Adventurous because you're about to acquire a powerful new arsenal of nutritious but also incredibly delicious recipes that'll fuel your every day. Adventurous-and also smart-because, as research shows, incorporating more plant-based foods into your meals will propel you to better health, greater energy, and longer life. And, as a grace note, your plant-based diet may just help the planet live longer, too.
It's understandable if you carry trepidation. This whole "plant-based" thing is new, even to me as the Food & Nutrition Editor of Men's Health. In fact, it's new to everyone. Fifteen years ago, if you were to say the words "plant-based" to someone, they might have stared at you, head tilted slightly, and said, "Huh?"
That's because 15 years ago the term didn't really exist. Neither did Forks Over Knives, or Impossible Burgers, or fake chicken at KFC. Now it seems that everyone from Mike Tyson to your mother-in-law is eating plant-based, and they're reporting that they've lost weight, dropped their cholesterol levels, and doubled the amount of pep in their step. Some take plant-based diet even further to embrace veganism, where only plant-based products cross their lips.
And to complicate all this, neither the USDA nor the FDA currently has a definition for the term "plant-based." In a way, it's similar to the word "natural," in that whoever (or whatever company) can use the term as they see fit and not in accordance with any strict federal guidelines.
So Men's Health built its own definition based on current scientific research and the smartest minds in nutrition, sustainability, and plant-based eating. Follow this plan and you'll add muscle, defend against disease, maintain a healthy weight, and have a ton of energy.
The best part: The Men's Health approach to plant-based eating is easy. There's no calorie counting. There's no macro obsession. There's no "ketosis." There's no nonsense.
You might scour the supermarket for kohlrabi only to discover that it does not carry kohlrabi. You may spend 30 minutes preparing green lentils only to find out that you don't really love green lentils. You may really really crave pepperoni pizza. It's okay. Unlike other diets, there's no guilt here. Skip the kohlrabi. Try red lentils. Have a slice (or, heck, two!) of pepperoni pizza. Just keep trying new plant-based foods.
Plus: "Fruits and vegetables also tend to have a very high water content," says Helms. Water, beyond its hydration powers, can also help you feel satisfied simply by taking up space in your stomach. "An entire plate of broccoli is only 30 calories, but it's incredibly filling," he says. That's fiber and water at work. Compare that to a plate of refined pasta, which is much higher in calories and lower in H2O. That pasta can fill you up, Helms says, but not before you've taken in more of it than you probably should.
In fact, a 2019 study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that vegans tend to live longer than non-vegans. This was not due to an absence of meat, the researchers found, but rather the inclusion of antioxidant-rich and anti-inflammatory foods.
Or, as Ryan Andrews, R.D., C.S.C.S., author of A Guide to Plant-Based Eating, puts it: "There's not one crash diet that's perfect for everyone forever." In other words, the only diet that will work for you is a diet that works with you.
