A Plant-Based Life: Your Complete Guide to Great Food, Radiant Health, Boundless Energy, and a Better Body

by Micaela Cook Karlsen

More people than ever are eating a whole-food, plant-based diet. Studies show that it is better for our bodies and better for the planet—but it isn’t always easy.

Let A Plant-Based Life be your guide. Whether you’re taking your first steps on this path to wellness or recommitting yourself to success, author Micaela Cook Karlsen clearly maps the way. Her program enables you to set your own pace and stay the course—without relying on willpower. Drawing on personal experience and the latest research, she reveals how to:

● Find and sustain your motivation
● Gradually add more whole, plant foods into your diet, crowding out less nutritious fare
● Break old food addictions and establish new habits
● Translate favorite recipes to create delicious, nourishing meals
● Reshape your food environment (at home, at work, and on the go) to make healthy eating a no-brainer
● Cultivate relationships that celebrate and support your new lifestyle

Especially valuable are directions for navigating roadblocks. Here you’ll find strategies for getting family members on board and for allaying friends’ concerns about your food choices with evidence-based nutrition information.

Take advantage of shopping tips, pantry lists, menu plans, and more than 100 mouthwatering recipes, with contributions from plant-based leaders including Ann Crile Esselstyn, Cathy Fisher, Chef AJ, Craig Cochran, Chef Del Sroufe, Jeff Novick RD, Julieanna Hever MS RD CPT, Kathy Pollard MS, Kris Carr, Matthew Kenney, Matthew Lederman, MD, Micah Risk, Priscilla Timberlake and Lewis Freedman RD, Robby Barbaro, and Susan Benigas.

If your goal is a healthier, more energized—exuberant—life, make this book your personal GPS. The journey will be more satisfying than you ever imagined.

Genres: Cookbooks, Health, Nonfiction, Nutrition, Unfinished, Vegan, Food

352 pages, Paperback

Published July 12, 2016

About the author

MICAELA COOK KARLSEN, MSPH, is one of the founding employees of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and its former Executive Director. A contributor to the New York Times bestseller Forks Over Knives, she is a member of the advisory board for the Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference and founder of www.PlantBasedResearch.org and HabitsOfHealth.support.

Reviews

[Karen R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Micaela Cook Karlson’s contribution to the bestseller Forks Over Knives put her on my radar. She made a decision at 17 to stop eating meat. Whatever her reason and after trial and error on her path to what worked for her, the evolving diet developed into being whole-food, plant-based. She has had impressive results with her strategy and she is common sense. I am inspired by this dietary lifestyle which will move me away from all those ingredients that I can’t pronounce – back to basics. I love food and she’s gotten me motivated to make more good choices on my journey to 100% healthy eating.

There are a number of recipes included as well. The chapter that blew me away and I'll refer to again and again was the “Sauces, Spreads, and Dressings” which includes recipes for staples such as thousand island dressing, mushroom gravy, ketchup, sun-dried tomato marinara and basic mayonnaise just to name a few. There are also chapters for Appetizers, Breakfast, Quick Bites, Mains, Salads, Snacks, Soups, Treats.

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Paige Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is absolutely great for beginning vegans, it details a lot of the tips and tricks to staying consistent and even just starting your vegan journey. Her approach is really practical and easy to follow. I do say there are some knowledge gaps in the book and you should definitely do your own research but this perfect for beginners! Overall really solid book one of the best in the vegan book isle.

[Valeriya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great addition to "How not to die" and basically it is a very good book which helps with switching to the plant-based diet. It is full of charts and tables, showing you the benefits of the diet as well as explaining how nutrition works. You don't have of course to change overnight your habits, but it just gradually introduces you to the healthier lifestyle. Believe me, if you really read this book carefully, you wouldn't want to go back to the junk and processed stuff. Ever.

eARC Netgalley

[Dlmrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I believe that anyone would benefit from increasing whole plant-based foods to their diet, I found that this book was a bit cloying it it's manner and made it seem like the transition was such a radical one. I also felt that they was too much emphasis on carbohydrate and negativity towards fats.

[Brianne C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has recently taken the plunge into a plant-based life, I was excited to read this book. This book details how to transition to the lifestyle and all of it's benefits. The book does focus heavily on the projected weight-loss aspect, so it comes off as more of a diet book than a lifestyle book. As someone who has already made the choice to be vegan, for a multitude of reasons, having the author try to convince me it is a great diet seems redundant. It think the intention is more for people who are considering the change and need a push to convince them it is the right way to go and possible weight-loss is a very convincing factor.

The book can be a bit tough to read at times, as the author is very detailed about the benefits and science behind it all. This can be a bit daunting for some. Really, all I wanted to get out of it was some recipes and some tips on how to make living a plant-based life easier. The author gets around to this about 1/3 of the way through the book by telling you how to order in restaurants, how to deal with the social limitations, and finally providing some excellent recipes. The best part is that the recipes are fairly easy and don't use a ton of ingredients. Some vegan recipes can get super complicated or have hard to find ingredients. These recipes are so simple, yet so delicious!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a vegan. I don't think I could ever give up meat entirely, but I'm trying to decrease it significantly and this book has helped. First, it's not preachy, thank goodness. Micaela Cook Karlsen writes clearly and provides research to back up what she says for the health reasons for a plant eating. I've tried some of the recipes like the mushroom gravy (yum!) and the cashew sauce which can be made savory or sweet. When sweet it made for a tasty fruit dip. Various people contributed to the recipes.

A few things I would have wanted more information about, such as why she believes in eliminating a fat like olive oil. Olive oil wasn't in any recipes I saw and when sautéing it is with water. She had a very small section on B vitamins that I would have wanted to read more than just using supplements.

Some days are better than others, but when I eat vegan for most of the day, I notice I do have more energy.

[Chris Leuchtenburg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to listen to this book while exercising. The first hour drones on and on about what will be said, why it will be said, how it will be said, why you should listen,... After that, it gets repetitive.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of hand-holding and emphases on "easing-in" to a vegetarian/vegan diet. Introductory.

[Lisa V · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a little disappointed. I have a chronic pain condition that just doesn't seem to respond to conventional western medicine treatments, so I'm always searching for alternative medicine treatments. While you can always find a medical journal article that will support any diet, there isn't a single study out there that will say eating plants is bad for anything. So I'm always looking for creative ways to eat more plants, which is a little difficult for me since I've been fighting a strong aversion to most plant food most of my life. I was raised on highly processed food mostly from boxes/cans/jars/cardboard containers.
Several of the claims made in this book I couldn't verify, which is irritating. Little, if any, of the information provided cannot be found in one of the other countless books about WFPB diets. A few assertions were nothing more than just simple anecdotes. That's great that it helped your friend so much, but that doesn't mean it will help everyone. Some of the recipes not only seemed unappetizing, but just impractical for anyone with a full time job and other time competing priorities. And frankly, some of the advice provided are things I've been following for quite some time...and yet I still have a lot of pain. Am I the outlier, or is there just a lot of overpromised claims from another industry with another agenda?

[Angie Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't get excited by a lot of the recipes included, but the information on creating a five step plan to a plant based life was good. I feel it's written in an engaging, fact based manner and I like having personal experiences of others peppered in the text here and there. I've got a list of great looking websites to look at as well. It was supportive of transitioning at your own pace to a new way of eating and looking at food, rather than going all or nothing...that's how new habits are formed and become part of your lifestyle. If more of the recipes had grabbed my attention, I'd have no problems giving this one five stars.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of great tips on how to transition to a more plant-based life!

Some of the recipes are pretty simple, which seems both like a blessing and a curse - they're easy to make, but maybe not super exciting... Training your taste buds, mind, and body to enjoy simple foods might be one of the goals?

However, the recipes are from a variety of contributors. She has a sampler of her own recipes from the book available online:
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/Mic...

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good resource for anyone plant-curious or beginning a plant-based life. The author includes practical advice and information from doctors respected in the field. It's an "easy read" and includes some good looking recipes. I would recommend this in addition to McDougall's Healthiest Diet on the Planet, Gregor's How Not to Die, and Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

**I have not made any of the recipes, but have flagged a few!

[Amber Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I feel that it is a good source of motivation. It gives a 3 option of immersion of the plant-based diet which is helpful and not intimidating. I also appreciate all the recipes and resources give at the end of the book. I am really looking forward to adding all the dishes presented in the book in my everyday life.

[Astrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, with detailed steps on how to switch to a plant-based diet, a full switch or partial switch, what to look out for, etc. Lots of recipes in the back, but I made two of them and was not that impressed. Maybe I just picked the wrong ones.

[Tal Honor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book for a beginner vegan or someone moving to a Whole Food Plant Based diet but the recipes are a little too much...some of the ingredients and cooking methods are not really suitable for a beginner in this area. Where was basic brown rice dishes or stir fry or Muffins? A really lovely book for gently helping someone transition to this way of life but I would offer them more basic recipes to start this journey.

[Pete Nikolai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book for understanding the vegan lifestyle

[Joyful · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super informative, great suggestions for a gradual transition to plant-based eating. Loved the recipes in the back of the book.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how the author sets out 3 different paces for people to transition to a WFPB diet.

[Rainey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great information, but repeated itself a lot.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple approach to simply eating more fruits/veggies/grains or for going vegetarian or vegan. There's a few recipes I want to try.

[Vansh Dhawan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It could have been more detailed in terms of nutritional facts. This book is for transitioning into a vegan diet, not for why one should be a vegan.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tips and recipes for maintaining a healthy plant-based lifestyle.

[Timothy Burch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Checked out an eBook. Interesting read. Will incorporate a lot of the recipes into my diet w/o going totally plant based.

[Critterbee❇ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you interested in eating only plant based foods? Does veganism frighten, yet intrigue you? Do you need more delicious, whole food, plant based recipes? This is the book for you!

This book has been researched extensively, and, happily, all of the sources are included in over twenty pages of notes. I appreciate that, especially in a book on a topic that tends to be hotly argued using emotion rather than fact.

This book was very enjoyable to read, and would be great for those seriously considering a plant based diet. Every aspect of changing is explained and the steps are mapped out carefully. There are several self-assessments to help you decide what transformation speed would be most effective,

An intense amount of information is packed into this book: health benefits, meal planning, nutritional information, shopping tips, budget comparisons, and (especially helpful) how to translate recipes to qualify for your new diet,

Then there are a lot of recipes, some as simple as the 5 ingredient 'emergency mini burritos' and some as fancy as 'Oyster Mushroom Ceviche and Bitter Orange-Lime Sauce.' Classic recipes are provided, such as Thousand Island Dressing and Apple Crisp.

Note: T. Colin Campbell, who wrote the amazing book "The China Study," has written the foreword.

I highly recommend this book for those interested in plant based diets.

**eARC Netgalley**

[Lisa Tener · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that helped me eat a mostly plant-based diet and sustain/maintain that lifestyle. The tips in here are super-valuable, because it's not easy to go to a party and stick with this diet! I also love how the author shares the latest research on issue like willpower so readers can understand why it's hard to maintain a healthy diet/lifestyle and how to get around such challenges.

I worked with this author and contributed a recipe! Micaela Karlsen is the former Executive Director of the T. Colin Campbell Foundation and, in that role, helped design programs for people interested in plant based diets/lifestyles. She also contributed to Forks Over Knives and is a regular speaker in the plant-based living/diet community.

[Ariel Rittenhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the midst of implementing a vegan diet into my life for the new year, I found this book to be very informative and helpful. Karlsen provides helpful tips in 5-steps to transform your diet. 1. Finding your motivating force, 2. What to eat for a plant-based diet, 3. Changing habits, 4. Examining habits, environment, and willpower, and lastly 5. Creating a social network of plant-based consuming people! A super easy and quick read, and she definitely provides all the tools for going vegan- laid out quite simply and made out to be totally doable! Plus, there are a bunch of awesome recipes in the back- some of which I have already tried and are pretty good! Going vegan can be a fun, learning experience and I look forward to this year!!

[Michelle Slobodzian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems like a good starting point for a plant based diet. The book walks you through several steps and gives you a calendar to either ease into the idea, rev it up a little, or completely transform your eating habits. You really need to buy the book and follow the steps if you plan on going into this slowly. I checked mine out from the library and may want to go back for the included recipes at the back of the book. I admit that most the information in the chapters I skimmed through, because it seemed as though it was information I should already know if I am thinking about starting this diet. Overall it was a great resource to get started and motivated to start eating a plant based

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suggestions for fat intake are questionable and worryingly low; however, tips for slowly transitioning to higher intake of fruits and vegetables are very helpful.