The Vegetarian’s Guide to the 80/20 Diet is just in time! As summer approaches, we are being bombarded with summer diets, quick fixes, and the latest diet train to jump on. A diet is a diet and, in my world, diet culture stinks. Let’s face it, you only have one body. You will have that body in summer and in every other season too. News, social media + advertisements might make you feel that you need a new one simply because the weather is warmer. Newsflash: you only get one body. Love it, respect it, feed it, move it, and treat it well, no matter what the weather is outside.
My feelings on diet culture aside, sometimes we need a few guardrails in place that hold us accountable. Not the weird diety guardrails that create guilt, stigma, or shame around choosing one food over another. More like a recipe. Maybe it is because I am a recipe developer, or because I am anti-diet-culture. Maybe it is because I like sustainable approaches to eating that work long term. That’s where the 80/20 way of eating comes in + today, my tips will make you a believer too.
Tara’s Tuesday Tips:
The Vegetarian’s Guide to the 80/20 Diet
I love the 80/20 rule. I apply it to nutrition, work, finances, and even my running. Success in health + wealth both require a series of behaviors that stack up to create success. For overall health, we need certain behaviors locked into place. Behaviors such as good sleep hygiene, stress management, purposeful movement + feeding yourself nutritious foods. Using the 80/20 method of eating can help you create a foundation of healthy eating without feelings of guilt or stress or shame around food.
The foundation of this eating style is consistency – what you do most of the time matters most. Let me say it again for the people in the back of the room: what you do most of the time matters most. Apply that to every facet of your life + you will be just fine. (should have called this article life according to Tara 😂 )
What is 80/20 Eating?
- Let’s start with what it is not: it is not a diet, not restrictive, and there are no strict rules.
- 80/20 eating encourages healthy eating habits 80% of the time leaving 20% of your eating to your favorite + perhaps less nutritionally dense foods.
- This style of eating does not tell you what to eat + when. You have the flexibility to fill that in wherever it fits your life.
- I think of it as though 80% of the time my meals/nutrition/eating is planned leaving 20% of what I eat up to unplanned, unprepped, fun, spontaneous meals or snacks.
- 80/20 eating encourages you to prioritize the foods that make you feel good + properly nourish your body, but gives you the space to also use food for its other intended purposes: fun, happiness, taste, satisfaction, family, love, togetherness.
- Important: when you follow the 80/20 diet, this does not mean that 20% of your eating is automatically processed foods of poor nutritional quality. However, it does leave you the wiggle room to eat those foods if the opportunity arises because 80% of the time your food choices are on point. What you do most of the time matters most.
How Can You Apply the 80/20 Diet to Your Everyday Life?
With this style of eating, you are meeting your nutritional needs + goals the majority of the time with a little wiggle room to be social, say yes to different things, enjoy the taste of your food, and above all have the freedom to be spontaneous and guilt-free. You can accomplish this with using your 20% every day or every week. Vegetarian or not, this is how it works:
Weekly 80/20 Eating:
3 meals + 2 snacks per day, 7 days per week, with the 80/20 rule that means 28 of the times your foods are planned, balanced, healthy with four of them spontaneous, fun, unbalanced, enjoyed in a restaurant or take-out. Caution: be careful with using the entire weekend as “cheat days”. That is not the intended purpose of this style of eating + can lead to moralizing food into good vs bad, cheat vs rules (which is never beneficial!).
Daily 80/20 Eating:
3 meals + 2 snacks per day, with the 80/20 rule that means you eat approximately 5 times per day leaving 4 of those planned, balanced, healthy and one for the fun of it. Perhaps that means a sweet treat after dinner or a more indulgent coffee beverage in the morning.
Tara’s Tips for Success with the 80/20 Diet
Plan + prep:
- without this, it will not work. Last week I wrote an article about why I drink a smoothie every day. I called my smoothie my ‘anchor’ of my day. I know that if I drink that smoothie, I am anchoring my day in health by already having a blender full of veggies, fruits, and other good for me ingredients. That way, if I choose to enjoy fun foods with the people I love, I know that I already secured my fiber, protein, and antioxidants with that smoothie.
Start slow:
- if your current eating pattern is more like 20/80, time to rethink why that is. Is it planning, prepping, shopping, or availability? Figure those things out first + incorporate small changes for lasting success.
Don’t save your calories:
- when you have to use the bathroom you don’t say – oh I used the bathroom 2 hours ago I will save it for later. No, you don’t. Don’t save your hunger for later either or you will end up eating more than you needed because by the time you ate you were overly hungry. The way 80/20 fits into this is that you are eating the more nutritious foods when you are able to. In turn, you leave the not so nutritious choices for when when hunger cues kick in + you aren’t prepared. 80% planned, 20% unplanned.
20% of the time is not a free-for-all:
- this way of eating is a break from diet culture. Food rules be gone. No foods are off limits with this. However, don’t use it as an excuse! One of the main goals with this plan is to concentrate on healthier foods most of the time. That way, when you are faced with a time where you are not able to (or don’t want to) eat those nutritionally dense foods, eating the fun food is not going to affect your overall health/weight goals.
What Special Considerations Do Vegetarians Have with 80/20 Eating
I absolutely love this style of eating for vegetarians or vegans. The reason is that we are often faced with a decision to eat something processed, refined, sugary, or packaged to keep with our principles of vegetarianism. For example, at a social event or banquet or meeting, we might be offered a bowl of plain pasta with bread or cheese + plenty of desserts.
Meanwhile, our carnivorous counterparts are enjoying a colorful plate of a variety of carefully prepared items. They might have offerings of soups, salads, veggies, even grains + proteins that we cannot eat as they are prepared with animal products. 80/20 style of eating allows us to continue to socialize, participate in the event, not enter the world of hanger, and enjoy the foods that are available. We can do all of this without feeling guilty as we know that our healthy habits were anchored in the foods we chose for ourselves the other 80% of our day.
Who Should Use Caution with 80/20 Style of Eating
If you are an athlete, have prior history of disordered eating behaviors, are pregnant, suffering with physical or mental health issues. Please obtain a consult with a registered dietician or your healthcare provider to find out if this plan is right for you. You could personalize this plan to fit into your life even with one of these conditions. It could work really well. Rooted in a thought where all foods fit, moderation is key, and enjoying your food is a priority, this plan can be helpful to just about everyone.
Food For Thought
I decided to write The Vegetarian’s Guide to the 80/20 Diet today after seeing way too many things pop up on social media about how we all need to be searching for our summer bodies. Again for the newsflash: you get only one body. Love it, respect it, feed it, thank it, give it grace. This style of eating is rooted in those principles. What matters most is what you do most of the time … 80% of the time. The rest of the time, take a bite out of what makes you happy knowing that you have anchored your healthy habits in the meals + moments you planned for.
All the best,
Tara 💚
Do You Love Tara’s Guides?
Check out a few more just like the vegetarian 80/20 diet:
- Guide To Plant-Based Meat Alternatives
- The Vegetarian’s Guide to Prebiotics
- Guide to Vegetarian Shopping on a Budget
- The Vegetarian’s Guide To Packing Food for a Hike
- Guide To Eating Seasonally In Spring
- The Vegetarian’s Guide to Packing Food For a Roadtrip
- Picnic Survival Guide For Vegetarians
- The Vegetarian’s Guide To Food Pairing For Glucose Control
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