From eccunion.com/opinion
By Heather Austin
I became a vegan at the beginning of summer in 2019.
Media including the 2011 film “Forks Over Knives” and 2015 book “How Not to Die” inspired my desire to lose weight and reduce my chances of cancer.
However, I struggle to be consistent in meeting my goals.
I have been making unhealthy or “bad” vegan choices since I began attending El Camino College in fall 2025, and I can no longer afford the ingredients that I initially bought when I became vegan.
I don’t have time to shop at different stores to get the lowest food prices. Before attending El Camino, I had eliminated bread and peanut butter from my diet.
My mushroom pastas turned to plain pastas with only tomatoes and seasonings quickly, especially with the closing of the 99 Cents Only Stores.
Healthy and economical vegan food options can seem about as common as vegetarians and vegans.
Roughly 6% of the U.S. population is vegetarian and about 4% is vegan, according to Statista.
The research mentions that individuals with these diets desire a healthier lifestyle, a choice more prevalent among younger consumers.
After watching “Forks Over Knives” in 2019, I lost about 10 pounds in two months by cutting meat and oil out of my diet.
Back then, I ate pasta, beans and rice, cabbage soup, and when I had time, steamed vegetables.
I used mushrooms in my pasta and drank lemon tea regularly. I read labels, avoided foods with unrecognizable ingredients, and prioritized organic foods.
I was happy with the initial weight loss, but another benefit was an improved immune system.
As a carnivore, I was frequently sick and was not keeping track of the impact that my food choices had on my health. Common colds on a carnivorous diet for me lasted up to two or three months.
I did not get sick until after Thanksgiving in 2020 with what I thought was the COVID-19 virus.
I never got tested for it, and I never went to the hospital. I treated the condition on my own with Chinese skullcap tea, which I learned about from Stephen Buhner’s 2013 book, “Herbal Antivirals.”
Each time that I got sick with what I thought was coronavirus, the symptoms became milder and milder, like a common cold.
I lost nearly 60 pounds over the course of a year during the lockdowns.
I can testify to the benefits of a vegan diet and herbal medicine, but I am not a perfect vegan. I am inconsistent in my vegan food choices due to finances, time and boredom.
I am like many Americans, struggling to stretch a dollar for food and other necessities in an inflationary environment.
During the fall 2025 semester, when food prices went up, I had to go back to peanut butter sandwiches to survive. This is a vegan choice; it’s just not a good one.
During the same semester, I began going to El Camino’s Warrior Pantry for more options.
I started to get bored with veganism. I used to eat cabbage soup a few days in a row. Sometimes I might cook pasta or beans and rice before rotating back into cabbage soup.
I watched my family eat cookies and cakes, while I hadn’t experienced a birthday cake for several years now.
That’s when I discovered vegan baking.
Through this new venture, I’ve baked vegan zucchini muffins, banana muffins, chocolate chip cookies and applesauce cake.
I used agave as a sweetener before prices went up and then I turned to processed sugar.
With all of my unhealthy vegan choices, I gained the weight right back.
El Camino nutrition professor Mary Lyons, a registered dietitian who has a master’s in nutrition science with an emphasis in food science from California State University, Long Beach, offered me some advice for getting back on track with my lifestyle and health goals.
Lyons provided many tips, including avoiding junk foods, candy, sodas and sweetened plant-based milks by loading up on fruits and vegetables instead.
After speaking to Lyons, I realized that our conversation was not enough.
The tips she gave me for this article is enough to get started on the path to eating well. I have looked at the nutritional science classes and I have always been curious.
Now, I really want to enrol in nutrition science in the future, so I can learn how to be a healthier vegan.
Plant-based nutrition tips
Professor and registered dietitian Mary Lyons offered tips on how people on plant-based diets can make healthier choices within their diet.
Lyons teaches nutrition science at El Camino College and California State University, Long Beach.
“You can do omnivore very well. You can do omnivore very poorly. You can do vegan well. You can do vegan very poorly,” Lyons said.
1. Avoid unhealthy food choices. Vegan junk food such as processed carbohydrates, potato chips, french fries, candies, sweetened beverages, sweetened dairy substitutes, sweetened almond or coconut milk, high fructose corn syrup, sweetened fruit juice, fake meat substitutes and soda are common culprits in plant-food diets.
2. Choose whole food options. Entire fruits, vegetables, fungi, yeast, nuts, seeds, legumes and grains or meals made from these simple ingredients are better than overly processed versions. Some items worth including in a diet are veggie burgers made of mushrooms, unsweetened dairy alternatives, olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, dark chocolate, coffee, tea, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, edamame and tempeh.
3. Buy frozen produce. Fruits and vegetables from the freezer section help reduce waste, save money and hold more nutritional value. “It’s picked at the peak of ripeness … It’s achieved optimal nutritional value, and then it gets flash frozen and it keeps its nutritional value, so when you’re ready to use it, it didn’t get lost in the freezing process,” Lyons said.
4. Batch cook healthy dishes. Prepare food on days off, then freeze some and keep the rest available in the refrigerator to grab for a quick meal.
5. Get routine check-ups. Make annual health appointments with a doctor. Bloodwork helps assess one’s vitamin levels such as B12, vitamin D and iron. Don’t take iron supplements without a doctor’s recommendation.
6. Consult guides. Check out the new food pyramid and nutritional guidelines for Americans at RealFood.gov.
7. Load up on fruits and vegetables. They contain fibre and help people feel full, which can help with weight loss. They feed the gut microbiome that helps overall mental and physical health.
8. Choose options with vitamins and minerals. For unsweetened plant-based milk substitutes, choose ones fortified with B12, iron and vitamin D.
9. Pair plant foods according to mutual supplementation. “Mutual supplementation is something that helps you achieve essential amino acids by pairing two plant-based foods together,” Lyons said. Examples include beans and rice or hummus and pita. “By pairing certain plant-based foods together, you can get all 9 essential amino acid needs met,” she said.
10. Use time-saving recipes. Find recipes based upon time to prepare on TheStingyVegan.com.
11. Look for recipes from other dietary approaches. Find recipes for the Plant-Based Whole30 Plan at Whole30.com. “I think the more variety you can add to a vegan diet, the better, because then you won’t get bored,” Lyons said.
12. Stock your pantry. “You have to build your kitchen,” Lyons said. Pantries should include spices such as curry powder, cumin, garlic powder, chili and cayenne pepper. Refrigerators can store salsa, hot sauce and sweet chili.
13. Go to farmers markets. Find nearby markets online.
14. Use salad bars. The salad bars at places like Whole Foods can help save money and eliminate waste.
15. Create a personal menu. Plan five to 10 recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Creating a menu helps build a kitchen and a grocery list.
16. Explore different cuisines. Nearby international, cultural restaurants for plant-based foods with a lot of flavour such as Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican or Indian restaurants.
17. Log food intake for at least three days. This helps people assess whether their eating habits are healthy or not. Lyons likes the Cronometer app for monitoring a diet, but any logging method can work.
18. Get Omega-3 fatty acids. Consume flax seeds, chia seeds or hemp seeds to increase Omega-3 fatty acids. Algae-based foods sourced from the ocean are another source.
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