We follow a few simple food principles when choosing what to eat each day. We call them our Fab Five Food Rules.
We make sure to eat these central types of whole plant-based foods every day: fruits; vegetables; whole grains; and beans, nuts, and seeds. Creating our meals from these foods gives us unlimited ways to enjoy healthy, great-tasting dishes that meet all of our nutritional needs.
How much of the At the Core foods should you eat each day? Here’s what that might look like for a moderately active woman (exercising up to 30 minutes daily) eating an average of 2,000 calories a day.
FRUITS 2 cups daily.
One cup is about the same as a piece of fruit, like a banana, orange, apple, grapefruit, or pear. It’s also the same as a cup of blueberries, grapes, or strawberries (or about eight large strawberries) or a cup of chopped fruit. For dried fruits, like raisins and dried apricots, it’s about a half cup each day.
VEGETABLES 2½ cups daily.
One cup is about the same as ten broccoli florets, twelve baby carrots, one large sweet potato, 1 cup of sliced beets, 1 cup of chopped zucchini, or 1 cup of sautéed collard greens. And 2 cups of raw, dark leafy greens are considered the equivalent of 1 cup of vegetables. (More on dark leafy greens, below.)
WHOLE GRAINS 1½ cups daily.
It’s pretty easy to eat a cup and a half of cooked oatmeal, black rice, quinoa, millet, or whole-grain pasta each day. One slice of whole-grain bread or one whole-grain tortilla is also the equivalent of ½ cup of whole grains. So eating just one sandwich gets you two-thirds of the way to your daily recommended intake.
BEANS, NUTS, AND SEEDS 1½ cups of beans and ¼ cup of nuts daily.
Eating a cup and a half of beans each day could include a hot bowl of soup made from lentils, black beans, or split peas. And almonds, walnuts or cashews can be tossed into a morning smoothie.
We create well-balanced meals. Whether in a breakfast smoothie, a lunch salad, or a dinner stir-fry, we make sure to eat a main source of protein (from beans or nuts), healthy fats (from nuts), and complex carbohydrates (from whole grains, vegetables, and fruits).
What does that look like in practice? For a typical 9-inch plate, you want to fill half with fruits and vegetables, one quarter with beans, and the other quarter with whole grains. Even with a wrap, burrito, or soup, you want to include fruits (remember, tomatoes are technically fruits), vegetables, whole grains, and beans.
We make sure our meals reflect the rainbow of colors in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and nuts. The colors or pigments in plant-based foods come from phytochemicals. These phytochemicals are protective compounds that provide numerous health benefits, from helping to prevent and reverse our major chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes, to boosting our immune system and aiding in digestion. So the health is in the hue—and the darker and brighter the color, the greater the health benefits.
Want to get the health benefits of the food rainbow each day? Well, you’re probably already eating at least some brightly colored foods every day. An orange, tomatoes, carrots? Just start upping your game by including at least two to three bright colors at each meal, from red beans to purple eggplant, to yellow squash. (See more suggestions for colorful food in chapter 3).
We eat dark leafy greens two to three times a day. They provide the most nutrition of all foods and have the fewest calories. In fact, they have so many health benefits that researchers have yet to discover them all. But we do know that the phytochemicals, vitamins, and minerals in dark leafy greens protect against heart disease, cancer, and stroke, as well as improve memory and vision and help build strong bones. My mother and I each eat about one standard bunch of greens or twelve to fifteen leaves per day. This is one of the keys to our health and longevity, in addition to eating whole foods.
Want to stay ageless, too? Try to eat at least 4 cups of dark leafy greens every day. It’s not as hard as you might think. Here’s what that might look like:
MORNING DRINK Add 1 to 2 cups of fresh or frozen spinach or kale to a fruit smoothie.
LUNCH Have 2 cups of kale, arugula, dandelion greens, or other combination of dark leafy greens be the foundation of your salad.
DINNER Add very thinly chopped chard as a garnish to the other types of vegetables you have for dinner.
We eat four to five small meals throughout the day, rather than three large meals. This helps us maintain our energy levels and leads to better absorption of nutrients that our bodies can use throughout the day.
Want to eat smaller meals throughout the day without going hungry? Focus on quality over quantity. Here’s what that might look like:
MORNING Green smoothie
MID-MORNING Oatmeal with nuts and fruit
LUNCH Soup and salad
MID-AFTERNOON Hummus and avocado with whole-grain crackers
DINNER Vegetable wrap or veggie pizza.