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Introduction

Isn’t it strange? No matter which diet guru you listen to, you can almost always find another guru who insists people should eat the opposite way. It seems anyone can cherrypick studies to support any narrative or conclusion. This makes nutrition science especially confusing and difficult for people to navigate.

No Magic Bullet

Listening to die-hard followers and promoters of most diets, you’d never know the most credible research and science tells us there simply are no magic bullets.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. —Bertrand Russell

Going on a diet doesn’t work in the long run for most people. In fact, the reality is that most people who lose weight don’t keep it off. Did you know fewer than 1% of obese people who become normal weight will maintain that normal weight?

It doesn’t have to be that way.

I’m Angelo Coppola, your host here at Humans Are Not Broken and the former host of the top-rated Latest in Paleo podcast.

Humans Are Not Broken is all about aligning people’s efforts toward a more healthy lifestyle with their own human nature (evolution, biology, or whatever you’d like to call it). This way, we’re not swimming upstream, struggling unnecessarily, and we increase our chances for true and lasting change.

For me, this journey started with diet.

I’ve made the transition from obesity to normal weight, and I’ve beaten the odds by maintaining my weight loss since 2010. I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned and what has worked for me. I can tell you right now that there is no voodoo, no secret, no patented supplement, nor any snake oil involved (very little oil at all, actually).

But there’s also nothing particularly difficult to do or to grasp.

I spent 6 years hosting a health news podcast, devouring health research on a daily basis. I talked with leaders in their fields, gurus, practitioners, philosophers, and pundits. Although I started this journey with a Paleo Diet perspective, I always remained open to new information and experimentation. Now, I’ve reached a point in my journey where my health has never been better and food has become just like food again.

“Before I studied the art, a punch to me was just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick no longer a kick. Now that I’ve understood the art, a punch is just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. The height of cultivation is really nothing special. It is merely simplicity; the ability to express the utmost with the minimum.” —Bruce Lee

From Plant Paleo to Mostly Plant

As I began to integrate what I learned, connecting dots, and identifying commonalities among the best ideas in nutrition and longevity research, I began to incorporate more plant foods—including starches, by the way—into my diet. As I did this, I noticed marked improvements in my body composition, stamina, and overall energy levels. After being on the low-carb side of the spectrum for years, this was entirely unexpected.

In 2015 plant foods became the staple of my diet instead of meat.

I decided to give my unique diet and approach a new name. Originally, I called my diet paradigm Plant Paleo™, since it was consistent with the evolutionary clues and scientific evidence regarding a healthy human diet. However, this name proved to be confusing, since most people initially expect a “Plant Paleo” diet to be either Vegan, grain-free, gluten-free, legume-free, starch-free, or a combination of some or all the above.

Yet, it’s none of those.

Like I said, it’s consistent with evolutionary clues and the science.

[I]t is likely that no hunter-gatherer society, regardless of the proportion of macronutrients consumed, suffered from diseases of civilization. Most wild foods lack high amounts of energy and this feature, in combination with the slow transit of food particles through the human digestive tract, would have served as a natural check to obesity and certain other diseases of civilization. Yet today, all non-Western populations appear to develop diseases of civilization if they consume Western foods and have sedentary lifestyles. Given these facts, in combination with the strongly plant-based diet of human ancestors, it seems prudent for modern-day humans to remember their long evolutionary heritage as anthropoid primates and heed current recommendations to increase the number and variety of fresh fruit and vegetables in their diets rather than to increase their intakes of domesticated animal fat and protein. —Katharine Milton

Professor of physical anthropology

University of California in Berkeley.

So, now I call this approach to food The Mostly Plant Diet™, which should eliminate most confusion.

To put it as plainly as possible:

The Mostly Plant Diet™ is dominated by whole foods, because it eliminates or greatly reduces processed foods and additives. It is an unapologetically omnivorous, nutrient-dense diet that is considerably higher in whole plant foods than animal foods. This diet provides an abundance of food-derived vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and fiber. It allows for very large portions, if desired, because it encourages nutritionally dense, low-calorie foods.

This is consistent with the diets of many hunter-gatherer populations, people who live in Blue Zones, and healthy people around the world.

In a sense, The Mostly Plant Diet™ is a combination of several diets, borrowing the healthiest features of Mediterranean, Flexitarian, Volumetrics, Nutritarian, and Hunter-gatherer diets. While you may have never heard of some of these before, they are among the diets most nutritionists believes are templates for the Best Overall Diet.

And it’s not just nutritionists. Most cardiologists, oncologists, family physicians, gastroenterologists, dermatologists, rheumologists, nephrologists, pediatricians, psychiatrists, urologists—and even environmental scientists—would agree.

Who is The Mostly Plant Diet™ for?

The Mostly Plant™ approach is for men and women who are looking for a healthy way to think about food, which will then help guide their choices when it comes to feeding themselves and their families.

It may be right for you, if:

You’ve tried Vegan, low fat, Paleo, low carb, or ketogenic (keto) diets in the past and felt good initially—maybe even several years—but then began to feel a decline in your health.

You’re interested in a realistic, pragmatic approach to diet that will get you the health and weight results you want.

You love flavorful, delicious foods.

You want a diet that can also be affordable without sacrificing health.

You’d like a lot of flexibility with your food choices, so you can be comfortable at just about any gathering or restaurant.

You’re looking for food guidelines that will allow you to employ several strategies for losing body fat and/or gaining lean body mass.

You’re tired of diet fads and diet tribalism, so you’re not looking for a new diet religion or some way to identify yourself as being better than others.

You don’t want to go on a diet, but are open to changing the way you think about diet.

You’d like to eventually personalize a diet that works best for you.

This diet may not be right for you (and that’s totally OK!), if:

You’re a hardcore athlete whose fitness and competitive goals outweigh your health and longevity goals.

You have a health condition(s) that requires a special diet.

You are unwilling to try a diet with reduced animal products.

Decide for yourself and consult with a health professional you trust.

Now, let’s take a look at The Mostly Plant Diet™. The following is a rough outline that can help you get started.

The Mostly Plant Diet™ Overview

Eat mostly plant-based foods as your staples. Organic, if you can. The diet consists of roughly 90% plant foods and 10% animal foods.

Make nutrient dense, calorically sparse meals your norm. This will nourish your body, while allowing you to eat large portions that leave you feeling satisfied. Some diets claim their preferred macronutrient—usually fat or protein—makes you feel less hungry. Conversely, The Mostly Plant Diet™ satisfies you the old-fashioned way: by actually filling your belly.

Adjust calories to match your goals and activity levels. While caloric intake does matter, counting calories is not usually necessary. You can gain, maintain, or lose weight on The Mostly Plant Diet™.

To lose weight, eat less frequently and reduce intake of calorically dense foods. Use a calorie counting app, like Cronometer, to track how much you’re eating while ensuring that you’re getting adequate nutrition. Eat mostly soups, stews, salads, cooked greens, and mushrooms. Walk several miles per day; walking is primarily a fat-burning activity. Ideally, walk in an area with hills.

Roughly speaking, to gain weight, increase meal frequency and add more calorically dense foods to your meals and snacks, such as starches, nuts and seeds, honey, avocados, meat, and healthier processed foods (like whole grain breads, olive oil, nut butters, etc.) Also focus on resistance type physical activities, such as weight lifting. Consider supplementing with creatine.

Eat small amounts of animal-based foods and broths. Use animal products to flavor your foods and help make them delicious, or consume small servings that leave plenty of room on your plate for plant-based foods. Save larger portions of meat for special occasions, once a month. Choose naturally and ethically raised or wild meats, when you can.

Supplement sparingly; get nutrition from your diet. Supplements are optional, but be conservative if you choose to use them. Remember, the nutrients and nourishment you can obtain from real, fresh, whole foods aren’t even fully understood or even identified yet, let alone effectively bottled in shelf-stable pills. Eat all of the antioxidants you want, but avoid taking antioxidants in supplement form.

Choose a variety of foods that are naturally high in fiber and resistant starch. This will help you feel full, while also feeding beneficial bacteria living in your body. Even mother’s milk contains sugars that can’t be metabolized by their babies but feed their babies’ gut flora, instead. If you don’t feed your gut bacteria, they might eat you.

If you like them, enjoy fermented vegetables, dairy, and other probiotics. If you don’t care for them, or if they don’t make you feel good, that’s all right. Fill your diet with prebiotics, which are “carbohydrate compounds, primarily oligosaccharides, known to resist digestion in the human small intestine and reach the colon where they are fermented by the gut microflora”—aka fiber and resistant starch, for the most part.

Eat some raw vegetables everyday. A mixed salad is a great option. So are veggie platters. The fresher, the better. Just be careful about the dressings and dips you might choose to eat with them. Don’t eat 40 calories worth of greens with 400 calories worth of dressing. Try mustard or homemade whole food dressings you can make in your blender.

Consume the water or broth used to boil vegetables, meat, and bones. Otherwise, you will lose nutrients and nourishment right down your drain. You can save water and broth for later use in soups, stews, and sauces.

Get some non-stick pans and a non-stick indoor grill to help you cook without added refined fats. The best way to keep non-stick pans from scratching is to use the right cooking utensils.

Avoid or use very sparingly known food allergies and sensitivities.

Avoid or use very sparingly refined (and especially isolated) sugars and fats. This means table sugar, brown sugar, flours, oil, butter, margarine, mayonnaise, sour cream, heavy cream, and half & half. Limit refined sugars and oils to less than 1 teaspoon per day, each.

Avoid or use very sparingly all heavily processed foods and non-food-based ingredients.

Diet Style & Cuisine

The principles of The Mostly Plant Diet™ can be applied to traditional cuisines from all around the world. This provides a wonderful array of delicious recipes that can be used, providing not only optimal nutrition and health, but maximum flavor, too.

Many dietary patterns from these worldwide traditions are already in keeping with the guidelines of the Mostly Plant approach. For example, The Mostly Plant Diet™can easily be applied to Mediterranean, Asian, Middle Eastern, South American, and African recipes. In some cases, modifications can be made to popular recipes, by simply reducing or replacing oils, excessive meat, and processed ingredients.

Be mindful.

How we think about food helps us to change the way we think about diet. Adopt a frame of mind that allows you to unlearn old ideas that are holding you back and adopt new ideas that will propel your forward.

Trust your cravings and learn to match the flavors you crave with nutrient-dense, real foods. Satisfy sweet, salty, and savory cravings with healthy food options. Learn to make your favorite dishes with real, whole foods—leaving out the heavily processed ingredients.

Give your tastebuds time to adapt. Even if you’re already a big fan of whole foods and vegetables, it may take some time to adjust to eating these foods without excessive sugar, oils, or other added fats. Rest assured, there is a hedonic shift that takes place when our diets change. In other words, you eventually start to enjoy and crave the foods that you eat regularly. This shift takes about 12 weeks. Giving it a chance, means sticking with it for at least that long. This will also give you time to learn recipes and food combination that you enjoy.

It’s the overall diet that matters most. When you eat a Mostly Plant™ diet, indulging in your favorite, less healthy foods from time to time is OK. Just be sure to make them a very small or infrequent part of your diet. You’ll have to decide for yourself where you’ll draw the lines. A good starting point might be not more than 10% of calories. And remember, the lines you draw for yourself should probably be adjusted from time to time—you are a constantly changing being.

Grow, gather and/or hunt some of your own food. If not, seek out the abundance of high quality foods available at farmers’ markets and via other means and venues.

Feast & famine, like the pattern found in nature. Try a monthly feast where you can eat anything you want for a day (consider coinciding this day with a birthday, holiday, or special occasion). All the better if your feast day can include dancing, moving around, and socializing. Then, at a later time, balance your feast with a 24-hour or 36-hour fast. Both feast and famine can bring benefits to your life that are not associated with a calorie and nutrient spreadsheet. It is when every meal is a feast, or when we excessively deprive ourselves of nourishment (or pleasure), that we begin to run into problems. Experiment.

Do whatever being mindful means to you. Mindfulness is personal. These suggestions above suggestions are offered from my own personal experience. However, I encourage you to practice mindfulness in your own way, which may include all or none of these practices.

Whole Plant Foods are the Staples

Leafy greens

Consume leafy greens daily, unlimited amounts.

Include: arugula, basil, butterhead lettuce, bok choi, cabbage, celery leaves (great in soups), chard, chicory, dandelion, escarole, endive, iceberg lettuce, kale, green leaf lettuce, parsley, red leaf lettuce, radicchio, romaine lettuce, rutabaga, spinach, etc.

Add greens by the handful to various dishes. Chopped greens, like spinach or kale, go very well in almost any soup, stew, or bean dish. Do not worry about tracking calories; eat as much as you like as long as greens are prepared simply and without added oils (or very little).

If you’re wondering how to dress a raw green salad, you can find numerous oil-free dressing recipes online. Here’s a simple, tasty dressing recipe:

handful of raw, unsalted sunflower seeds and/or pumpkin seeds

1/4 avocado

your favorite salsa

splash of apple cider vinegar

splash of water

dash or two of oregano

dash or two of dried red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Place ingredients in a wide-mouthed jar. Then, blend with an immersion blender until smooth. You will end up with a good bit of dressing, and there is no reason to skimp on your salad (or you can lid the jar and store leftovers in the fridge).

This is basically a low-calorie, high-nutrient density smoothie that goes perfect on lettuce. Experiment with this framework to develop your own favorite dressing. Use fruit, seeds, nuts, vegetables (cooked, raw, fermented), vinegar, mustard, seasonings, spices, and a blender.

Other vegetables

Choose a colorful array, consume daily, unlimited amounts.

Includes: asparagus, red peppers, green peppers, yellow peppers, carrots and other root vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, onions, garlic, scallions, shallots, seaweed, tomatoes, tomato sauce, etc.

Prepare without (or with very little) added refined fats.

Mushrooms

Eat a wide variety, consume daily, unlimited amounts.

For those who enjoy mushrooms, they provide delicious umami flavors as well as interesting textures to dishes of all kinds…and they’re pretty awesome by themselves, too!

They are low in calories, bulky and satisfying. Did you know the common, white, button mushroom (agaricus bisporus) has only about 100 calories per pound?

The health benefits attributed to mushroom consumption includes protection from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, and supporting good immune function.

Legumes

Eat a wide variety, consume daily.

The overwhelming consensus of research into legume consumption is that they are health promoting and protect against disease. Legumes are high in protein, high in fiber, contain many other nutrients, and are low in calories while promoting feelings of satiety.

Includes: lentils, white beans, pinto beans, red beans, chickpeas, black beans, lima beans, edamame, etc.

Tubers

Eat a wide variety, consume up to daily.

Enjoy all varieties of potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, and taro (with or without skins).

Cooled or reheated white potato varieties have high levels of resistant starch, which is a prebiotic (i.e. food for our gut bacteria). Try cooking extra and store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Prepare without added, refined fats.

Herbs, spices, seasonings, flavorful additions.

Eat a wide variety, daily, unlimited amounts.

Includes: garlic, onion, ginger, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, Asian seasoning mixes, turmeric, Indian seasoning mixes, hot sauce, soy sauce, tamari, mustard, etc.

The human palate has evolved to taste the flavors of thousands of plants. Celebrate those flavors with your favorite herbs and spices. Choose organic, high quality versions when possible. Some sauces can have high levels of sugar or sodium; be mindful of these and use sparingly.

Broths & Stocks

Prepare with a variety of vegetables, consume up to daily, unlimited amounts.

Use homemade or high-quality, organic broths and stocks.

Broths can be sipped straight or can be used to prepare other foods, like soups, stews, sauces, or even grains. For example, substitute 1/2 of the water, or more, when preparing rice, barley, buckwheat, etc.

Use broth instead of oil for sautèing.

Fruit

Eat a variety, consume daily, 1 to 4+ servings.

Consume the whole fruit, versus packaged juices or even home juicing. Choose berries of all kinds, eaten alone or in other foods. Green bananas are filling and they contain resistant starch, which feeds beneficial gut bacteria.

Smoothies are great for dessert, but enjoy some fruits the old fashioned way, too…chew them! Once the fruit is processed into a smoothie, you’re more likely to eat more than you otherwise would have.

Avocado and water can be added to vinegar-based dressings in place of oil.

Whole grains and pseudograins

Optional, choose a wide variety, up to one serving daily.

Choose a wide variety of actual whole grains (as opposed to whole grain flours). These are very easy to prepare and make a great addition to hot and cold dishes.

Examples include: whole barley, whole buckwheat, whole corn, whole einkorn, whole kamut, whole millet, whole steel cut oats, whole quinoa, whole rice, whole sorghum, whole spelt, whole teff, whole wheat berries, and whole wild rice.

Cook more than you need and store extras in the refrigerator. Not only is this convenient, but it may also increase the resistant starch content of some grains, like various rices, for example. Dietary resistant starch may assist with keeping the microbiome healthy.

Nuts & Seeds

Eat a variety, consume daily, small servings.

Enjoy nuts and seeds with vegetables or in salads. The fat in them helps with nutrient absorption. When eating nuts or seeds by themselves measure portions. Also, to make it more difficult to overeat nuts and seeds, purchase those that are still in their shells.

Crushed sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds make an excellent addition to blended, oil-free salad dressings. And remember, flax seeds in particular should be purchased as whole seeds and crushed shortly before consuming.

Includes: brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, etc.

Processed whole grains

Optional, eat occasionally.

Processed grains should make up a very small portion of the diet. Limit to foods made with 100% whole-grain or sprouted-grain flours. For example, Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Tortilla or Wasa crackers.

Choose organic products to get better quality and avoid fortification. Remember, processed foods tend to be higher in calories and lower in nutrition. Don’t let these foods put you in a caloric surplus that could lead to weight gain, and don’t let them crowd out healthier options from your diet, either.

Avoid or Use Very Sparingly

Frequent consumption of canned vegetables —especially if high in sodium or if they contain any additive ingredients (frozen vegetables are typically a good, convenient option).

—especially if high in sodium or if they contain any additive ingredients (frozen vegetables are typically a good, convenient option). Highly processed grains: products made with white flour and/or sugar, fried breads, processed desserts, cakes, donuts, cookies, most boxed cereals, bagels, fried chips and crisps, vegetables fried in oil, biscuits, croissants, brioche, white flour tortillas, fried tortillas, muffins, white-flour pastas, noodles, stock bouillon.

products made with white flour and/or sugar, fried breads, processed desserts, cakes, donuts, cookies, most boxed cereals, bagels, fried chips and crisps, vegetables fried in oil, biscuits, croissants, brioche, white flour tortillas, fried tortillas, muffins, white-flour pastas, noodles, stock bouillon. Food bars made with additives, oils, refined flours, soy products.

made with additives, oils, refined flours, soy products. Seasonings and sauces made with questionable ingredients or that contain very high levels of sodium or sugar.

or that contain very high levels of sodium or sugar. Bean flours, processed soy, fake meat foods, fake cheese foods.

Note on “Unlimited Amounts”

You’ve probably noted that many food groups above are considered safe to eat in unlimited amounts. However, this is not a green light to eat unlimited amounts of all of these foods, all of the time. Calories still matter, and overconsumption will likely lead to weight gain, depending on activity levels.

Animal-based foods

Muscle meats

From 3 – 14oz per week.

Choose from a variety of fish, seafood, beef, goat, sheep, fowl, etc. If you can, choose wild or ethically raised animals.

Add to soups, stews, chili, and sauces. This will provide rich flavor and nutrients to your favorite dishes.

Eggs

From 1 to 14 eggs per week.

Choose eggs from naturally raised chickens. If you can, find a local source. Local, fresh eggs tend to have darker yolks and much better flavor. They also work better as ingredients in other dishes, especially when baking.

Organ meats

Optional, 2 oz per week.

If you don’t like organ meats, you don’t have to eat them. The less muscle meat and seafood in your diet, however, the more important it becomes to eat organ meats to ensure you are getting enough Vitamin B12 in your diet. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin B12 is about 2.5 mcg per day. A 2 oz serving of liver will provide about 50 mcg. Vitamin B12 can be stored in the body, so the surplus does not go to waste. Not to mention, liver is loaded with other nutrients.

Broths and stocks

Unlimited amounts, when fat is removed, but use gelatinous broths sparingly.

Use homemade broths and stocks as often as you would like in cooking. Prepackaged, organic stocks can be used, too, but try to make a batch of bone broth with tendons at least once a month. Stocks can be used to partially replace water when cooking grains and soups.

Honey

Honey is one of nature’s most energy-dense foods. Ounce for ounce it has almost as many calories as coconut. As such, honey has been very popular with hunter-gatherers the world over. There are actually times of the year when honey provides as much 80% of the calories in the Hadza diet, and it’s estimated to make up 15% of their diet on average. Great apes, like chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas eat honey, too. According to a 2012 article in the Journal of Human Evolution called Honey, Hadza, hunter-gatherers and human evolution: “Honey might be the most common and important insect-related item in the human forager diet.”

Like everything else in your diet, quality matters. Choose raw, unfiltered honey. Enjoy the honey, honeycomb, and all of the little bits inside.

For more information, check out: Traditional and Modern Uses of Natural Honey in Human Diseases: A Review

Dairy

Use sparingly.

What about calcium? Sufficient calcium can be obtained from a variety of plant foods, bone broths, whole sardines, etc.

If you choose to consume dairy, try to get it from grass-fed, naturally raised animals from local dairy farms. If that’s not possible, the next best option is organic, hormone- and additive-free products from the grocery store.

Consider eliminating dairy from your diet, altogether. Dairy products have been associated with both good and bad outcomes, and many people (myself included) are lactose intolerant.

Small amounts of dairy as flavoring are OK, such as a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and condiments such as tzatziki.

Avoid or Use Very Sparingly



Processed meats, especially low-quality options. These can include: bacon, deli meats, sausages with additive ingredients, canned meats, hot dogs.

Fried and deep fried meats, fried skins, fried organ meats, etc.

Meats and animal products from potentially sick animals.

Processed dairy: heavy cream, half & half, whipped creams, butter, ghee, mayonnaise, low-fat dairy products; ice cream, cream cheese, sour cream, etc.

Note on the Amount of Meat & Eggs in the Diet

Based on the recommendations above, muscle meat, eggs, and organ will account for between 2% to 13% of the total diet (calorically). This leaves a lot of room for individual variation. It also allows for the diet to vary from day to day and week to week. Mostly Plant™ eaters can easily transition from a Sunday Brunch to Meatless Monday to Taco Tuesday.

Limiting meat and gelatinous broths, for instance, isn’t due to these foods being “bad for you.” They are limited in order to leave plenty of room in your diet for much more nutrient-rich, calorically sparse plant foods that are associated with the best health and longevity outcomes.

The Mostly Plant Diet™ encourages you not to ask, “How much meat can I eat?” Rather, the better question is, “What is the least amount of meat that I can eat, while getting plenty animal-based nutrition?”

Remember, as stated above, most people experience an hedonic shift that takes around 12 weeks. If you’re patient, you might find that you enjoy eating less meat, oil, processed foods, and more plant-based foods.

Snacking

Let your cravings be your guide. At the same time, be mindful not to overly indulge in calorie-rich foods that are easy to overeat.

When possible snack on colorful raw vegetables. It is unnecessary to restrict the quantity. Take your time and eat as much as you want.

Snack on fruit. Fruit is a convenient whole food snack. It can also be made into smoothies and sorbets. With a blender, fruit goes adds a sweet kick to salad dressings and vegetable dips.

Eat nuts and seeds. They can be easy to overeat, though. It’s a great idea to reserve nuts and seeds for eating in salads or with raw vegetables. This helps with nutrient absorption. For snacking, take a small portion and leave the bag in the pantry. Better yet, buy nuts & seeds unsalted and in-shell to naturally help limit the quantity consumed.

Snack on roots and tubers. For example, whole potatoes can be enjoyed hot or cold, dipped in your favorite sauces (barbeque, sriracha, ketchup, mustard, oil-free vinaigrette, tomato-based, etc.).

Make homemade, oil-free hummus. Enjoy with fresh carrots, celery or cucumber. You can also make hummus lettuce wraps.

Roasted chickpeas with seasoning (e.g. turmeric, salt and pepper).

Air-popped popcorn. This is the machine I use. Try air-popped popcorn with a spritz of apple-cider vinegar, a generous sprinkle of nutritional yeast, and a dash or two of salt. The tastier you make the snack, the more you’re likely to eat, but at the same time, there’s no need to avoid enjoying food.

Homemade baked corn chips/crisps with salsa or bean dip. To make the chips, buy or make organic, oil-free corn tortillas. Then, cut tortillas into triangles, similar to the way a pizza sliced, lay out onto a cookie sheet, and toast in your toaster oven until golden and crispy. Be careful not to burn them! This is the toaster oven we use, and I highly recommended it.

Dark chocolate. Buy high quality, ethically derived chocolate, if you can. The higher the cacao content, typically the less sugar. If you are trying to gain weight, you can eat a little more, and even add mixed nuts to your chocolate snack. If you’re trying to lose weight, decide how much chocolate you really want to snack on, and leave the rest in the pantry.

Avoid or Greatly Restrict

Anything with trans fats or high-fructose corn syrup—these are the hallmarks of low-quality, unhealthy foods.

Processed foods primarily made with flour, sugar, and/or oil. You’ll have to look at labels to be sure. For example, many brands of kale chips or seaweed snack are primarily oil snacks. They’re very high in calories and low in nutrition, while pretending to be healthy on their packaging.

Processed foods with health claims on the packages including most that are gluten-free, Paleo-approved, vegan, and excessive marketing on labels. Also, avoid most packaged foods that aren’t normally “light” or “fat-free,” but have been engineered that way.

Nut butters. This type of processing leads to over-eating. Consider how much longer it would take to eat 25 in-shell almonds versus a couple of spoonfuls of almond butter. Let your teeth start the digestion process, instead of the mill. These foods are not necessarily bad for you, they are just calorically dense and generally low in nutrition. A tablespoon of peanut butter or tahini in a recipe isn’t going to hurt, but chronically over-eating nut butters can lead to weight gain and will likely push healthier foods out of your diet.

More snack foods to avoid…

Cake, cookies, pop-tarts, pies, doughnuts, most cereals, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, etc.

Fried foods, including potato chips/crisps, fried corn chips/crisps, anything deep fried, etc.

Ice cream and most frozen yogurts.

Deli meats, cheeses, pizzas.

Candy, milk chocolate.

Soda (full sugar or diet), energy drinks, buttered or Bulletproof™ Coffee, fruit and/or vegetable juices.

Microwave or oil-popped popcorn.

Most frozen snacks: hot pockets, waffles, etc.

Note on Snacking & Meal Frequency

Remember, snacking isn’t necessary, and often times people go to food out of habit. Other times, “hunger” is confused with boredom or even being thirsty. Try drinking water or broths when hungry to see how this affects you.

Our bodies do not have to be in a chronically fed state. Think of the ‘on/off’ state of being asleep and awake. No one wants to be chronically asleep or chronically awake. We also know the body does different things the deeper into sleep we fall (the ‘off’ phase). Similarly, when we don’t eat and aren’t expending a lot of energy on digesting and metabolizing food, the body performs different “clean-up and maintenance” functions.

For the most part, The Mostly Plant Diet™ is compatible with any style of meal-frequency plan. You can use its food guidelines in conjunction with the 5:2 Diet or with intermittent fasting, for example. Or, if you feel better when you eat several small meals every few hours, you can do that, too.

Just be mindful of what you are doing, and maybe experiment with other approaches to see if you can feel better.

Added sugar, fat, protein & other processed foods

Limit added fats and sugars to 1 teaspoon or less, each, per day.

Basically, you want to avoid or greatly reduce all added sugars, fats, proteins and processed foods from your diet. This does not mean you have to fear any of these foods, or that occasionally partaking in small portions will derail the health benefits of an otherwise healthy diet.

Some minimally processed foods are OK, if they contain just a few ingredients, all of them recognizable and acceptable. This is a gray area, because these foods are not necessarily nutrient-dense, and they can be easy to overeat.

Avoid or Greatly Restrict

Sugars: This includes table sugar, brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, cane sugar, white flours, etc.

Fats: Especially avoid trans fats and vegetable (seed) oils, but also other cooking oils, even olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, walnut oil, sesame oil, etc. Enjoy whole olives, whole coconut, whole avocados, whole walnuts, and whole sesame seeds instead. They are naturally packaged with many nutrients and fiber, which is stripped out when processed to make oil.

Protein: This includes protein powders, isolates, processed soy products and meat substitutes. High-protein processed foods should be avoided, as protein is very easy to get from whole foods. It is very easy to get adequate protein from a whole food diet.

Processed foods: nearly everything down the center aisles of the grocery store; foods that come in packaging; foods that are advertised; foods with character logos; foods made primarily with white flours and sugars; etc.

FAQ

Coming Soon

Meal Pics

Felafel wrap, mixed salad, and chicken soup.

Mixed greens and barley over sweet potato, mixed salad.

Seasoned quinoa, barley, black beans and mushrooms with a mixed salad.

Long grain brown rice, daikon radish seeds, black barley (this is sold in a package at Trader Joe’s), kale, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, green onions, crushed sesame and flax seeds, nutritional yeast, fried egg, and pepper sauce.

Mixed vegetables and mushrooms in tomato sauce over small portion of whole-wheat spaghetti.

Chipotle sweet potato patty over mixed greens, mushrooms and grains.

Spinach-potato taco (any meat, fish, or organ meat can be added) with a mixed green and berry salad.

Wild rice & quinoa with mixed greens and mushrooms.

Black beans and rice with hash browned potatoes and a mixed green and berry salad.

Sections of beans, quinoa, barley, wild rice, veggies & mushrooms with a mixed green salad.

Cabbage bowl with grains, pseudograins, and chickpeas + huge salad (left it in the mixing bowl!) of mixed greens, carrots, strawberries, pecans, and oil-free dressing.

A super simple burrito: Ezekiel sprouted grain wrap, pinto beans & barley inside with Alton Brown taco seasoning. Topped with mushrooms, homemade pico de gallo, and green onions.

Breakfast: leftover cabbage bowl topped with a fried (no oil) pastured egg.

Wild-rice biryani bowl made with healthy spices like cinnamon and turmeric + a mixed green, fruit and nut salad with oil-free dressing.

Mixed veggie wrap with pinto beans, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, pico de gallo.

Feedback, Obligatory Disclaimer, and More to Come

This is The Mostly Plant Diet™ Version 0.95 Beta. I’m almost comfortable enough to give it a full Version 1.0. If you feel there is anything missing, incorrect, or that could be improved, please contact me.

If you would like to try implementing The Mostly Plant Diet™ to see how it works for you, please be sure to talk to your nutritionist, healthcare provider, or other authority who can help guide you. Whether they give it a thumbs up or down, I’d love to hear about it.

This website will continue to publish further articles and resources. Be sure to stay tuned.