Over the past five years, I’ve been on a journey of self-improvement; consuming endless amounts of information in search of ways to improve my health and overall sense of well-being. During this time, I’ve come across several invaluable resources for building healthy lifestyle habits.

Today, I’m sharing a few resources that I believe are responsible for the positive change and growth I’ve experienced over the past few years. Below is an overview of three frameworks that continue to guide my eating and lifestyle habits and have led to lasting improvements in my well-being. 

Fiber Fueled

The information presented by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz’s (Dr. B) in his book Fiber Fueled opened my eyes to the many health benefits offered by a plant-based diet. It’s what initially persuaded me to eat a plant-exclusive diet for four weeks and eventually adopt a plant-predominant diet long-term.

In his book, Dr. B provides the science that supports plant-based eating for healthy living as well as a framework for how to start incorporating more plants in your diet in a way that minimizes discomfort and maximizes health outcomes. If you aren’t ready to pick up his book but are interested in how plants work to promote health and longevity, check out my post My Journey to a Plant-Based Diet.

As Dr. B says, “Awareness makes us smart consumers.” Awareness is the first step to making more informed choices. As you become more informed, you make choices that positively influence your health and develop habits that support longevity and quality of life.  

At the core of the Fiber Fueled approach is plant diversity. Research has shown that those with the greatest diversity of plants in their diet have the healthiest microbiota. For optimal gut health, it appears 30 or more plants per week is the goal. 

To help you achieve this goal, Dr. B shares an acronym (FGOALS) that serves as a reminder of the food groups to incorporate into your daily eating routine. 

Within each food group is an abundance of choices, making plant-based eating easily tailored to individual food preferences and tolerances. For additional resources on the Fiber Fueled approach, visit The Plant Fed Gut website or check out Dr. B’s book Fiber Fueled. 

Daily Dozen

I stumbled across Dr. Gregor’s Daily Dozen after reading his book How Not to Die. I highly recommend this book if you’re interested in health and longevity. The book highlights the ten leading causes of death in the United States and provides ample evidence of the power of food to prevent, treat, and even reverse these so-called lifestyle diseases. 

In his book, Dr. Gregor points out that over the last century we have seen a shift in the cause of death from infectious diseases to man-made diseases. This shift is largely attributable to “dramatic shifts in dietary patterns.” Whereas most years of healthy life were once lost to undernutrition, overnutrition is now to blame for the rising rates of disability and premature death. 

According to Dr. Gregor, “The pandemic of chronic disease has been ascribed to the near-universal shift toward a diet dominated by animal-sourced and processed foods — in other words, more meat, dairy, eggs, oil, soda, sugar, and refined grains.”

He goes on to say, “Most deaths in the US are preventable, and they are related to what we eat. Our diet is the number-one cause of premature death and the number-one cause of disability.” 

Based on his extensive research, Dr. Gregor has found a whole-food, plant-based diet to be one of the most effective approaches for treating and preventing the chronic diseases we suffer from today. His message, “The more plant foods we eat, the better.” 

To encourage plant-based eating, Dr. Gregor created the Daily Dozen. This checklist highlights the most nutrient-dense food groups as well as provides hydration and exercise recommendations. Similar to Dr. B’s FGOALs, the Daily Dozen provides a helpful framework for making healthy food and lifestyle choices. 

You can find additional information about the Daily Dozen as well as an abundance of plant-based nutrition resources on his website Nutrition Facts. 

Living Proof Program

This one comes from Simon Hill, author of The Proof is in the Plants and creator of The Proof podcast. If you’re looking for detailed scientific information that is both accessible and informative, I recommend checking out everything Simon has to offer. He’s definitely an invaluable resource in the plant-based community. 

Through Simon’s work, I’ve learned the benefits of a plant-based diet extend beyond my own personal health. Eating more plants also helps promote environmental health and reduces animal suffering. Everything presented in his book and podcast episodes has solidified my decision to go plant-based and inspires me to work towards a plant-exclusive diet. 

Simon’s goal is to translate research into practical advice. Like Dr. Gregor, his takeaway after years of studying health and nutrition is this:

“When it comes to our lifestyles, and the risk of losing years of good health, poor diet quality tops the list as the most significant contributor. Therefore, the food we eat is arguably the single most important thing we should be focusing on to counteract any genetic predispositions to disease that we may have and improve our chances of living a long healthy life.”

Based on his own extensive research, he, too, found that a whole food, plant-based diet was one of the most effective approaches for optimizing health and longevity. In his book, he states, “When interpreted honestly, research undeniably points to a plant-predominant diet (85% or more of your total calories from plants) as the best practice, evidence-based approach, and probably the single most powerful lifestyle change you can make to better your health.” 

The Living Proof Program was born out of these ideas. It’s a challenge focused on building healthy lifestyle habits that have been shown to reduce the risk of chronic disease and increase longevity. The habits are as follows: 

This resource goes beyond plant-based eating and highlights several other lifestyle protocols that promote health and longevity. For more information about the Living Proof Challenge, visit Simon Hill’s website, Plant Proof.

Conclusion

These resources have been incredibly helpful on my journey to better health. As I’ve incorporated the suggested protocols into my daily routine, I’ve seen improvements in my physical and mental health, exercise performance and recovery, sleep quality, energy levels. . .the list goes on.

If you’re overwhelmed by all of this information (as I was in the beginning), remember the goal is progress, not perfection. I have to remind myself of this daily. You don’t have to follow these protocols exactly. Use them as a starting point, find what works best for you (which may look different on any given day), and then practice implementing those behaviors daily. This is the path to building healthier habits that are guaranteed to support your long-term health and well-being.

Even better, some of these lifestyle practices have been shown to positively impact the environment and the well-being of other sentient animals living on planet Earth. What’s good for you is good for us all. I think deep down we all want a better world for ourselves and those who come after us. I’m certain applying these practices is one way we can achieve that goal. Here’s to a life well-lived and making the world a better place!