Megan Rossi - How to Eat More Plants

For Mom: This book is only possible because of you. Thanks for everything.

Welcome to a delicious and sustainable way of eating thats good for you, your gut microbes, and the planet. If youre looking for an easy, science-backed way to increase your energy, boost your mood, regulate your digestion, find your happy weight, and slash your risk of chronic disease, youre in the right place. As a dietitian and research scientist, Im here to explain why simply shifting your diet to include more plants could be the best thing you ever do for your health and happiness. And its an approach based on facts, not fads.

This book will show you how versatile plant-based eating actually is. Forget cutting out or cutting down, Im going to show you howand whyincreasing the number and range of plant foods you eat taps into the very latest scientific discoveries about how your body works best. Thats right, eating more can improve your health, and my recipes and menu plans will show you just how easy and delicious it really is.

Whether its something youve been thinking about for a while or a concept youve only just started hearing about, research suggests that more and more of us are interested in exploring plant-based eating. This might mean simply eating more veggie-forward meals each week; cutting down on meat, fish, and other animal-derived products with meatless Mondays; being a flexitarian (eating primarily plant-based foods, while still enjoying meat occasionally); or excluding some or all animal products completely, as in vegetarianism or veganism.

According to Google Trends, interest in veganism (an exclusively plant-based diet), increased sevenfold between 2014 and 2019, and its now getting four times as many searches as vegetarian or gluten-free. The number of vegans in the US quadrupled over this same period, and over the past six years, the number of books related to veganism has increased tenfold.

But we all know that we need to eat more vegetables, and theres lots of information already out there, so whats different about this book? Well, first of all, the science. Im not promoting a fully vegan diet, because research doesnt necessarily support that from a health perspective (more on that in ). Im not even suggesting you should go vegetarian, although this book is still for you if youre vegetarian or vegan. What the evidence suggests is that we could all benefit from eating more plants, but that doesnt necessarily have to mean only plants. So, rather than being about what not to eat, this book is all about the many varied and astounding benefits, flavor included, of basing your diet around plants. Because once theyre the star attraction, trust me, youll experience a health transformation.

My first book, Love Your Gut, was designed to help people identify and tackle their digestive issues and achieve great gut health. Since it was published, Ive received thousands of messages from people whose overall health is flourishing after following the gut health action plan it sets out. Many people also got in touch to ask for a follow-up book that looked more closely at exactly which foods our gut loves and why. So, this book zooms out and speaks to anyone and everyone who simply wants to eat in a way thats more aligned with what our bodies (and gut microbes) need.

And what they definitely need more of is plants.

This book is not about dieting. Nor is it a trendy fad that cuts out food groups or nutrients. Instead, its your introduction to, and inspiration for, a life-changing way of eating that brings profound, science-backed health benefits in both the short and the long term. Sure, one of those benefits may be weight management, but the benefits linked to nourishing our gut microbes go much further than thatfrom mood, to skin, to hormones and immunity; they are powerful little things. Theres no calorie counting here, no weighing and measuring (of yourself or the foods). In fact, theres none of the cutting out you may see with other eating plans. This approach is enriching, not restricting; inclusive, not exclusive. More plants, more variety, more fiber, more flavor. I call it the Diversity Diet.

In Love Your Gut, I wrote about the vital importance of our gut microbiota. Over the past decade, weve made huge leaps in our understanding of what this is and how crucial it is to our overall health. In short, the microbes (including trillions of bacteria, which we cover in more detail ) that live in our gut are key to pretty much all of our body systems, and we need to make sure we have an abundant and diverse range of them to maximize our wellbeing. To do that, we need to nourish them, and what our gut microbes love most of all is an abundant and diverse range of fiber. Where does that come from? You guessed it, plants. Plant-based diversity is more than just a trendits based on a ground-breaking scientific discovery, and thats why its here to stay.

Ive created this book as a practical, easy route into plant-based eating, to act as your faithful reference guide as you begin to adopt this approach in your lifewhatever that looks like for you. Over the following chapters, Ill take you through what plant-based eating is, what constitutes a plant food (prepare to be surprised!) and what the Diversity Diet is all about.

Then, Ill show you all the benefits of choosing this way of eating and highlight the health impact of neglecting the power of plants. Ill give you answers to the common questions and concerns that I hear from my clients, so that youll have all the information at your disposalwherever you are on your plant-based journey. This includes my comprehensive toolkit of practical evidence-based strategies, from diversity hacks to physical exercises, all of which have successfully transformed the gut health, and overall health, of thousands of people.

Finally, Ill set you on a 28-day plant points challenge, if you choose to accept, and share my recipes and three different menu plans to suit a range of lifestyles. All the dishes are packed with incredible flavors and use readily available ingredients that will not just keep you fuller for longer, but also boost your health and happiness from the inside out.

Now, I realize that some of you will have started your plant-based journey already. You may want to dive straight into the recipes, starting in . Dont let me stop you!

Theyre all tried-and-tested favorites that will introduce you to some delicious new foods and flavors, without a hefty price tag or the need for chef-level culinary skills. Perhaps youre looking for some added motivationand love a challenge? If so, you might want to start with the 28-day plant points challenge beginning in . Or you might want to read up on all the background info in the next few chapters and ease yourself into the Diversity Diet more slowly, via my menu plans and gut-loving tips and tricks. Either way, Im here to help. Whatever your reason for embarking on a plant-based way of eating, and wherever you are on your journey to better health, lets do it together.

Ill be with you every step of the way.