5 Things That Happened When I Went Plant-Based
A Farewell to “Good” Food
I did something extreme. I changed my diet to a plant-based whole foods diet. WFPB, as it’s known by those of us cool enough to know. I’ve been following it for over 40 days and I’ve changed!
What is a Plant-Based Whole foods diet? Well, the plant part is obvious; basically: eat plants, bro! Yup, no meats and no dairy. That’s the easy part. The “Whole Foods” part is harder. “Whole foods” are anything that isn’t processed. Seem innocent enough, until you discover how many things are processed!
No Meat. No Dairy. No Oil.
I’m a glass half-empty kind of guy, so rather than focusing on what I did eat, let’s consider what I didn’t eat over those 40 odd days. I didn’t eat any meat, dairy, oil, or refined foods. Yes. I was sautéing things with vegetable stock instead of olive oil; I was putting almond milk in smoothies; I was air-frying sweet potatoes.
Normal people eat normal food, like French Fries. I eat sweet potatoes and French mustard. I’m not normal anymore — I’m one of those people now; I eat weird things. Case in point: I discovered a thing called “Yoats” — a dairy free “oat yogurt”. It said “yogurt” on the packet, but I got a shock when I first opened it. It was as unconvincing as Nicolas Cage — a gooey brown messy soup of a thing, trying so hard to be yogurt, but failing so hard too. This was my life now.
I am special because I eat better than you.
I must admit trolling through vegan forums on the internet sparks joy in me. There’s a lot of anger and rage there, in those dark corners where the pale masses of angry faces hurl insults at anyone with a glimmer of light left in them. I never really understood what internet-savvy vegans were so angry about and why they care so much about what other people put in their mouths. People have their own mouths… and digestive systems, and poop, even. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t want to know what other people stick in their mouths, let along what comes out the other end. Keep that to yourself, please.
I want to thank vegans though, because they have made plant-based eating so much easier. A vegan diet is, after-all, a close ancestor to a plant-based one. No meat, no dairy, nothing that had a mother. The difference is vegans are more deliberately nice to the animals. Even the bees.
I have to admit, eating this perverse way did make me feel a little special and I got a whiff of that vegan head rush that powers internet forums across the globe. I started to get mesmerized watching strangers stuff unhealthy things in their mouth. That sweet thrill of food-based superiority wasn’t all that different from the ethical one. Eating this way is hard. I worked hard. You should too. I managed to shake that feeling by recalling that just a few months ago I was wrapping a 2lb beef tenderloin in puff pastry, pouring maple syrup and butter over Brussel sprouts, and sautéing carrots in a sugary butter slew. Who am I to feel superior, I’m just like everyone else. Everyone craves a Big Mac every once and a while, that’s what makes us human. When you take off my new plant-based clothes, I’m just a human. If you cut me, I bleed…especially my coronary arteries, which are so much cleaner than yours now.
Why, oh why?
Why give up on life and to eat just plants and unprocessed foods? I can’t really say I know why I did it, I just woke up one day and thought “I should do this”. I’d watched the documentary “Forks over Knives” a decade ago. “The Game Changers” a few years go. I’ve read all of Michael Pollan’s books. I’ve scroll through vegan forums for entertainment. All while stuffing sweaty, meaty unhealthy food in my mouth. I’ve watched and read a lot about food, because I love food! But one day I just woke up and thought “it’s time to try something new.”
I wasn’t particularly healthy. My BMI (Body Mass Index) was stable. Stable and unhealthy. I’d dipped my toes into weightlifting, and hiking, and running at one point or another. I’ve had glimpses of what an active lifestyle could look like. Maybe it was just pandemic boredom, but I woke up one day and decided to just try something new and switch up my diet. And something new and strange did happen: I discovered I can be really disciplined at eating. I was strict. I turned down a lot of food. Chocolate bars, cookies, home baking, and I started feeling great. It turns out “you are what you eat” might have been true all along.
How can Olive Oil not be a Whole Food?
With a plant-based whole foods diet you eliminate a lot of food that “normal” people eat. Like olive oil, that temple of “heart healthy” oils that celebrity chefs pour over their culinary creations. I used to think olive oil was a whole-food, I mean it’s just olives isn’t it? But after reading more about what a “whole food” really is and isn’t, I began to understand. What’s the natural form of olive oil? An olive, of course. If you take an olive and squish the hell out of it, a tiny little bit of oil will come out. That oil contains all the fat of the olive, and none of the fiber, nutrients, or other good parts. It’s a deconstructed olive now, a liquid extraction olive in fat form. Quiet of opposite of “whole”.
Indeed, Oil has been the hardest thing to give up. It eliminates a surprising amount of packaged foods. Most everything that is sold in a package includes oil. The only things I’ve purchased that are in packages since I started this weird experiment are canned tomatoes, dried beans, tofu, almond milk, and rice crackers. Other than that, pretty much my entire shop is from the produce section.
5 Things That Happened When I Went Plant-Based
1. I Lost Weight
I lost 12lbs (so far). My caloric intake had dropped anywhere from 500–1000 calories per day. I was losing weight so fast I had to force more food into my mouth to increase my calories. I found out that’s really difficult to do when you’re just eating just whole plant foods because (spoiler!) plants are really, really filling! The caloric density (a measure of the ratio of calories to volume of food) of most plant-based foods is shockingly low. I logged everything I ate and was confident I was getting adequate nutrition, no longer one of the overfed malnourished Americans you hear about. To get more calories I just simply started eating bigger meals and adding more snacks throughout the day and I’m never hungry, quite the opposite, I was always full.
2. My Energy Levels Increased
My energy level increased substantially. I used to jump out of bed when I was younger, but lately it’s been more falling out of bed. That changed quickly. When I wake up now, I still fall out of bed. But I have more energy. The first thing I do every morning is stand on my scale. Most days the numbers drop, which is a second kick to my energy levels for the day before the essential coffee. My energy levels are more consistent too, they last throughout the day too, which they didn’t used to.
I sleep better, too. I’ve never really had trouble sleeping, but I used to often wake up tired and feel lethargic later in the day. Not anymore. Now I sleep much better and wake up feeling more refreshed.
3. Food tastes better!
I’m not sure what causes this change, maybe eating less sugar and oils, but food tastes way better. Sweet food tastes sweeter and salty food tastes saltier. Biting into a cherry tomato is like eating a chocolate bar. A leaf of lettuce has a whole new intricate peppery-green palate I never noticed before. Simple meals and ingredients start tasting much better and more intense.
4. My Skin Changed
It’s hard to describe exactly how, but it looks different. I think maybe it’s…moister? Or perhaps my blood pressure has dropped and I’m more pale. I don’t know. I did read that one reason for this change is because water makes up a large part of plants, so by ingesting more fruits and vegetables your increasing your water intake. That pale vegan glow… priceless.
5. My heart feels healthier
My cholesterol intake each day is 0. This is normal on a WFPB diet because, surprise! Only meat and processed foods have cholesterol. Even an avocado, the most unhealthy of the vegetables (it’s actually a fruit, of course) has no cholesterol. My fat intake each day is usually under 40g. Plants and whole foods (apart from nuts and avocados) are very low in fat.
One indicator that you’re eating something that isn’t plant-based is that is has any cholesterol at all, or it has a lot of fat (especially saturated or trans-fat). We know low-fat low-cholesterol diets are better for your heart, and heart disease is the leading cause of death in Western society, so Live long and prosper.
Wrapping it up
That’s my plant-based whole foods journey. I hope you enjoyed it. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep eating this way. It is challenging. It’s hard. But like most difficult things in life, it’s probably worth it.
Plant-Based Pro-Tips
- If you want to sauté vegetables, use vegetable stock. Make sure the stock doesn’t have any added oil (or make your own, it’s easy). As an alternative, you can simply steam most vegetables.
- Bread is technically not a whole food, but I ate the occasionally whole-wheat slice. Read labels closely because food marketers are good at trying to make something seem whole-wheat when it’s not. Also, look out of added oil or sugars in breads. I started out eating whole-wheat bread toast for breakfast, but after the first week wasn’t really interested in it anymore and switched to oatmeal and granola. Bread just isn’t that great when you don’t smear butter, jam, or stack it with meats.
- Don’t try to re-create meat-based meals. I started off trying this, until I made a lentil spaghetti recipe and wished I hadn’t. Trying to replicate meat-based meals when you’re not eating meat is a fool’s game. Sure, faux burgers and hot dogs have their place, but when cooking at home there’s really no reason to try and pretend you’re eating meat. Instead, include things like brown rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, lentils, or chick-peas.
- The sweet potato is possibly the best and most versatile vegetable in the world. There are cultures that practically live off sweet potatoes and have for centuries. I’ve really grown to appreciate their versatility and flavour, plus they’re quite nutritious. There are a lot of different kinds of sweet potatoes and yams and they’re all great.
- Eat more food than you think you need to, especially if you’re changing from a diet heavy in meats, dairy, and processed foods. The caloric density of plants and whole-foods is very low (apart from nuts and avocados) and it can be really easy to not eat enough calories if you go into it with the mindset of a regular diet.
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