Marco Borges - The Greenprint Plant-Based Diet, Best Body, Better World

MARCO BORGES

is an exercise physiologist, the founder of 22 Days Nutrition, a New York Timesbestselling author, and a plant-based living advocate. Passionate about guiding people to develop healthier lifestyles, he has spent more than twenty years as a lifestyle coach, touring the world to empower others with tools for ultimate wellness. Author of The 22-Day Revolution, The 22-Day Revolution Cookbook, and Power Moves, he lives in Miami with his wife and their three sons and daughter.

CONCLUSION

BE THE GREENPRINT

You may have started The Greenprint with the intention of improving your own health and well-being. But embracing the plan means that youll also be improving the planets health.

Early on, I invited you to take a snapshot of your health before you started the Greenprint program. Now its time to evaluate the changes you saw and experienced while following the programthings like weight loss; increased energy, endurance, strength, and recovery; and improved health markers like blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. Evaluate other factors, too, such as sleep quality, sex drive, and overall energy. These can also give you black-and-white evidence of the impact the Greenprint is having on you and your life.

I now ask you to take this evaluation one step furtherby calculating your personal greenprint using a special tool I created and have made available through 22daysnutrition.com. It gives you concrete evidence of the positive impact your food decisions and lifestyle have on the planeteverything from reducing the size of your carbon footprint to preserving natural resources like fresh water. You can be the change, not only for yourself, but for those around youand for the world.

This is important. The health of people on earth is declining. Our planets climate is changing. There is clearly a direct relationship between food choices, human activity, increases in greenhouse gases, and global warming.

It has taken more than two decades for the idea that human activity impacts the environment to become widely accepted by scientists. Most now know that the surge in CO emissions over the last thirty years is directly related to the burning of fossil fuels. Global warming is an evidence-based model that reflects the influence of humans on the earths climate and on the balance of its ecosystems.

Expanding your greenprint goes beyond making plant-based food choices, although this action is the most important one you can take in saving the planet. Buy locally grown food. This not only improves health, but also decreases the amount of transportation fuel. Go to a farmers market instead of the supermarket to purchase local produce and take public transportation instead of driving. Grow a vegetable garden, plant trees, recycle, compost, and avoid buying so many packaged products.

Calculating your greenprint gives you insight into the way your everyday actions affect your health and the planet, and the steps you can take to change that impact.

My mission is to introduce you to simple, actionable ways that you can make your greenprint count, beginning with choosing a 100 percent plant-based diet. As you shift your habits, youll begin to see how one personyoucan make a huge difference in the world. I will do my part to expand my personal greenprint, and I hope you will, too.

RESOURCES

Theres a lot of information out there about vegan and plant-based eatingso much that it can be overwhelming. Ive culled this information down to a few resources that will be the most helpfuland not bog you down.

22 Days Nutrition: 22daysnutrition.com

22 Days Meal Planner: mealplanner.22daysnutrition.com

Barnard Medical Center: pcrm.org/barnard-medical-center

Blue Zones: bluezones.com

The China Study: nutritionstudies.org/the-china-study

Eat Drink Vegan: eatdrinkvegan.com

Dr. Esselstyn: dresselstyn.com/site

Farm Sanctuary: farmsanctuary.org

Kathy Freston: kathyfreston.com

Dr. Fuhrman: drfuhrman.com/get-started

Happy Cow: happycow.net

Dr. Joel Kahn: drjoelkahn.com

live kindly: livekindly.co

Mercy for Animals: mercyforanimals.org

Nutrition Facts: nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Dean Ornish: ornish.com

PCRM: pcrm.org

PETA: peta.org

julie piatt: srimati.com

Plant-Based News: plantbasednews.org

Rich Roll: richroll.com

Seed Food and Wine Festival: seedfoodandwine.com

Thrive Magazine: mythrivemag.com

VegNews: vegnews.com

SELECTED REFERENCES

Abdulla, M., et al. Nutrient Intake and Health Status of Vegans. Chemical Analyses of Diets Using the Duplicate Portion Sampling Technique. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 34 (1981): 246477.

Acito, M., and M. Maron. Holy Name Greenprint Study, May 2018.

Adan, A. Cognitive Performance and Dehydration. Journal of the American College of Nutrition 31 (2012): 7178.

Afshin, A., et al. Consumption of Nuts and Legumes and Risk of Incident Ischemic Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 100 (2014): 27888.

Arem, H., et al. Leisure Time Physical Activity and Mortality: A Detailed Pooled Analysis of the Dose-Response Relationship. JAMA Internal Medicine 175 (2015): 95967.

Barnard, N. Fiber Is the Key to Good Health. Dr. Barnards Blog (blog), Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (February 18, 2015); pcrm.org/nbBlog/index.php/fiber-is-the-key-to-good-health.

Baroni, L., et al. Evaluating the Environmental Impact of Various Dietary Patterns Combined with Different Food Production Systems. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61 (2007): 27986.

Bhupathiraju, S. N., et al. Quantity and Variety in Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 98 (2013): 151423.

Boschmann, M., et al. Water-Induced Thermogenesis. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 88 (2003): 601519.

Darmadi-Blackberry, I., et al. Legumes: The Most Important Dietary Predictor of Survival in Older People of Different Ethnicities. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 13 (2004): 21720.

Devore, E. E., et al. Dietary Fat Intake and Cognitive Decline in Women with Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care 32 (2009): 63540.

Du, H., et al. Fresh Fruit Consumption and Major Cardiovascular Disease in China.