Make your Transition to a Plant Based Diet Easy with these Books

April 28, 2020
6 mins read
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Transitioning to a plant based diet can be hard, especially if you are doing it alone. That’s why we’ve complied this list of our favorite books to help you through this transition – these books can transform your diet change from an uphill battle to a fun new chapter. Take a look below!


Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson

This product was recommended by Leslie Elia from Growing Vital Health, LLC

There are over 400 recipes and wonderful descriptions of foods you may have never used. The portion sizes were great for our family and I never ran out of ideas for meals to prepare.


How Not To Die by Michael Greger

This product was recommended by Stephanie Mantilla from Mommysaurus

This book is great for people interested in a vegan diet who also suffer from a chronic health condition. In his book, Dr. Greger covers the best plant foods to eat for a variety of chronic diseases including heart disease and high blood pressure. His easy list of foods to eat makes the transition over to a vegan diet easy.


The Forks Over Knives Plan by Alona Pulde M.D.

This product was recommended by Stephanie Mantilla from Mommysaurus

This book is named after the popular vegan documentary that takes a look at the food industry. This book is a 4-week process that works by changing each meal over to vegan, one week at a time. The final week focuses on transitioning your lifestyle over. Included are easy to make vegan recipes that make eating vegan food delicious and painless.


The Kripalu Kitchen by Chef Jeremy Rock Smith

This product was recommended by Sarah Stewart from Regan Communications

For many first-time visitors, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is the first introduction to a plant based diet (meat is available 2x per week). This is why the Executive Chef, Jeremy Rock Smith released their new cookbook, specifically formatted to guide readers toward the diet perfect for them, including considerations for vegan, gluten-free, and allergy-ridden individuals. The book features 125 delicious, easy-to-prepare, revitalizing, and detoxifying recipes from the executive chef at North America’s largest yoga-based healing and education center.


Change Bites by Marissa Costonis

This product was recommended by Marissa S. Costonis from Change BITES, LLC

Most plant-based diet and cook books are focused on WHAT to eat but few address the complex issue of HOW to change to a different way of eating. The book, Change BITES, 5 Change Management Strategies to Transform Your Health gives readers a step-by-step process for transitioning to a plant-based diet. This book outlines a comprehensive methodology that guides readers to make small changes resulting in sustainable results overnight. Change BITES includes visioning tools and worksheets that allow readers to use their current diet as a starting point and move forward at a pace that works for them. It also provides the pitfalls of going plant-based overnight using industry best practices in business transformation.


The Vegan Way by Jackie Day

This product was recommended by Julianne Buonocore from Jules Buono: Where Books Meet Lifestyle

The Vegan Way by Jackie Day is everything a book about veganism should be — bright, positive, inclusive and easy to follow along. It’s a great book to start with if you are curious about a plant based diet but don’t want to be overwhelmed or confronted with argumentative prose. As a book blogger who reads 100+ for year, I can honestly say this is one of my favorite books of all time. It just hits the mark perfectly.


Vegan for Her by Virginia Messina

This product was recommended by Julianne Buonocore from Jules Buono: Where Books Meet Lifestyle

Vegan for Her is the perfect book for women interested in transitioning to a plant based diet but concerned about maintaining proper nutrition, specifically for a woman. It’s simply a must read for any woman wanting to be a healthy vegan.


The Macro Solution: Vegan Edition

This product was recommended by Ted Kallmyer from Healthy Eater

One of the common problems vegans and vegetarians have is balancing out their protein, carbs, and fat in a way that fits with the weight loss goals that they have. The Vegan Edition of The Macro Solution shows vegetarians and vegans how to balance their macros and keep track of the food they are eating using Smartphone technology.


The Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon

This product was recommended by Ken Immer from Culinary Health Solutions

As someone who was a Chef for many years, then made a transition to vegetarianism over 15 years ago (and then back to omnivorism about 3 years ago) it is my expertise that is one of the best books for transitioning, and has been for many many years. The author infuses the cookbook with a lot of good narratives about ingredient sources, selection, taste, and texture. She really breaks it down, and presents vegetarian cookery in such a way that I actually used the cookbook as a textbook when I taught ‘vegan & vegetarian cuisine’ at the Culinary Institute of Charleston. The best part of her prose is that she is not afraid to address comparisons of expectations of meat eaters, to vegetarians, to vegans. She is very clear about not setting people up to have grand expectations that you can ‘fool’ a meat eater with certain dishes, but she is sure to note the vegetarian dishes that definitely APPEAL to the desires of meat eaters, and what to avoid making vegan because it will just be terrible!


World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey

This product was recommended by Ian Martin Ropke from Your Japan Private Tours

This book, by a famous cook book writer, is perfect for actually making and experiencing traditional vegetarian recipes from five continents (using commonly available ingredients) and learning about the pleasures of a meat-free diet as an actual experience. Perfect if you like food, like to cook and love trying new things.


The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

This product was recommended by Ian Martin Ropke from Your Japan Private Tours

Read this book by an established authority in the vegetarian diet world (he also wrote The Botany of Desire) known for his elegant insights into the socio-cultural impacts of food. This book is basically four meals as a journey from field to plate. Along the way, you learn how connected what we eat is with the environment, culture, politics, and economics.


Approaching the Natural: A Health Manifesto by Sid Garza-Hillman

This product was recommended by Ian Martin Ropke from Your Japan Private Tours

Read this book if you don’t really like to read all that much. It is short, entertaining and effectively convinces the you that you don’t have to abandon meat right away. Instead, Garza-Hillman recommends a slower step by step transition.


The Happy Healthy Plant Based Eating Guide by Juliana Semenova

This product was recommended by Claire Armstrong from Boho Beautiful

Juliana and Mark truly embody this lifestyle. They are very aware making the move to plant-based is a commitment and want to help bust the idea that it is a hugely expensive undertaking. It is a lifestyle available to anyone who chooses to live it. Throughout this health crisis, these two have stepped up and offered a lot of their monetized content for free. They would be open to a deal on the e book. It is beautifully put together with lots of hints and tips as well as their recipes and shopping lists.

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