Switch to Whole Plant Foods - Plant-Based Vegan Health Coach

Making the Switch to a Whole Plant Foods Diet

Let’s start with a big perk! When you switch to a whole plant foods diet, you can eat as much as you want! No holding back, except on the high-fat nuts, seeds, and avocados (and you might also want to limit calorie-dense dried fruits and concentrated sweeteners if you want to lose weight).

Note: Of course, if you have a food addiction or eating disorder, you will have to exercise moderation. Please work with a qualified professional to clear your emotional issues and food cravings.

If you have a healthy relationship with food, you can eat all you like of fresh fruits and vegetables, including potatoes, sweet potatoes (yams), dates, bananas, and other starchy veggies and sweet fruits, plus plenty of green vegetables and leafy greens. Your cells will be humming with healthy phytonutrients!

You can also include whole grains and legumes (beans, lentils) if you like – though, if you have any health issues you will probably benefit from avoiding grains and legumes, especially those containing gluten. Organic millet, gluten free oats, brown rice, quinoa, teff, sorghum, and excellent gluten-free options. Just make sure they are organic so you avoid glyphosate (RoundUp) as much as possible. That’s very important!

If you want a quick and easy way to get started on your healing journey, sign up for the Medical Medium Healing Path course at MedicalMedium.com. It doesn’t cost a thing.

Media Nutrition Advice is Full of Lies!

Unfortunately, there is a LOT of misinformation about diet in the media, including some outright lies – even in the scientific literature!. People who think they are eating the best possible keto, high protein, omnivore, or paleo diet often end up sick, fat and tired, because they don’t have the valid information they need.

Even many new (and some long-time) plant-based eaters or vegans are eating junk food or missing vital information that can make a big difference in their long-term health.

Are you one of them? This question is important for two reasons:

You could end up getting sick – and maybe even return to eating animal products in the mistaken belief that animal products are necessary for your health. Truth – you can get all the nutrients you need on a diet of plants and sunshine (unless you have a rare digestive or absorption problem) except for vitamin B 12, which is easily supplied by a good supplement that includes both methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin – like Global Healing B12. (I am in no way affiliated – it’s the B 12 I take.)
When people “give up” on their whole foods plant-based diet it affects all of us. It means they are much more likely to develop degenerative diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, strokes, kidney disease, liver disease and other health problems that put a huge strain on our health care system and raise the cost for everyone. It also contributes to more suffering for animals, a bigger environmental impact on our planet, and animal agriculture poses a much higher risk of creating disease epidemics. Your diet even affects the quality of our water! The millions of drugs prescribed for all those degenerative diseases are expelled in people’s urine and eventually they end up in our water supply! So I don’t want to see you or anyone else giving up!

I want you to succeed and thrive, for your own health and the sake of future generations of humans and animals.

So How Do You Start on a Healthy Plant-Based Diet?

If you are feeling good and you don’t have any particular health issues, you may want to follow the advice of Drs. Greger, Barnard, McDougall, Campbell, and other whole food plant-based diet advocates. However, you may find, as I did, that some of the foods they include will not support your best health (corn, soy, gluten, canola oil, nutritional yeast, vinegar).

Since I was dealing with chronic Lyme’s and EBV symptoms, I chose to follow the Medical Medium’s anti-viral protocols, avoiding: corn, soy, gluten, canola oil, nutritional yeast, vinegar, and of course all chemicals and natural or artificial flavors. Those are the foods that feed viruses and cause the most allergies and liver damage. They are subtly undermining the health of many people who don’t even have noticeable reactions – yet! Avoiding those foods has made a huge positive difference in my own health and the health of many thousands of other people.

I’ve been following the Medical Medium protocols since 2015 (after 45 years of trying various vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian diets – and even a dangerous plant-based-low-carb diet). Now I feel healthier than I have in decades, and I’m no spring chicken. I’m also a big fan of Drs. Greger, Goldhamer, Barnard, Fuhrman, Esselstyn, McDougall, Campbell, and other plant-based diet researchers, but the Medical Medium protocols have improved my health most of all.

Now that I have reached a time of life when I expected to slow down and start feeling older, I have more energy and better health and immunity than I’ve had in decades. I want the same for you as you get older!

Should You Jump Right In or Take It Slow?

My advice is to make changes gradually. Start with a fat free breakfast. Have a bowl of gluten free organic oatmeal, or a heavy metal detox smoothie, and/or just fresh fruit. It is a good idea to have a fruit and/or vegetable snack at least every two hours until your next meal to support your adrenal glands.

After a few days, try a big salad for lunch with a lemon-tahini or fat-free cucumber dressing, or a bowl of steamed vegetables (with gluten-free grains, lentils or beans if you need something more filling). If you get hungry in the afternoon, feel free to snack on fruits and vegetables. Save most of the heavier foods for a late lunch or dinner – like beans, gluten free grains, fats: avocado, nuts and seeds. That way you’ll give your liver a better chance to clear out toxins. If you eat after dinner, it is best to stick to fruits and vegetables.

Get the animal products out of your breakfast first – especially dairy products, eggs, and pork! Then, after a few days or a week, remove them from your lunch. According to Anthony William, the Medical Medium, you can get away with eating one serving (about the size of a deck of cards) of organic pasture-raised meat or wild Atlantic fish per day without much harm to your health, as long as it’s not pork (he’s not a fan of chicken, either). However, according to Dr. Greger’s research, even a little bit of meat or fish is not the healthiest choice – and it’s certainly not good for the animals or the planet.

After a couple of weeks, you can start replacing meat and dairy at dinner with beans and/or gluten free grains a few times a week. If you really crave meat, you can try things like Beyond Burger & Sausages as a transition food (they are NOT healthy foods and not organic, but at least they are better than the Impossible Burger and they are probably a little bit healthier than meat). If you stick to whole plant foods you may eventually lose your taste for these highly processed substitutes.

Before you know it you will be eating plant based all the time, and your digestive system will have had time to adapt to your higher fiber/lower fat diet. If you really miss animal products check out these Healthy Vegan Substitutes.

You can do this! Your body will thank you and so will our planet.

Track Your Fat!

You won’t have to worry about cholesterol (unless you eat too much saturated fat, like coconut or palm oil). There is no cholesterol in a vegan diet and our bodies can make all we need.

Note: Some people find that their cholesterol goes up when they start eating a lot of fruit. This is not caused by the fruit. It is caused by insulin resistance, which is due to fat in the blood that blocks the insulin receptors of the cells. When insulin receptors are blocked, the cells cannot absorb the sugars they need.

If you are eating concentrated dietary fats, or losing weight, fats will be deposited in your blood to be cleared out of your body. When you then eat high-sugar fruits or refined carbohydrates, that fat will interfere with proper assimilation of their sugars (even though your cells need the glucose).

For that reason, it is important to stick with low glycemic index fruits and high-fiber whole food carbohydrates (starches) along with a low fat diet (10 – 15% of total calories from fat) until your insulin resistance issues are improved (i.e. diabetes, pre-diabetes, overweight, or high cholesterol).

To find out the percentage of fat in your diet, use the Cronometer.com website to plug in your daily food choices (ignore their exaggerated recommendations for fat, protein, and calcium). Use the Cronometer Targets link in the Settings tab to set your macro nutrient levels to:

- - - 75 – 80% Carbs
    - 10% Protein
    - 10 – 15 % Fats (the original settings have a high-fat, paleo/ketogenic bias)
    - Set Tracking carbohydrates as Total Carbs
    - Set macro targets to Macro Ratios

Also: the Cronometer recommended calcium and omega 6 levels are about double what most plant-based nutrition experts recommend, so don’t worry as long as you hit about 50% on those. (Calcium needs are much higher for people who eat high-phosphorus animal products, plus we absorb more calcium from plant foods.) And iodine is not included on the chart, so remember to add your Atlantic seaweeds.

Ideally, on a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet, you will be eating a lot less fat than you may be accustomed to, unless you overindulge in nuts, seeds, and avocado. A lower fat diet will allow your liver to clear toxins out of your body. It is especially important to avoid fats in the morning when your liver is hard at work clearing toxins.

Oils are not whole foods and should be avoided as much as possible. They have been shown to damage endothelial cells. Though, if you are in good health, you can occasionally include small amounts of a good quality oil, like organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, or avocado oil.

Making up for deficiencies from past diets

If you have been on a low carb (carbohydrate) or ketogenic diet, you will probably need to eat a LOT of fresh fruit or even white rice to restore your glucose reserves. There’s no such thing as too much fruit for most people. I know. It sounds too good to be true, but that’s been my experience and it is also what the Medical Medium says. The only time eating too much fruit would be a problem is if you’ve been eating high-fat foods, or you are losing a lot of weight causing fat to be flushed into your bloodstream for elimination.

Listen to what Anthony William, the Medical Medium has to say about fruit – https://soundcloud.com/medicalmedium/fruit-fear

Note: If you have diabetes, be sure to monitor as you increase fruits slowly and decrease fats until you can safely consume all the fruit you want. Dr. Barnard is the world’s top expert on managing, and even reversing diabetes with a plant based diet. I refer you to him for expert advice.

If you have been on an extremely low fat diet, you may need to slightly increase healthy fats like hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, almonds, walnuts, and avocados. Pay special attention to getting enough omega fatty acids, while strictly limiting polyunsaturated fats and saturated fats (coconut and palm oils). If you test deficient in DHA, I suggest taking an algae based omega fatty acid supplement like OmegaAstin, but most likely your body can make plenty as long as you are getting enough omega 3 fatty acids. By the way, leafy greens are an excellent source of omega fatty acids.

Listen to your body. What whole foods does it crave? Eat those foods as much as your appetite demands. If you are used to dieting and calorie restriction, the amounts may seem excessive at first. Yet, in a few weeks or months you will find that your appetite falls into sync with your nutritional needs.

Remember that plant foods are less dense than animal products, because they contain fiber and often a lot more water. You will probably need to eat larger amounts than you did before. If you have been on a calorie-restricted diet, a ketogenic diet, or a junk food diet it may also help to take a quality multi vitamin and/or mineral supplement like MaryRuths. A high fat, low carb diet is lacking in so many important nutrients found in fruits and starchy vegetables that you may have deficiencies you didn’t even notice.

What’s Left to Eat?

When you consider eliminating animal products and refined foods, you may wonder what is left for healthy vegans to eat after removing the meat, fish, eggs, dairy, and junk food. Believe me, there is still plenty to eat. (Go to What Vegans Eat to find out what to eat and what NOT to eat!)

For starters you will want to include: (I have added notes based on Anthony William’s Medical Medium diet advice – AW)):

lots of raw and/or cooked vegetables
lots of raw fruits (cooked are okay too)
cooked whole beans or their sprouts (except soy, AW)
cooked whole grains or their sprouts (except corn, and those containing gluten, AW)
raw nuts and seeds in small amounts (avoid if you want to lose weight)
a few important nutritional supplements and superfoods like Vitamin B-12, zinc sulfate, spirulina (Vimergy Spirulina is best), wild blueberries

Pretty simple. Right?

That list may sound limiting, but there are thousands of ways to prepare these foods to make them interesting and delicious. Look for international recipes for inspiration: Ethiopian lentil dishes with injera made from gluten free teff, Mexican bean and rice dishes, Italian gluten free pasta dishes with marinara, salad or soup, Middle Eastern chickpea and fresh vegetable dishes, Chinese, Japanese, or Thai rice and vegetable dishes (skip the soy sauce, AW), Indian curried rice and dahl. The possibilities are endless.

Keep your pantry well stocked so you always have healthy choices available. See Vegan Pantry Staple Foods. Make double batches when you cook, so you can eat leftovers for lunch the next day. Or freeze them for another day. You can do this!

Feed Your Gut Microbiome

I recommend making gradual changes if you have been on a diet heavy in animal products. The sudden elimination of all animal products and addition of more fiber, can upset the balance of your gut bacteria. I know, because I triggered decades of allergies by suddenly going raw and vegan as a teenager after eating the standard American diet all my life.

It usually takes at least two weeks for your gut bacteria to adjust to a radically new diet. A diet of whole plant foods contains a LOT more fiber, which is a good thing. However, it takes very different gut bacteria to thrive on a high-fiber diet. Increase your fiber gradually. Otherwise, you could have a lot of gas and digestive discomfort.

I recommend starting by cutting animal products out of breakfast for a few days and then out of lunch for another few days. After that you can work up to one, two, or three days a week with no animal products at all. As you increase plant foods, your gut bacteria will comfortably adapt to your new diet.

Ideal Diet Suggestions

Dr. Greger has a handy daily dozen checklist that covers the basics he recommends every day for optimal health. It will give you a general idea of how much of each type of food he thinks you should include. Personally, I could never eat that much in one day! I think of his list as a general guideline for foods to include every few days.

Note: Keep in mind that Dr. Greger is a man who may weigh at least twice as much as you do. You might want to eat less than half these amounts if you are a 100 lb. woman.

Never force yourself to eat, just so you can meet any particular daily recommendations. Above all, trust your body to know what it needs. You can live just fine for many months on raw fruits and vegetables alone, or on nothing but potatoes, and you would probably be healthier for it.

What Vegans Eat Based on Dr. Greger’s Science – A Healthy Plant-Based Diet

I have added notes based on Anthony William’s Medical Medium advice (AW), and other helpful information I have gathered over the years:

fruit – 3 cups fresh (or frozen) fruits – plus 1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries [wild Main blueberries are best – AW]. [Oranges are particularly good for preventing macular degeneration and they are a good source of calcium – Ed.]
vegetables –
- 1 cup assorted starchy or non-starchy vegetables
- 2 cups raw leafy greens
- plus 1/2 cup cruciferous vegetable (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.).
- Note: [A small amount of fat may increase absorption of nutrients in leafy greens (nuts, seeds, avocado, dressings made from nut or seed butters) – plus something acidic (lemon, lime, tomato). – Ed.] By the way, apple cider vinegar is NOT recommended by Anthony William. Though he allows it in very small amounts if you don’t have any health issues. He says, “Apple cider vinegar, despite being your best vinegar option, activates the excess sodium stored in your liver, pickling the organ and putting it under additional stress.” Do you really want to do that to your liver?
beans/peas/lentils – 1 1/2 cups cooked whole beans, or 3/4 cup bean dip/humus, or 3 cups fresh or frozen peas. Soak dry beans overnight and drain before cooking with fresh water if you are concerned about mineral absorption. [Avoid all soy products (and avoid all beans if healing serious health issues). – AW]
whole grains & grain-like seeds – 1 1/2 cups (or equivalent in whole grain pasta, bread, etc.). Excellent gluten free grains/seeds are: organic quinoa, millet, gluten free oatmeal, brown rice, amaranth, sorghum, or teff. If you are concerned about phytates blocking mineral absorption, soak dry grains overnight and drain before cooking with fresh water – however it is not at all necessary. [Avoid corn, wheat, buckwheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, and all gluten – AW] Note: If you are dealing with health issues, particularly variations of strep, avoid all grains. Millet is safest if you really want a grain. – AW
nuts – 1/4 cup raw nuts, assorted, or 2 Tbs. raw nut butter (not including coconut, peanut, or chestnut). [If you have mineral deficiencies, soaking overnight will help remove the phytates that can block mineral absorption, but according to Anthony William it’s not really a problem. – Ed.]
Omega 3 source – Dr. Greger recommends 1 Tb. freshly ground flax seeds (can be baked in crackers, cookies, muffins, pancakes, etc.). You can substitute hemp seeds and/or chia seeds, but they don’t have the lignans. [If you are looking for lignans, sesame seeds, i.e. tahini, are an even better source than flax. – Ed.] It is probably best (as with all other foods) to rotate through a variety of different seeds. Leafy greens are also excellent sources of Omega 3. Here is a really interesting article on using different seeds to balance hormones – https://www.hormonesbalance.com/articles/how-to-use-seed-rotation-to-rebalance-your-menstrual-cycle/
turmeric – 1/4 tsp. turmeric – Best absorbed when cooked with a little coconut oil or other fat. Make sure you get your turmeric from trustworthy sources or use the fresh roots. Some brands of turmeric have been found to have added lead to enhance the color! – Ed.]

More Tips from the “Medical Medium” Diet (Vegan Version)

I like to include the Medical Medium Heavy Metal Detox and a few other foods he recommends at least several times a week, if not daily:

Here are Anthony William’s heavy metal detox ingredients (to be eaten together, or separately within 24 hours). Great in a smoothie with an added banana, orange, and enough water to blend! [I prefer to eat dulse strips separately so the smoothie tastes better! – Ed.]
- - Flaked Atlantic dulse – 1-2 Tbs. (Or an equivalent amount of dulse strips.)
  - Wild Maine Blueberries – 1 – 2 cups
  - Vimergy Spirulina (or Hawaiian Spirulina if Vimergy is not available) – 1 – 2 tsp.
  - Vimergy barley grass juice powder – 1 tsp.
  - Cilantro, fresh – 1 cup, packed

Other recommendations from the Medical Medium:

Celery Juice – 16 oz. daily on an empty stomach, fresh and undiluted [can possibly cause sun sensitivity, in which case cucumber juice is a good option]
Main coast or Icelandic seaweeds – assorted (avoid kelp, because it can be too high in iodine and hijiki due to high arsenic levels.)
Herbs and spices – at least 1/4 tsp. or more assorted herbs and spices per day
Sprouts – especially broccoli sprouts [avoid alfalfa sprouts, because they tend to grow mold, and a lot of alfalfa is now GMO]. Sprouts are an amazingly nutritious addition to any diet especially if you cannot eat nuts, beans, seeds, or grains. Grow your own sprouts!
Raw foods – provide vitamin C and important enzymes
Essential nutritional supplements

Water – The general rule is 1/2 oz. water per pound of body weight per day. For example, a 128 lb. person would need 64 oz. pure water (ideally, with a little lemon or lime juice squeezed in – AW). Drink more water if you are active, if the weather is hot, and/or if you weigh more. You can drink less if you are eating lots of raw fruits. Your urine should be light yellow, like the color of straw.

For a great talk on hydration listen to Anthony William, The Medical Medium here – https://soundcloud.com/medicalmedium/chronic-dehydration – He takes a while to get to the point, but the information is excellent.

Fermented foods (optional) – Not recommended on the Medical Medium protocols, but they do add that wonderful umami flavor. Anthony William says they are not particularly harmful, so you can include them in moderation if you like them. However, they apparently don’t have the benefits that many people claim.

Chickpea miso is a good substitute for soy sauce and soy miso. Coconut Aminos are also good, though a little sweeter than soy sauce. (Avoid miso and other fermented foods like pickles, plant yogurts, and sauerkraut if you are dealing with health issues.)

The Sickly Vegan Misconception

Contrary to popular belief, many of the world’s top athletes and body builders are vegan, including the strongest man in the world (watch Game Changers, available on Netflix). Many other people have dramatically improved their health, or healed life-threatening diseases with a whole plant foods diet, even after doctors told them there was no hope for their survival.

Once you notice how much better you feel on a balanced whole food plant-based diet, you probably won’t want to go back to your old habits.

Note: If you are seriously ill, I highly recommend contacting True North Health Center for a consultation (may still be free, but if not the price will be reasonable). It could save your life.

Unfortunately, some vegans and vegetarians end up becoming sick and depleted, because they didn’t get or follow the information you will find on this website. Once I was one of them, and I’m still in the process of regaining my health! I don’t want that to happen to you.

Don’t Be Confused By Detox Symptoms

When starting a cleaner diet, you may experience uncomfortable detox symptoms like headaches, fatigue, or digestive issues for awhile as your body clears out the toxins you have stored in your fat and liver. This is temporary and will eventually pass. It doesn’t mean you are getting sicker. It means you are healing. You can slow down the detox by eating more cooked foods, heavier foods like grains and beans, or a little more fat.

Many doctors will blame their patient’s health symptoms on lack of meat or other animal products, but that is rarely the reason anyone becomes ill. Most doctors have had little to no nutritional training, so they are far from experts on diet. Don’t let your doctor tell you how to eat unless they have a strong nutrition background!

The truth is that just about everyone can thrive on a whole plant foods diet, unless they have a very unusual digestive or metabolic problem that doesn’t allow them to absorb particular nutrients from plants.

More Tips on Making the Switch to Whole Plant Foods

Go to Plant-Based Nutrition for specifics on what vegans eat to get enough of each vitamin, mineral, and macro-nutrient.

Here’s a pretty good nuts-and-bolts article about making the switch to a healthy plant based whole foods diet (she throws in a few “f-bombs” so be warned). Also, she includes soy, but Anthony William recommends avoiding it – https://cleanfooddirtygirl.com/the-mother-of-all-whole-food-plant-based-resources-for-plant-based-newbies/

Excellent Recipe Websites that Fit Medical Medium Protocols

Join our facebook group for great recipes and discussions – Whole Foods Plant-Based, Gluten Free Diet & Recipes Group

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

Wondering how you can replace your favorite animal products with healthy plant foods? Let’s move on to Healthy Vegan Substitutes of Animal Products

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