“I don’t understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic while it is medically conservative to cut people open or put them on powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs the rest of their lives.”

– Dean Ornish, MD

You may have questions about a plant-based diet. Like, what is it? And, what can I eat on a plant-based diet? This guide is meant to help answer those questions. It outlines the differences between plant-based and vegan. Learn the basics of whole foods, plant-based eating. Plus, get some delicious, easy recipes for beginning a plant-based diet.

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Plant-Based 101

What is a Plant-Based Diet?

A plant-based diet is, quite literally, a diet based on plants. It is centered around fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds with minimal or no animal-based foods like meat, fish, eggs, or dairy. It often implies a whole foods diet, with minimal refined flours, sugars, and oils.

What is a Whole Foods Diet?

Whole foods cooking avoids refined ingredients.  It avoids using refined flour, sugar, and oil. It uses minimally-processed ingredients, in their most natural, whole form.  Specifically, it means avoiding white flour, cane sugar, brown sugar, syrups like maple syrup and agave, all types of oil (including coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, and grapeseed oil).

All of these foods have been refined: They’ve been processed and stripped away of fiber and nutrients. You’re getting maximum calorie bang with little nutrition. It is easy to overeat on these foods. Avoiding them means your body is better at knowing when it’s full and reducing addictive, binge eating.

What is the Difference between “Vegan”, “Plant-Based” and “Whole Foods”?

“Vegan” often implies an entire lifestyle focused on no harm to animals. In addition to removing all meat, dairy, and eggs from one’s diet, if often means avoiding buying leather or using products that have been tested on animals.  Vegan food can (and often does) contain oils, sugar, and white flour.  It’s quite easy to be a “junk food vegan”, eating French fries and vegan milk shakes.

A plant-based approach offers a bit of leeway as far as including animal products.  Plant-based means most of your diet (over 90%) comes from plants.  It focuses on minimizing animal products as much as possible, but some plant-based eaters will still eat animal foods like organic eggs or wild honey.

A whole foods diet is focused on reducing the amount of refined foods like oil, sugar, and white flour.  It is not as strict regarding animal product.  This approach can be more appealing for someone trying to lose weight and hesitant about making a quick switch from a meat-based diet.

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Why Does Someone Go Plant-Based?

There are many reasons for someone to adopt a partial or total plant-based diet.

• For Health
  • Plant-Based Mediterranean diets have been shown to reduced the risk of:
    • Heart disease
    • Metabolic syndrome
    • Diabetes
    • Certain cancers (specifically colon, breast, and prostate cancer)
    • Depression
    • Inflammation
    • Stroke
    • Prevent cognitive decline
  • Boost Immunity
  • Support Weightloss
  • Lower Blood Pressure
  • Lower Cholesterol
• For the Planet
  • Reduces green-house gas emissions
  • Reduces your carbon footprint
  • Better agricultural practices
  • Reducing water consumption (in the way of feeding livestock)
• For Ethical Reasons
  • Prevents the abuse and exploitation of animals
  • Protects workers in factory farms and industrialized meat centers
  • Protects people who live near factory farms and suffer from runoff and pollution
  • Desire to respect and protect all living things (common in Buddhist and Hindu practices)

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How to Start Eating Plant-Based

You don’t have to go 100% to reap the nutrition benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet. Plus, making any drastic change to your diet can seem daunting. Here are some helpful tips to help you start adopting some plant-based healthy eating habits.

7 Tips for How to start a Plant-Based Diet:

1. Rethink Your Plate: Rather than having meat be the focus of the plate, use it more as a garnish or a side. Fill your plate first with whole grains, starchy vegetables, beans, and lentils.
2. Load up on Vegetables: Choose a colorful selection of vegetables and load your plate! Add more vegetables to stir-fry, pasta, soups, and stews. Create lunch bowls with a big pile of greens as your base. Snack on healthy veggies with hummus or guacamole throughout the day. Learn why you should Get Your Greens here.
3. Whole Grain Breakfasts: Start the day the whole grain way! Think beyond eggs, bacon, and milk. Go for for a bowl of warm oatmeal. Try whole grain toast with avocado. Or make a Blueberry Quinoa Bowl. You can even make whole grain Oatmeal Raisin Pancakes.
4. V Before 6: This diet philosophy was made popular by New York Times writer Mark Bittman who set the goal of “Vegan Before 6”. Basically, it means eating a plant-based diet for breakfast, lunch, and snacks before 6. Then, do whatever you want for dinner. Bittman wanted to balance his nutrition goals with his enjoyment for a social nightlife.
5. Meatless Monday: Another popular diet trend, Meatless Monday aims to encourage eating plant-based at least one night of the week. This non-profit has recipe ideas, helpful tips, and a large network of resources to help you start incorporating meat-free meals to your diet.
6. Reduce the Oil: Many of us don’t give a second thought to oil that we use when cooking. However, oil is calorie-dense, refined, and lacking nutrition. Although it’s made from plants, it’s not considered a whole food. Oil-free cooking means swapping that oil for water or vegetable stock. I have more helpful tips on How to Ditch the Oil.
7. Fruit for Dessert: If you’re trying to cut the addiction to refined sugars, fruits are your answer! Candy, chocolate, pastries, cookies, and other baked sweets are usually full of refined sweeteners. In turn, they lack fiber or other key nutrients. However, fruit is loaded with fiber. This will help you feel full and avoid the sugar-crash. Plus, fruit also has lots of water, which helps with hydration. And, there are plenty of health antioxidants in fruit. Aim for 4 servings of fruit a day.

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Do I have to go “All-In”?

No! The science is unclear if you need to be 100% plant-based in order to enjoy the powerful nutrition benefits. In fact, there are many great advantages to going 90%. Think of the Blue Zones diets or the Mediterranean diets. These popular diets are largely plant-based, centered around lentils, beans, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. However, they also incorporate a minimal amount of seafood, meat, and dairy.

The moral of the story? Find what works for you. The more plant-based you eat, the more nutrient-dense you’ll be eating. In arguably, more nutrients means a healthier diet. If you prefer the structure of a 100% plant-based diet, then stick with that. If you still want some freedom to add lean meat and seafood, then opt for that flexibility.

There are many reasons to try a plant-based diet.  All of them are good motivation.  It’s a big first step to acknowledge that you want to change.  But how do you do it?

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What is Plants-Rule?

This site is focused on a plant-based, whole foods diet.  All of the recipes are 100% plant-based, vegan.  There are no animal products: no meat, seafood, dairy, eggs, or honey.  There are also no refined flours, sugars, or syrups.  They are oil-free with a few exceptions for non-stick spray (as in cooking pancakes).

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Plant-Based Recipes, Guides, and Shopping List

For more helpful resources on starting a whole foods, plant-based diet, check out these articles and guides:

Oil-Free, Whole Foods, Plant-Based Cooking Essentials:

• Essential Whole Foods, Plant-Based Recipes You Need
• Chef’s Guide for Plant-Based Dairy-Free Cooking
• Dairy-Free Shopping List and Essential Recipes
• Easy Oil-Free Recipe Essentials for Beginners
• Whole Foods, Plant-Based Pantry Recipes
• Tips on How to Host a Plant-Based Vegan Party
• My Responsibilites as a Chef: Part One

Oil-Free, Plant-Based Cooking Different Cuisines:

• Indian and Italian Cuisines: 6 Things You Already Know about Italian Food Can Help You Understand Indian Cooking
• Mexican Cooking 101: Chef’s Guide for Authentic Flavor
• Irish Food 101 and St. Patrick’s Day Irish Vegan Recipes
• 7 New Year’s Food Traditions From Around the World
• Game Day Foods for Feeding a Crowd
• Ultimate Plant-Based Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes
• The Best Veggie Burger Recipes
• Fourth of July Summer Picnic Menu

Whole Foods, Plant-Based Ingredient Guides and Recipes:

• Get Your Greens: An Easy Change Towards a Healthy, Plant-Based Lifestyle
• Add Some Beans: An Easy Change Towards a Healthy, Plant-Based Lifestyle
• 4 Fruits a Day: An Easy Change Towards a Healthy, Plant-Based Lifestyle
• Quinoa Cooking: Rinsing, Oil-Free Toasting, and How to Know When It’s Done

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Helpful Plant-Based Videos

Here are the essential cooking videos you need to get started with a healthy plant-based diet.  You can also check out my How to Cook channel on YouTube for more.

About the Author:

Plant-Based Personal Chef Katie Simmons

Chef Katie is a Personal Chef based in Chicago. She specializes in creating delicious, healthy recipes for those with special dietary concerns like gluten-free, vegan, oil-free, and low-residue. Outside of the kitchen, she is a Group Fitness Instructor, with over 15 years experience in the fitness industry. For fun, she loves to travel. Some of her favorite trips have included hiking the Incan Trail, backpacking 5 months in New Zealand, and tasting the flavors of Northern India. The Irish love is an homage to her maternal Grandma, Rose Hagan, who wondrously fed 9 children every day with simple foods like potatoes, kale, and cobbler.