All the time, I get questions about what to eat and how much to eat. What to eat is the easy part-whole food plant-based! The more of it you eat, the higher your quality of life will be.
When I give that response, most people assume that they’ll have no “fun” while they’re eating. Forget about nutritive value. It’s mostly about entertainment value for them. But chewing for entertainment can lead to a dark place. Of course, that greatly depends on the source of entertainment, but most people I know who want greater entertainment value will eat anything. They usually go overboard with whatever food brings the most pleasure at any given moment.
That’s a recipe for disaster. There must be some discernment regarding what goes in your mouth. Otherwise, you will fall prey to the spectrum of metabolic diseases this country is afflicted by, including obesity, cancer, autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disease.
How much to eat is difficult for me to answer. I’ve been telling clients for years, on a whole food plant-based eating regimen, there really are no limits on how much you can eat. It’s difficult to become overweight and sick with a whole food plant-based eating style. However, the “whole food” part of that equation must be stressed. Plant-based food can pretty much be anything as long as the animal products are excluded, but that can include plant-based junk food. That you must stay away from because you can’t eat an unlimited amount of it, just like you can’t eat an unlimited amount of animal-based and processed food without negative repercussions.
That said, sticking to whole foods—veggies, fruits and grains that you can buy from the market and prepare yourself—is your safest bet when it comes to eating an unlimited amount. And the more raw vegetation you consume—salads and fruit—the more you can consume with reckless abandon.
This all begs the question, is it possible to get nutritive value, entertainment value and eat as much as you want? Of course, just stick to the plants and let your creativity run wild!
