eat fresh. live large.
But where do you get your protein? From plants!
Hi, I'm Jo - a plant-based mum/runner/blogger who is trying to spread the word about how awesome plants are - better for you, animals, and the planet! 🐘🌿🥔
But where do you get your protein? From plants!
Hi, I'm Jo - a plant-based mum/runner/blogger who is trying to spread the word about how awesome plants are - better for you, animals, and the planet! 🐘🌿🥔
Here are some of my favourite books, documentaries, and podcasts that I've discovered during my journey to becoming plant-based. If you are anything like me, once you stumble into this brave new world you will want to learn and consume as much as you can. This is a one stop shop to becoming confident in your plant-based choices and rejoicing in fruit, veggies, grains and legumes! Banana, banana, banana! Blackwell’s affiliate links are used.
As I said in My Story this is the book that changed it all for me. I discovered it after watching Forks Over Knives and besides being a very easy read full of information about treating and reversing heart disease through nutrition it also has a very thorough recipe section at the back. If you want to begin getting more plants in your life this is the place to start, rent it from your local library even, just get it!
The Plantpower Way : Whole Food Plant-Based Recipes and Guidance for the Whole Family - Rich Roll & Julie Piatt
This is another fantastic starter volume for plant-based cooking featuring recipes and guides about plant-based living. There are heaps of really simple recipes as well as some more involved ones that will take your plant-based cooking to the next level. Our last four family occasions have featured recipes from this book, the vegan lasagne is always a hit. Some of the helpful tips included in the book are things like equipment lists, an ingredient glossary, breakdown of a plant-based shopping list as well as a section on kids and plant-based eating. It really is a ‘how to’ starter guide and as a bonus looks awesome.
The Microbiome Solution : A Radical New Way to Heal Your Body from the Inside Out - Dr Robynne Chutkan
This book is full of information about our microbiome and how modern living can have such a significant impact on it. We have 10 times as many microbes living on us than we have cells in our bodies (10 trillion of them!) and they all have very specific functions that aid and assist in our health. In our modern lives things like antibacterial soaps, cleaning chemicals, antibiotics and processed foods all impact the balance of our microbes and their ability to function correctly. It all starts in the gut and the number one food for our gut flora? Plant fibre, we can’t digest it but they do!
Disease-Proof Your Child : Feeding Kids Right - Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman has a family practice and treats adults and children with nutritional excellence first and foremost. In this book there is a great explanation about antibiotics and how they have been so over prescribed, especially to children, and the health ramifications this can lead to. He provides practical advice about eating plant-based using examples from his patients and his own family. There is also a great recipe section in the back full of kid friendly and kid tested food. I have found this book a really helpful guide for feeding my young son and am so grateful to have the knowledge from it about ensuring his nourishment and long-term health. He has also written fantastic books about about adult health and nutrition that are worth checking out.
The China Study : The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health - T. Colin Campbell, PHD & Thomas M. Campbell II, MD
The China Study is a book that explores the results of one of the largest studies of human nutrition ever conducted that spanned over 20 years. It includes T. Colin Campbell’s research that preceded the study and the paradigm changing results he collected. The book reads well even though it covers so much research and science and shows overwhelming evidence that the more animal products we consume, the more our health suffers. If you need to see the science behind plant-based health claims, this is the place to start.
Fast Food Nation : What the All-American Meal is Doing to the World - Eric Schlosser
My journey to living a plant-based life started when I read this book. What an eye opener it was, detailing the horrendous conditions both the animals and workers in the factory farming industry have to endure. I had thought about going vegetarian for awhile and this book provided all the motivation I needed. At times it can be a hard read but provides a great context for how our industrialised food system works. I promise after you have read this book you will never look at a hamburger the same way again.
Eating Animals - Jonathan Safran Foer
Even though I called myself vegetarian at the beginning of my plant-based journey I still ate a lot of fish, this changed after reading Eating Animals. The book is the author’s own investigation into whether ethically he should eat animals or not. At times it is very graphic and passages from it still haunt me today but I think if we are going to consume animals then we really need to understand where they come from, how they are treated and how they arrive on our plate. As well as covering farmed animals it had a very detailed section on fish, the misunderstanding of their consciousness and the appalling conditions farmed fish are kept in.
Dr Garth Davis’s book Proteinaholic is a great read into the cultural stigma surrounding protein and how we have come to think that more, especially from animals, is better. It also covers a lot of science that proves that this just isn’t the case. I follow him on Facebook and really enjoy his posts and live videos talking about treating disease with prevention and negotiating all the conflicting information and click-bait headlines online. He is honest, matter of fact and objective and really trying to help everyone be healthier and better informed.
As I said in My Story this is the documentary that pre-empted my change to becoming fully plant-based/vegan. It is a really easy, entertaining watch, with lots of great informative graphics and so much mind blowing information. Quite a number of stories of transformation to a plant-based diet that I’ve read or listened to since have also started with this documentary, it really is a game changer. If you don’t read or watch anything else, please give this one a go.
This is also a really entertaining and at times quite funny documentary that investigates why none of the big environmental protection agencies mention animal agriculture when it is the biggest contributor to green house gas emissions and climate change. It also looks into the sustainability of eating animals as the population of the planet increases. This movie is also a game changer and as a result of the momentum it gathered is now available on Netflix. That makes it so easy - just to go watch it!
What the Health is made by the same film makers as Cowspiracy and delves into the role of big pharma and our current health crises. They ask why aren’t experts all over the world (well they are starting too!) shouting from the roof tops about the amazing power of a plant-based diet to heal and prevent disease? Spoiler alert - there is no money to be made from it, follow the trail of money, sickness and death and where does it lead…? What the Health is available on Netflix, do your health a favour and go watch it!
This documentary examines how the food we eat can impact our health both negatively or positively. It has a wide range of professionals from nutritionists to naturopaths speaking to these issues and I found it really interesting and informative. Although not a strictly plant-based/vegan documentary it covers the undeniable evidence that real food, especially fruit and vegetables are so valuable and essential to our health and well being.
This is a follow up to Food Matters and explores the food and diet industries and how they keep us coming back for more. I really enjoyed this film, it has some great stories of personal transformation and was really inspirational to watch. It features Kris Carr who is one awesome lady and many other inspiring health and wellness leaders. If you are ready to make a change in your life that sticks and will provide health and energy in abundance, this is the place to start.
There really is only one podcast that I listen too and that’s the Rich Roll Podcast, it is quite simply amazing. Rich is an ex-lawyer turned vegan ultra endurance athlete and interviews people in long form. The aim of the podcast is to help you ‘discover, uncover, unlock and unleash your best, most authentic self’ and that it does. There is so much valuable information about living a plant-based life and why it is so important for our health and the planet, and it’s all there ready for your earbuds! The episodes can be super entertaining on a long drive or run and they make the commute much more enjoyable.
Some of my favourite episodes are:
Episode 56: Chef AJ: Vegan Chef
Episode 63: How Josh LaJaunie Lost 200 lbs on a PlantPowered Diet
Episode 77: The Rich Roll Podcast: Dr. Michael Klaper on Leverging Nutrition for Optimal Health
Episode 192: Live Dirty, Eat Clean: Robynne Chutkan, MD on Microbiome Health
Episode 201: Patrik Baboumian - The World Record Holding Vegan Strongman
Episode 240: Dr. Melanie Joy on Going Beyond Carnism: Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows
Episode 269: Travis Barker On Premonition, Intuition & The Importance Of Following Your Heart
Episode 301: NASCAR Driver Leilani Münter Is Racing For The Planet
Plus many, many more. I’m so envious of people starting with a back catalogue of 300+ episodes, I’ve listened to nearly all of them!
NutritionFacts.org is the holy grail of nutritional information. It is a non-profit website run by Doctor Michael Greger and features short videos and blog posts breaking down information presented in nutritional scientific studies, explaining it in a very understandable way. If you have any lingering concerns about the benefit of a plant-based diet, your questions can be answered here. There are over 1000 videos covering all the usual suspects like, protein, carbohydrates, saturated fat, Vitamin B12 etc.
Oh She Glows is a great blog by Angela Liddon featuring so many great plant-based recipes. She also has 2 cook books and an app but most of the recipes are available for free on her website. I find working with the recipes easier on the app, especially on the iPad and everything is beautifully photographed and presented. I could browse the recipes for hours!
Another great resource for amazing free plant-based recipes. The site is run by Ella Mills Woodward who seems to be quietly taking over the world with her plant-based empire. She also started with a blog and now has an app, cook books, cafes, and product lines of snacks and cereals. Her success shows how rapidly this movement is growing! One of my favourite quick dinner recipes is the 10 minute Creamy Pea Spinach Pasta, it tastes great and really is a 10 minute meal!
Another plant-based team that seem to be taking over the world. The Happy Pear is run by twin brothers David and Stephen Flynn who seem to have never ending energy and excitement about plant-based food and living. They have cook books, a cafe, and multiple plant-based product lines and their YouTube channel is full of great free content and recipes. I love their Facebook and Instagram feeds that provide continual inspiration and enthusiasm for all things plant-based, yo dudes!
