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THE ROOTS OF GOOD HEALTH Thriving on a Plant-Based Diet by April Thompson Start with familiar plant-based foods you already enjoy, and ease into trying new foods, whether tempeh or lentils. –April Murray
WHETHER IDENTIFYING AS VEGAN, vegetarian, pescatarian, flexitarian or other veggie-friendly variant, a growing number of Americans are moving away from meat products and toward plant-rich foods. Most come to a plant-based diet for personal, planetary or animal welfare reasons; however, they stay for the flavorful foods they discover along their dietary journey and the health benefits they reap. Marly McMillen-Beelman was prescribed medications to alleviate symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. “I knew I didn’t want to be on prescriptions, so I decided to change my diet, beginning 16
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by giving up meat, dairy and eggs. I immediately felt much better and my symptoms went away naturally,” says the Kansas City, Missouri, author of The Everything Vegan Meal Prep Cookbook and founder of Chopped Academy, an online resource for food bloggers. “Now I eat an even greater variety of food than I did before I went vegan.” While only 3 percent of Americans identified as vegan and 5 percent as vegetarian in a recent Gallup Poll, a 2018 report by restaurant consultants Baum + Whiteman indicates that about 83 percent are eating more plant-based foods.
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