Vegan and Vegetarian Nutrition Counseling

The advice reaching my plant-based clients tends to sit at two extremes: either "you will end up deficient, give it up" or "you need nothing at all". Neither works. Among the clients I have followed over the years the pattern is this: the problem is not the plant-based diet itself but doing it without a plan, and which gap you actually have only becomes clear once the labs are read. Below I set out what I look at, which decision belongs to whom, and where I stop.

What Does a Plant-Based Dietitian Change on Your Plate?

There are good sources explaining what can run short on a plant-based diet; which food carries what I do not repeat here, I gathered that in the vegan nutrition guide. The work here is different: finding which item on that list is actually short in you. Two vegan clients eating the same menu do not come back with the same labs; absorption, medication, the gut side and how long you have been eating this way all change the picture.

What I see most often in practice is someone who has been plant-based for years treating their tiredness as normal. Yet fatigue, hair loss and breathlessness are frequently signs of a gap that can be measured. That is why I start the process from the labs; writing a supplement on a guess costs more than the price of the jar; it can hide the real gap.

B12: The One Decision That Is Not Debated

B12 is the single heading nobody argues about on a plant-based diet. Because its reliable sources are animal foods and fortified products, securing this side through menu changes alone is not realistic in a fully vegan adult. The decision to supplement, the form and the dose belong to your doctor; my job is asking for your level to be monitored and building the plan around that decision.

One warning as well: a B12 deficiency can progress without producing the anaemia picture when the diet is rich in folate, so "my blood counts are fine" does not always mean "B12 is fine". The symptoms and the monitoring side I set out in the B12 deficiency guide; the decision is made together with your doctor.

Protein and Iron: Spread and Absorption, Not Amount

On a plant-based diet the protein question is usually asked as "is it enough", when the real issue is how it is spread across the day. Legumes piled into one meal give a different result from the same amount spread over three, and breakfast is the weakest link for most clients. Varying the sources matters for the same reason, far more than any "combine these two at every meal" rule.

On the iron side the conversation is about absorption rather than amount. Absorption of plant iron is affected by tea and coffee taken close to a meal, by the timing of a calcium supplement, and by whether the meal carries a vitamin C source. So I build the plan around those hours. If ferritin is low, finding out why is your doctor's work; the nutrition side runs alongside it.

How the Weeks Move

• A personalized program built around your labs and the pattern you have chosen, with plant-based recipes alongside it.
• Photo meal analysis: you send a photograph of the plate, so you do not have to describe what you ate.
• A voice call every two weeks, with WhatsApp message support in between.
• Label-reading practice: we work through hidden animal ingredients and fortified products together.
• The plan updated within the same week whenever a new lab result arrives.

The scope is the same in all three packages; only the duration and the fee change, and call frequency does not. Calls are voice only; video consultations are not offered. The process runs entirely online, so where you live makes no difference. Payment is taken by bank transfer and fees are not refunded.

Where Is the Line in Sensitive Periods?

Pregnancy, breastfeeding, infancy and the growing years stand apart under this heading. A plant-based plan for a child or a pregnant client needs closer monitoring and I do not run that process alone: where medical follow-up continues and the growth curve or the pregnancy is being tracked by your doctor, we can work on the nutrition side together. Adding a new restriction for a child is not my call.

The other places I stop are equally clear. Where an eating disorder has been diagnosed, a plant-based diet can sometimes become the cover for the restriction; there psychiatry and psychotherapy come first and the nutrition side runs only alongside that team. In malabsorption, after bariatric surgery and in advanced kidney disease the plan is built together with the relevant doctor.

These are not nutrition matters but doctor's work: numbness or tingling in the hands and feet, unsteadiness, forgetfulness and a burning tongue; hair loss that speeds up; breathlessness and palpitations on exertion; periods stopping. In any of these nothing waits; you contact your doctor.

What Do I Look at to Start?

You can send your application through WhatsApp at no charge; our assistant receives your initial request. I send the intake form; you send it back with your recent labs, a list of the supplements you take and how long you have been eating this way. If you have no labs in hand I tell you which tests to ask your doctor for. Nothing is prescribed during the intake assessment.

The programme reaches you within a few business days. After that we speak by voice every two weeks, and what we read is not a single value but a direction: whether the tiredness is easing, whether the meals are genuinely workable, where the lab trend is heading, and whether the plan has narrowed your social life. The duration is set by the package, and which one suits you we decide together during the intake assessment.