" We're here to facilitate your plant-based journey "

PlantPlate.com is here to provide the recipes, information, and practical advice needed to follow a healthy plant-based diet. Whether you're interested in improving your health, losing weight, or eating more sustainably, a whole foods plant-based diet may be the perfect solution for you.

My name's Emma, and I started PlantPlate in 2013 with the help of my husband Scott, a web developer and fellow plantivore. I’m a certified Plant-Based Nutritionist who loves to cook, and I've followed a plant-based diet for over a decade. Having lived in various locations throughout the world - sometimes on a shoestring budget, and often with irregular and demanding work schedules - I’ve had to constantly adapt my diet in order to make it work. It’s taught me a lot, and it’s motivated me to show others just how accessible and enjoyable this way of eating can be.

The recipes featured on PlantPlate are based on minimally processed plant foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. They're free from all animal products, processed oils and refined carbohydrates, and are made with simple and affordable ingredients. Our articles are aimed at providing you with plant-based know-how when it comes to shopping, cooking, nutrition and day-to-day living. We have answers to common questions and share practical knowledge that we have acquired through experience. Finally, the resources section contains links to books, DVDs, and video presentations from some of the world's leading experts on plant-based nutrition. It is our hope that these resources will help you to fully understand and evaluate the health benefits of this wonderful way of eating.

Welcome to PlantPlate!  We hope you enjoy your visit. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at contact@plantplate.com.

The information on this website is designed for educational purposes only. It is not intended to substitute for informed medical advice or care. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat health problems or illnesses without first consulting your doctor.

Products to Avoid

Guide By PlantPlate
Want to experience the health benefits of a plant-based diet? Then make sure you steer clear of these items next time you are in the supermarket...

If you want to really experience the health benefits of a plant-based diet, your first goal should be to remove animal foods, vegetable oils, and refined starches from your diet. While it may be very clear that you should avoid things like meat, eggs, dairy and white bread, there are plenty of other less obvious sources of processed and animal-dervied ingredients out there. That's why I've put together this list of items not included in a whole food plant-based diet, so that you are well equipped to navigate your way through the supermarket aisles.

 

List of Items to Avoid

  • Meat
  • Poultry
  • Fish
  • All dairy products, including milk, cheeses, butter, yogurts, cream, sour cream, ice cream, etc.
  • Eggs
  • Margarine Spreads
  • Oils (including all vegetable oils)
  • Mayonnaise
  • Oil-Based or Creamy Salad Dressings
  • Refined Flour and Refined Flour Products (Breads, Cakes, Pastries, Crackers, etc.)
  • Products High in Refined Sugars (Cakes, Biscuits, Puddings, Candy Bars, Lollies etc.)
  • Refined Grains (white rice, white pasta, couscous made from refined wheat)
  • Highly Refined and Processed Breakfast Cereals (ie. those with processed grains, refined sugar, additives, etc.)
  • Soda, Fruit Drinks, Iced Teas, etc. (whether they're sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners.)
  • All Fried Foods
  • Snack foods (crackers, chips, pretzels etc.) that contain oil or are highly processed

If this list seems long and restrictive to you, I encourage you to take a look at the article, "So, What CAN I Eat?" This is a very long list of all the wonderful foods that you can enjoy whilst following a plant-based diet. And I think it's always better to focus on what you can have, rather than what you can't!

 

Processed Ingredients (and how to identify them!)

If the names of some ingredients are confusing to you, don't be surprised. Aside from unpronounceable food additives and preservatives, many companies use pseudonyms for what are essentially different forms of refined sugar or white flour. If you familiarise yourself with these processed ingredient pseudonyms, you'll be able make more informed decisions when shopping.

White Flour can also be listed as:

  • Wheat Flour
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Enriched Flour
  • Unbleached Flour
  • Bleached Flour

Extra Tip: When scanning the ingredient list on breads, pastas and crackers, look for the word whole before the grain (whole wheat, whole spelt, whole corn, etc.) If you don't see this, it's almost definitely refined.

Processed Sugar can come in various forms, including:

  • Barley Malt Extract
  • Brown sugar
  • Corn sugar
  • Corn sweetener
  • Corn syrup
  • Crystalline Fructose
  • Dextrin
  • Dextrose
  • Evaporated Cane Syrup
  • Fructose
  • Fruit juice concentrate
  • Glucose
  • High-fructose corn syrup
  • Invert sugar
  • Maltodextrin
  • Malt syrup
  • Maltose
  • Saccharose
  • Sucrose
  • Syrup

 

Animal-Derived Ingredients

There are a surprising number of ingredients that are derived from meat, fish, eggs and dairy. It's a good idea to be on the lookout for these in sauces, stocks, condiments, breads, and other packaged products:

  • Albumin
  • Bee Pollen
  • Casein
  • Chitin
  • Cysteine, -L-Form
  • Gelatine
  • Honey
  • Lard
  • Lactic Acid
  • Lactose
  • Oleic Acid
  • Rennet
  • Suet 
  • Stearic Acid
  • Tallow
  • Whey

The simplest way to avoid having to read labels is by buying the foods that are closest to their natural state. Fruits, vegetables, intact whole grains and legumes contain just one ingredient, but a multitude of health benefits. Focus on those as much as possible!

 

 

Article photo courtesy of Zanastardust via Flickr