A book on plant-based eating for middle America, using familiar, easy-to-find ingredients to help readers eat more healthfully.

Eating a diet higher in plant foods and lower in animal products has been shown to provide many health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes as well as aiding in weight loss. Dietary guidelines and recommendations from nutrition experts reflect this, encouraging the adoption of diets such as the Mediterranean, Flexitarian, Vegan or DASH diet that are heavy on fruits and vegetables and reduce or restrict the consumption of meat and meat products.

Whether folks are choosing to boost their nutritional intake by consuming more plants within their meat-based diets, or avoid animal product once a week such as Meatless Mondays, or go all out vegan, they need support in starting out with this new way of eating. Understanding the importance of the nutrients in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains will help the reader grasp why eating more plants will improve their overall health.

This A-Z comprehensive guide lays out all the nutrients and other compounds currently known to researchers that help fight disease. It includes:

• A guide to the powerful disease-zapping nutrients in more than 40 superstar foods, from apples to winter squash, with tips on how to maximize their dietary benefits and tasty ways to include them in your daily diet
• A specific food arsenal to manage and prevent more than 50 common ailments, from asthma to osteoporosis
• 90 delicious disease-combating recipes, including appetizers, main courses, and desserts, that make it easy to eat for good health
• A new introduction explaining how whole food plant-based eating promotes health and prevents and/or reverses diseases
• Recent research boxes highlight the latest studies that show the health effects of eating a fruits/veggie dense diet on health conditions