Guelph: Implementing Plant-based Diet in the Home

Click here for an overview of this website which explains the role of food in illness and links to resources to adopt and fine-tune a plant-based diet. If you’d like to be emailed new information, consider signing up for my newsletter (example here).

Below is some information which came up in some of the discussions which you may be interested in:

Week 1

1. Alcohol Intake – Multiple cancers occur at an increased rate with regular alcohol intake; for women, the health risks are even clearer since breast cancer risk increases with alcohol intake and there is no “threshold dose” (ie amount of alcohol with NO increase in risk) – see this lovely 4 min video for more details (note the scientific sources are listed at the bottom).
2. Sources for WFPB recipes – You mentioned wanting to develop a large recipe file – I’ve been collecting good recipe collections for a while – see this list on my website, also recipes that my patients have found tasty and easy to make (here).
3. Free WFPB video cooking classes – Back in the day there was a Plant-based cooking school on the web called Rouxbe which looked great but cost hundreds of dollars – then the same people brought out Swich.com – it is free and tailors its suggestions to your knowledge / experience so you might find it handy.
4. Individuals interested in starting a family might be interested in learning about the effects of “Endocrine Modifiers” which are very common in our food system (e.g. plastic containers; lining of canned foods) and according to published data (see my webpage here) were responsible for more than 240,000 cases (!) of male infertility in the USA.
5. Nicole Osinga is a WPFB dietician who authored one of the other units in this course and has her own website and sees people over the internet. 
6. Individuals following a gluten free diet could benefit from learning about Glycemic Index since many of the foods used instead of wheat (eg rice) have a high glycemic index which can have health consequences.  See this page from my website for more information and access to a free database of glycemic index and load. 

Week 2

1. For a copy of the video “Implementing a Weekly Routine” see here.
2. Anti-cancer –   And see here for a powerful way to make sure that you ‘unlock’ the full anti-cancer potential of cruciferous vegetables.
3. Kale is a great choice for a salad as a good green leafy source of calcium, see here for a good way to make it softer and tastier.
4. Contaminants in protein powders – article, video.
5. Drawbacks of canned foods – Canned beans/lentils generally cost 2-3 times as much and all canned food (sadly) contains endocrine modifiers from the plastic lining.  Most people don’t realise the magnitude of this problem – see this page on my website to learn more if you’re interested.

Week 3

1. Booklet by Denise Massie on Prep-Ahead Plant-based meals here.
2. More information on health consequences of eggs here.
3. Some good egg substitutes here & here.
4. “Should I buy organic produce ?” is addressed on my website here with the following updates:
   • 2023 List of “Clean 15 / Dirty Dozen” here.
   • Items not on the list which should be bought organic (eg dried beans/lentils) here.

Week 4

1. Best diet for atherosclerosis / heart disease – One of the pioneers in this field is Dr Caldwell Esselstyn – he had a VERY strong family history of coronary artery disease and went from being a General Surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic to being a pioneer in reversing heart disease with diet – you may enjoy his Ted talk (here).  Attending one of his patient training sessions as an observer a few years ago was amazing.  His list of basic recommendations (here) is one of the most popular pages on my website.
2. Dr Greger’s Daily Dozen: Video (8 min), App, Printout of the daily list.
3. Click here for my page on “How to Read a Nutrition Label” which has lots of resources.  I have also made a video on this topic – see here. You might also enjoy these advanced label reading resources from Jeff Novick RD – video, guidelines, worksheet, grid.

Other Information

1. Information about Pesticides and health implications of organic produce here.  At the bottom of my page I present a hybrid shopping list where you buy organic forms of the ‘high pesticide’ produce and buy the rest regular.
2. Here’s a lovely list of the best sources of protein, calcium, iron, zinc, and omega 3 (the only item I’m not a fan of is gluten for protein as it is likely to be contaminated with the pesticide glyphosate unless it is organic).