If you’ve decided to try the whole-food, plant-based lifestyle (WFPB) to lose weight or lower your risk of certain diseases, you will immediately find there’s a bit of a learning curve.

That’s because the food culture in the United States is geared towards foods that are animal-based and processed—cheese, meats, sugar, flour-based products, chips, candy, etc. In fact, WFPB is such a large change, you might wonder if you’ll be eating anything other than cardboard.

I can happily report that WFPB eating is satisfying and delicious.

Let’s review the general guidelines. With WFPB there are three things to avoid or minimize.

• Added sugar (and artificial sweeteners)
• Flour-based products
• Animal-based products (meat, dairy, eggs)

And there are five things you eat. The main four include:

• Legumes
• Grains (as close to whole kernel as you can get it)
• Vegetables
• Fruits (natural form, not canned)

The fifth category is some added fat on the side. That includes things like a tablespoon of mayo, peanut butter, oil, avocado, etc. Or it could be an ounce of nuts or seeds.

We’ve found it easiest to compose a meal by simply thinking about the five categories and filling in the blanks. If you don’t include one of the main four groups in a meal, that’s fine. Just be sure you’re not excluding it all the time.

There are dozens and dozens of delicious meals. Over the next months I’ll be sharing some of those we love. Let’s start with the base.

The base

Grains

Our InstaPot has been a huge help with grains. It makes them so easy to cook. You can make them in a batch and enjoy them over the course of a few days.

Wheat

• 2 cups food storage wheat berries (Yes! Finally a use for all those bags of food storage wheat in the basement!)
• 5.5 cups water (or use vegetable stock if you want it savory)
• ½ tsp salt
• Cook for 35 minutes on high pressure followed by immediate pressure release. Drain if necessary.

Rye berries, oat groats, pearled barley, brown rice

• 2 cups grain
• 2.5 cups water (or vegetable stock if you want it savory)
• ½ tsp salt
• Cook for 22 minutes on high pressure followed by 10 minutes of natural pressure release. Drain if necessary.

When you want the grain as a savory dish, use vegetable broth or stock. It gives the grain a wonderful flavor. It’s total magic. You can get cartons at the grocery store for under two bucks. 

For rice, we love the Lundberg wild rice mix. Lundberg also happens to be California rice which doesn’t have the high levels of arsenic that rice from the Southern United States has.

Legumes

Lentils

• 1 cup brown or green lentils (do not use red for this)
• 2 cups vegetable broth (the broth is the magical ingredient)
• ½ tsp salt
• Cook for 15 minutes on high with 10 minutes of natural pressure release. Drain if necessary.

For other beans, we just purchased them in the can. They’re cheap and easy. Pinto, black, white, black-eyed peas, etc. You might find it easiest to start with pinto and garbanzo beans.

Fruits

Easy. Just get whole fruits. You can also get the frozen berries and cherries.

Vegetables

Easy. Just get a variety of veggies and salad.

Nuts and seeds

Easy. Get whole almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc. Whatever you like. Try to get them raw. You can heat them up in a pan on the over before you eat. Stove-roasted pecans are tasty.  

Added oils

Olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil. You’re not going to be using a ton. If you want to use mayo and salad dressing, do it. Again, you’re not going to be using much.

Spices

Use all you want—cinnamon, ginger, basil, etc. Also use mustard, soy sauce, hot sauce. Balsamic vinegar is great on many things.

Recipes

With meal recipes we mix and match. Here are some meals we like.

Grain Bowl

For 1 person.

• 4-6 oz of grain
• 6 oz of berries, cherries, or 1 whole fruit
• Some almond milk
• Some spices like cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice or ginger (could do fresh ginger if you like it), or cocoa.
• 1 oz of nuts, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, or 1 tablespoon of coconut cream
• Heat in microwave if desired

Great for breakfast. Using different fruits and spices gives it lots of variety from day to day.

Homemade Costa Vida Salad

For 1 person.

• 4-6 oz beans
• 3-4 oz salad greens (you will need a big bowl)
• Some mango salsa
• 1 tablespoon Ranch dressing or may
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Just mix it all up and enjoy. You can add cooked rice if you want and other sautéed veggies. You can also add rosemary leaves and turmeric for the health benefits.

Other tips

Here are some other things we’ve found.

• Broccoli tastes the best, hands down, when cooked in a steamer.
• Cabbage is great when steamed and stir fried with soy sauce, ginger, garlic powder, and onion powder
• Succotash is tasty, especially if you make it with some small cubes of potato.
• You can substitute lentils for ground beef in many meals. We’ve done it with stuff green peppers, shepherd’s pie, and many others, and our picky, teenage daughter actually likes it.
• Some corn added to beans for a burrito or chili gives it a nice sweet flavor.
• Sautéed mushrooms are great with onion powder, garlic powder, and thyme.
• Garbanzos go really well with peanuts.

We’re not fanatics about this. But I’d say we’ve been able to get 90% of the way to a WFPB lifestyle. And we’re enjoying the food. In fact, the longer we eat this way, the tastier it becomes.

For about two years, we ate a diet high in vegetables and animal-based foods (meat, dairy, and eggs). We were diligent, but didn’t see the results we hoped for. Four months ago, we switched over to WFPB. I recently had some blood work done. After four months of eating this new way, I’ve dropped about fifteen pounds. My total cholesterol is down from 214 to 188. My blood sugar levels went from 107 to 83. And my blood pressure has improved. And that’s after just four months with some days of holiday eating mixed in. I can’t wait to see what happens after eating this way for a year.

If you want to hear the research behind this to consider the evidence yourself, I recommend the following:

• The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted (Revised and Expanded) by Colin T. Campbell, PhD
• Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by Colin T. Campbell, PhD
• How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger, M.D.
• How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss by Michael Greger, M.D.

You can get all of them from your local library. If they don’t have the books there physically, ask the librarian how to use their Overdrive account to check out an ebook or audio book version online.

T. Colin Campbell grew up on a dairy farm, loved milk, loved meat, and started his career as a nutrition scientist thinking the cornerstone of good nutrition was high-quality animal protein—meat, milk, and eggs.

One of his first projects was for MIT, trying to help the chicken industry. Millions of chickens were dying each year from something toxic in their feed. What was the mystery killer? Campbell was responsible for isolating and determining the structure of the chemical. Through his work, he helped discover dioxin, one of the most toxic chemicals ever found.

After helping with that, he began work helping malnourished children in the Philippines. He wanted to find ways to help them get more protein in their diets, because, again, protein was supposed to be the cornerstone of health. Part of the project was remedying an unusually high incidence of liver cancer in children, which is normally an adult disease. At the time, they thought a lack of protein was leaving the children vulnerable to aflatoxin in their diet.

But as they began their scientific investigation, Campbell discovered the kids who ate the most protein had the highest rates of liver cancer.

But that just couldn’t be right.

And then he came across a study of rats and aflatoxin. The scientists in the study administered the cancer-causing aflatoxin to all of the animals. Half of the animals were then fed a diet with 5% protein. The other half were fed a diet with 20% protein. All of the animals fed a diet with 20% protein developed liver cancer. None of the animals fed a diet with 5% protein developed the cancer.

Again, that couldn’t be right. Protein was good for you. A respected colleague suggested surely the researchers must have mislabeled the animal cages. Campbell decided to run his own studies and find out. Back at Cornell, he and his research assistants ran the experiment multiple times and in various ways. And all of the experiments confirmed that protein promoted cancer growth. In fact, they could turn cancer growth on and off by the amount of protein they fed the animals.

But it wasn’t all protein. It was animal-based protein. The plant-based protein didn’t promote cancer growth.

Campbell was astounded. The findings rocked his world, but he was determined to follow the facts wherever they led. This began decades of research into diet and nutrition. The culmination was what’s called The China Study. It is the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted. And what all of his decades of research demonstrated was that “People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. Even relatively small intakes of animal-based food were associated with adverse effects. People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease.”

Campbell didn’t rest there. He sought out the findings of other researchers and clinicians. And what he found all demonstrates that “The same diet that is good for the prevention of cancer is also good for the prevention of heart disease, as well as obesity, diabetes, cataracts, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s, cognitive dysfunction, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and other diseases.”

What was the diet that showed such important results? A whole food plant-based diet. It’s a diet rich in legumes, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits with little or no meat, milk, and eggs.

Campbell has written a book for lay people like you and me that explains the science and findings called The China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition.

The book is a fascinating masterwork of clarity. In it, he not only explains the research but also how and why various groups have tried to suppress and discredit the information.

Campbell is not some crazy quack. He isn’t someone selling pills and supplement drinks on the internet. He has no financial interest in you believing him. He is one of the foremost researchers on nutrition, a renowned scientist at Cornell University, who has worked as a senior science adviser to the American Institute for Cancer Research, sat on government nutrition panels, and is on the advisory board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.  

If you or someone you love are worried about any of the following:

• Heart disease
• Cancer (breast, prostate, colon, liver, and others)
• Type 1 Diabetes
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Erectile dysfunction
• Multiple sclerosis
• Cataracts
• Macular degeneration
• Osteoporosis
• Alzheimer’s

I think you will be interested in hearing what he has to report. Of course, you’ll have to make up your own mind about the evidence he provides. But I think you owe it to yourself to hear what he has to say.

There are many good accounts of soldiers in World War 2, but I just finished one that is unlike any others I’ve read. It’s the delightful Sergeant Nibley PhD: Memories of an Unlikely Screaming Eagle by Hugh Nibley and Alex Nibley.

It details the experiences of Hugh Nibley, the famous BYU scholar of ancient history, as a soldier in the war, starting from when Nibley was on his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and met Hitler coming out of a bathroom in Germany.

This book made me laugh and wonder and sorrow. It includes insights, surprises, and anecdotes that I haven’t found anywhere else. The authors also include many pictures that help the whole thing come alive. If you like history or biographies or are a fan of Nibley’s works, I think you’ll love this book.

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Some of the wonderful residents of Rich County, Utah where I live are not going to like this next one. But I have to share it because if what’s detailed in this next book is accurate, it could help so many.

The book is Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by T. Colin Campbell who has been one on the forefront of nutrition research for over forty years.

Campbell’s legacy, the China Study, is the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. He’s a renowned researcher at Cornell University. He has worked as a senior science adviser to the American Institute for Cancer Research, and sits on the advisory board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

I share all that to simply suggest that he might have a little bit of expertise that’s worth listening to.

Campbell grew up the son of a dairy farmer and went into the field of nutrition, believing animal protein, specifically dairy, could help solve nutrition problems in countries with starving populations.

What he found shocked and surprised him. And at first, he didn’t believe it. But he and others ran study after study, and the science led to one conclusion: a diet high in animal products and processed foods increases the risk of many cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and a host of other maladies just as surely as tobacco increases the risk of lung cancer. What he found is that the healthiest populations ate a whole-food, plant-based diet.

Now that goes against a lot of what we’ve been told. Milk is supposed to do a body good. And surely there’s nothing more healthy than lean cuts of meat. And aren’t there studies that prove this?

In this book Campbell explains the science behind the evidence for what he and other scientists are seeing, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven’t changed.

I know this may seem like yet another whiplash science report. You know the kind—one report says red wine is bad for you and the other says red wine is good. But in this book, Campbell explains why we get such goofy and contradictory claims.

If you or someone you love is dealing with heart disease, cancer, including breast cancer, obesity, or diabetes, you will want to hear him out. Whether what he has to say persuades you and what you will do about it, is up to you. But I think you’ll benefit from listening. If you’re interested in science, this book will give you surprising insights about its practice that you probably haven’t considered. Listening to Campbell has been eye-opening. I highly recommend this book. If, after hearing it, you want more information, I recommend his previous book called The China Study.