What if eating more plant-based isn’t nearly as complicated as you think?

Most of us grew up eating meals that revolved around meat. It’s what we know.

So when you start thinking about doing it differently, it’s completely normal for a million thoughts and questions to pop up:

What will I even eat?

I’m gonna be that “weird” vegan, aren’t I?

Will I get enough protein?

What if my family won’t eat anything I make?

What do I do at restaurants?

No one is going to eat a Tofurky on Thanksgiving.

Do I have to learn how to cook tofu now?!

I don’t think this is gonna work for me.

One question leads to another, and then another, and suddenly you’re knee-deep in what I like to call “spaghetti brain 🍝”—every single thought that comes up gets so tangled up with all the others that it’s impossible to separate everything and it’s all waaaay too overwhelming to deal with.

But what if it wasn’t as complicated and scary as your brain is making it out to be?

(Also, fair warning… there are going to be a lot of spaghetti/noodle/pasta references plus a few mountains and hills. Please just roll with it.)

Why eating plant-based feels hard (and why that’s completely normal)

Anytime you try something new, whether it’s eating more plants or starting a new job or signing up for a beginner pottery class, it’s totally normal for your brain to take those typical “ok, this is new” hesitations and turn them into full blown “I don’t think I can do this!” catastrophes.

It can all feel pretty damn overwhelming (and sometimes downright scary and unsolvable) when it’s all coming at you at once.

And while I can’t help you figure out the software you need for your new job or show you how to throw a vase on a pottery wheel, I can help untangle why some of those spaghetti brain thoughts make eating more plants feel a little like climbing Mount Everest in flip flops without a sherpa. 🩴

Because when it comes right down to it, it’s not usually the eating part that’s hard...

it’s all the things your brain is trying to do before you even get there that make it seem like way too much.

You're trying to figure out what to do in situations you’ve never even been in.

You start thinking about what to make for dinner, but you have no idea what kind of plant-based meal to make, so then you think maybe you could just get take out, but then what are you even going to get for takeout that's plant-based? 

And then you start wondering about what you're going to do this weekend when you meet friends for dinner because if you don't order your usual grilled chicken sandwich they're going to wonder what's going on with you. 

And before you know it you're trying to solve 5 different problems all at the same time when all you really need to think about right now is what to make for dinner tonight. 😱

It's all too easy to let those questions spiral out of control. And maybe this weekend feels soon enough that it does feel like a “now” problem.

But you don't have to know exactly how to handle other people's reactions in a restaurant before you've ever even tried to order a plant-based meal out.

And you don't have to decide what to make when you host Thanksgiving when you haven't even tried making a simple plant-based meal at home yet. 

You only need to figure out the one thing that's directly in front of you right now. The rest can wait.

"I don't know how" turns into "This isn't going to work for me."  

Boy do I get this one. I really hate not knowing how to do something—to a fault—and if I can't do it really really well from the get-go, forget it… you’re going to have to force me to even try it. But literally no one knows how to do anything the very first time they do it. 

There are probably a million things you do now that at one point, you had no idea how to do.

Bake sourdough.

Knit.

Drive. (Bonus points if you can drive a stick shift.)

Play pickleball.

Potty train a puppy.

Hell, raise a kid. (Neither my dogs nor my kids came with any instructions... talk about trial by fire. And by fire, I mean bodily fluids everywhere. 😅)

That's not to say you’ve mastered everything you've ever tried. But I'd bet good money that there are at least a few things where you started out thinking "I don't know if I can do this," but then once you got over the hump, it not only got a whole lot easier, you found you actually enjoyed it (or at least could do it without thinking about it). 

Changing how you eat isn't all that different... it’s just a lot more delicious (and there’s a lot less pee).

So, you might not know how… yet. 

But that doesn’t mean you never will, and it definitely doesn’t mean this won’t work for you.

You’re mentally drained before you even begin

Well, duh… of course you are. It's exhausting trying to mentally plan for every possible scenario of something you've never really tried. And believe me, I’m not judging. I'm someone who likes to have everything figured out and have a plan for what to do no matter what comes up—so I’ve been there. I'm still there in some situations. (Gym, I'm looking at you.)

But it's also literally impossible to anticipate every situation when it’s something that's completely new to you.

It’s no wonder that by the time you've spiraled through dinner and what your friends are going to say and the neighborhood potluck and how your dad’s gonna freak out if there’s no ham at Easter dinner... you're all  “Nope, not today, Satan.” 🙅‍♀️😈  

I’m exhausted just typing all of that out—and I already know what I’d do in those situations. But if I had to figure it all out from scratch before I even tried?

Oh hell no.

So, is it any surprise that when it comes time to actually do something—like figure out even one plant-based dinner—you nope out and just do what you’ve always done?

Not even a tiny bit. It’s familiar, it’s easier, and it requires exactly zero mental effort.

But here's the good news… none of this means you can’t do it or that plant-based will never work for you. It just means you spent all your energy in your head instead of in your kitchen.

Three things that actually help (even when your brain won’t shut up)

Ok, cool, but… knowing all of that logically doesn't stop your brain from immediately screaming "BUT HOWWWW?!"—which, congrats, is a new, piping hot bowl of spaghetti. 

So, before you get all tangled up in that one too, I’m going to be real with you. There’s probably NOTHING anyone can say or do that’s going to completely stop your brain from doing what brains do. 🧠

But... here are a few things to think about to make it feel a little less “holy shit, what am I getting myself into?”

1. Start with just one noodle. 

The next time you notice your thoughts turning into a big tangled mess of spaghetti, stop. ✋ Take a breath. You don't have to wolf down the whole bowl at once—you just need to slurp up one noodle. 

Easier said than done, I know, so here's something to try. 

1. If I told you right now that you had to go plant-based tomorrow, what's the very first thing that pops into your head?

Not the second thing, not the 57 others that follow... the very first thought that came to mind. That's it. That's your one noodle. 

2. Now just sit with it for a minute.

Ask yourself why you think that was the first thing that came up. Is it actually as big and scary as it feels right now, or does it just seem that way because it almost immediately started to get all tangled up with everything else?

Because I'd be willing to bet that on its own, without seventeen other thoughts piled on top of it, it's probably a lot more manageable than your spaghetti brain made it out to be. 

3. What's one thing, no matter how tiny or insignificant it might seem, that might make that one noodle a little easier to wrap around your fork?

Does it feel like something you could try? If yes, great... try it!

And if not, what's something even smaller that DOES seem doable? 

If you'd been in my head when I first made the switch, it would have sounded a little like this: 

If I'm not making meat for dinner, what the hell am I making? The kids barely eat that. Ok, pause. That came up because most meals I've ever made in my whole life have been centered around meat: pick the protein and then, pick some sides to go with it. But not EVERY meal I've ever made looks like that. We've eaten vegetarian meals, or meals that have meat, but it's just mixed in with everything else. Like spaghetti with meat sauce. Or asparagus pasta. Or stir fry. Ok, wait. So asparagus pasta is already vegetarian. I could use veggie broth instead of chicken broth and either leave off the parmesan or try to find a plant-based version. I already know the kids will eat it. I think I could actually do that.”

And if narrowing it down to one noodle or coming up with a simple, manageable solution still feels like a lot, that’s ok too—it's exactly the kind of thing we work through together inside Plant-Based Enough. 

2. Simplify the hell out of meal planning

First and foremost, DO NOT try to overhaul 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, all at once. You will lose your ever-lovin’ mind. 🤪

If you’re brand new to this, take a look at your week and pick one day that isn't a complete dumpster fire. Then decide on one meal—just one—and make it plant-based.

The easiest way to do this is to make a plantified version of something you already make and actually like (like my asparagus pasta example above), but if you’re feeling ambitious, go ahead and try a simple, new-to-you plant-based recipe.

If it turns out ok and everyone likes it, make it again next week. And the week after. And if you end up eating 3-bean chili every week for a month, amazing! Now you have an easy, go-to plant-based recipe at the ready. 

Once that one meal feels “normal”, add another one and do the same thing. And then make it for a few weeks in a row until it starts to just feel like dinner instead of this weird new thing you’re trying. By slowly working plant-based meals into what you’re already making, you’re giving yourself some breathing room between new things.

I definitely tried too many new recipes with way too many new-to-me ingredients all at once—and it was a lot. I wasn’t even sure what I liked and what I didn’t because it was all new and different.

But if you start slowly, with only a couple new things at a time, it gives your taste buds a chance to catch up. I didn’t even like chickpeas when I declared myself plant-based… and now there are about 10 cans of them (and likely some dried ones) in my pantry at all times. I live in fear of running out of chickpeas. 🤣

And if it's within your budget, consider joining a good plant-based meal planner. Having a simple structure at the beginning takes a huge chunk of the mental load off while you’re still figuring it out. I found one when I first went plant-based that basically taught me everything I know about plant-based cooking, and how to meal prep when I hate eating the same thing more than two times in a row.

I don’t need it anymore, but I still use it regularly because I love having someone else do the thinking for me when the thought of meal planning makes me want to say screw it and eat peanut butter apple toast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

3. Let mole hills be mole hills (and don’t turn them into mountains).

No matter how long you’ve been eating plant-based or how much you try to prepare for situations, life is gonna keep life-ing all over you. Even after 6+ years of eating this way, I still run into situations I didn’t expect.

For example, I recently went out to lunch with an old friend and ordered the “Pick 3 sides and make it an entree” option—steamed broccoli, some mixed seasonal veggies, and a side of ancient grains. Sounds like a safe choice, right?

Wrong. ❌

The grains came out with cheese. And not just melted on top where I could have peeled it off—nope, this cheese was mixed all up in them.

Should I have asked ahead of time if it was vegan? Probably. (But seriously though… who adds a crap ton of cheese to a side of grains without including that in the description!?)

Could I have made a big deal about it, sent it back, and ordered something else? Sure.

But I was there to enjoy food and conversation with someone I hadn’t seen in a long time and it just wasn’t a priority for me that day. So I ate it anyway.

Things are going to come up that don’t go the way you think they will or that are out of your control, and there’s no way for you to anticipate every single one of them, no matter how much time and energy you spend thinking about them. But you always have the choice to either die on that hill or just do the best you can and let mole hills be mole hills.

(And don’t get me wrong… there are hills I will make mountains out of. If those grains had come out with bacon mixed in, they would have gone back immediately because meat is my non-negotiable.)

The other side is worth it, I promise.

Thinking about making these changes probably feels like the spaghetti-est of spaghetti brains right now. Or the most mountain-y mole hill you’ve ever tried to climb.

And I know because I basically am you—I overthink everything, I tend to make things way more complicated than they need to be, and I want alllllll the answers to things I can’t possibly have all the answers to. 

And that's exactly why I built Plant-Based Enough. 

I’ve already done the overthinking and the catastrophizing and the figuring it out as I go part of eating plant-based and now I’m on the other side. I understand the hesitations and concerns and “what ifs” about actually making plant-based changes because I had them all, too. 

But now I've built my own version of plant-based that means I eat a healthy, whole food plant-based diet the vast majority of the time, but I also get to eat the occasional slice of pizza or few bites of cheesecake or the bowl of cheesy grains without feeling guilty or making it mean I suck at sticking with a healthy diet.

And that’s what I want for you too.

🤩 To feel good about eating healthy most of the time, and still enjoy lunch with a friend even when the restaurant does you dirty. 

🤩 To eat plants more often than not, and not stress out when in-laws conveniently forget that you’re “eating that weird diet now.”

🤩 To meal plan in a way that means you can still get a healthy plant-based meal on the table even when you get home late because you got stuck at every red light and then a gaggle of geese blocked the road for 20 minutes. 🪿

🤩 To be able to just go with the flow when you show up at your neighborhood 4th of July celebration and it looks like it was catered exclusively by Big Beef and the Dairy Farmers of America.

🤩 To trust you can let all those snarky “so, how do those lawn clippings taste?” comments just roll off your back. 

And if all of that has you nodding along… 

Plant-Based Enough was designed for you.

We all need a little help sometimes, and there's nothing wrong with being supported while you're trying to make changes to a major part of your life (and yes, I’d say something you do at least 3x a day counts as major).

So, if you feel like you’ve finally perfected the art of overthinking when it comes to eating more plants and are ready for some help figuring it all out, I’ve got you.

You can learn more about the program and apply here.