Quotes About Plant-based

In 2010, the chair of the nutrition department at Loma Linda University published a paper suggesting that giving up meat entirely is an effective way to combat childhood obesity, pointing to population studies demonstrating that people eating plant-based diets are consistently thinner than those who eat meat.28

From a nutrition standpoint, the reason I don't like the terms vegetarian and vegan is that they are only defined by what you don't eat. When I used to speak on college campuses, I would meet vegans who appeared to be living off french fries and beer. Vegan, technically, but not exactly health promoting. That's why I prefer the term whole-food, plant-based nutrition.

Of all the nuts studied in PREDIMED, the researchers found the greatest benefits associated with walnuts, particularly for preventing cancer deaths.15 People who ate more than three servings of walnuts per week appeared to cut their risk of dying from cancer in half. A review of the scientific literature concluded that "the far-reaching positive effects of a plant-based diet that includes walnuts may be the most critical message for the public."16

Researchers compared patties made with fava beans and split peas to protein-matched patties made out of meat. The title of the study gives it away: "Meals Based on Vegetable Protein Sources (Beans and Peas) Are More Satiating Than Meals Based on Animal Protein Sources (Veal and Pork)." Even lower-protein patties in which most of the mashed beans and peas were replaced with potato held their own against the meat.

In general, the dividing line between health-promoting and disease-promoting foods may be less plant- versus animal-sourced foods and more whole plant foods versus most everything else.

When people were put on a diet packed with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans and allowed to eat all they wanted, they ended up eating 48 percent fewer calories than they might have otherwise.

Part of that was due to the lower calorie density of the plant-heavy diet, but people also spent about 40 percent more time chewing, for seventeen minutes per meal compared to twelve minutes.

China is perhaps the best-studied example. There, a transition away from the country's traditional, plant-based diet was accompanied by a sharp rise in diet-related chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.38

the dividing line between health-promoting and disease-promoting foods may be less plant- versus animal-sourced foods and more whole plant foods versus most everything else.

Toss a tablespoon of ground flax into a blender with some frozen berries, unsweetened soy milk, and half a ripe banana or mango or a few dates for sweetness, and you have a delicious drink containing both classes of protective phytoestrogens—lignans in flax and isoflavones in soy.

That one unifying diet found to best prevent and treat many of these chronic diseases is a whole-food, plant-based diet, defined as an eating pattern that encourages the consumption of unrefined plant foods and discourages meats, dairy products, eggs, and processed foods.

Toss a tablespoon of ground flax into a blender with some frozen berries, unsweetened soy milk, and half a ripe banana or mango or a few dates for sweetness, and you have a delicious drink containing both classes of protective phytoestrogens—lignans in flax and isoflavones in soy. (See chapter 11.) Blend in some cocoa powder for a chocolate milkshake that could help improve your chances of both preventing and surviving breast and prostate cancers.

A key difference between plant-based nutrition and more traditional approaches to weight loss is that people are encouraged to eat ad libitum, which is, as I've noted, Latin for at one's pleasure. In other words, people on a healthy enough plant-based diet can eat as much as they want.

Millions of years before we learned how to sharpen spears, mill grains, or boil sugarcane, our entire physiology is presumed to have evolved in the context of eating what the rest of our great ape cousins eat—leaves, stems, and shoots (in other words, vegetables), fruits, seeds, and nuts.

A plant-based diet has actually simplified my life in so many ways. For breakfast, I try to get my first serving of fruits and nuts for fuel. I'm completely addicted to coconut water for the electrolytes and hydration.

I have been following a vegan diet now since the 1980s, and find it not only healthier, but also much more attractive than the chunks of meat that were on my plate as a child.

When you follow a vegan diet, there is much less need for surgeons to clean out your arteries or intestinal tract!

There are really only two "rules": 1. Build your meals from plant-based foods, especially vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes (beans, peas, and lentils). 2. Ensure complete nutrition with a supplement of vitamin B12

The first "rule" guides you to replace animal products with the four healthful food groups that are nutrition powerhouses: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes.

A groundbreaking 2016 study from the University of Oxford modeled the climate, health, and economic benefits of a worldwide transition to plant-based diets between now and 2050. Business-as-usual emissions could be reduced by as much as 70 percent through adopting a vegan diet and 63 percent for a vegetarian diet (which includes cheese, milk, and eggs). The model also calculates a reduction in global mortality of 6 to 10 percent.