Eating a plant based diet isn’t just a new fad. It’s a proven way to increase your health while also helping improve the environment.
There are several different types of plant based diets, which one you choose will depend on your reasons for pursuing a plant based diet and your budget.
You can consume a healthy plant based diet inexpensively, or you can spend an astronomical amount of money depending on which path you choose.
What Does It Mean to Eat a Plant Based Diet?
A plant based diet is defined as one that is based on eating mostly plants such as legumes, vegetables, fruit and whole grains while excluding any type of food that comes from any type of animal including eggs, dairy, meat, seafood and fish.
Some proponents of plant based diets eschew any animal “products” while others seek to use animal products as a condiment instead of a main course. To that end there are several types of plant based diets you will want to learn about.
Forks over Knives Diet
Based off the book “The China Study” and the popular documentary “Forks over Knives”, also sometimes called the Engine 2 Diet, this diet is essentially a no added oil, no added salt, and no added sugar, no animal product diet. Plus, processed foods are discouraged. It bills itself as a “Whole Foods Plant Based Diet”.
You eat fruit, vegetables, tubers, starchy vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. With the primary source of calories coming from starch and fruit this diet is very satisfying even without the addition of oils, salt, and refined sugar.
The Starch Solution Diet
Made popular by Dr. McDougall, this diet is defined by eating mostly starch with vegetables and fruit. A typical dinner would include a starch like brown rice, beans or potatoes with some vegetables mixed in, and raw fruit as a snack.
No additional oil and very little sugar are allowed on this diet, and no processed food products. Participants are told they can eat all they “want”. The break down is 70 percent starch, 20 percent vegetables, 10 percent fruit. No animal products are allowed on this diet.
It is very similar to the Forks over Knives Engine 2 Diet and is another “whole food plant based diet”.
Vegan Diet
You may believe what has been described so far is already vegan and you would be correct, since they exclude animal products. But, a vegan diet, while excluding animal products, does not eliminate processed food.
You can be a vegan and still be unhealthy and over weight because there is no restriction on the diet other than not eating animal products. You can eat a lot of unhealthy food and still be technically vegan.
Eco-Atkins Diet
Eating a low carb diet was made popular by diets like the well-known Atkins Diet, however, people who wanted to enjoy the low carb lifestyle but did not want to eat so many animal products created the so called “Eco-Atkins Diet”.
This diet consists of eating low carb without eating animal products. It limits your carb intake to about 25 to 26 percent of your daily caloric intake day by recommending meals like tofu scramble; imitation tofu based meats, leafy greens, other high fiber vegetables and fruit like broccoli and berries instead of high carb fruit like bananas.
To calculate your carbohydrate intake subtract the fiber from the total carbs listed. This diet depends a lot on processed “fake” meat products.
The Raw Food Diet
This controversial plant based diet consists of eating “all you want” of fruits and vegetables with a few raw nuts and seeds. This diet is based in part on the book The 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas N. Graham which claims you should eat 80 percent complex carbohydrate, 10 percent fat, and 10 percent protein. All of these nutrients should be from a primarily fruit based diet.
But, there are different versions of raw food diets. The 80/10/10 diet is the purest form but there are “gourmet” raw food diets which consist of higher fat and more complex recipes including processed foods like coconut oil and agave nectar, (some even allowing the use of honey which is an animal product) while the 80/10/10 diet advocates more for “mono” meals of raw unaltered fruit all day and a very large salad in the evening as much as you can and want to eat with zero added fats like olive oil.
The Mediterranean Diet
While still considered a plant based diet, this diet allows some forms of animal product, about 10 percent of the diet, as long as it’s lean and organic. The diet also shuns processed food preferring instead to include whole foods such as whole sprouted grains.
Instead of white bread one would eat whole wheat sprouted bread. Instead of white rice, one would eat brown and wild rice. Essentially, the emphasis is on plants with animal products as a condiment.
For example, dinner might be a vegetable medley with 1 or 2 ounces of sliced lean beef, a large salad, a whole wheat roll, and for dessert one might enjoy 1/2 cup of fresh berries with 1/4 cup green yogurt, sweetened with a bit of honey.
Fat should be kept between 25 to 35 percent of daily caloric intake with only 7 to 8 percent saturated fat allowed. This diet does allow olive oil and so-called healthy fats so that is why the higher percentage of fat is allowed.
This is still considered a whole food plant based diet even though it’s decidedly higher in fat and includes some animal products.
Why You Should Consider Eating this Way
There are many reasons a person might consider starting a plant based diet. Most plant based diets have been shown to reverse food borne illnesses such as type II diabetes, heart disease, and poor indigestion. Plant based diets can even help lower the risk of developing certain cancers.
Even the American Cancer Society recommends a healthy plant based diet for cancer patients asking them to particularly avoid red meat and to eat whole food over processed food.
Better Health
When even the American Cancer Society weighs in on eating plant based you know that it is likely a preferable method of eating to improve or maintain health.
Most people who stick to a healthy plant based diet that is also low in fat, sugar, salt and processed food see an improvement in their health within 30 days in the following ways:
- Lowered Cholesterol Numbers
- Improved Blood Sugar
- Lower Weight
- Improved Skin, Hair & Nails
- Less Autoimmune Disease Symptoms
- Improved Sleep Quality
- More Day Time Energy
- Better Digestion
- Less Overall Illness
If you want to feel better, and look better, a whole food, plant based diet is the easiest, least expensive and best choice for you to make for your health.
Better for the Environment
When you realize that it takes far more resources to produce animal products such as hamburger, steak, chicken and so forth than it does to produce plant food for humans to eat, you start to realize that a plant based diet can do wonders for the environment.
Think about it, first you have to water and grow the grain to feed the animals, and then you have to water the animals. Never mind that you have to get rid of the animals’ waste which is a serious and toxic pollution problem in and of itself.
If we skipped that process we could simply grow food for humans using the water once in a more sustainable way. Consider the following facts:
- It takes 15 pounds of carbon dioxide to produce 1 pound of meat (Nathan Fiala, University of California)
- 80 percent of all water used in California goes to agriculture, with 47 percent of that going to the cattle industry (USGS.GOV)
- Eating one meatless meal a week for a family of four is like not driving for 3 months in terms of how it helps the environment ( EWG.ORG)
It’s clear that eating less meat and products derived from animals is one of the best ways to help the environment.
Freeing up resources for plant based food for humans instead of to feed cattle and other farm animals will reduce pollution, save water, and lesson the effects of climate change. This is especially true when talking about factory farms.
It Saves Money
Some people will try to say that a whole food plant based diet is expensive. It’s true that if you go for the 80/10/10 raw food diet or a gourmet raw food diet you can spend a lot of money on food.
But, a whole food plant based diet that centers it’s calories around starches and fruit will actually save money.
- Beans, Potatoes and Brown Rice is Cheap
- Avoiding Processed Foods Saves Money
- Making Things from Scratch Saves Money
- Eating at Restaurants Less Saves Money
- Spending Less On Drugs Saves Money
- Fewer Illnesses or Chance of Illness Saves Money
You can get a 1 pound bag of beans for less than 2 dollars, a five pound bag of potatoes for 99 cents, a head of lettuce or a big bag of kale is not expensive either.
Not to mention that if you have a small patio you can grow tomatoes and peppers which will save a lot of money too. Shopping locally is also a key to saving money.
How to Change Your Diet Over
If you are interested in changing to a whole food plant based diet there is no reason to feel deprived. Simply start adding more whole foods to your diet until you crowd out the processed and animal products from your diet.
For example, eat the plants first, and then if you’re still hungry eat the other items, slowly adding in more plants until you’re too full to eat anything else.
Follow these Tips to Get Started:
- Shop in Season & Locally
- Shop the Perimeter of the Store
- Try Growing Your Own Veggies and Fruit in Pots or Raised Beds
- Think in Terms of Adding instead of Subtracting
- Buy or Make Whole Grain Sprouted Breads
- Buy Dried Beans Over Canned
- Join a Food Co-Op or Farm Share
- Start Making 1/2 Your Plate Vegetables
- Work on Making the Other half Starch
- Eat Fruit for Dessert
- Eliminate Processed Sugar
- Eliminate Added Fat
- Eliminate Processed Food
- Eliminate Animal Products
- Make Your Own Food Avoid Packaged or Restaurants
- Eat Plants First
Even food that looks healthy in a restaurant can be very unhealthy. Even food that says it’s healthy on the package in a grocery store is suspect.
Read all labels, and avoid anything with ingredients you don’t know, or that list sugar, fat, or salt first. Then, eat until you feel satisfied, but not stuffed at each meal and during snacks.
Can You Lose Weight Eating a Plant Based Diet?
Any diet that limits your caloric intake to less than you expend can enable you to lose weight. The reason a proper whole food plant based diet that is low in fat, sugar and salt will help you lose weight is that the food is high volume, high nutrition and low in calories.
Due to the high volume of food, it will be difficult without added fats and sugars to eat more than your caloric needs due to the size of the portions in comparison to the size of your stomach.
Due to meeting your nutritional needs it is also thought that you will feel less hungry over time since hunger is often a signal of needing vitamins and minerals or hydration rather than just needing to taste something good and fill up space in your tummy.
So, you may find that the longer you stay on a whole food plant based diet the less you feel like eating, the fewer cravings you have, and the more satisfied you are with your way of eating.
Losing Weight, Calories & Health
As long as you do not add fat, sugar or salt to your food prior to or during preparation, you will lose weight eating all you want to eat until you are satisfied when eating a whole food plant based diet.
But remember, Professor Mark Haub of Kansas State University showed in 2010 that you can eat 1200 calories a day of Twinkies and lose weight. Showing that losing weight in and of itself isn’t proof of a healthy diet.
Healthy diets also make you feel good, and show good blood test results, so don’t avoid your health care provider.
The whole food plant based diet can help you lose weight, and become healthy if you ensure that you are eating the right amount of calories for your body which will also ensure that you get enough nutrients.
What’s great about that is that in most cases that is far more than 1200 calories since your body uses more energy processing 1200 calories of carrots than 1200 calories of Twinkies.
Protein & Plant Based Diets
Finally, some people may wonder whether or not their protein needs can be met eating a plant based diet. The answer is yes. You may be surprised to note that if you’re eating enough calories for your body size and shape it will be hard not to get enough protein on a plant based diet.
The only supplementation that you may need is Vitamin B12, and Vitamin D3.
The reason is that most people eating standard diets are already short of these nutrients but since we wash our plants so well getting B12, which is made from bacteria on the food, is difficult for most people especially vegans.
D3 may be needed due to avoiding processed food like fortified Almond milk and the high use of sunscreen to avoid cancer, but it is still better to supplement than eat processed high sugar and salt food. It doesn’t take anything away from the fact that eating a whole food plant based diet is healthy and can even be life-saving for some.
You’ve learned what a plant based diet consist of, why it might be healthy for you, the environment, and your pocketbook and how to get started.
The worst thing you could do now is put off the change. You won’t regret it, or feel deprived once you become accustomed to the conversion because you’ll feel great, look great, and know deep down that you’re contributing something great to society.
