What Is a Plant-Based Diet?

You’ve heard that a plant based diet is good for you, but what is it exactly? Is it the same as being vegetarian or vegan? Is it actually healthy?

Simply put, a plant-based diet encourages eating more vegetables, fruits and whole grains while reducing animal products (meat, dairy, eggs) and processed food.

A plant based diet is not a fad that you’ll learn down the road has done you more harm than good. It’s also not a quick fix, lose-weight-fast kind of diet.

Even using the word “diet” is misleading as it’s not something that you go “on” and “off” of. It’s a shift in mindset to recognize that our food choices directly impact our health.

Following a plant-based plan is about making the choice to fuel your body with what it needs to thrive - like essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients - rather than with foods that cause disease and obesity.

Food matters. Food can comfort us in hard times, help us celebrate special occasions and bring family and friends together around the table. Certain foods remind us of our childhoods, college dorms or travels to foreign countries. Food is an integral part of our everyday lives but it’s easy to forget the main purpose of food - to provide nutritional support and fuel for our bodies.

An optimal diet is one that consists of a variety of foods that contain the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals a body needs to thrive and stay healthy. That’s not to say that food shouldn’t be pleasurable - it definitely should! It is possible for food to bring both joy and better health.

The question is what type of diet can contribute to (an increase in?) our physical and mental health? What types of food should we eat less of, more of and why?