What Healthy Vegans Eat on a Whole Food Plant Based Diet

Eating Whole Plant Foods can be very satisfying once you focus on what you CAN eat, rather than what you are missing.

For some people the switch is easy, but for others it may take a few months for tastebuds to adjust.

Whether you choose the Medical Medium diet that works so well for me, or you follow the advice of Dr. Greger, Dr. Barnard, Chef AJ, Dr. McDougall, Dr. Goldhamer, the Forks Over Knives diet, or another leader in the Whole Plant Foods Diet field, you are sure to see positive changes.

You will find excellent guidelines on this page for what makes up a healthy diet – and what does not!

GREEN MEANS GO for It!

Eat all you want of fresh, whole, ideally organic –

• fruits
• vegetables
• leafy greens
• beans, peas, lentils – cooked (avoid when detoxing or clearing strep)
• gluten-free grains – quinoa, millet, rice, sorghum, amaranth, teff, GF oats, GF pasta – cooked (avoid grains if dealing with health issues, particularly strep – Anthony William)
• mushrooms – cooked
• sprouts (avoid commercial alfalfa sprouts due to mold and GMO contamination)
• herbs & spices

Eat as much of these as often as you like and have snack at least every two hours during the day to support your adrenal glands.

• plus adequate amounts of essential nutritional supplements

For faster healing, Anthony William (AW) recommends eating only raw fruits and vegetables before 4pm, and having a cooked and/or raw meal at the end of the day. The more cooked food you eat, the slower your healing will be, but detoxing too fast can cause problems, so don’t rush it. For most of us, cooked foods are nourishing and delicious additions to a healthy diet.

YELLOW MEANS MODERATION (But Still Good for You!)

All ground, pureed, blended, pulverized, dried, juiced, or otherwise processed foods, as well as salt and high fat or high sugar foods – i.e. whole grain flours, breads, pastas, avocados, tree nuts and nut butters, peanuts and peanut butter, seeds and seed butters, juices, sauces, bean dips, nut and seed milks, nut and seed cheeses, raw honey, date sugar, maple syrup, coconut sugar, molasses – should all be consumed in moderation. You may also want to limit rice consumption. There is a possibility of high levels of arsenic in some rice (organic California rice, especially short grain, is said to be safest)… though AW says it is not an issue.

Small amounts of fermented foods can be included occasionally if you like them, though they do not have the health benefits some people claim, and fresh foods are much more nutritious (avoid if dealing with health issues – AW).

There is nothing wrong with any of these foods. They are all nutritious foods, but it is easy to overeat foods that we don’t have to chew much. Plus they won’t have a chance to thoroughly mix with the digestive enzymes in the mouth when you don’t chew them enough.

They can also cause blood sugar spikes, because they are digested so quickly. Limit these foods if you want to lose weight, or if you have any serious health issues, especially diabetes, pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, or obesity.

Dried foods are fine in moderation, but many people are already chronically dehydrated. Removing the water from our foods will only add to that problem. So be sure to drink plenty of pure water with a squeeze of lemon or lime to rehydrate your cells. Celery juice and coconut water are also excellent for hydration. I recommend soaking dried fruits before eating. You can drink the soak water, or add it to smoothies or dessert dishes.

Fats Are in the Yellow Zone

Even vegan fats can contribute to diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and other health problems when over consumed. We need small amounts of good fats, but it is very easy to overindulge. If you find that you are gaining too much weight, cut back on fatty foods and include more raw vegetables.

Nuts, seeds, and avocados are excellent foods, but limit your intake if you want to lose weight and/or give your liver a chance to cleanse itself.

Juicing

Juicing can be wonderful in cases of malnutrition, dehydration, or in a cleansing fast. Anthony William’s Medical Medium diet recommends drinking 16 oz. fresh, pure celery juice on an empty stomach every morning to heal the digestive system. He sometimes recommends combining cucumber, celery, and apple juice for a one or two day fast, but usually celery juice should not have anything added. You can occasionally combine other fruits and veggies in juices to make hydrating drinks.

RED MEANS STOP

All fractured foods should be avoided if you want to maintain, or regain optimal health – i.e. refined grains, white flour products, white rice, white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, protein powders (protein deficiency does not exist on a whole foods diet, so concentrated sources of protein are best avoided), oils, caffeine, vinegar, alcohol, nutritional yeast (creates MSG in the body), cooked honey, xanthan gum (made from mold). These foods may be relatively harmless in small amounts, but they will undermine your health if eaten regularly.

Also animal products – meat, fish, eggs, dairy products – have been clearly implicated in heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other degenerative diseases.

The Medical Medium diet protocols recommend totally avoiding all corn, soy, gluten, canola, eggs, dairy, pork, MSG, GMO foods, vinegars and nutritional yeast.

Avoid all gluten if you have any health, allergy, or digestive issues, because it is very difficult to digest.

If you are healthy, you can get away with eating some of these foods occasionally, but making it a regular habit will slowly undermine your health.

BLACK MEANS SLOW DEATH

Avoid all products containing:

• preservatives
• pesticides
• herbicides
• artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners
• “natural” flavors
• citric acid
• MSG – found in Anything with “gluta” in the name (Glutamic acid, Glutamate, Monosodium glutamate, Monopotassium glutamate, Calcium glutamate, Monoammonium glutamate, Magnesium glutamate, Natrium glutamate, and also:
  • • • anything “hydrolyzed”
      • Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate,
      • Yeast extract, Torula yeast, Yeast food, Yeast nutrient, Autolyzed yeast, Nutritional yeast
      • Gelatin
      • Textured protein, Whey protein, Whey protein concentrate, Whey protein isolate, Soy protein, Soy protein concentrate, Soy protein isolate, Anything “protein fortified,” Pea protein, Corn protein, etc. (If you feel the need for a protein powder, look for one that is made from only hemp or pumpkin seeds – though you can easily get all the protein you need from a varied diet of whole plant foods. Even potatoes have all the protein you need!)
      • Soy sauce, Soy sauce extract
      • Anything “enzyme modified,” Anything containing “enzymes,” Protease
      • Vetsin
      • Ajinomoto
      • MSG may also be hidden on labels as Malt extract, Bouillon, Broth, Stock, Flavoring, Natural Flavoring, Natural Beef or Chicken Flavoring, Carrageenan, Pectin, Ultra-pasteurized, Citric acid, Seasoning, Spices… there are more, but you get the idea)
• GMOs (including soy, soy oil, corn meal, corn oil, ethanol, corn syrup, canola oil, beet sugar, alfalfa, small papayas, some non-organic summer squashes, arctic apple, innate potato, citric acid, and lecithin, unless organic sunflower)
• chlorine
• fluoride
• hydrogenated fats (AKA trans fats)
• and any other “foods” that do not not grow naturally from the ground

Also look for names of ingredients that may be derived from animal sources: casein, glycerides (mono, di, and triglycerides), sodium stearoyl lactylate, stearicacid, octadecenoic acid, calcium stearate, palmatic acid, glucose, dextrose, myristic acid, tetradecanoic acid, sodium stearoyl lactylate, oleic acid, oleinic acid, and L-cysteine.

Feeling Overwhelmed? Make it simple with the Vegan Meal Plan Options and Guidelines.

Go to Plant-Based Nutrition for more specific information on what vegans eat to get enough vitamins, minerals, and macro-nutrients.