The Future of Plant-based Nutrition in India - Rishubh Satiya, Co-Founder of Plix

The article is contributed by Rishubh Satiya, Co-Founder, Plix

Health and wellness have come sharply into focus in recent years due to the pandemic and environmental concerns. Today, a lot of public discourse is about plant-based diets and nutrition. What makes this a key element in the wellness arena is the fact that it is a way of consuming environmentally sustainable nutrition foods.

In the past, one of the biggest popular theories that inhabited the consumption of green foods was that they were considered to be deficient in nutrients compared to meats. However, now there is evidence to prove that right combination of plant-based food items can provide the required levels of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients to consumers. They also have good fiber content which aids in better digestive system functioning.

Let’s take a look at three key nutrition needs of the body and how plant-foods help meet these.

Plant-Based Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats
The Perception about Plant-based Nutrition
Need for Sustainability
The Future of Plant-based Nutrition

Plant-Based Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats

Proteins are the building blocks of our body but the biggest misconception about plant-food is that it doesn’t offer proteins. However, there are several green food sources such as beans, peas, and lentils as well as whole grains that can contribute to the body’s protein needs. Even though whole grains are a better source of carbohydrates than proteins, these are essential in providing the required amino acids which are in turn the creators of proteins in the body.

Nowadays, protein powders made from plant sources such as pea, rice, hemp, oats and quinoa are gaining traction as nutritional supplements. Plant-based foods including fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains, are all great sources of carbohydrates and fibres. When we add whole foods such as nuts, coconut, seeds, avocado and olives, we also get ample unsaturated fats which are considered as safer compared to the saturated fats that animal food contains.

The Perception about Plant-based Nutrition

When people hear plant-based nutrition, they tend to think of either consuming fruits, vegetable salads or elaborate vegetarian food preparations that need a lot of cooking time and skill. Ready-to-eat plant-food items that are adequately impactful, delicious and easy to consume are considered as difficult to access. This is an area where modern nutrition brands are now ensuring that holistic, tasty, and easily accessible clean, plant-based nutrition products are made available to consumers.

There is a conscious attempt at not only creating holistic nutrition alternatives which can take care of the diverse nutrition needs of the body, but also of the environment around us. A major change that these tech-based modern plant-nutrition labels are bringing about is that they are helping people enjoy nutrition supplements other than tablets and capsules. As any wellness conscious person would have experienced, nutrition supplements conventionally come in the form of capsules and pills. These smell, look and taste like medicines. Considering that the pills and medicines are embedded in human psyche as signs of illness, people tend to avoid them when they are not diseased.

The plant-based nutrition companies are familiar with this problem, and have been focusing on offering products such as effervescent, powder supplements, and yummy gummies etc. A good plant-based nutrition label offers such options to take care of diverse wellness needs such as skin care, beauty care, hair care, women’s health problems, dietary and workout supplements etc.

Need for Sustainability

Unpredictable weather patterns and climate change is already costing trillions of dollars globally in the form of crops, loss of lives and property due to natural disasters. They are also causing loss of productivity due to preventable illnesses. Global warming caused by green-house gases is a leading cause of all these destructive changes. This is where the role of the animal food industry has come under scanner as it is responsible for a significant percentage of the harmful gas emissions. On the other hand, plant-based foods have become sustainable, tasty and clean alternatives which can ensure nutrition for all, and reduce green-house-gas production simultaneously.