I’ve been dancing around with becoming a vegetarian for years now. I’ve known that there are many positive benefits to eating a primarily plant, nut and fruit diet, including anti-cancer benefits, for a while. I just couldn’t find a system that was easy and healthy that I liked.
Well about 2 weeks ago while at the dentist, I heard about the book “Eat To Live” by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. It’s been on the New York Times bestseller list for a while, but I had never read it or explored it until I heard about it from my dentist.
While he was poking around in my mouth he was talking to the hygienist about vegetarian recipes he was making and they sounded really delicious so when he finished, I asked him to tell me more.
He gave me a quick overview of the “Eat To Live” program and it intrigued me, so on a whim I ordered the book from Amazon that night.
The book came a few days later and I’ve been hooked ever since. It makes a lot of sense to me. The basic premise is that we should be eating:
- Primarily nutrient-dense, natural plant foods: vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds.
- Few if any animal products (one or two servings a week at most)
- No sugar and almost no foods that are empty of nutrients such as sugar, sweeteners, white flour, processed food and fast foods.
It’s not really as hard as it sounds. For me, it was simply removing meat from my diet as I already try not to eat sugar or fast foods, and have been trying as much as possible to eat fresh foods vs. processed foods anyway. Since I’ve already been weaning back on meat for the last few years anyway, it wasn’t a huge problem for me to remove all the meat in my diet.
The biggest change for me was how to replace dairy. I’ve learned to use almond milk in my smoothies, and as a replacement for any milk that I would typically use. I’ve cut out cheese almost 100% (every now and then I have a small piece of cheese if I’m craving it) and have cut out meat entirely.
With an 85-90% plant based diet your body will benefit from the protective micronutrients and phytochemicals that you get from vegetables. There are some “power foods” which have the highest levels of these micronutrients, below.
Another change for me is that I now have at least one (and often two) smoothies each day. One of the basics for this program is that you need to add a LOT of vegetables to your daily diet; ideally a pound of vegetables a day! An easy way to do this is to add them to a smoothie. I would recommend getting a Vitamix blender if you decide to add vegetables to your smoothies, otherwise you’ll taste the greens (I use spinach, but you can also use kale, lettuce and carrots). The Vitamix works so well that I only taste the delicious fruit that I add, and not the greens.
I now have one every morning for breakfast and often have another one around 3:00 if I want a snack. Below is my current favorite which is packed full of nutrients, vegetables and fresh or frozen fruit (frozen fruit is just as healthy as fresh fruit which is useful, given how quickly fruit goes bad).
Blueberry/Banana Smoothie (Serves 2)
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 cup pomegranate juice
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 banana
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
Your timing is uncanny–I am thinking about doing the same thing. I already juice greens with fruit, and I have a date for tomorrow’s Farmer’s Market to make a fw pots of nice soup. You’re very right about eating to live.
I’ve wanted to do this for so long but was never sure if I could get enough protein but this program is really very easy and so far all the recipes are delicious. Have fun at the Farmers Market!
I have been hearing a lot of people talking about Eat to Live this week. My husband and I are starting slow.Much lower portions of meat and more fruits and vegetables. We stopped breads and pastas a month ago.
We are loving the smoothies. My husband loves ice cream so I have been freezing the smoothies for him.
Doing it gradually is probably a very good approach, easier on the digestive system. I’m loving the smoothies, too. They’re so healthy and so satisfying.
I bought this book recently on the recommendation of someone in our midlife group. I need to spend some time with it. I’m not much of a meat-eater anyway so I don’t think the shift would be too difficult for me.
I really think it’s well thought out and valid. I’ve always wanted to try a vegetarian lifestyle and this one seems to be very well researched and since I too was not much of a meat eater before, it hasn’t been that hard for me and I really like it.
I find I’m more and more not interested in eating meat. I think a high speed blender might be in my future. I assume these vegetables supply the calcium that will be missing by not consuming dairy products?
Yes, the calcium is from a lot of the leafy greens. You will also get a lot of calcium (more than in dairy) from the almond milk if you add it to your smoothies. The high speed blender is worth it, it’s very expensive but it has a 7 hear guarantee so it works out in the end as I’ve bought at least 2 blenders in the last 6 years – if you use them a lot they don’t last but this one is supposed to last for at least 7 years if not longer.
This book is big in the disability community, so I am going to post this in the group I moderate.
I would love to try this since I don’t eat meat anyway, and also try to eat only fresh everything! When I stop doing Jenny Craig (which is the antithesis of this!) I will take a look at it.
Thanks for this, Claudia. It’s the kick I need.
Cathy – this is a very good lifestyle for anyone, especially someone who’s had chronic illnesses. If you’re already not eating meat, this will be a cake walk for you! I will say I’m eating a lot of things that weren’t normally in my diet, like flax seed mixed into smoothies and all sorts of grains I usually only ate sporadically (quinoa, lentils) but it’s delicious and very satisfying. Plus I have so much energy. I’m a big proponent, hope you enjoy it if you decide to try it out!
This is a great reminder to be more mindful about what we put in our mouths. I don’t eat that much meat, but cutting out sugar would be hard for me. My worst habit is my coffee and Diet Coke habit. I really should cut down.
This is a great reminder to be more mindful about what we put in our mouths. I don’t eat that much meat, but cutting out sugar would be hard for me. My worst habit is my coffee and Diet Coke habit. I really should cut down.
Yes, same for me – not so hard to cut out meat but sugar and coffee are tough ones!
This post is so timely for me Claudia. My husband and I started on a diet today. Amidst piles of leftover Easter chocolate, we are on a diet. For realz. No cheating. Check back in a few days and see where I am on that. Our eating habits have gotten so horrendous. And portion control – what’s that? That’s why we need to make a change, and I keep telling myself that I need to eat to live, not the other way around. I need to read that book. I’ve got a number of friends who are vegetarians and I’ve toyed with the idea too. I think at least going veggie a few days out of the week would make a huge difference. And when I cut out the sugar and carbs (read: bread) on the South Beach Diet a few years ago, I felt so much better. I think it makes perfect sense. I can’t make any promises about coffee though! 😉
Hi Linda – I have to laugh about the Easter candy, I will say I had some chocolate too, and was kind of annoyed at myself afterwards. Luckily I’m back on track today. The thing about going vegetarian is that you don’t really need to worry about portions. I happen to be hungry almost all the time and am a huge eater so being able to eat whatever I want on this program is a huge plus for me. Hope you can swing it, maybe just do it a little at a time so that you feel like you’re more in control. Good luck!
Claudia. So impressed! Look into adding Chia seeds to your diet. High in protein, calcium, omega 3s and other goodness! I can tell you how to make the gel. Can add to smoothies, soups, etc.
Hi Lisa – I remembered you had told me about Chia and I bought some last weekend, will try it in my smoothies!
I have been contemplating this as well lately. I have two vegetarian co-workers who have really gotten me interested in cutting out meat. I will look into this book for sure!
Hi Sarah – It’s helpful if you have co-workers doing it, then you can support each other during the day. Good luck, hope you like it, too!