Ep.19 Anna Escalada: Building well-balanced plant-based and vegan diets

The Health Scientist Podcast

Anna has a bachelor's degree in food science, is a registered dietitian/nutritionist in Spain and has a masters degree in nutrition and metabolism from the University of Barcelona which is where we met and became friends many years ago. Anna works online with clients, helping them construct healthy ways of eating that are more intuitive, less processed and full of plants, regardless of whether they are vegan or not. She does this with practical philosophy based around making food preparation easy for everyone. Anna has also set up a company producing award winning vegan cheeses in Barcelona.

Anna's Instagram

Anna's Website (Greenstinct)

In this episode we cover:

• The three main reasons for following a vegan diet and Anna's own reasons for doing so
• An easy way to explain the difference between plant-based and vegan diets
• Why anger isn't reational and that can lead to many of the online arguments we see in from certain extremist groups
• Area's where vegan diets might fall short and how to effectively compensate for this with supplements
• Different approaches needed for vegan athletes due to the greater energy demand
• Different coaching strategies such as macronutrient tracking, when working with athletes
• The importance of developing sustainable dietary patterns when helping people with nutrition... and when to know when a diet doesn't need to be sustainable
• Anna's own strategies when helping people improve their nutritional habits
• The importance of cooking skills for better nutrition and how to make cooking easier
• The ease of falling into an unhealthy vegan diet pattern without the proper education
• Some of the main benefits of plant-based and vegan diets and the role of plants in health in general
• The dangers of using fear-based approaches for promoting certain diets
• The use of strict vegan diets as a cover for a hidden eating disorders