Plant-Based Eating

Advice for Newcomers

I have deliberately separated my mental processes from my plant-based eating style because the mental processes work with any food choices.

Nutrient-dense plants flip off many switches around my disordered eating patterns, and eating a wide diversity of plants is critical to my success.

This information is for anyone who wants to eat more nutrient-dense plants — whether through adding an extra serving, substituting plants for less healthy options, or adopting a plant-based lifestyle.

Why I eat Lots of plants

Like many people, I knew nutritional facts about fruits and vegetables and that I should add them to my daily eating. Most weight loss programs encourage eating more of them. Eating more plants was not a new idea for me. But, delving deep into understanding what it meant to eat a plant-based diet was new information to me.

What I learned stunned me. The benefits to my immediate and long-term health compelled me to keep learning. I approached the information doubtfully at first — partly because I had tried to follow a vegan lifestyle on several occasions but fell off each time. Now, I can see why I failed.

My success required deep education about nutrient density, nutritional diversity, and food balance. I also needed extensive education about food addiction and disordered eating patterns. Beyond these, I needed to understand more about the mental processes needed to make long-lasting changes.

what I have learned about eating plants

  • Eating a lot of healthy plants helps me lose weight and sustain it. Relying on my willpower has never been a successful strategy to lose or sustain weight loss. Eating a large amount of nutrient-dense plants diet helps me succeed in ways that go far beyond willpower.

  • Eating nutrient-dense plants helps me switch off nearly all cravings for addictive foods. I have learned how physical processes in my body cause me to crave destructive foods. Eating plants turns off almost all of these processes, making it easier for me to succeed most days. I still have to address emotional eating, but far less frequently than I ever imagined.

  • Removing addictive foods causes a withdrawal process in me. I definitely feel worse before I feel better when I remove a trigger food. This process can be a sign: the worse I feel in the withdrawal process usually means I will feel significantly better on the other side of withdrawal. Eating nutrient-dense plants helps.

  • Eating many unprocessed plants significantly improves my health. Powerful research and dramatic personal stories show how eating a plant-based diet can reverse lifestyle diseases, promote healing, strengthen the immune system, and impact aging. The research and stories have held true in my own life.

  • Eating plants transforms all aspects of my life. I feel younger, more energetic, and fully present in my life. My body and joints no longer ache, and I am in the best shape of my life. Feelings of health, well being, and goodness permeate my mind, body, and soul. Eating plants gives me the best version of myself — one that I did not know existed.

Whether you want to add a few plants or a lot of plants, starting somewhere that makes sense for you is what is most important. The stories of people who have transformed their own shadows illustrate many successful pathways to making transformative changes — sometimes one small step at a time, and other times with larger changes all at once.

My Entry into the Plant-Based World

Moving into a plant-based lifestyle can be intimidating, and in many ways, I still feel like an imposter in this world. Many plant-based doctors and experts have great information, plans, and advice. Sometimes, their plans are seemingly at odds with each other. These differences distracted me in my own journey.

I was fighting a personal war, and I thought there was a winning side and a losing side. The rivalries between different doctors in the plant-based world reinforced this idea. In my despair, I could not see that all of the unprocessed plant-based choices were win-win situations for me.

Because I failed so many times, I thought that only one specific program would help me. And, one program did. It got me off to a great start. But, I also got trapped in all or nothing thinking, closing myself off to other possibilities that helped me in the long run.

I became much more successful when I became a “free agent.” Each of the plant-based experts has shared valuable information that has helped me, and I now listen to them all. The help comes in all forms: food recommendations, research-based knowledge, strategies, and words of wisdom.

My life is easier and better with information that comes from multiple viewpoints. Switching from one plant-based approach to another can be helpful when I need a change, when I am unprepared, when I travel, or when there are holidays or special times with family and friends.

While I now eat a fully plant-based diet, I ate some animal products for awhile and was comfortable doing so. Entering the plant-based world does not need to be an all-or-nothing decision — especially if it is going to keep you from making healthy changes in your life.

The most important step to take is to start. Just start someplace. You can always change and adjust based on what you learn. Honest self-reflection about what you need will be the most powerful tool you have to transform whatever shadows are in your life.

Start with what works best for you. If you need to make one small change at a time, start there. If you need to make many changes all at once, make them. If you need one program, follow that. If you need multiple viewpoints, embrace them. All are viable pathways to success.

Most importantly, learn from your successes and failures, no matter what they are, to continue your journey.

My Success Rises out of Failures

Over my life, I tried a plant-based lifestyle on multiple occasions. The first time I tried eating as a vegan was when I was in my early 20s. Now, I completely understand why I failed. All my reasons for failure are so important that they are worth repeating.

My success required much deeper education about nutrient density, nutritional diversity, and food balance. I also needed extensive education about food addiction and disordered eating patterns. Beyond these, I needed to understand the mental processes around making transformational changes.

My biggest success came in 2009 when I learned more about nutrient density. The idea of weekly “cheat meals” and eating small amounts of processed foods triggered my food addiction and disordered eating patterns over and over again. But, it was the closest I had come to long-term success, and I learned.

I imagined recreating this success nearly every day, and I tried to replicate it many times — sometimes more fully than others. But, my addictions were always too strong. I was unable to get momentum again — until I made the decision to dig as deeply as I needed to in order to succeed.

I built an effective plan for myself that drew on learning from my lifetime of failures and successes. I committed myself to my health from the inside out with a focused determination.

I dove deeper into educating myself and understanding my successes and failures in relation to each other. After more than 30 years, I was finally able to transform my heavy shadows of failures into ongoing success. The results have been worth the effort.

There were no magic answers, but the answers feel like magic. Knowing this motivates me to get back to that feeling when I fail. Failure is still part of my journey. But, what has dramatically changed is how I handle that failure.

Perfection is not my goal. Having my long-term successes outnumber my short-term failures is my goal. And, that attitude has made all the difference in transforming my own shadows.

If you are considering making changes to transform shadows in your life, I encourage you to embark on the journey.