I decided to go vegan recently, but now I find that I have gained quite a bit of weight.

When you go vegan, one of the first things you will be doing is compromising on your protein intake. You have a lot of options to increase your protein intake but the efficiency of the protein is poor. In simple terms, what this means is that your body is unable to absorb protein, iron, etc., from lentils like it would be able to when you consume foods such as chicken and eggs. Going on a vegan diet when your body is accustomed to processing meat will initially make you feel extremely lethargic and tired. In your case, the reason your weight has increased is only because of the fact that the carbs in your diet are much higher now. If you are looking to lose weight, we recommend you keep dairy out but bring back at least eggs in your diet. Also, going high on fat when you are vegan is better than being a low-fat vegan. So, include more avocado and nuts along with veggies, lentils and a little fruit in your diet.

I’ve heard a lot about good bacteria and bad. What are good bacteria and how can bacteria be healthy for us?

Our stomach lining, or gut, has a mix of good and bad bacteria. Collectively this is called gut micro-biome. Our gut health is based on the population of each of these bacteria. Our gut or stomach is quite like our second brain. It is responsible for the production of nearly 80 per cent of the happy hormone called serotonin. Our gut health also takes care of our hormone production, sleep cycle, cravings and our behaviour in general. Keeping your gut healthy by increasing the amount of good bacteria is one of the most effective things we can do. Eating good fats first thing in the morning in the form of coconut oil, ghee or butter or avocados or nuts or coconut meat is an excellent habit you should cultivate. Every day, aim to eat one portion of fermented veggies such as sauerkraut or pickled cucumbers or carrots. Have five grams of L glutamine every single day with lunch to improve the population of good bacteria in your gut, and keep off refined sugar completely. Switch to getting your sugar from dates and figs because refined sugar is food for bad bacteria; they thrive on it.