The Smart and Savvy Guide to Plant-Based Eating: Lose Weight. Heal Your Gut. Boost Your Brainpower.

By Siloam

The best food comes from the earth.

This book will show you how to cook appetizing meals that will help you feel better, look younger, and live longer.

The virtues of vegetarian, vegan, and raw foods are more popular than ever in both cookbooks and restaurant menus. Readers will learn to prevent chronic illness, lose weight, and improve their overall health with plant-based replacements for meat, eggs, dairy, and more. A quick-start guide includes delicious, easy, healthy recipes for both cooked and raw foods.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:
The Smart and Savvy Guide to Superfoods (2020)
ISBN: 978-1-62999-696-7
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Siloam
• Release date: Mar 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781629996998

Book preview

Index

CHAPTER 1

Eating Green Is the New Black

Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.

— ALBERT EINSTEIN

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU LIVE in a time when leading a more natural, eco-friendly lifestyle has never been more en vogue. Being green is having a moment, especially when it comes to adding more green foods to your table. This shift toward eating more plants is nothing short of a global phenomenon, and if you’re reading this book, you’re plant curious. You’ve decided to learn more about this way of eating and make it a permanent part of your lifestyle.

The Smart and Savvy series was created to provide you with simple self-care strategies that work. The Smart and Savvy Guide to Plant-Based Eating was designed to do just that: provide you with everything you need to know about plant-based options so you can live your best life. The tips, recipes, and advice compiled on these pages were designed to help you reach your goals quickly and easily.

Section I is where you Get Smart. This section gives you the why, the foundational information to help you understand why plant-based eating is taking the food world by storm as the healthiest way to live and eat.

Section II helps you Get Savvy. This is where you’ll discover the how, the way that you apply all of your newfound knowledge to your everyday life. We’ve included everything from social situations to stocking your pantry, covering all the bases to make your transition to healthy eating easier and more effective than you ever dreamed possible.

Section III helps you Get Going. Here you’ll find a seven-day challenge full of easy meal plans, shopping lists, and recipes. Think of it as your quick-start guide to begin putting what you’ve learned into practice.

Along the way we’ll boost your plant-based know-how with recurring features such as:

• Plant-Eater Profiles: snapshots of famous people and organizations who’ve adopted a plant-based lifestyle

• Healthy Hacks: genius tips and tricks that make your transition to plant-based eating a no-brainer

• Fast Facts: short but surprising stats and research

• Food for Thought: game-changing information everyone needs to know

• Ask the Expert: pro advice to take your plant-based lifestyle to the next level

• Smart and Savvy at a Glance: helpful lists for easy referencing

From Millennial Movement to Mainstream Mindset

The research firm GlobalData reported that in 2014 only 1 percent of Americans identified as vegan, but by 2017 this number had grown to 6 percent.¹ That might sound small until you recognize it is an increase of 600 percent in just three years. Other countries such as Israel, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand have seen similar trends during the last decade.² China’s 1.3 billion people have been encouraged by their government to reduce meat intake by 50 percent, and their vegan market is expected to grow more than 17 percent by 2020.³ With numbers like this, many believe plant-based eating is more than a fad; they see it as a global movement whose time has come.

Notables like Dr. Neal Barnard, from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and Dr. Dean Ornish, author of Dr. Dean Ornish’s

Program for Reversing Heart Disease, have been confirming the value of plant-based diets for years. It seems their message has finally gone mainstream. Today health organizations such as the American Institute for Cancer Research and Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest health care organizations in the United States, advocate a plant-based diet.⁴

We’ve all heard about millennials (those born from the early eighties to mid-nineties) being the largest living generation and the impact their values are having on everything in our economy. But did you also know that millennials are becoming known as the wellness generation? That’s right. Take a look at this Fast Fact to find out why.

As our culture shifts its focus from previous generations (baby boomers and Gen Xers), the different priorities and values of the millennial generation are causing changes in everything we do. Just think about how quickly the disruptive concepts of Uber, Airbnb, Twitter, and Amazon have changed the way we shop, communicate, travel, and more.

Millennials are changing the way we eat as well. They tend to eat more restaurant food (whether dining out or ordering restaurant delivery through apps) than previous generations have done. They don’t necessarily identify healthy foods with terms such as sugar-free or low-fat, opting instead for food choices labeled as gluten-free, dairy-free, natural, organic, and sustainable.

FAST FACT: According to a recent study, more millennials place high importance on health than on friends, spirituality, or careers. Only family ranked higher, with 79 percent of millennials indicating family as important and 53 percent placing importance on health and wellness.⁵

Based on these trends, it’s no surprise that more and more meatless alternatives are becoming available in the grocery store and at the places we eat. The cultural shift in food-buying habits has even caused global retailers to ask suppliers for more plant-based products.⁶ Tech giant Google is shifting its employee cafeteria meals to offer more plant-based options and less meat.⁷ As millennials quickly become the majority in the workplace, other employers and retailers are sure to follow suit. Don’t be surprised to see meat-free fast-food restaurants popping up (Veggie Grill, Plant Power Fast Food, and Evolution Fast Food are three such companies already seeing incredible growth). And when your beloved eating hole or supermarket starts incorporating more plant-based options alongside your familiar favorites, thank a millennial!

FAST FACT: Roughly eight out of ten American millennials consume meat alternatives, and nearly a third make conscious decisions to eat more plant-based food.⁸

Disney Resorts

At their founding Walt Disney’s theme parks focused on the simple eating tastes of a bygone era with hot dogs and ice cream accentuating the nostalgic charm of the park-going experience. In more recent years, as the progressive mega theme park company caters to the palates of a growing number of millennial patrons, Disney has pledged to offer one or more plant-based items at all of its quick-service and sit-down restaurants. Orlando’s Walt Disney World Resort began dishing up the new menu items in October 2019, while the Anaheim Disneyland Resort, already dubbed America’s Most Vegan-Friendly Amusement Park, will follow suit in spring of 2020.⁹

FAST FACT: The term whole food, plant based (WFPB for short) was coined by T. Colin Campbell, PhD, an American born biochemist and professor emeritus at Cornell University.¹⁰

Millennials are indeed disrupting the way we think about food. But regardless of when you were born, you can join the growing number of people turning to plant-based options. There are many reasons motivating people to make the switch, and an increase in health and vitality is one of them. The more you know about basic nutrition and the significant health benefits of a plant-powered life, the more you will want to make it a permanent way of eating.

As you consider the options, keep in mind that a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet is not an all- or-nothing proposition. You choose the degree to which you incorporate plant-based foods into your diet.

Smart AND Savvy AT A Glance

What Plant-Based Level Are You?

There are various commitment levels of plant-based eating lifestyles. Here is a quick list of the basic options, beginning with the most flexible and leading up to the most fully committed lifestyles. Without a doubt more variations than these groupings exist, but these are some of the most common.

→ Reducetarians are people who want to cut back on their intake of meat, eggs, and dairy, so they make an effort to choose more plant-based options. A 2017 global survey by Nielsen suggests that 39 percent of Americans and 43 percent of Canadians fall into this category.¹¹ There are subsets within this group, such as red meat reducers, who cut back on red meat but not white meat or fish, and so on.

→ Flexitarians are more intentional than reducetarians about incorporating plant-based meals into their diet on a regular basis. They eat mostly plant-based foods but still occasionally consume meat and other animal products in moderation.

→ Pescatarians are vegetarians in the sense that they refrain from eating the meat from poultry, cows, pigs, and other land animals. However, they still consume fish, eggs, and/or milk.

→ Vegetarians (also called ovo-lacto vegetarians) do not eat any animal meat or fish, but they still consume eggs and/or milk.

→ Raw foodists are people who eat all uncooked foods. Their diet often resembles that of vegetarians or vegans; however, some raw foodists consume raw milk or even raw meat.

→ Vegans are people who don’t consume any animal products at all. Many vegans are also opposed to wearing or using any products that come from animals.

From this list it’s easy to see that there are many plant-based eating options. But wherever you find yourself on the plant-based spectrum, two things are certain:

1. No one needs a lot of meat (and meat eaters should consume only organic, grass-fed muscle meats).

2. We all need lots of vegetables (and the more veggies we consume, the more vibrantly healthy we become).

HEALTHY HACK

Small steps can have big payoffs. Not sure you can give up meat forever? Challenge yourself to meatless Mondays. Don’t think you can sustain a raw food lifestyle for the long haul? Try going for an occasional one- or two-day vegetable juice fast to detox your body and give your digestive system a rest. Never underestimate small or short-term changes; they can be very cleansing and detoxifying, particularly if you repeat them whenever you’ve overindulged or eaten a lot of heavy food.

Bottom line: you don’t have to become a level-five vegan like a comical character on The Simpsons once claimed to be. You don’t have to swear off meat forever or eat 100 percent raw, vegetarian, or vegan to benefit from the plant-based recipes and meal plans in this book. Whether or not you ever identify as vegan or vegetarian, you can choose today to start eating real, whole, plant-based foods that satisfy your appetite and nourish every organ and cell of your body. Start today, and set goals to eat more and more every day.

Your Body, Your Choice

Your body, your particular health issues, and your current stage in life are significant factors in your dietary choices. Yet people at every stage in life benefit significantly from plant-based eating. The current trend toward WFPB eating is a breath of fresh air in a diet world that often emphasizes unhealthy food substitutes for the sake of losing a few pounds. Weight-loss gimmicks, fad diets, and food crazes come and go, but hopefully a solid understanding of the benefits of a plant-based diet are here to stay.

Much of the dietary information out there, including information on WFPB eating, comes from a sincere desire to help others. Yet even the best of intentions does not mean that what someone puts out there is necessarily accurate or factual or good for you. A basic knowledge of nutrition—what our bodies need on a daily basis to function properly and what they don’t need—should form the foundation of a healthy, long-term dietary plan. That is the goal of this book’s approach to plant-based eating. People make the decision to eat little or no meat for a variety of reasons, but this book’s focus is on the health and wellness aspects of shifting to plants as food. The knowledge you’ll gain from these pages coupled with small actions done consistently over the long term will yield healthy results.

FAST FACT: With so many people recently opting to switch to plant-based eating, it might seem like the latest fad, but in reality this way of eating is as old as humankind. Its health benefits have been long known but have not always been made known.

Often the idea of adhering to a particular eating plan is accompanied by notions of forever giving up all kinds of foods we enjoy, when in reality that isn’t necessary. A lifestyle of healthy eating doesn’t mean you’ll never eat a potato chip or a piece of cake again. Hopefully it does mean that your preferences will change so that you are far less likely to gravitate to unhealthy foods.

It’s worth mentioning that as the plant-based eating trend continues, you should beware marketers who will undoubtedly begin to label unhealthy foods as vegan in an effort to gain sales. Technically speaking, Oreos, Cap’n Crunch, unfrosted Pop-Tarts, Fritos, and Nutter Butters are vegan,¹² but that doesn’t make it healthy to consume them by the plateful. The crux of healthy eating pivots on knowledge and willpower and an understanding that you don’t have to live a life of deprivation void of food pleasure. Because of the massive social interest in animal-free eating, it’s becoming easier and easier to find plant-based versions of everything—from deep-dish pizza and cheeseburgers to birthday cake and ice cream. In many cases the plant-based versions taste, smell, and look even more delicious than their animal-based counterparts—and when they’re made with healthy ingredients, they can actually be better for you.

Eating a WFPB diet can change your life, just as it’s changed the lives of countless others who have adopted this way of eating. You don’t have to identify as vegan to care about animals, the planet, or your health. The Smart and Savvy Guide to Plant-Based Eating was written to help you find the healing, vitality-producing power of the plants we eat. So if you’re ready to put your health first and green it like you mean it, turn the page.

CHAPTER 2

Better Choices, Better Health

We have science to suggest that if you can make three changes—give up all meat, all dairy, and refined foods including free oils—you can avoid dying from cancer and heart disease.

—MEHMET OZ, MD

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS. You can plant them, pick them, sprout them, or simply eat them. In each case—you get life! That’s because life comes from life. These foods are your true north, your path home to health in a jungle of dietary havoc, contaminated food, and abounding confusion about what and how to eat.

Good health is the result of consuming whole, unprocessed, clean food, with a large percentage of that food being raw and alive. These foods are chock-full of nutrients, water, and fiber that flush away toxins, waste, and sludge from our cells and intercellular fluids. They help us prevent disease and give our cells vital energy to help them communicate more effectively.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) Is Sad

Most of us know the principles of healthy eating, and yet as a nation we continue on an unhealthy downward spiral. How did we lose our way—from pure, whole foods to processed, packaged, chemically sprayed industrialized fare—in such a short period, considering that mankind has been eating plant-based foods since the beginning of time? Massive changes in food production, processing, and marketing after World War II (corn oil, processed breakfast cereals and breads, TV dinners, carbonated colas, and fast-food restaurants) hooked a nation more than half a century ago on money-making products that changed our thinking about food forever.

FAST FACT: The website for the 2019 documentary Fed Up claims: Everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong.¹