Judy Ki hugs a whale shark at Shark Days in Sacramento, part of the campaign to safeguard real-life sharks being killed for shark fin soup.

Judy Ki Has Retired to a Career of Advocating For Sharks, Chickens, Pigs, and Politically Courageous Candidates

The family meals of Judy Ki’s Hong Kong childhood paved the way for her current whole foods, plant-based diet. She grew up in the Chinese tradition of eating fresh veggie dishes with only small amounts of meat and fish. Judy’s mom taught her to respect animals, including the lizards whose role was to keep down the insect population in the family garden.

Judy, a humane advocate, political activist, and retired middle school science teacher, is a San Diego neighbor. I admired Judy’s work, meeting her at community events and through Facebook, where Judy describes herself as “proud bunny-hugging, bleeding-heart, do-gooder.” She took the time to share her path to activism with me recently over a bountiful salad and baked potato lunch.

At age 20, Judy moved to the US for educational opportunities. She chose California because she disliked cold weather.

An environmental caucus of the Democratic Party in San Diego in 2007 was a turning point for Judy. “A beautiful young blonde lady gave me a Vegan Outreach pamphlet. The year before I had read the book Fast Food Nation and was shocked at the treatment of animals raised for food. After reading the pamphlet on the realities of factory farming, I knew I had to take action,” Judy recalls. She had just retired from a 27 year career with the San Diego Unified School District, and finally had time to devote to activism.

She started by going to Washington DC for the Taking Action for Animals conference sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Meanwhile Judy was slowly transitioning her diet. She had stopped eating factory farmed animals right after getting the Vegan Outreach pamphlet. She still consumed some sea animals, but tapered off these choices. Soon she was happily sticking to a 100% plant-based diet.

The HSUS conference got Judy involved as a major signature gatherer for Proposition 2. This 2008 California ballot initiative provided some basic protection for male calves raised for veal, chickens on egg-laying factory farms, and pigs confined to cruel gestation crates. Judy gathered 1,373 signatures to get Prop 2 on the ballot, and was also instrumental in getting the California Democratic Party to endorse the Proposition.

While working for Prop 2, Judy was surprised and happy to meet the young lady who gave her the Vegan Outreach pamphlet. It turned out to be Kath Rogers, whose leadership role with the San Diego nonprofit Animal Protection and Rescue League (APRL) was also

Judy with Assemblymember Paul Fong, author of shark-protecting AB 376

instrumental in guiding Prop 2 to a resounding victory.

The success of Prop 2 encouraged Judy to find ever more ways to work for animal and social causes. She has backed “politically courageous candidates who speak out for what is true, whether it is popular or not.” She has identified, raised money, and worked for such candidates at each election cycle, and lobbied legislators and raised awareness between elections.

In 2011, Judy was a key figure in the passage of AB 376, which banned the sale, trade, possession, and distribution of shark fins in California. Many species of sharks are close to extinction because of the merciless practice of cutting off their fins, then throwing them back in the ocean for an agonizing death from bleeding or drowning. Every year, 73 million sharks are slaughtered for their fins.

Judy served as chair of the Asian Pacific American Ocean Harmony Alliance (APAOHA), which was instrumental in enacting AB 376. The well-funded fin traders in San Francisco and some legislators called a ban

Sharks, essential for healthy ocean ecology, are being driven to extinction by shark finners

on shark fins an attack on Asian culture, because shark fin soup is traditionally served at wealthy and privileged Asian weddings. Judy and her fellow Asian activists showed this argument was bogus, that shark fin soup was a tradition that had run its course and was being disavowed by people of every ethnic background.

Judy is now a Commissioner of the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, continuing her regular trips to Sacramento to influence public policy and legislation. This group’s mission is to “elevate the political, economic, and social issues of Asians and Pacific Islanders by contributing to and strengthening how state government addresses the needs, issues, and concerns of the diverse and complex Asian and Pacific Islander American communities.”

Judy is an accomplished gardener and thrives on her whole foods, plant-based diet. She enjoys cooking animal-free. “I love broccolini the way some people love donuts. Cooking with meat is unimaginative and boring. Cooking vegan is creative,” she laughs. On a serious note, she observes parents need to be educated on what to feed their children. “Kids naturally like salad and

Judy loves the creativity of cooking on a whole foods, plant-based diet. Meat is so boring, she observes.

vegetables. Parents teach bad eating habits by taking them to fast food restaurants. But people can recondition their tastes to love healthy foods again.”

I admire Judy’s many accomplishments, and can’t wait to see what her next move is to help people and animals live in harmony with each other and the planet. I hope you are as inspired as I am by Judy’s work. You can make a difference, we all do.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease. Janice is proud to be part of the San Diego community with Judy.

Robert Grillo with one of the friends who inspires him

Robert Grillo Is a Dedicated Advocate of a Plant-Based Lifestyle and Getting To the Core of Truth about Our Food

Robert Grillo makes time every day to report on top news and issues in plant-based eating and the reality of animals raised for food. His website Free from Harm is one of the best sources I’ve found for must-know animal stories that may not make ordinary headlines. Rather watch than read? Free from Harm hosts a collection of dozens of long and short videos on plant-based nutrition and animal issues.

When Robert is not digging through and sharing the news, he shares veganized version of classic American favorite foods on his other site, Hearty Vegan Recipes.

Robert, an independent writer and marketing consultant, has lived in Chicago all his life. I met him on LinkedIn. After marveling at the daily stream of hard hitting information he posted on vegan and vegetarian groups there, I had to contact him to get to know him better.

Robert generously took time from his packed schedule to answer my questions on his journey from growing up omnivore to putting out a daily blog on plant-based diets.

Robert’s Italian-American parents both loved to cook. His father grew up in a very poor immigrant family where meat and cheese were considered a luxury. Robert believes that was why his dad was so insistent that every meal be centered around meat. On the weekends, Robert’s dad would plan elaborate dishes inspired by Julia Child. These meals would take him all day to prepare. His father’s life was taken by cancer at only 49.

Robert transitioned to a vegan diet in 2010. Prior to that he was an “on again-off again vegetarian.” Robert mused that he made no clear connection between his beliefs and food choices. “I just had a vague sense that eating a vegetarian diet most of the time was consistent with my lifestyle,” he told me.

I asked Robert what made him change his diet. “Ultimately, witnessing undercover video investigations, films, and documentation about the atrocities committed against animals in agriculture. Once I made the connection between the animals we say we revere and

The site Free From Harm delivers must-know information on farmed animals, nutrition, and plant-based diets

love and the ones we eat, I began to identify all animal products as products of unnecessary oppression and suffering. It’s culturally acceptable to eat animal foods only because the dominant culture says so. But logically it is a house of cards that collapses once we examine the issue a bit more carefully,” Robert shared, echoing the message that Free from Harm is founded on.

Robert also has experienced health benefits from moving to a plant-based diet. His energy is up, and his LDL, or “bad” cholesterol fell from 120 to 90 in just months.

Robert let me know he loves his plant-based diet. “My palate has changed immensely and I find myself enjoying a really wide range of plant foods that I never knew existed before. I no longer find it challenging. It’s just habitual and enjoyable. I think developing and maintaining any conscious eating regimen (whatever the motivations are) requires a bit more thought and planning, but the rewards are immeasurable. Ultimately eating right is a small challenge when compared to the stark reality that animals face. Our food choices are literally a matter of life and death for animals. I think it’s important to keep that in perspective.”

A passionate group of dedicated bloggers keep putting the word out on whole foods, plant-based diets

Robert’s animal-free eating sets an example. He is always hoping to inspire others. “Making the right food choices means acting on my values, specifically my belief that animals have a value in and of themselves and therefore are not here to be our resources. As Melanie Joy says, when meat eating is not necessary for our health or survival, it is a choice. And choices always stem from beliefs. I sincerely believe that making fully aware food choices is the single most important positive impact we can make in our lives because it impacts the greatest number of animals and has the greatest impact on the planet.”

Robert’s bottom line with Free from Harm is to guide readers to question everything. “We have to be willing to demystify culture and traditions as well so we can get to the core of the truth about our food,” he said. Robert tells me he views himself as an accidental vegan. “The accidental vegan is one who once thought vegans and animal rights people were crazy and never imagined himself “one of those people.” And once you understand, it’s no longer an accident. It becomes a new

Animal foods industries see farmed animals, such as this sweet lamb, as nothing but commodities. Robert Grillo fights this mindset with hard-hitting information you probably did not hear anywhere else.

awareness of how human and animal and ecological justice are all part of the same continuum.”

I truly admire Robert’s dedication, energy, and consistent focus. Free from Harm is your daily news on what really matters. Check it out.

If you liked this post, you may want to read about the Healthy Librarian, another dedicated plant-based blogger.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease. Janice is humbled to be part of the community of dedicated bloggers teaching the world about whole food, plant-based diets.

Davie Maxwell and his mom in the seedling greenhouse of Hidden Oasis farm. Davie starts his leafy green powerhouse crops out from seeds.

Davie Maxwell Pioneers Compassionate Farming for Delicious Leafy Greens

Whole food, plant-based diets and veganic farming are natural partners. Veganic gardeners grow crops without manure, bone or blood meal, or other animal products. While plant-based nutrition is a blossoming trend, raising cruelty-free crops is evolving more slowly.

Using veganic methods, Davie Maxwell grows the world’s healthiest, tastiest leafy greens on his 5-acre Hidden Oasis farm near Vancouver, Washington, a short drive from Portland. I was deeply impressed with his quiet dedication, compassion for the critters that nibble his crops, and eagerness to share his learnings when I visited him on a recent trip.

Seventeen years ago, Davie smoked, ate greasy meat and processed foods, and drank soda. Then he had a relatively minor medical problem that kept him in the hospital, just for one night. That was enough for him. He decided to learn to take better care of himself so he would never have to walk into a hospital again. “Once was enough to last me a lifetime,” he winces.

But change to a healthier vegetarian diet was one step at a time. “If someone back then said I was going to be vegan and specialize in growing greens, I would have thought they were nuts,” Davie told me.

Davie grew flowers when he first started to improve his diet, but after a year or two switched to focusing on leafy green nutrition powerhouses. Although he is a fourth generation farmer, Davie did not grow up on the land and taught himself how to grow cruelty-free and sustainable food. He learned by reading, talking with his family and other growers, and trial and error.

Biff and Bootsie are two of the guard cats who scare off mice and voles. These rescued ferals help Davie while he helps them, feeding them, taking them to the vet, and bringing them inside at night.

The first question vegans often get is “where do you get your protein?” The first question Davie gets from farmers who use animal products on their crops is “where do you get your nitrogen?” (Actually these two are almost the same question. Nitrogen is the distinguishing element in protein, and plants use nitrogen to manufacture the amino acid building blocks of all proteins, plant and animal.)

Davie answers his question the same way that vegans answer theirs: from plants! He uses cover crops to pull nitrogen out of the air and put it into a form that is usable by other plants. He makes a fertilizing “tea” by soaking weeds and remnants of his crops in giant tubs of water for a week or two. The compost pile is indispensible.

Davie endeavors to constantly recycle and reuse the resources of his own land, without the expense and energy required to bring in materials from the outside. Many plants are grown in greenhouses he builds, which helps conserve the need for resources.

Hidden Oasis farm has a couple other distinguishing features. Davie does not use tractors or other gasoline-powered tools. His own strength and labor powers his activities. His mother helps with some of the chores, such as picking, weeding, and packing their crops for delivery to customers.

Hidden Oasis is also a no-kill farm. Mice and voles are local wildlife that love to gobble Davie’s crops. He shares his harvest with the voles without taking their lives, an act of compassion few farmers would match. He does acknowledge though that his 3 farm cats (2 of them rescued ferals who just wandered into his life) kill and eat voles; this is part of nature’s balance.

Mice are seed eaters, and initially Davie’s attempts to sprout spinach from seeds failed dismally when mice would chomp the outdoor infant plants as they germinated. Now he sprouts all his seeds in a greenhouse on heated pads, so they grow faster. Mice could sneak

This gorgeous kale growing in one of Davie's greenhouses will definitely be perfect on one of my green sandiwiches.

into the greenhouse, but again the 3 cats take care this threat does not materialize. Davie does not even kill slugs. Instead, he gathers them and brings them to the back of his farm, as far as he can get from the crops.

Growing crops with Davie’s methods saves money by eliminating the purchase of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides, and requiring less energy and expensive tools. Davie is in incredible shape from all the physical work his farm demands. Watching the plants flourish and draw accolades from his customers is way more gratifying than a trip to the gym.

Davie finds that veganic farming produces better tasting and smelling crops. Another advantage to growing veganic is that manure can release poison from pesticides that were on plants the animal producing the manure ate. These chemicals can and do kill crops.

For all its financial and health advantages, veganic gardening for Davie also has a major ethical aspect. He has been vegan for seven years. “Once I became vegan I had to find a way to grow food without harming animals. I don’t need the slaughterhouse now to get my nitrogen. I don’t even have to get in the car.”

Davie shared a bag of assorted fresh greens he had grown with me. I can testify to the excellent taste and texture of Hidden Oasis offerings. Using amazing local bread and Davie’s gift, I had the best green sandwiches of my life.

Davie’s dedication to cruelty-free farming, reliance on his own land and labor, and sensitivity to the needs of his growing plants and customers are groundbreaking in this era of convenience and wasteful use of resources. Hidden Oasis farm shows the future of sustainable agriculture as the planet gets more crowded and resources are degraded.

I greatly admire Davie’s humble view of his accomplishments, quiet manner, and connection to the land and all its creatures. Visiting his farm gives me new appreciation for the hard work of so many farmers. Stop and think where your foods came from and how it was produced. For us city-dwellers, so much is required to allow us to flourish on a whole foods, plant-based diet without ever touching

I wouldn't mind adding some of this tatsoi to my sandwich either

the land.

If you liked this post, you may want to read How To Make Delicious Green Sandwiches, which will show you how to put Davie’s greens to good use.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease. Janice is looking forward to the day she can move out of the city and grow some of her own food – using Davie’s methods.

Me and David at the table just before dinner. David cooked such an excellent feast that I'm still thinking about it. Yet the recipes he used are designed for easy home cooking by anyone who want to eat healthy with a minimum of time in the kitchen.

David Gabbe Makes the Veg World More Delicious

Do you ever look around your kitchen and feel uninspired? You want a simple, tasty meal but can’t quite get it together to cook something.

David Gabbe, a Portland-based vegan cookbook author, cooking instructor, and speaker, can help you out. I was fortunate, on a recent trip to Oregon, to savor an excellent dinner at David’s house with him and his wife, daughter, and son-in-law.

My spirited, friendly hosts offered such a variety of enticing food that it was hard to know what to eat first. I ended up with a plate crammed with a whole grain medley, tofu cubes, Mexican-themed casserole, corn bread, baked yams, and kale salad. Home made chocolate truffles rounded out dessert. I was so stuffed that one truffle was all I could manage, but my hosts downed a few more. In fact, I was informed, they eat home made chocolate truffles every day. Can I move in?

David is the only vegan I’ve met who did not have an identified reason to go animal-free. He and his wife just woke up one morning and decided to do it. Their two young children adopted the family food values. David reached out to educate the community. He immersed

David makes cooking manageable and fun for busy people who want healthy recipe ideas

himself in both the art of plant-based cooking and the science of nutrition so he could share his pleasure in vegan choices.

Now, twenty-two years into his career as a vegan author and educator, David teaches over 100 cooking classes a year in Oregon and Washington. His classes range from the general (David’s Vegan Kitchen, Grab-and_Go, Soups and Salads) to focus on specific foods and holidays (Adventures with Tofu, Gluten-Free Baking, Cheeses and Milks Vegan-Style, Thanksgiving, and many more).

Most people who take David’s classes are not vegan. They are just wanting to learn some healthier recipes and pick up some new ideas to incorporate beans, whole grains, and vegetables into their meals. Students describe David and his classes appreciatively as entertaining, delicious, fabulous, awesome, healthy, funny, and inventive.

If you are not lucky enough to live where you can take one of David’s classes, you can still have fun with his cookbooks. David’s Vegan Home Cooking, with over 250 whole foods, plant-based recipes, is his latest. The earlier books are From David’s Pure Vegetarian Kitchen, The Going Vegetarian Cookbook, and Why Do Vegetarians Eat Like That?

David’s Vegan Home Cooking wonderfully incorporates a cooking style that David describes as “quick and easy to prepare, that use a minimum of ingredients and instructions, and that use familiar ingredients that are used again and again in many other dishes.” He calls his food “A celebration of life with every bite.”

You should have an easy time finding intriguing recipes in David’s Vegan Home Cooking. If you are new to whole foods, plant-based cooking, David starts with basic information on kitchen tools, cooking techniques, and preparation of whole grains and beans.

Recipes are grouped by kind of food and how it is cooked rather than by meal. Chapters include Grains, Cereals, and Noodles; Dips, Sauces, and Condiment, From the Oven, Wraps, Patties, and Sandwiches, From the Skillet, Sweets, and more.

David has learned much from working with his students, answering their questions, and hearing their concerns. He has learned to satisfy them with simple, tasty, familiar foods. Because he is meeting students at their starting point, some of his recipes contain added oil and salt. In many recipes, you can simply leave these out if you prefer.

David's recipes incorporate appealing whole foods

I decided to give David’s Tempeh Meatloaf a try. I’d never figured out a way to cook tempeh before that I truly liked, and also was attracted to the bar-b-que sauce, which I love but rarely cook with. The loaf was tasty, satisfying, and easy to cook. It stretched as part of several meals on its own, as a sandwich filling, and cut up into salads. What to make next…it will be fun to sample these ideas made for everyday cooks who love to eat but don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. David shows that whole foods, plant-based recipes can be varied, intriguing, yet quick and simple all at the same time.

If you liked this post, you may want to read Twelve Ways to Make Cooking Fun and Easy. The two posts, taken together, are a good place to get information for easy, everyday meals with healing recipes, like those shown in the film Forks over Knives.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based diets. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease. Janice is still smiling thinking about her dinner with David Gabbe and his family.

Whole grain bread, two kinds of kale, and romaine lettuce are the appetizing basis for my next green sandwich

These Toppling Creations Can Be Your Go-To Lunch

Green smoothies are everywhere. Thousands of recipes offer intriguing ways to blend leafy greens, such as kale, chard, and spinach, with fruits, plant milks, chocolate, ice, and more for a thick, cold, satisfying drink. Often filling enough to be a meal on their own, green smoothies can be a delicious part of a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Green smoothies often aim to be slightly sweet. People who are not much into leafy green vegetables can enjoy them, because the fruit and other ingredients mask the taste of the greens. So even if you are shy about leafy greens, you can get a healthy dose of raw vegetables in your drink.

Green sandwiches are different. Green leafy veggies are the stars and their taste and texture are fundamental to enjoying the sandwich.

Leafy green vegetables are wonders of taste, nutrition, and appealing color. Calorie for calorie, these foods pack in more vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (beneficial substances found only in plants) than anything else you can eat. These vegetables also give you omega-3 fatty acids.

Remember, leaves are the nutrient factories of planet earth, harnessing sunlight to drive life on our planet. It’s no wonder that eating leafy vegetables protects against disease and spurs weight loss.

I used to eat nut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day in the office for probably a decade. The last few years, however, I’ve branched out to creating green sandwiches. My inspiration was a goal to get more greens effortlessly into my daily menu. I began experimenting with sandwich possibilities and quickly discovered how simple and delicious green sandwiches are.

Here’s what I’ve learned about making green sandwiches.

• Excellent bread is the foundation of a hearty, satisfying sandwich. At a minimum, you need to choose whole grain bread. Read bread ingredients carefully. The first ingredient should be whole “name of grain” flour (This is usually whole wheat.) “Wheat flour” and “unbleached wheat flour” are not whole. Just because a bread is dark, does not mean it is whole grain. Using bread made from sprouted grain or gluten-free bread is fine.

• Equally important is using a variety of fresh leafy greens. Choose from the many varieties of kale, spinach, chard, collards, bok choy,

Parsley and other fresh herbs are great on a green sandwich

dark lettuces (such as romaine), or any other leafy greens you favor. Fresh herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, chives, mint, and basil, also count and add excellent flavor and fragrance.

• Choose any add-ons you like. I usually spread the bread with a thin layer of hummus, smashed avocado, or tahini. You can also use any nut butter. It may seem strange to put peanut or almond butter on a green sandwich, but if you would put peanuts or almonds on your salad, it’s really the same thing. Additional vegetables, such as green onions or sliced tomato or onion, are also delightful on the sandwich.

Assembling the sandwich could not be easier.

• Toast the bread if it’s stale or you just like toast better

• Wash and thoroughly dry your greens and other raw ingredients, then cut large leaves into sandwich-size pieces

• Spread the bread with whatever healthy plant-based choices you want

• Make sure your sandwich wrapper is handy, because the sandwich will be messy and will tend to fall apart if you don’t wrap it quickly. A reusable sandwich wrapper is best practice.

• Pile the bread several inches thick with greens and veggies

• Press the second slice of bread on top of the sandwich, and wrap it quickly before it topples

Feel free to make the sandwich the night before and refrigerate it if you are rushed in the morning. I find it does not get soggy if I thoroughly dry the greens.

Be prepared for a messy but satisfying eating experience. If you use a mountain of greens, the sandwich will tend to fall apart. To counter this, press the two slices of bread firmly together when you pick it up. Take small bites as the sandwich is very thick. It will

You could try having a green smoothie with your green sandwich. What a combo!

take you a while to eat it all.

Why am I so addicted to my green sandwiches? The concentrated nutrients in the leaves lack one critical part of your fuel – calories. An entire pound of greens has only about 100 calories. To keep going through the rest of the day, the healthy, fiber-dense calories of the whole grain bread are a satisfying complement to the veggies. By varying the greens and bread and other fillings daily, I can make a different sandwich every day and never get bored.

Don’t like raw leafy greens? Not a problem. Your tastes can change in as little as 3 weeks. Start with a sandwich with only one layer of leaves, and pick the kind you like best (or dislike least). Over a period of months, gradually add more leaves until you’ve trained yourself to enjoy them. You may find some raw greens to be bitter. Start with spinach and lettuce, and gradually add other greens as your taste buds adapt.

Want an easy variation? Try a green wrap. It’s just like a green sandwich, but a little less messy, since everything is tightly contained in a whole grain tortilla or flat bread.

While green sandwiches might not be the world’s most gourmet whole foods, plant-based recipe, they are ultra convenient, easy to make, inexpensive, portable, nutritious, and delicious. You don’t even have to wash a blender after you make them.

If you liked this posting, you may want to read Not-Recipes for Not-Meals.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease. Green sandwiches are Janice’s go-to lunch recipe.

These three excellent books will myth-proof your mind against dangerous industry tactics

Protecting Yourself Made Easy

The corporate takeover of health is here. You can see the results in soaring health care costs, millions felled by preventable illness, and acceptance of chronic disease as a way of life.

This post is the hundredth blog on my site. Myth-busting remains my specialty and whole foods, plant-based diets my passion. I’m celebrating by sharing with you three books that taught me how to spot corporate disinformation as easily as a keen-nosed dog can find smelly garbage. These models of myth-busting inspired me in writing The Perfect Formula Diet and still keep me going:

•  The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America; Allan M. Brandt, Ph.D.
• Appetite For Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back; Michele Simon
• Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine; Dr. John Abramson

Here are insights from each book.

THE CIGARETTE CENTURY

While pretty much everyone these days admits cigarettes are unhealthy, what you might not know is the sordid history of the tobacco industry. These corporations pioneered underhanded methods to deliberately confuse and mislead consumers for decades while hundreds of thousands suffered agonizing deaths from lung cancer and heart disease.

I’m placing this book first in my list of myth-busters, since the food and drug industries make profitable use big tobacco precedents. Here is a sampling of tactics all three industries love (although big tobacco may be stymied in using some now):

• Sell product based on an attractive, phony image that has nothing to do with reality, and enlist celebrities to support that image (while today’s stars do not speak out for tobacco, there is no shortage of them willing to smoke on camera in movies)
• Create an appearance of caring and wholesomeness by sponsoring sporting or other desirable events
• Work to shape culture so their products fit right into people’s everyday lives
• Employ “scientists” who are willing to manufacture fake “controversy” over questions that have long since been settled by
  

  You would not naturally want to consume something like this. But big tobacco knows how to sell it, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths a year.

  impartial research

• Attack anyone who dares to question the desirability of their products, often using industry front groups with friendly names
• Keep potential critics in line, using strategies such as industry-provided research grants, free “educational materials,” opportunities to speak at conferences or publish papers, peer pressure, and fear of the personal attacks they witness against others
• Create addictive products which are difficult for consumers to quit
• Convince physicians that their offerings support health, and use these busy doctors to push their products (remember the medical industry used to give away cigarettes, now they advise you to eat animal foods and take drugs)
• Fund powerful lobbies that convince politicians to follow the industry’s interests, not the public’s
• Create brands that, in reality, are almost identical but which are sold to consumers as unique to create brand loyalty
• Seek to expand their markets by migrating to every country where people have money
• Use cartoon images and other kid-appealing messages to indoctrinate children in the desirability of their product, then deny they are even targeting youth
• Reject all accountability for the harm they cause, citing individual choice to put the blame solely on the consumer

Allan Brandt, Ph.D. thoroughly documents tobacco industry tricks and tactics in The Cigarette Century. His style is highly readable, with lightning bolts of his anger creeping into the historical discussion. Big tobacco’s dirty tactics drew me into this book the way suspense in a murder mystery would. The difference is that, with cigarettes, real people died and are still dying. Dr. Brandt is a Harvard professor and Dean of the University’s School of Arts and Sciences.

APPETITE FOR PROFIT

Appetite for Profit’s anti-glossary of “corporate speak” shows how money-oriented industries create myths simply by imposing their own jargon on consumers. Here are a couple of highlights.

Better-for-you products: Processed-food companies way of describing self-defined nutritionally “superior” foods, using their worst

The food industry wants to convince you that its highly profitable junk foods can be part of a "balanced diet"

product as comparison.

Sound science: The objective-sounding way that food companies like to justify their opposition to any policy that would interfere with their bottom line. As in “We cannot act to remove soda and junk food from schools in the absence of sound science.”

The anti-glossary alone will put you far along the path to becoming a champion myth-buster yourself. The book gives you many tools to deflate food industry hype, for example by teaching you how to read an industry news release, spot worthless corporate “science,” and recognize government complicity.

Michele Simon, a public health attorney who is Appetite for Profit’s author, shares her passion, knowledge, and adventures behind enemy lines in this highly readable book. She lays out many examples of how the food industry puts their own success above anyone’s health, often using tactics that tobacco companies pioneered.

OVERDOSED AMERICA

After the tobacco and food industries have laid the groundwork, it’s time for drug companies to jump into action. The pharmaceutical industry seizes on the chronic illness created by cigarettes and unhealthy foods. These companies sell consumers on the idea that taking a pill is better than making a few simple lifestyle changes that would truly prevent and reverse disease.

The drug industry leaps into the opportunity created by the tobacco and corporate food industries

Dr. John Abramson, a practicing physician and lecturer at Harvard Medical School, describes the many tactics drug companies use to skew research results and to hide findings they don’t like. Even scarier, the harmful and even fatal results of taking drugs can be suppressed for years while patients die of side-effects.

Dr. Abramson observes what he found when delving into drug company research. “Rigging medical studies, misrepresenting research results published in even the most prestigious medical journals, and withholding the findings of whole studies that don’t come out in a sponsor’s favor have all become the accepted norm in commercially sponsored medical research.” If you take any medications or care about anyone else who does, you must read this book.

When you put the evidence from these three myth-busting reads together, the conclusions are inescapable. Stay alert for fairy tales from big industry and government. Question everything you see in the media and cultivate the ability to distinguish image from facts. Enjoy life by staying healthy and vigorous, not by consuming addictive products that will age you long before your time. Learn to stay out of the clutches of the food and drug industries by eating a whole food, plant-based diet. Millions of other people make healthy choices every day, and you can certainly be one of them.

If you liked this posting, you may want to read Twelve Ways Animal Foods and Smoking Are Alike.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease.

Debby before she delves into the journal articles of the day

The Trick Is To Keep Learning As Health Grows In Stages

Debby, The Healthy Librarian, was only 30 when she watched her parents’ dreams of idyllic retirement years turn into a health nightmare. Her dad suffered a massive stroke. “My parents were going to retire, travel, enjoy grandkids. Instead, the stroke changed everything. My dad could not talk, read, or understand language, and in spite of continual health declines, additional strokes, and seizures, he survived for 16 years after his initial stroke. My mom’s whole life became his care,” Debby told me.

After Debby lost her dad, her mom suffered a series of “mini-strokes.” The damage accumulated. Her final years were marred by vascular dementia, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Debby, as caregiver for both her parents, was both heartbroken and transformed by their tragedies. She delved into medical research to find out how to keep from following in her parents’ health footsteps.

I was delighted to meet Debby, a fellow medical article fan, at a Wellness Forum conference. She has been generous in sharing the highlights of her research analysis (not to mention lots of yummy recipes) at her blog happyhealthylonglife. She is also generous in sharing her story with me of the many steps it took her to get to a whole foods, plant-based diet so others will not be discouraged if it takes a little bit of time, effort, and convincing to get through all the stages.

As a medical librarian, Debby is in a perfect position to get hold of the latest science and critically analyze it. “The research is right in my lap. In fact, I always wanted to read what science had to say, even when I was young. As soon as I got my first library card I was heading to the ‘health shelf’.”

Step one in her health quest for Debby was to start eating “healthy” in the run-of-the-mill sense of the word. No fast food. Eat fish and olive oil instead. Exercise had always been a regular part of her life–since her late 20’s. She started her blog over four years ago, as a way to share her journey and the medical information that shapes the lifestyle changes she adopts.

Step two came only three months into her blog, in March 2008. While attending a Wellness Grand Rounds at the medical center where she works, Debby was fortunate to hear Dr. T Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, talk about the transformative power

Food stars in Debby's blog. She shared this summer barbecue dinner with friends.

of a whole foods, plant-based diet. Whole foods do not include vegetable oil, which is a manufactured food. She was also surprised to learn that Dr. Campbell advised against eating fractionated foods, like soy protein powder–which was a regular part of her diet, at the time.

Debby was already familiar with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, who had sponsored Dr. Campbell’s talk. However, she had dismissed his whole foods, plant-based, oil, nut and seed-free prescription as “too restrictive” for her–after all, she didn’t have heart disease. She found herself rethinking this conclusion and decided to learn more. While listening to a local NPR-affiliate interview with Dr. Esselstyn, Debby learned that people could have a heart attack with relatively small arterial blockages of 10% to 30%–and inflammation from eating a Western diet was the real “heart and brain attack” driver. “I never realized that cardiovascular disease was a food-borne illness,” Debby observes.

By that time, Debby had left animal foods behind but was still clinging to vegetable oil in her diet. “I loved food made with oil and still did not see why I had to give it up.” The turning point for her was a cholesterol test. She happily expected ideal results, but instead her LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) was higher than she knew was healthy.

While she was pondering what to do next, Debby got a call from Dr. Esselstyn inviting her to sit in on the monthly class on Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease which he conducts at the Cleveland Clinic. After that, she tried a true whole foods, plant-based diet as a four week experiment–oil-free, nut and seed-free, even dark chocolate-free–100% Esselstyn! She liked what happened.

Her LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (fat in the blood) both went down. She was delighted to lose some extra pounds, though she wasn’t overweight by any national health standards–and she was eating as much food as she wanted. She had more energy than ever before.

Debby regularly enjoys exercising

Debby expands on her experience. “Eating this way is now second nature to me. Cooking without oil turns out to be the easiest diet change of all. It’s a really fun ride–with more recipe options than I could have ever imagined. So many of my family, friends, work colleagues, and community members “get it” and have changed how they eat,” Debby observes. “I also always exercised and still exercise, but the literature shows and I have found out myself, that diet is more important. And, besides–I never lost a single pound through exercise alone!”

The bottom line message is to accept that your dietary journey may be a series of steps instead of an instant leap to perfection. The diet that seemed restrictive and out-of-reach in the early stages can become easy and enjoyable as you learn more. Don’t want to spend hours in the library reading medical journal findings? No problem, check out Debby’s blog for a shortcut to the information you need.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease as well as get you to your perfect weight and keep you thriving well past retirement.

Getting older does not have to mean slowing down.

Six Ways Whole Foods Fuel Long and Active Years

An enjoyable retirement is a great American dream. People save up financially for decades, often planning to spend retirement traveling, with family, and fulfilling long-postponed goals.

The sad fact is that many have their retirement kidnapped by poor health. Americans with Medicare see an average of seven different physicians in a year. Even at age 55, more than half of people have more than one chronic health condition. These medical problems vacuum up money needed for more fun and meaningful activities. The pain and disability of illness are potent barriers to desired activities and quality of life. Yet much of this suffering can be avoided and even reversed.

Whole plant foods are healthy life span enhancers that work together as a powerful team. Here are six reasons why.

• Protective phytochemicals

• Perfectly packaged nutrition

• Inflammatory balance

• Durable, fracture-resistant bones

• Detoxification from toxic chemicals

• Optimize the functioning of your genes

Phytochemicals. Whole plants, including vegetables, fruits, beans, potatoes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, are brimming with health-boosting compounds called phytochemicals.

Plants form these natural chemicals because they are protecting themselves. Phytochemicals protect vegetation from harm, repel natural insect enemies, and allow plants to flourish.

The range of phytochemicals, eaten together in whole foods and forming a powerful team in your body, can encourage detoxification, neutralize the free radicals that damage and age your cells, balance your immune system, protect brain functioning, keep hormones at ideal levels, reduce blood pressure, and attack bacteria and viruses. You can’t obtain this impressive array of benefits, which supports a long and vigorous life, with animal foods, supplements, or heavily refined foods.

Optimal overall nutrition. Just as whole plant foods deliver the blend of natural phytochemicals your body is designed for, so

Whole plant foods are dense with phytochemicals and nutrients. Don't forget, plants are the base of the food chain on planet earth, making all the vitamins, protein, and more that they and animals need to survive.

these foods are the ideal source of the other nutrients that boost lifespan.

All plants need protein, fats, complex carbohydrates, and minerals to survive. All are dense with natural vitamins. As just one example, consider folate. This essential B vitamin is found most abundantly in leafy greens – think foliage, and you’ll know where to get this nutrient. While folate is best known as being protective of fetal development, this nutrient is essential for the production of new cells and normal synthesis of DNA in adults as well.

The bottom line is that whole plant foods are dense with nutrients for supporting a long and active life. Eat a variety of these delicious choices throughout the day.

Inflammatory balance. Throughout life, you need to maintain a balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory forces in your body for health and survival. Inflammation, a process largely based on immune system activity, is your body’s response to internal or external threats. Factors triggering inflammation include infectious microbes, toxic chemicals, injury, radiation, foreign proteins, and free radicals. Without inflammation, you would be defenseless and unable to survive.

While the inflammatory response to danger is protective, inflammation that fails to resolve and becomes ongoing contributes to virtually all chronic illness. Scientists have identified many diseases that become more common with age as closely related to ongoing inflammation. Here is a partial list.

• High blood pressure

• Heart attack

• Stroke

• Type 2 diabetes

• Depression

• Macular degeneration

• Gum disease

• Arthritis

• Osteoporosis

• Cancer

Think of how long and active your life could be without these illnesses. Unfortunately, as you age, your body tends to go into a pro-inflammatory mode as a consequence of lifelong overstimulation. That is one reason these diseases as so closely associated with

You can be vital and active at any age, just as you can be dependent on meds and slowing down. Food is a big determinant of what the years will bring.

getting older. In fact, there is an entire model of getting older called inflamm-aging.

Whole plant foods are protective and work with your immune system to fight threats, and then resolve inflammation once its protective job is done. Animal foods and highly refined foods, on the other hand, may provoke your immune system and foster ongoing inflammation and its many health consequences.

Durable, fracture-resistant bones. Hip fractures are a bane of advancing age, and kill over 20% of their victims within a year. While the media inundates you with messages to consume more dairy foods for their calcium, the truth is that calcium has virtually nothing to do with how fracture-resistant your bones are. Plus countries with higher intakes of dairy products have higher bone fracture rates. On the other hand, eating fruits and vegetables is associated with stronger bones.

Detoxify from toxic chemicals. More than 85,000 industrial chemicals are used in the U.S. Researchers are not sure of how these chemicals – individually and as a dangerous brew when mixed – affect longevity, but many end up inside your body.

Among the most dangerous are persistent organic pollutants (POPs), manufactured for use as pesticides, herbicides, building materials, flame retardants, and more. Problems associated with aging, such as Parkinson’s disease, cancer, and immune system malfunction can all be triggered by POPs.

These chemicals dissolve and are stored in fat, so they become far more concentrated higher on the food chain. Animal foods are likely the source of 89% to 99% of the POPs in your body. Studies of supermarket food find that fish, especially, are heavily contaminated. Again, whole foods are your answer to keeping these dangerous and inflammatory chemicals at the lowest level possible in your body and to help your liver detoxify from the chemicals already dissolved in your fat.

Optimize the functioning of your genes. Just as you can sit at your keyboard and create many thoughts, your genetic code can express itself in diverse ways. For example, if you moved to another country and began eating like the locals, your risk of disease would change to match the area you moved to. Eating whole foods maximizes your genetic potential and protects your DNA.

Whole foods create healthy years. You can maximize your ability to enjoy adult life without pain, disability, and a medicine cabinet crammed with prescriptions.. Whole foods are delicious, satisfying, and gorgeous, so start making some dietary changes and feel time running in reverse.

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to read how whole foods also protect you from wrinkles.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease as well as get you to your perfect weight and keep you thriving well past retirement.

Lynne Morrissey is now thriving on a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Lynne Morrissey Sheds $300 of Monthly Medical Costs Along with 111 Pounds

Lynne Morrissey is a Facebook friend with an inspiring story of survival against heavy genetic odds. Lynne, who lives near St. Louis, Missouri, just turned 50 and has four adult children. She is sharing her achievements so she can show others to never give up. Health is just a forkful away.

Lynne has a frightening family history. She lost her Dad to a heart attack when he was only 33 and she was 3. Even as a normal-weight child, she had cholesterol levels over 200, as did both her brothers. The young siblings were put into a diet and cholesterol study. Her older brother was started on an experimental medication and told to eat margarine. Tragically, none of the medical interventions worked. He died of a massive heart attack at age 35. His cholesterol was over 600. Several other family members on her Dad’s side suffered severe heart disease.

Lynne was fatalistic. “I believed there was nothing I could do, that I was destined by genetics for premature death. I thought I might as well eat whatever I wanted because I was going to die young no matter what,” Lynne told me. She became a hospice nurse, so she was around people facing the end of their lives every day she worked.

When she did go to a cardiologist, Lynne got a demoralizing lecture that her cholesterol was 327. Amazingly, the cardiologist advised her to eat eggs! Lynne did not go back to this doctor, but did end up in the offices of her primary care physician and numerous specialists.

As her weight soared above 260 pounds (she is 5 feet, 11 inches tall), Lynne coped with a growing list of diagnoses. Among these were hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, low thyroid, fibroids, carpal tunnel syndrome, depression, anxiety, allergies, asthma, and disk disease. She needed a CPAP machine to

Lynne spent hundreds of dollars a month on medical costs when she was on a typical American diet.

breathe while sleeping, and the copays for the meds for her illnesses were hundreds of dollars each month.

Disabling back pain, which threatened her ability to work, brought Lynne to a medical rock bottom. But going to physical therapy also brought new hope. “I noticed I felt better, and it clicked that if I went to a gym and lost weight, it would make a difference.”

Lynne decided that swimming was the exercise to start with and found a gym with a pool. At the gym she began working with Adam, who is still her personal trainer. She stopped eating fast food, upped her daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, and water, and exercised four to five hours a week. (She is now up to exercising eight to ten hours a week.) Her weight plummeted and she was off

Lynne right before she began working with Adam, her personal trainer.

her blood pressure medications in two months.

When she reached 174 pounds, Lynne completed a triathlon. But she stopped losing weight, and in fact began to regain it. “I still ate meat and cheese, and it was a struggle to keep the pounds off. I was on antidepressants and several other meds. Soon I was 195 again and thought I worked too hard to let this happen. So I began pushing the weight loss to get back to 184. I knew I had to do something that would help me.”

That’s when Lynne met Julie, a cycling instructor who was healthy and brimming with energy. Lynne wanted what Julie had! Upon getting to know Julie better, she found out that Julie was vegan and was a plant-based nutrition educator. Julie also worked with individuals who were interested in changing to plant-based diets. At first Lynne thought that would be too difficult a diet for her. “I decided to give it a try because I hit a wall on exercise. I was going to be vegan for only a month,” Lynne reflected.

Lynne and Julie teamed up together and the journey began! Julie’s first recommendation was for Lynne to read The China Study; and on March 29, 2011, Lynne plunged into a whole food, plant-based vegan eating plan. She weighed 184 pounds. “The weight just fell off after that. It was no longer a struggle. I no longer had weight fluctuations. I could exercise harder and better than I ever had. At first I was detoxing and felt odd. Then I began to feel better than I ever had, even as a kid. By the end of the first month I had so much more energy, and the diet was easy. Before I was eating tiny meals. Now I could fill up, and there were so many choices of what to eat that sometimes I could hardly decided what to have for dinner. I went from eating steak and cheese to a whole foods, plant-based diet overnight and the transition was surprisingly simple. I also got off all my meds except for one thyroid pill. I don’t need them anymore,” Lynne happily relates. She is now 149 pounds.

Lynne continues to enjoy her plant-based diet and eats heartily. “I can’t believe how much food I can eat and still lose weight.” Her breakfast is always a huge shake made with almond milk, flaxseed, many kinds of fresh and frozen fruit, and some leafy green vegetables. “I have to decide if it’s a one banana or two banana day. If I have a particularly packed schedule visiting patients, I put two bananas in the shake to hold me to lunch.”

Lynne is on the road all day, and usually picks up a vegetable sandwich or salad for lunch. She snacks on fruit and fat free pretzels. She exercises most nights before going home for a dinner that might include more leafy green vegetables, hummus, potatoes, and soup. Lynne cooks on weekends, but is too busy during the week for elaborate meals. With simple foods, she enjoys eating more than

Lynne loves her whole foods, plant-based diet. Joy of eating is one of the rewards of this food choice.

she did before going plant-based.

“Animal foods repulse me when I smell them cooking now. But I was eating them less than a year ago,” Lynne observes. This repulsion is fed by her growing awareness of how animals suffer when they are raised for food. “The awful truth as moved me from focusing just on my own health to a wider motivation.”

Lynne and Julie are now close friends who have done presentations together on the power of whole foods, plant-based diets. Lynne is geared to reaching out to help others. “Every day I see people dying, often from what they eat. If I can touch even one person and keep this from happening, I would know I accomplished something important. And we have done that. I am looking for ways I can reach more and more people to help them,” Lynne shares.

With her determination and inspiring example, Lynne is sure to succeed in changing and saving lives. She has overcome her own genetic battle and now is poised to spread the news that genes are not destiny.

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to read successes of other formerly frustrated people who lost weight and gained health on a whole foods, plan-based diet. Here are stories of San’Dera Prude, Todd Rosenthal, Meridith Hayden, and Judi Menzel.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease as well as get you to your perfect weight. Janice was overweight most of her adult life until finding this Perfect Formula Diet.

Selecting a diet is an important decision. It's worth the time to think it through and get some facts first.

And Why the Best Diet Is No Diet At All

Going on a diet is a serious decision. The eating plan you choose will impact your health, appearance, quality of life, self-image, and self-confidence. With so many diet choices, it’s easy to just go ahead with whatever is trendy or to follow the lead of co-workers, family, or friends.

You can lose weight on just about any combination of foods as long as you keep calories in check. But if you are undermining your health and metabolism in the process, you are making yourself into a time bomb for illness and future stubborn weight. Getting thinner will do you little good if your health and energy deteriorate.

With so much at stake, you can maximize your success by doing a little probing before making your choice. Here are the eight key questions that will guide you to the effective answer.

ONE. How fast will I lose weight? The answer you want to hear is “a pound or two a week.” This may sound slow to you compared to brash promises of some programs. Actually this rate of weight loss is sustainable and can be geared to fat loss (rather than the temporary water loss that is often a hallmark of rapid weight decreases). Plus cutting food intake drastically slows your metabolism, making it progressively more difficult to continue weight loss.

What’s more, given the polluted state of our planet, there is a certainty that you have highly toxic persistent organic pollutants (such as dioxins, DDT, flame retardants, and many more) dissolved in your body fat. When you lose fat too fast, these substances will flood your liver quickly, with a potentially profound effect on your health. This is because these pollutants are fat soluble, not water soluble. The liver is your organ to detoxify these dangerous chemicals and send them out of your body.

TWO. How much weight will I lose? BMI (Body Mass Index) is a measure of how your weight relates to your height The best answer is that you will lose enough weight to get to the ideal BMI of between 20 and 23. Research indicates that this BMI is the most protective against disease, and would be considered to be a trim weight without being skeletal.

Beware of diets that don’t give an answer, or hold up a set number of pounds or percent of your current weight. The amount you need to lose is based on your height and where you are starting.

THREE. How likely is it that I will regain the weight I’ve lost? Ask for success rates a year or two out, and you might just get an evasive response. However, if you lose weight just to regain it, you are likely to wind up in a worse place than you started. All weight loss results in the reduction of both fat cells and learn muscle mass. There is no way around this. A 2011 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutritionstudy shows that when you regain lost weight, the extra pounds come back mainly as fat,

You want to celebrate long-term success, year after year

with the lean muscle in scarce supply. So you definitely want to avoid the yo-yo diet effect.

FOUR. What foods will I eat? You might be primed to select a diet that emphasizes foods you already eat and like. However your tastes can change in three weeks with little stress, either physical or psychological. Given this fact, the oft-stated promise of being able to eat “the foods you love” on a diet becomes less persuasive.

Are you going to be eating animal products every day? These foods have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, some cancers, and other chronic illnesses. Or are you going to build your meals and snacks around whole plant foods – vegetables, fruits, beans, grains, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices? These are the foods that thousands of research studies prove to enhance health and reduce the risk of chronic illness. Not to mention keeping your skin youthful.

FIVE. Will I be hungry on this diet? If the diet works through portion control, the answer is almost certainly “yes.” You may have been told that hunger is an inevitable part of dieting. However, portion control is a failed strategy for the vast majority of people.

Portion control is a failed strategy for most people, especially in the long-term.

Hunger is a basic survival instinct, similar to the need to breathe. You can deny it for only a relatively short amount of time. For some people this might be hours, for others it might be months. Either way, you are destined to eat until you are full sooner or later.

Your body has exquisitely sensitive sensors for both nutrients and calories, plus there are stretch receptors in your stomach telling you when it is full. You will lose weight permanently when you discover the eating plan that lets you satisfy all three sets of sensors at once. Such a food strategy will not leave you feeling hungry or deprived.

SIX. What is the effect of this diet on my health? Even if you care only about appearance, health should still be a major consideration. Why is this? You can’t look your best when you are low energy and plagued with chronic illness. You will not be vibrant and glowing when you are sick. And the pharmacy and doctors’ waiting rooms are not ideal places to meet a life partner or show off new clothes.

SEVEN. What peer-reviewed, published studies are there on this diet and what do they say?

There are surprisingly few studies on “name brand” diets. Weight Watchers has been the subject of more research than most. Published studies show a typical dieter on this eating plan, if the person starts out (for example) weighing 200 pounds, will weigh about 189 at the end of one year and about 193 at the end of two years. Is this the level of success you crave? In looking into this question, beware of studies funded by the company that stands to profit or studies that were never published in respected scientific

Dieting should not leave you poor.

journals.

EIGHT. How much does this weight loss program cost? It’s reasonable to pay some money for information on how to attain and maintain a healthy weight. But the cost of prepared food and ongoing monthly fees can be a major budget hit.

The eating plan that gives the right answers to all eight questions is not a diet at all. Instead, it’s a decision to thrive on whole foods, plant-based food choices. This eating plan is based on vegetables, fruit, beans, potatoes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices. This eating plan does not include animal foods or processed foods (including oil, margarine, soda, and other manufactured foods). It’s really a life choice, not a diet.

People who consistently follow this eating plan do generally lose a pound or two a week if they are overweight to start with. If you eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full, your eventual BMI should fall into the healthy range of 20 to 23.

On a whole foods, plant-based diet, you will enjoy the best food nature has to offer.

As long as you continue this way of eating, the weight will stay off indefinitely and you will be eating nature’s finest foods. There is no need for arbitrary portion control and you will do best if you do eat until you are satisfied. Peer-reviewed published research shows a whole foods, plant-based diet can prevent and reverse chronic illness, including heart disease and diabetes. Dozens of studies show plant-eaters are, on average, leaner than those who eat animal foods.

Finally, a whole foods, plant-based diet can be quite affordable. Whole grains, beans, and potatoes are among the lowest-cost foods. The price of vegetables and fruit can be minimized through smart shopping. You might end up financially way ahead if you can work with your doctor to discontinue prescription drugs with expensive copays.

The next time you, a friend, or a family member is searching for a diet that works, use these questions as your guide. You will be spared disappointment and be rewarded with achievement.

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to read successes of formerly frustrated people who lost weight and gained health on a whole foods, plan-based diet. Here are stories of San’Dera Prude, Todd Rosenthal, Meridith Hayden, and Judi Menzel.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on a whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease as well as get you to your perfect weight. Janice was overweight most of her adult life until finding this Perfect Formula Diet.