Getting Started on a Low Fat, Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet

Here are some great first steps towards transitioning into the naturally low fat, whole food, plant-based (WFPB) way of eating. Before you begin, know that any vegan diet (way of eating, not weight loss plan) isn’t the same as a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet. Many vegan foods are high in fat (oil) and highly processed (vegan junk food). You’ll want to learn to identify those so that they can be avoided.

• YES, EAT A LOT: whole or minimally processed fruits, vegetables, and starches (grains, legumes/beans, tubers/root vegetables), fungi/mushrooms

• YES, EAT SOME: whole nuts and seeds, avocado, coconut, natural sweeteners like real maple syrup or raw agave, whole sea salt

• NO, MINIMIZE OR AVOID: highly processed junk or fast food, added refined sugar, oil (of any kind…even olive), refined table salt, flour, all animal meat, dairy, and eggs

Click here for the Center for Nutrition Studies shopping guide
Click here for Mary McDougall’s Well Stocked Pantry & Kitchen list
Click here for PlantPure Nation’s WFPB Info Sheet for Individuals
Click here for PlantPure Nation’s WFPB Tip Sheet & Shopping List

To get therapeutic effects from your food choices, they need to all fall into the low fat, whole food, plant-based (WFPB) criteria listed above. The closer you get to 100%, the better you will feel. The tips below will best help you achieve your wellness goals of health restoration, weight loss, increased energy, and longevity. Jump to #7 for free recipes to use today!

Note here that “low-fat” is a relative term. A WFPB (whole-food, plant-based) diet is naturally lower in fat than a SAD (Standard American Diet). A WFPB diet has adequate & healthful fat content when eating whole plant foods.

1. COMMIT to the improvement of your health. Believe that you can heal yourself, feel better, overcome chronic conditions, and perhaps wean off medications.

2. STARTING POINT Get baseline readings of your health data (blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, fasting sugar, medications list, etc.) and take a series of photos of yourself. This is all for your private use that one day you may wish to share as the starting point of your success story.

Taking notes and keeping a food diary is very helpful so that you can be accountable to yourself, remember where you started, and recognize what is working well for you. Upon 30 days from now you may not remember just how poorly you once felt, but daily diary entries will help you recall how far you’ve traveled.

3. CONSULT If you are taking medication of any kind, you need to consult with your physician before making any significant dietary change because:

• A whole-food, plant-based diet can cause rapid healing which may reduce many medication requirements;

• If you are on medication for diabetes or heart disease, for example, your physician and you will need to monitor your bio-markers closely; and

• If your glucose or cholesterol levels or blood pressure are falling, your physician may need to reduce your medication and failure to do so could cause serious harm.

4. SUPPORT Join a PlantPure Nation pod group for support, recipes, education, and events.

5. PROGRAMS Join the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s 21 Day Vegan Kickstart HERE. Dr. Neal Barnard and his team offer a FREE low fat, whole food, plant-based lifestyle change plan. You’ll receive access to Kickstart and the daily e-mails starting on the next Monday after you sign up and runs for 21 days.

There is also the 7-day Plant-Based Kickstart offered by the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies HERE.

Mary and Dr. John McDougall offer a free 10-day online program HERE.

The Vegan Key™ is a free e-program that will teach you which toxic food ingredients to avoid, how to choose, manage, and prepare real, whole plant food, how to eat the Fruit Til Five™ way, how to nourish your spiritual body, how & why to incorporate sunlight into your daily diet, how to positively influence human evolution, and how to be a kind & energetic ambassador for veganism

6. EDUCATION Start watching food documentaries to educate yourself. HERE is a great list.

7. COOKING The best advice for getting started is just start cooking! Find appropriate WFPB recipes online and/or purchase cookbooks from low-fat, whole food, plant-based experts and websites. Note that all vegan cookbooks and recipes are not necessarily low fat or whole food in nature. Watch out for added oil, refined salt, and refined sugar, and avoid highly processed faux meats and cheeses.

By signing up for newsletters you could get a full education and recipe library for free from the field leaders in WFPB nutrition. Consult the following websites for appropriate sources:

• Happy Herbivore cookbooks, meal planning & website recipes
• Forks Over Knives cookbooks & website recipes (FOK Plant Based Primer)
• PlantPure Nation & website recipes (Buy this cookbook!)
• Brenda Davis, RD cookbooks & website recipes
• Cardiologist Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn cookbook
• The Campbell Plan cookbook & website recipes
• Better Than Vegan cookbook
• The China Study Cookbook & website recipes
• Straight Up Food recipe blog
• Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine cookbook & website recipes
• Dr. John McDougall cookbook & website recipes (free webinars)
• Cardiologist Dr. Joel Kahn book
• Dr. Michael Klaper website
• Dr. Jeff Novick website
• Dr. Michael Greger website & Daily Dozen app (get the Evidence-Based Eating Guide free HERE)
• Dr. Pam Popper website
• The Engine 2 Diet website & cookbook
• Cardiologist Dr. Baxter Montgomery
• Plant Based Dietician Julieanna Hever
• Alzheimer’s experts Drs. Dean & Ayesha Sherzai
• Dreena Burton’s WFPB family recipes – kid approved!
• Autoimmune Disorder expert Dr. Brooke Goldner
• Multiple Sclerosis Reversal expert Dr. Saray Stancic
• The Veggie MD – Dr. Danielle Belardo – cardiology
• Dr. Kristi Funk – breast cancer
• Mastering Diabetes with Cyrus Khambatta, PhD, and Robby Barbaro, MPH
• Will Bulsiewicz, MD MSCI – gut health expert

Big List of No-oil Salad Dressings
The Big List of Oil-Free Dressings, Volume II

8. FOOD Sometimes it’s easier to make the transition with a little help. Look at the resources below for wholesome pre-made foods.

• LeafSide shelf-stable WFPB meal packs
• Engine 2 – look for these foods at Whole Foods
• Dr. McDougall’s Right Foods – look for these foods at Whole Foods
• PlantPure Nation – frozen meals at Publix

Whole food, plant-based prepared frozen or fresh meals delivered from:
• PlantPure Nation
• Mama Sezz
• Plant Perfection Foods
• Macro-Mediterranean Healthy Meal Delivery
• Fresh n’ Lean
• Thrive Foods Direct
• Daily Harvest

If you are local to the Savannah, Bluffton, or Hilton Head Island areas, check out Morsel Meals.

Whole food, plant-based meal kit (to be cooked by you) delivered from:
• The Purple Carrot

9. CLASSES Consider some continuing education courses.

• Rouxbe Forks Over Knives Online Cooking School
• Plant-Based Nutrition Online Education through eCornell
• Dr. John McDougall’s programs for professionals & nonprofessionals
• PlantPure Health & Weight Loss Online Seminar

10. RESTAURANTS Where to eat out? It can be extra challenging to eat out low fat, whole food, plant-based, however you can find vegan restaurants and restaurants that offer vegan menu items by using HappyCow or Vanilla Bean. They also have a great app by the same name to put on your phone to find dining options while out or traveling. Before traveling, consider booking your trip with a vegan travel agent such at Veg Jaunts & Journeys.

Ornish Tips for How to Order a Healthy Plant-Based Meal from Any Restaurant Menu

11. BOOKS Educate yourself. Here are two great WFPB reading lists:

• Plant-based diet books on Goodreads
• Plant-based books recommended by T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Studies

I recommend starting with How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Dr. Michael Greger and The China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Dr. Thomas M. Campbell, III. These two highly recommended titles (and many others!) are on my recommended bookshelf at Bookshop, an online retailer that supports independent bookstores.

Sign up for a free subscription of The International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention HERE. It is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal created to document the science of nutrition and lifestyle to prevent, suspend, and reverse disease. The IJDRP is a publication of The Plantrician Project.

12. PLANNERS Use whole food plant-based meal planners from:
• Forks Over Knives
• Rich Roll (specify no oil)
• Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor
• Lighter

13. WFPB DOCTORS Need to see a doctor who supports WFPB eating? Search the databases below.

• Plant-Based Doctors
• Plant Based Docs
• American College of Lifestyle Medicine
• Dr. McDougall Finding a Healthcare Provider
• Vegetarian Nutrition

14. AUDIO Get a great education while exercising, driving, or doing chores. Here are some of my favorite free WFPB health podcasts:

• Rich Roll Podcast
• Chris Beat Cancer
• The Exam Room (PCRM)
• Science and Saucery

What can you expect if you change over to a low fat, whole food, plant-based lifestyle?

Lower risks of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease,  or being overweight, and increased energy and feeling of health & wellbeing.

Additional Resources

• 21 Previously Unknown Reasons Why The World Needs You to Eat Vegan Today (And It Has Nothing To Do With The Animals)!

• 57 Health Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet

• Johns Hopkins on Health & Environmental Implications of Animal Consumption

• Vegan Junction: Top 20 Plant-Based Health Professionals to Follow

Notes from Dr. Garth Davis

First off, there is no question in my mind that a whole foods plant based diet is the best diet for the vast majority of the population. The scientific evidence, as outlined in my book, is utterly compelling. BUT:

1) A plant based diet is not meant to be used in place of western medical care. If you have an illness, plant based diets can help. Great during chemo, fantastic for heart disease, BUT if you need medical treatment then get medical treatment!!!!

2) Plant based diets are great for preventing cancer, but it does not mean you will definitely not get cancer. In studies vegans get less cancer, BUT they still get cancer. Genetics and environmental toxins play a part in disease. Plant based diets decrease, but do not eliminate, risk. And, as above, if you have cancer then plant based diets are great for treatment and prevention of recurrence, BUT still get treated!

3) Heart disease is very well treated with plant based diets BUT certain people have genetic defects where they will have high cholesterol regardless and should definitely go on statins.

4) You can still gain weight on a plant based diet. Well, if it was truly plant based it would be very difficult. It is usually the processed foods and oils that lead to the weight gain, but I have seen morbidly obese vegans in my office. It is rare but I do see it. So if you think that the vegan brownies are somehow healthier and OK to eat, you may end up gaining weight, and wrongfully blaming the diet.

5) Finally, if you make a huge change and go from a standard American diet to a vegan diet, you may not feel good in the beginning. So many people tell me they switched to plant based diet but felt horrible and quit. You cannot go from the average 10 gm fiber a day to 40 gm fiber without serious GI upset. Part of this is due having a micro biome that has adjusted to the heavy meat intake. My recommendations are to take it slowly. Switch out one meal at a time. Aim to go up 5 gm fiber every week. Also take beano or enzymes with meals. Finally adding a probiotic helps for many people. Eventually your body adjusts and you will feel fantastic!