Whether you’re a long-time plant-based consumer, just starting to transition to a plant-based diet, or curious to find out a little more about what it’s all about, there are tons of Information available. on how to eat a plant-based diet and do it optimally.
but since there is also so much nutritional confusion and misinformation out there, it can be helpful to find some trusted experts to serve as guides. I’m talking about people with significant credentials and experience. people who keep an open mind and actively search for the truth instead of just looking for evidence to support their pre-existing ideas. those whose mission is to make the world a healthier place. people like doctors, registered dietitians, and others who have been advocating, engaging, and sometimes conducting research on plant-based eating, often for decades.
You are reading: Plant based diet books
We have turned to them to compile our list of some of the most respected books on plant-based diet, health and nutrition, books favored by many members of the red food revolution team. (Bonus: learning from these experts will help you avoid some of the most common mistakes people make when transitioning to a plant-based diet.)
11 Plant-Based Diet Books to Put on Your Reading List
Whatever your “why” for going plant-based or being curious about this way of eating, these plant-based nutrition books will help inspire and guide you to choose a healthy diet that supports both the planet and the animals with which we share our home. In each of these books on plant-based eating, you’ll learn something unique about whole plant foods — and what makes them such powerful allies on your journey to a healthier diet.
1. going vegan, by brenda davis, rd, and vesanto melina, rd
going vegan is one of the all-time classics of vegan or plant-based literature. jessica holden, a member of the food revolution network (frn) team, recounts the impact going vegan had on her:
“After following a vegetarian diet for almost fifteen years, becoming vegan helped me make the leap to a completely plant-based diet. touches on the devastating realities of animal agriculture, the motivating force behind my choice to become a vegetarian in the first place, and then dives into a meticulous overview of the science behind why vegetables are the best choice for human health ( and planetary). . Whether you’re a curious vegan or a seasoned plant veteran, this book will be a must-have addition to your library.”
nichole dandrea-russert, rdn, is equally effusive in her praise of going vegan as one of the best books on veganism:
“If there is one book I would recommend to someone who wants to go vegan or gravitate towards a more plant-centric diet, it is Going Vegan. Brenda and Vesanto provide a comprehensive guide to plant-based eating, from macronutrients to micronutrients and special needs, such as plant-based eating for pregnancy, weight gain, and old age. While their book focuses on optimizing nutrition through plant-based foods, they also discuss how being vegan impacts the environment and animal welfare. Going vegan is a must for any vegan, veggie-curious, or plant-fed library.”
2. the 30-day solution to alzheimer’s, by dean sherzai, md and ayesha sherzai, md
the groundbreaking research of doctors dean and ayesha sherzai has given hope to millions of people who want to avoid dementia in their later years. Despite talk of genetic inevitability, it is clear that most cases of Alzheimer’s and other dementias can be prevented through lifestyle. Sheirzais’s books, The Alzheimer’s Solution and The 30-Day Alzheimer’s Solution, clearly explain the causes of dementia and they show why current medical approaches do not and cannot work in the absence of improvements in lifestyle and diet.
Drs. sherzai offers a simple and elegant solution called a “neuro” plan: nutrition, exercise, relaxation, restoration and optimization. as health educators, as well as physicians, they guide readers to implement the steps of the plan in a direct and feasible way. after all, the best strategies won’t work if they don’t translate into habits. sherzais are experts in forming habits and will show you how to turn your goals into daily routines.
Dear friends of Red Food Revolution, who have also partnered with us to bring you our powerful course on this topic, Healthy Brain, Sherzais are loved by many in our community for their kindness, fierce health advocacy, and delicious ayesha recipes. recipes.
3. eat for life by joel fuhrman, md
dr. Joel Fuhrman is an old friend of the Red Food Revolution. he has presented at most of our annual food revolution summits and wrote a wonderful foreword to my book, 31 Day Food Revolution.
one of the reasons we love dr. fuhrman is his no-nonsense, blunt way of conveying the facts about nutrition and health. His first major book, Eat to Live, opened many people’s eyes to the harm caused by their diets rich in meat, dairy, and processed foods. and he armed his readers with principles, practices, and recipes for adopting and benefiting from a nutrient-dense, plant-based diet.
in his latest effort, eating for life, dr. Fuhrman delves into his knowledge, experience, and research as a nutritional scientist. eat for life he provides a comprehensive description of all aspects of his registered nutritious diet, showcasing a way of eating that is optimal for disease prevention, graceful aging, and healthy, vital living . In it, you’ll find lifestyle tips to get you on the road to health, along with nutrient-dense recipes and meal plans, and recommended foods for optimal health, which it simplifies with a fun acronym: g-bombs (vegetables, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, and seeds).
4. undoit!, by dean ornish, md and anne ornish
In the 1980s and 1990s, Dean Ornish, MD, conducted some of the first studies showing that a plant-based lifestyle could prevent and reverse cardiovascular disease. Later, she was able to show that a plant-based diet could also slow down and even reverse the progression of prostate cancer.
In his latest book, Undo It!, dr. Ornish and his wife Anne summarize decades of research and present a powerful plan to reverse the biological processes that lead to most modern chronic diseases. While a plant-based diet takes center stage (including 70 delicious recipes), the book takes a holistic approach, as evidenced by the four principles they present: move more, eat well, stress less, and love more. Dean and Anne theorize that these simple lifestyle changes are the keys to unlocking the powerful health transformations seen in Dr. ornish lifestyle medicine program.
If you’re still not convinced, Undo It! also includes powerful patient success stories that will give you hope and encouragement that you, too, can “Undo It” and regain your health.
5.the microbiome solution, by robynne chutkan, md
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gastroenterologist and guest at the 2022 food revolution summit, dr. robynne chutkan, has a simple and powerful philosophy on how to enlist the trillions of critters that make up our microbiome as allies in good health: “live dirty, eat clean.”
In the microbiome solution, elaborate both strategies. living dirty, dr. chutkan means resisting modern culture’s obsession with cleanliness: avoiding antibacterial lotions and soaps, minimizing antibiotics, embracing getting dirty. These tactics ensure that we have a robust and diverse microbiome that can keep pathogens at bay.
and eating clean, dr. chutkan means, of course, a diet rich in plant foods, many of which provide prebiotic and probiotic benefits to gut microbes, which then reward us by producing short-chain fatty acids and other compounds crucial to good health.
dr. chutkan introduces his comprehensive bowel plan for the first time outside of his practice to help people everywhere recover from chronic health problems. His book offers a detailed look at the world of gut bacteria and the factors that can cause health or disease. As she says in The Microbiome Solution, “You are only as healthy as your gut bacteria.”
Anyone who suffers from digestive issues, or simply wants to live a life in balance with nature, will be inspired and educated by this plant-based look at gut health.
6. how not to die, by michael greger, md
When Michael Greger was a young child, his beloved grandmother Frances was diagnosed with terminal heart disease. her doctors “sent her home in a wheelchair to die” at the young age of 65. Instead of giving up, she signed up for a new lifestyle medicine program, switched to a plant-based diet, and started exercising. dr Greger writes, “They wheeled my grandmother away and she left. I will never forget it.”
and he didn’t. Michael dedicated his life to not only caring for his own patients, but also sharing the science behind lifestyle medicine so that more patients and healthcare providers could harness the healing properties of a plant-based diet. . his youtube channel and his website, nutritionfacts.org, have millions of views. and he assembled his findings on the treatment and prevention of major causes of death in his highly referenced and amusing encyclopedic masterpiece How Not to Die.
Here’s what food revolution network dietitian and recipe developer Nichole Dandrea-Russert, RDN, has to say:
“dr. Greger’s comprehensive, entertaining, and research-based book (he’s so much fun!) presents the latest plant-based nutritional science in a no-nonsense, easy-to-read way. translates the scientific literature, making it straightforward and easy to understand how a plant-based diet prevents lifestyle-related diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. it also lays the groundwork by presenting a practical roadmap so you can easily start incorporating more plant-based foods into your diet for optimal health and disease prevention. how not to die is an indispensable resource if you take your health seriously.”
7. Your Body in Balance: The New Science of Food, Hormones, and Health, by Neal Barnard, MD
neal barnard, md, has led the charge to put plant-based nutrition to the test in the real world for decades. he and his colleagues at the physicians committee for responsible medicine (pcrm) and the barnard medical center, among many efforts, conducted clinical trials that documented the powerful effects of plant-based diets on conditions as diverse as diabetes, obesity , menopause, covid-19 and rheumatoid arthritis.
not content with just sharing the plant-based message with medical professionals, dr. Barnard is also known for generously sharing his knowledge and passion with the rest of us through countless speaking engagements, including many guest appearances at our annual Food Revolution Summit. and he has written many books that help us understand and implement his cutting-edge findings to improve health. your body in balance is his latest achievement, exploring the relationship between food, hormones and health.
in your body in balance, dr. Barnard shares how many common hormonal conditions, including fertility issues, menopause, sex hormone-related cancers, thyroid conditions, and type 2 diabetes, are affected by (and can be improved by) what you eat. The book uncovers the impact animal products versus plant-based foods have on your hormones and offers suggestions on the types of foods you should eat for optimal hormone-supporting nutrition.
dr. Barnard also has practical lifestyle tips scattered throughout that will help heal from various hormonal conditions. And he’ll find an entire section of recipes and pre-planned menus from Lindsay Nixon’s plant-based blog (and cookbook series of the same name), Happy Herbivore.
8. the china study, by t. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell – with a foreword by John Robbins
The China Study is possibly one of the most influential health books of all time. published with little fanfare in 2004 by a small imprint, benbella books, after all the major publishers rejected the manuscript or requested changes to make it more “commercial” and less “scientific”, it slowly gained word of mouth to become into a perennial bestseller.
the title refers to an exhaustive study carried out by t. Colin Campbell, PhD, along with academics from China and the University of Oxford, a study that the New York Times heralded as “the grand prize in epidemiology.” found that the more animal products a population consumed, the greater their risk of diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
In The China Study, Campbell and his co-author, Thomas M. Campbell II (his son), place this study in the context of Senior Campbell’s decades of bionutritional research implicating milk protein as a potent carcinogen. And he misled lawmakers by showing that diets rich in animal protein made children in the Philippines more susceptible to liver cancer.
Overall, the book paints an impressive picture of whole food, plant-based eating as the most powerful tool ever discovered to promote individual, community, and planetary health. my father, john robbins , he had the honor of being asked to write the foreword. this is how he wrapped it up:
“I have already read the study of china twice, and each time I have learned a lot. this is a brave and wise book. the porcelain study is extraordinarily useful, superbly written, and profoundly important. dr Campbell’s work is revolutionary in its implications and spectacular in its clarity.
“If you want to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast and then take cholesterol-lowering medication, that’s your right. but if you really want to take charge of your health, read the china study and do it soon! If you follow the advice in this excellent guide, your body will thank you every day for the rest of your life.”
9. fiber fed, by will bulsiewicz, md, msci
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dr. will it be bulsiewicz, or dr. b, as countless fans know him, has a simple message: Eat a wide variety of whole plant foods to feed all the different microbes that make up your gut microbiome. In a world of increasingly restricted diets, his message is refreshing.
Eating is like lifting weights, and your gut is a muscle, he explains. If you’re having trouble handling high-fiber foods like legumes, avoiding them is usually not the solution. instead, it encourages you to build up your tolerance and your gut’s ability to digest them, so you can reap the benefit of a high-fiber diet.
just like dr. acronym for joel fuhrman g-bombs, dr. b also makes it easy for you to remember the most gut-friendly plant-based foods with their own abbreviation, targets f: fruits & fermented foods, vegetables & grains, nuts and seeds rich in omega-3, aromatics (such as onions and garlic), legumes and sulforaphane.
fiber-fed is one of the clearest and most convincing arguments for the health benefits of a plant-based diet. dr. b shows that fiber, found only in plant-based foods, not animal products, is truly the foundation of optimal health. Without it, you may be fueling dysbiosis (or an imbalance in the intestinal flora), which can lead to inflammatory conditions, including chronic diseases, gastrointestinal conditions and food intolerances.
10. the food revolution , by john robbins
The Food Revolution, my father’s (and colleague’s) sequel to Diet for a New America, has probably inspired almost as many people as the original to adopt a diet that can heal the world. is a practical action steps book; is a guide to political activism; it is a prayer for the earth and all its creatures, and it is a wake-up call to the human conscience. the food revolution reveals the political, ethical, economic and social effects of the modern food system, and the pleasure of eating without damaging health or the environment.
Whether you have been eating a plant-based diet for decades or are new to this way of eating, there are many valuable gems to discover in this book. Originally published in 2001, in its recently updated edition, you’ll see why it remains one of the most referenced vegan/vegetarian books of all time.
You can read the kind and generous words people have for the food revolution on my father’s website. You will see names of activists, actors, theologians, writers, spiritual teachers, athletes, doctors and businessmen. I hope you pick up the book and find inspiration and energy to further your own commitment to a healthy and abundant world.
11. 31 day food revolution by ocean robbins (me!)
Okay, this is a bit awkward, I tell you why my book is one of the books you should have on your reading list. But there’s a reason: I wrote it to help everyone take simple, practical daily steps to implement and optimize a healthy, plant-based diet. this is a good plant-based diet book for beginners, but also for anyone who needs a refresher.
The book is written so that if you want, you can read a short chapter a day for 31 days and each day take a small action that builds on the day before. From gaining insights to clarifying motivation, trying new foods, developing new routines, and engaging family members in important conversations – this book addresses all the needs and obstacles I’ve heard from thousands of frn members.
and in keeping with frn’s mission, the 31-day food revolution focuses not only on healthy eating, but on the things each of us can do to achieve a healthy life , ethical and sustainable. food system for all.
While I love and appreciate all the kind words people have shared about the book, I have to admit that one of my favorite quotes comes from a musician you may have heard of:
“i have been watching the work that ocean robbins and his father, john, have been doing with food revolution network for many years and i am proud of what they have accomplished. the more people heed this message and move towards diets marked by compassion and respect for life and the earth, the better our world will be. the book you hold in your hands is lighting the way for the future of your health and that of the planet.” — paul mccartney
plant-based cookbooks
Many of the books on the list above include recipes, so they should keep you covered for a while. But if you’re specifically looking for plant-based cookbooks, check out our article on 10 of the best plant-based cookbooks to put you on the fast track to health.
Among the authors listed, you’ll find Toni Okamoto of Plant-Based on a Budget, Dr. michael greger and nutrition coach margo borges.
start reading (and eating!) plant-based
There is a lot of information (and misinformation) about which diet is best for most people. but there is plenty of evidence, as presented in these books, that plant-based eating is one of the healthiest ways to eat. and most experts agree that a plant-based diet is the way forward for people, animals, and the environment.
We hope you enjoy our list of plant-based diet books and choose to explore many of the books we love to recommend. happy reading!
tell us in the comments:
- Which plant-based diet books on this list have you already read? which one came first?
- which books on this list would you like to read next?
- what other plant-based eating books would you include on the list and why?
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