Rip Esselstyn > Quotes

“Don't eat bear balls. Eat healthy, delectable, plant-based foods so that you will never fall over on your cat.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds

“Whether through grains, beans, or even fruit, there’s plenty of protein in a plant-strong diet. We only need 5-8% of our calories from protein, and since protein is the one macronutrient that we can’t store, when you get above 15% it either stores as fat or we excrete it.”
― Rip Esselstyn , My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet - Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“There is no such thing as protein deficiency in the United States. How many people do you know who were hospitalized last year for protein deficiency? Zero! Now, how many people do you know who were hospitalized for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or obesity related ailments? Probably lots”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet - Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“It’s not the plant-based foods that will make you ill, it’s the meat and the liquid meat (i.e.: dairy) that can lead to sickness and death. Consider this: If your food had a face or a mother (or comes from something that did), then it also has varying amounts of artery-clogging, plaque-plugging, and cholesterol-hiking animal protein, animal cholesterol, and animal fat. These substances are the building blocks of the chronic diseases that plague Western society.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet - Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“J. Morris Hicks, who wrote Healthy Eating, Healthy World, has this to say about our obsession with protein: Because of the mistaken, yet almost ubiquitous, belief that we humans actually “need” to eat animal protein to be healthy, incredibly powerful solutions to our sustainability crisis don’t even make it to the table for consideration. For this reason, I consider that “protein myth” to be the most serious obstacle in the history of humanity. For if we cannot take the “animal out of the equation” when it comes to feeding humans… the future of our civilization (and even our species) is in peril.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” It’s a catchy maxim. It’s simple. On first glance it makes sense. The phrase was coined by Michael Pollan, renowned professor, journalist, and best-selling author of In Defense of Food, who was instructing his readers on how to navigate the “incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health

“You don’t need as much iron as you think. According to the CDC, a man like me (between 19 and 50 years old) needs 8 milligrams (mg) of iron per day. However, since I don’t eat meat, and I will be absorbing less of the non-heme iron entering my body, that number rises slightly to 14 mg. Seem like a lot? Nope. A cup of soybeans contains 8.8 mg, a cup of lentils 6.6 mg, and a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses 3.5 mg. (Remember, you can also boost the amount you absorb of these numbers by 30 percent if you are consuming some form of vitamin C with your meal.)”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“and refrigerate. Tip: Serve this with veggies, crackers, or rice cakes, or try on Sunny Day Flatbread (here) for lunch. Nottingham Sandwich Spread By Jane Esselstyn Say the word “Nottingham” slowly three times. The sound should be reminiscent of “Not-Eating-Ham.” This recipe is by no means a ham spread, but it sure does have the consistency and texture of one! Try this on none other than the Nottingham Flatbread (here) for lunch. Prep time: 10 minutes • Makes 1½ cups spread 1 cup chickpeas, mashed with fork ¼ cup chopped onion ¼ cup chopped pickles or pickle relish 1 celery stalk, finely chopped 1½ tablespoons mustard 1½ tablespoons applesauce ½ teaspoon fresh dill, chopped Pinch of salt Pinch of freshly ground black pepper Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl using a fork—make sure to smash the chickpeas. Spread on sandwiches, or serve as a dip. Spinach-Artichoke Dip and Spread By Kimetha Wurster Kimetha used to make her patented spinach-artichoke dip every February for a friend’s birthday party. True to her new, dairy-free E2 lifestyle, she was determined to make the recipe dairy-free, too. The guests had no idea it wasn’t the traditional one and gobbled it up. And there’s no baking necessary. Try this on the St. Nick Pizza (here) for lunch or dinner. Prep time: 10 minutes • Makes around 4 cups dip 14 ounces artichoke hearts, packed in water 2 to 6 garlic cloves 9 ounces fresh spinach, or 1½ cups frozen spinach 1 ripe avocado 1 cup nutritional yeast 6 shakes hot sauce Pinch of freshly ground black pepper (optional) Pinch of salt (optional) In a food processor or blender, pulse the drained artichokes with garlic until chopped. Add the raw spinach (or drained frozen), avocado, and nutritional yeast and pulse until well mixed. Shake in the hot sauce and season with salt and pepper as desired, and pulse again. Transfer to a bowl and serve with 100 percent whole wheat crackers or veggies,”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“There is no such thing as protein deficiency in the United States. How many people do you know who were hospitalized last year for protein deficiency? Zero! Now, how many people do you know who were hospitalized for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or obesity-related ailments? Probably lots.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“Some people believe that they have to combine different plant-based foods to create “complete” proteins. This belief, called “protein combining,” was a theory initially put forward in the 1971 bestseller Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé. It quickly became one of the biggest myths in the dieting world. Ten years later, Lappé herself formally rescinded her position in a new edition of the same book: “In combating the myth that meat is the only way to get high-quality protein, I reinforced another myth. I gave the impression that in order to get enough protein without meat, considerable care was needed in choosing foods. Actually, it is much easier than I thought.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“The sad reality is that every forty-three seconds someone has a heart attack; and every minute and twenty-three seconds someone in America dies from a massive heart attack.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health

“The countries that consume the most dairy products—those in Northern Europe along with the United States, New Zealand, and Australia—actually have the highest bone fracture rates. In fact, regions that consume the lowest amounts of dairy—eastern Asia and Africa—boast fracture rates 50 to 70 percent lower than we milk guzzlers.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“Pop quiz: Which has more protein per calorie, beef or broccoli? Yup. Broccoli. This green bodybuilding machine has 15.5 percent more protein per calorie than beef.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health

“Besides dissing plant eating, the meat industry is constantly thinking up ways to make its product seem healthier. Get a load of this: There is an online, six-hour college course offered by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association called The Masters of Beef Advocacy.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“And not only do plants offer plenty of calcium, they offer better calcium: the calcium in plants is absorbed twice as well as the calcium from milk.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health

“The U.S. cattle industry alone had $44 billion in sales in 2014 and you can bet your rump steak that a hefty chunk of that went into political lobbying. The sad truth is that the information we get about health often has more to do with politics and money than with science and fact. Meat eaters are misinformed for good reason. Most companies involved in the meat business are represented by one of three lobbying groups: the American Meat Institute, the National Meat Association, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Their influence goes right to the top.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“If the milligrams of sodium are more than the calories per serving, leave it on the shelf. In other words, the ratio of sodium to calories should be no more than 1: 1.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health

“Or look at some relevant data from two very different peoples: black South Africans and Canadian Inuits. If dairy consumption prevents osteoporosis, the South Africans, who consume little dairy, should have epidemic levels of the disease. Actually, the reverse is true: The prevalence of osteoporosis-related diseases in black South Africans is among the lowest in the world. On the other hand, the Inuit have the highest dietary calcium intake of any people in the world, and they also show the highest osteoporosis rates in the world.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“Twenty-five percent of the calories in your average vegetable come from protein—with many leafy green vegetables boasting as much as 50 percent! Your average bean contains 25 percent protein—soybeans as much as 40 percent. Your average whole grain contains 12 percent protein—quinoa as much as 18 percent. And even your average fruit contains well over 5 percent protein—lemons as much as 15 percent”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“Serves 10 to 12 1 onion, chopped 1 small head of garlic, all cloves chopped or pressed 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced 1 head broccoli, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped 1 can corn, rinsed and drained 1 package Silken Lite tofu ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon basil 1 teaspoon rosemary 2 jars pasta sauce (see E2-Approved Foods) 2 boxes whole grain lasagna noodles 16 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained 2 sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed 6 roma tomatoes, sliced thin 1 cup raw cashews, ground”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds

“A study published in the Nutrition Journal ranked hibiscus tea number one in total antioxidant content of all 280 beverages examined. In addition to anticancer effects, hibiscus tea has been found to be extremely effective against high blood pressure.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health

“Meat, fish, dairy, poultry, and eggs almost universally have high levels of sulfur-containing amino acids, which are metabolized by the body into sulfuric acid. The”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health

“If you’re eating food, it doesn’t really matter which foods you’re eating—as long as you’re taking in enough calories, you can pretty much rest assured you’re also getting enough protein. Yes, protein is of prime importance, and is the most plentiful substance in the body besides water—but that doesn’t mean eating more of it is better for you.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“In 1995, the meat industry did everything it could to stop the USDA from implementing food-safety regulations that would require testing for salmonella in ground beef.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“¼ cup old-fashioned oats ¼ cup Grape-Nuts or Ezekiel brand equivalent ¼ cup bite-size shredded wheat ¼ cup Uncle Sam Cereal 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal 2 tablespoons raisins ½ handful of walnuts 1 banana, sliced 1 kiwi, sliced 1 grapefruit ¾ cup milk substitute of choice”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds

“But we can’t stop eating altogether, so the best way to limit the environmental impact of farming is to cut out the farming that takes the heaviest toll. The average American consumes around 200 pounds of meat a year. When you consider that producing one pound of “factory-farmed” beef requires seven pounds of grain and 2,400 gallons of water, it’s easy to see where to begin.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“The USDA has been in cahoots with these guys since its inception in 1862, because it has always had the dual mandate of protecting American agricultural interests and advising the public about food choices. In plain speak, this is called “the fox guarding the henhouse.” Or as my father likes to say, “This would be like having Al Capone do your taxes.”
― Rip Esselstyn, My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet--Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes

“And how about India? The country that eats more grains than any other country has the world’s lowest rate of Alzheimer’s.”
― Rip Esselstyn, The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet: Eat Plants, Lose Weight, Save Your Health