As Dr. Dean Ornish puts it: " 'Doc, will I live longer, or will it just feel like it?!'.  He continues,   "I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol-lowering drugs for the rest of their lives. "      

With all the new meat and dairy mimickers,  becoming more plant focused for your health and that of the planet is less a sacrifice than a paradigm shift, and easier than ever! Using them is  healthier than eating meat and dairy (but not as healthy as WFPB) and they can be a bridge to a more plant-centric diet if you live with (or are!) a died-in-the-wool carnivore! 

     Having said that, there are those who argue, justifiably so, that you should dive into what is considered by many the mecca of WFPB eating. Reasons are you will notice such an improvement in your health and the way you feel, you will have more immediate positive feedback and "proof of purchase"! Also, staying in "purgatory" may leave you feeling deprived and unsatiated. Okay, yes, but for most of us mere mortals, the best diet is one we are willing to try. As regards our mother earth, she doesn't care as much if you "cheat" with an impossible burger  - she's taking a breath of fresh air instead of methane burps.

       Many of us stall getting started changing our diets- yes, even young folks as they don't often have the time and bandwidth to figure it out. We can help them. (Start by sending them this website!)

Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good: choosing chicken or fish over beef is HUGE for the planet .

• Let Our World in Data be your green compass and Dr. Greger's book "How Not to Die" your health guru. Working our way to  perfectly healthy WFPB meals like those in the  cookbooks "How Not to die cookbook", "Forks over knives flavor" , or "The Ornish Diet"  can be a processl 
•  You can start with foods you know and love,  subbing in plant meats. Burgers, pizza, chili, tacos, spaghetti & meatballs, chicken patties, even hot dogs- I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised. Visit our "classics" recipes for ideas. Unfamiliar with how to cook with plant-based meat? ATK's Cooking with Plant Based meats  has 75 "meat" recipes.
• Choose taste-tested recipes with easily available ingredients.   Consider ATK's Vegan for Everybody. They have since expanded these original 100 recipes to 500 in their "The Complete Plant Based Cookbook". As they say, "We make the mistakes so you don't have to!". They now even have Vegan Cooking for Two and  Cooking with Plant-Based Meat. Otherwise, check out NYTimes Cooking (requires a subscription).
• To evaluate processed foods when shopping for ingredients, look mainly at the first 2 ingredients. That's where you'll get the most informational bang for your buck.
• Organic? Yes, but perhaps more for the planet's than your health. (See blog)

Obviously, everyone has different taste buds, so this is just a truncated list based on mine. Do an internet search- there is no dearth of opinions- you just hate to waste money purchasing an unappetizing brand. Prices quoted below are Wegmans brands (can be cheaper than corresponding brand names) priced as of 10/23 (red is meat-based, green is plant-based) ‍

"Meats"‍

If you're looking for a plant-based burger that tastes like the real thing, Bon Appetit voted Impossible as best tasting plant burger. I agree. My  other favs are Gardein meatballs, where even my never-vegetarian brother was impressed, Beyond plant sausages, and Quorn chiqin patties (see below)

Burgers:                            Impossible       Wegmans plant     Wegmans grass fed   Wegmans 80/20 hamburger

       $ per oz                             .58                        .36                           .46                    .25

       $  per serving                 2.32                       1.44                          1.84                    1.00

Sausage:         Beyond            Impossible               Wegmans real            Gianelli

                                 .54                          .59                                  .31                  .37

                              3.78                          4.13                               2.17                 2.59

Meatballs:            Gardein  plant                     Wegmans real

                                    .43                                                 .37

                                    1.37                                               1.12

Chicken patties:        Quorn chiqin patties                     Perdue real chicken

                                                     .41                                                           .28

                                                   1.37                                                          .89

Miscellaneous:

• Butter: Margarine- ahh, tricky. Earth Balance organic is my go-to, but it has unhealthy  palm oil.  You're likely aware that palm oil production poses a major  environmental threat. Would be best if we topped our toast/muffins with preserves.
• Cheese: Here's the rub- they're not really ready for prime time in terms of solo use, but can still fool you in a dish. They don't melt well, but hey. In general, Wegmans, Violife, and Chao are my picks. Must admit I've yet to find a mac & cheese recipe that knocks your socks off, so maybe don't go there?!.
• Cream cheese: pretty good in general, no brand to suggest
• Eggs- Namaste on Amazon- a powder that makes the equivalent of 56 eggs, so as cheap as the least expensive eggs,   made from tapioca and arrowroot. Just eggs is available and good, but costly and a lot of plastic. But if you're doing scrambled, they're great.
• Ice cream: No problem here! So delicious, Oat-ly, and Ben and Jerry's make non-dairy great tasting alternatives.
• Liquid animos: Bragg
•  Mayo-Hellmans Vegan Mayo is half the price of real mayo.  Also Vegenaise is good. Hard to tell any difference  when used in a spread, or in our potato salad.
• Milk: Organic soy (see blog here on milk), same price as milk.
• Nutritional yeast: Bob's Red Mill, Wegmans, Bragg- all good
• Sour Cream- Tofutti ($0.33/oz vs Daisy real sour cream at $0.25/oz)
• Umami flavor- Yondu vegetable umami - imparts a savory or meaty taste and associated with the flavor of glutamate.
• Veggie Broth- ATK's homemade vegan broth, cheaper than any purchased box vegan broths, or Orrington Farms
• Yogurt: another work in progress. Available plant yogurts tend to be very sweet and a bit  more expensive. The closest alternative is possibly Kite Hill unsweetened almond or Silk brand plain almond. Again, wish we had more options than almonds due to their water and round-up use.

Random thoughts:

• Artificial sweeteners:  Low-calorie sweeteners  predispose to diabetes, and do not help with weight loss. Erythritol , once touted to be safe, is now possibly associated with cardiovascular disease. Agave is thought to perhaps increase abdominal fat- something I'm particularly unfond of. More info will undoubtedly evolve over time, but for now, organic granulated sugar supplies my (unfortunate) sugar fix for the day. To update yourself, visit Dr Greger's website Nutritionfacts.org .
• Bread:  With wheat products,  look for whole wheat flour vs wheat flour. Whole wheat flour means the whole kit and caboodle- bran (fiber), endosperm, and germ(nutrients) all mashed up together, vs wheat flour which is only the endosperm (less fiber and nutrients).  You may see whole white wheat- white is not a 5-letter word here!  Hard white spring wheat is a lighter-colored grain than traditional red wheat and yields milder-tasting baked goods.  I'm always thrilled when I can find  Dave's killer bread   and English muffins. They're organic, whole wheat and fiber filled- best bread I can find locally for everyone involved, including the planet.
• Soy milk whips us just as nicely as milk for your cappuccino! You don't need special barista blends. Initially, you may find transitioning from dairy to creamy oat milk more acceptable as it's milder,  though it's not as healthy for you as soy (see milk blog). Oat milk also may be milder in recipes like cornbread.

Breakfast Ideas

• Cereal- try for any organic, as (glyphosate) is used as a  desiccant on wheat and oats. Check fiber and saturated fat (yes, even if from coconut oil-see blog- the less the better). 
• Oatmeal- What could go wrong? Well, round-up contamination if you don't get organic! Otherwise, top with blueberries and it can't get much healthier for you or the planet.
• Smoothie: spinach+banana+blueberry+OJ ; you can prepackage and freeze (all but OJ) in reusable storage bags  if bananas and blueberries are spoiling. So many recipes to choose from.
• Bacon and sausage? Let's work to ban them from our breakfast menus (unless they're Beyond or Impossible)

Fastest Dinners

•       A veggie burger or  or 'chicken' patty with lots of toppings including Hellman's Vegan dressing and plant cheeses. Quorn chiqin patties (not cutlets) taste great. Voted product of the year, they're made from a fungus,  have fiber, no saturated fat, great protein, and may lower cholesterol and blood sugar a bit- and environmentally great.                      
• Whole wheat spaghetti with vegan meatballs such as Impossible Meatballs. (White rice, white potatoes, white spaghetti- all poor choices health-wise. Try sweet potatoes, brown organic rice,  lentils, or whole wheat pasta.)
• An everything but the kitchen sink salad is where to get  great nutrition: Per Dr. Greger, these are some of the healthiest ingredients:
•            Best greens- the darker, the better- spinach, kale
•             Best veggies- broccoli- a superstar, red cabbage,  sprouts, beets, carrots, organic peppers, peas- again, the darker the better
•            Best nut- walnuts, pecans, pistachios (almonds are water hogs and 8th leading user of round-up)
•            Best fruits- blueberries-superstars, blackberries, raspberries, dried cranberries
•            Best seeds- sunflower, pumpkin (I have a jar f premixed cranberries and seeds and grab a handful with every salad
•            Chickpeas
•            Best salad dressings are organic as vegetable oils are a leading use of round-up. Preferred for health are oil-free dressings.

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