Ask Roger: What is a healthy plant-based diet?

Healthy plant-based lifestyle

I wrote back to Paul giving him some tips for a healthy plant-based lifestyle.

“Hi Paul,

Thanks for reaching out to me and thanks for reading my blog posts. Since July 2007, there are now more than 4000 posts – many on plant-based lifestyle – so that could keep you occupied for a while!

There are many resources for you to draw upon. I will share some of my favorites:

• The McDougall Health & Medical Center
• The Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine
• NutritionFacts.org
• Jeff Novick
• Ornish Lifestyle Medicine
• Dr. Michael Klaper’s Nutrition-Based Medicine
• Forks Over Knives
• Food Revolution
• T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies
• One Green Planet
• Dr. Esselstyn’s Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Program
• The Integrative Medicine Program at UC Davis

These are just a few of the ones that I draw from.

Differing views

As you study each of these resources you will find differences. Some will suggest that oil is OK and others will tell you that oil is poison. While I am in the McDougall camp that the fat you eat is the fat you wear, I think that these differences in opinion are healthy.

These differing opinions keep the professionals on their toes and engaged in the research. What’s most important to me is that despite the minor differences, they are all advocating a whole-food plant-based lifestyle. These differences also push me to study and think more too. That’s all good and healthy!

In general, a healthy whole-food plant-based diet is consists of whole grains, vegetables and fruit. Your food should look like you dug it out of the earth or picked it off a plant, bush or tree. Food should look like you grew it in your garden, bought it at the farmers market or in the produce section of the store. Your food should look like God made it.

If man has sliced it, diced it, altered it or added word to it that you cannot pronounce and packed it in a box with a label – avoid it.

In other words, you want your carrot to look like a carrot. You want to have to chew your food, not drink it. Your food should be unprocessed.

You will get all the protein and other nutrients you need from plant-based food.

And, yes Paul, hypnosis can help you to have a large amount of no desire for meat and dairy and to create a healthy desire for whole grains, vegetables and fruit.”