Plant-Based Vegan Diet (Books)
With all the plant-based vegan diet books available in this world, I only hold a few close to my heart. These are the books written by doctors who have conducted high-quality long-term nutritional research—or who conduct ongoing thorough analyses of the best available nutrition research. I appreciate those who uncover the conflicts of interest we so often encounter. As I don’t want to learn from doctors who rely on the one nutrition class they took in med school, who are paid to back bad science, or who simply repeat unverified soundbites, as that creates the confusion we are all surrounded by. I embrace what is researched and written based on facts and decency, even if outcomes conflict with what was initially believed to be true. These books are my trusted reading list—the few plant-based vegan diet nutrition books I consider vital.
The China Study
Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study is hailed as one of the most important nutrition books ever written. I considered it wise to read this book first, as it’s the nutrition alert society deserved long ago.
“In the early 1980’s, nutritional biochemist T. Colin Campbell, PhD of Cornell University, in partnership with researchers at Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, embarked upon one of the most comprehensive nutritional studies ever undertaken known as the China Project.
“China at that time presented researchers with a unique opportunity. The Chinese population tended to live in the same area all their lives and to consume the same diets unique to each region. Their diets (low in fat and high in dietary fiber and plant material) also were in stark contrast to the rich diets of the Western countries. The truly plant-based nature of the rural Chinese diet gave researchers a chance to compare plant-based diets with animal-based diets.
“In 2005, T. Colin Campbell, PhD and his son Thomas M. Campbell, MD, shared the China Project findings along with additional research with the world in The China Study. Their best selling book examines the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer and the source of nutritional confusion produced by powerful lobbies, government entities, and opportunistic scientists. The China Study is hailed as one of the most important books about diet and health ever written.”
How Not to Die
Michael Greger, MD, shares how the “vast majority of premature death and disability can be prevented.” I consider this book the nutrition bible that shows one how to proceed each day.
“It’s … How Not to Die—as in prematurely, in pain, and after a long, chronic, disabling illness.
“We have tremendous power over our health destiny and longevity. The vast majority of premature death and disability can be prevented through simple changes in diet and lifestyle, and, in How Not to Die, Dr. Michael Greger, the internationally-recognized lecturer, physician, and founder of NutritionFacts.org, examines the top 15 causes of death in America—heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, Parkinson’s, high blood pressure, and more—and explains how nutritional and lifestyle interventions can sometimes trump prescribed pills, other pharmaceutical approaches, and even surgery, freeing us to live healthier lives.
“Most doctors are good at treating acute illnesses, but bad at preventing chronic disease. The 15 leading causes of death claim the lives of 1.6 million Americans every year, but this needn’t be the case. Dr. Greger methodically lays out the why’s and how’s of disease and, with his trademark humor, presents the indisputable, peer-reviewed, scientific evidence to support the best foods to eat (and to avoid) and which lifestyle changes to make to live longer and more healthfully.
“History of prostate cancer in your family? Put down that glass of milk, and add ground flaxseed to your diet. Have high blood pressure? Hibiscus tea can work even better than a leading hypertensive drug—and without the pill’s side effects. What about liver disease? Drinking coffee can reduce liver inflammation. Battling breast cancer? Consuming soy is associated with prolonged survival. Worried about heart disease, our number one killer? Switch to a whole food, plant-based diet, which has been scientifically shown again and again as a way of eating that not only helps to prevent the disease, but arrest and even reverse its progression.
“In How Not to Die, Dr. Greger gives us his Daily Dozen, a simple checklist of the foods we should try to consume every day to help maximize our health. Full of practical, actionable advice and surprising, cutting-edge nutritional science, these doctor’s orders are just what we need to live longer, healthier lives.”
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Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., shares how heart disease can be “prevented, reversed, and even abolished.” I consider this the wisest book for those facing heart disease.
“Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States for men and women. But … Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., a former internationally known surgeon, researcher and clinician at the Cleveland Clinic, explains … it can be prevented, reversed, and even abolished.
“Dr. Esselstyn argues that conventional cardiology has failed patients by developing treatments that focus only on the symptoms of heart disease, not the cause.
“Based on the groundbreaking results of his 20-year nutritional study—the longest study of its kind ever conducted—this book explains, with irrefutable scientific evidence, how we can end the heart disease epidemic in this country forever by changing what we eat.
“Here, Dr. Esselstyn convincingly argues that a plant-based, oil-free diet can not only prevent and stop the progression of heart disease, but also reverse its effects.
“The proof is in the results. The patients in Dr. Esselstyn’s initial study came to him with advanced coronary artery disease. Despite the aggressive treatment they received, among them bypasses and angioplasties, 5 of the original group were told by their cardiologists they had less than a year to live. Within months on Dr. Esselstyn’s program, their cholesterol levels, angina symptoms, and blood flow improved dramatically. Twelve years later 17 compliant patients had no further cardiac events. Adherent patients survived beyond twenty years free of symptoms.
“After 5 years on Dr. Esselstyn’s plant-based diet, the average total cholesterol levels of his research group dropped from 246 milligrams per deciliter to 137 mg/dL (Above 240 mg/dL is considered “high risk,” below 150 mg/dL is the total cholesterol level seen in cultures where heart disease is essentially nonexistent.) This is the most profound drop in cholesterol ever documented in the medical literature in a study of this type.
“The 17 patients in the study had 49 cardiac events in the years leading up to the study, and had undergone aggressive treatment procedures. Several had multiple bypass operations. After beginning the eating plan, there were no more cardiac events in the group within a 12-year period. Angiograms taken of the participants in the study show a widening of the coronary arteries, and thus a reversal of the disease.
“Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease offers readers the same simple, nutrition-based plan that dramatically changed the lives of his patients forever. With this eating plan, sufferers of heart disease will maintain cholesterol levels low enough to ensure that they will never have a heart attack. Best of all, the book offers more than 150 delicious recipes that Dr. Esselstyn and his wife, Ann Crile Esselstyn, have developed over the years—showing readers how easy it is to enjoy their new way of eating.”
Your Body in Balance
Neal Barnard, MD, shares how foods affect our hormones. I consider this a wise read because we have hormones, and it shows how food has eliminated struggles and symptoms (which it did for me).
“Dr. Barnard shares the science behind how common hormone-related conditions—like infertility, weight gain, menopausal symptoms, breast and prostate cancers, thyroid problems, and acne—can be affected by and improved by simple diet changes.
“Fertility and menopause: Learn how foods affect the hormones that play a role in fertility, premenstrual syndrome, endometriosis, menstrual cramps, and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Learn how a plant-based diet can help manage menopause and reduce symptoms, including hot flashes.
“Sex-hormone related cancers: Read the science behind how foods affect estrogen and testosterone levels and the roles they play in breast, prostate, and other forms of cancer.
“Balancing the thyroid: Read about the surprising effects of diet on hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.
“Type 2 diabetes: Learn about how a healthy, plant-based diet can restore insulin function and help manage type 2 diabetes.
“Regulating metabolism: Learn how a plant-based diet can boost metabolic rate and affect how body fat is stored and burned.
“The book also gives readers practical tips and resources, including answers to frequently asked questions and 65 hormone-balancing recipes...”
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