Also, the faster you allow yourself to make the changes, the faster you will see results; the results
will help powerfully motivate you to continue eating in a nutrient-rich healthy way.
- Change your mindset.
Stop thinking of meat as being the "main dish,” and stop considering vegetables, fruits, grains, beans
and nuts as the side dishes. Reverse that picture. When you're planning a menu, start with the
vegetables, beans, legumes, whole grains and starchy vegetable components instead of the animal
protein. For example, if fresh green beans are in season, why not feature a green bean and spicy
tempeh stir fry with brown rice? (Tempeh, a healthy fermented soy product, is available pre-
marinated in lots of great flavors, such as curry coconut or sesame teriyaki.) - Use meat as an optional "flavoring."
If you choose to eat meat at all, then start considering it as an optional flavoring for the meal. (You
don’t need animal foods for flavor—or nutrition—when you are eating nutrient rich; I promise
there’ll be plenty of flavor in the variety of plant foods you can choose from! However, if you feel
you must include meat, this is a helpful way to think about it.)
Eventually, if you are still eating meat at all, you will get to the point where you are consuming 10%
or less animal products, emphasizing plants as the main meal component and using meat as a
condiment. As you learn the Nutrient Rich Healthy® Eating Style, you will find yourself focusing
on maximizing your nutrient intake from nutrient-rich foods, not nutrient-poor ones.
You may even decide you want to go 100% plant-based and eat vegan or vegetarian, and more
power to you if you do! However, if you wish, you always have the option of including meat,
poultry, and fish as 10% (or less) of your diet and still getting the results.
This nuance is naturally built into the basis of many ethnic dishes, such as curries, stir-fries, stews
and primavera dishes. These are often flavored with a small portion of beef, pork, chicken or fish,
along with a pile of vegetables, in order to serve a family-sized meal. (See #6 below)
The impact this can have on health and the planet is huge. More than 20 years ago, John Robbins
wrote in Diet for a New America that if people cut back animal food consumption by just 10% (ten
percent!) no one in the world would go hungry.^16 Think about the staggering implications of that fact
for a moment. Frances Moore Lappe’s Diet for A Small Planet was also a great breaker in this way.
4: Eliminate or rarely eat refined junk foods.
Even if you were to go vegan and not eat a single animal product ever again, it would technically be
possible to remain vegan and still eat refined junk foods as the mainstay of your diet. Alas, many
vegans do just that, and therefore are not nearly as healthy as someone who eats nutrient rich—say
small amounts of animal food, mostly plant-based, optimized for nutrient density, volume and great
taste without addicting substances in way that is calorically and naturally appropriate for them.
I cannot tell you how many times I have met people who criticized me for not overtly promoting a
vegan diet, and have then spent time with these same people and observed them eating tons of junk
16
Robbins J. Diet for a New America. Tiburon, CA: HJ Kramer Inc; 1987.