that there were now more options for plant-based protein. Another factor was that both my wife and I felt that whether we were cooking or eating out, a lot of time we felt better—less sluggish—when we ate plant-based meals.”
Today, two out of the five meals Dr. Smith and his wife prepare each week are plant-based. And, on those days when meat is on the menu, it will be a smaller portion than it would have been five years ago.
“It’s been a gradual process. We’ve been steadily moving towards more plant-forward meals,” he said. “For a lot of people that’s probably a more realistic approach.”
The Smith household now has a strong repertoire of plant-based recipes (check out his recipe for chickpea coconut curry on our recipe page) and Dr. Smith anticipates the family will move towards more plant-based meals over time.
“We’ve bulked up on our plant-based recipes and there are more and more things we know we like that are plant based. We don’t have an end goal, but we are intentionally moving in that direction.”
A professional point of view
Dr. Smith specializes in hematopathology and, as such, is keenly aware of the importance of adequate dietary iron, which fortunately is present in most plant-based protein options. His work is analytical, and he brings that perspective to most things in life including choosing what he eats.
“I’ve done some research into plant-based versus animal-based diets and the literature is pretty convincing,” he said.
Convincing colleagues to give plant-forward meals a try
Dr. Smith encourages you to start small and to begin with things that you know you might enjoy.
“If you like lentils, look up recipes for that,” he said. “If cooking from scratch is intimidating, check out delivery options where you get prepared ingredients, like Fresh Prep. They do the work for you; you just follow the recipe and everything’s ready. From that experience you’d probably then know how to do it yourself from scratch.”
He added, “It’s only been positives—moving in this direction—I don’t feel any downsides. Even if you like meat, I find if anything when you do have meat you appreciate it a bit more. But you don’t feel deprived of it when you have a plant-based meal.”
Get involved
We’re looking for more VPSA members who follow a plant-based diet or who are incorporating more plant-based meals into their diet to profile. If you’re interested, please send us an email.
Check out our plant-based recipes page. We’re hungry for more recipes. You can submit one (or more!) here.