Here is a list of my favorite resources for plant-based living! This list includes educational books, cookbooks, kids books, articles, guides, documentaries, websites, blogs and Instagram accounts that will help you along your plant-based journey. I will update this document with new resources as I discover them!
Disclaimer: I am not here to persuade anyone to adhere to a certain lifestyle or condemn anyone for their decisions. Plant-based living resonates with me philosophically and works for my body at the moment. I am sharing these resources for those interested in exploring this lifestyle. Do your own research, make your own conclusions, and live according to your truth, not mine.
Educational Books
1. The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health -T. Colin Campbell, PHD & Thomas M. Campbell II, MD
“How did we forget these lessons from the past? How did we go from knowing that the best athletes in the ancient Greek Olympics must consume a plant-based diet to fearing that vegetarians don’t get enough protein? How did we get to a place where the healers of our society, our doctors, know little, if anything, about nutrition; where our medical institutions denigrate the subject; where using prescription drugs and going to hospitals is the third leading cause of death? How did we get to a place where advocating a plant-based diet can jeopardize a professional career, where scientists spend more time mastering nature than respecting it? How did we get to a place where the companies that profit from our sickness are the ones telling us how to be healthy; where the companies that profit from our food choices are the ones telling us what to eat; where the public’s hard-earned money is being spent by the government to boost the drug industry’s profits; and where there is more distrust than trust of our government’s policies on foods, drugs and health? How did we get to a place where Americans are so confused about what is healthy that they no longer care?”
2. How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease -Michael Greger, M. D., FACLM
“This was my wake-up call. I opened my eyes to the depressing fact that there are other forces at work in medicine besides science. The U.S. health care system runs on a fee-for-service model in which doctors get paid for the pills and procedures they prescribe, rewarding quantity over quality. We don’t get reimbursed for time spent counseling our patients about the benefits of healthy eating. If doctors were instead paid for performance, there would be a financial incentive to treat the lifestyle causes of disease. Until the model of reimbursement changes, I don’t expect great changes in medical care or medical education.”
“The top reason doctors give for not counseling patients with high cholesterol to eat healthier is that they think patients may “fear privations related to dietary advice.” In other words, doctors perceive that patients would feel deprived of all the junk they’re eating. Can you imagine a doctor saying, “Yeah, I’d like to tell my patients to stop smoking, but I know how much they love it”?”
3. The Alzheimer’s Solution: A Breakthrough Program to Prevent and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline at Every Age -Dean & Ayesha Sherzai, M.D. *
4. Undo It – Dean Ornish, MD & Anne Ornish *
5. Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health and Society -A. Breeze Harper
6. Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism, and Black Veganism from Two Sisters -Aph Ko & Syl Ko
7. Veganism in an Oppressive World -Julia Feliz Brueck
Cookbooks
1. Sweet Potato Soul: 100 Easy Vegan Recipes for the Southern Flavors of Smoke, Sugar, Spice, and Soul -Jenne Claiborne
2. Forks Over Knives Cookbook –
3. How Not to Die Cookbook -Michael Greger, M.D., FACLM
4. Oh She Glows -Angela Liddon
Kids Books
1. Eat More Colors -Breon Williams
2. I Am Not Food -Abioseh Cole
3. That’s Not My Momma’s Milk -Julia Barcalow, Ed. D
4. Not A Nugget -Stephanie Dreyer
5. We Are What We Eat -Kristy Hammill
6. Chickpea Runs Away -Sarat Colling
Articles & Guides
4. Listen Up, Problematic White Vegans, Stop Comparing Black Oppression to Meat Eating
5. The Problem with White Veganism
7. Ways to Get Started on a Plant Based Diet
8. African American Vegan Starter Guide
Documentaries
1. Forks Over Knives
2. Game Changers
3. Cowspiracy
4. Earthlings
5. Dominion
6. What the Health
Websites & Blogs
2. PCRM- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
6. VegNews
10. Sistah Vegan
12. Green Action for Health and Environmental Justice
13. Killer Coke
16. Bad Ass Vegan
Instagram Accounts
1. Jenne Claiborne @sweetpotatosoul
2. Carleigh Bodrug @plantyou
3. VegNews @vegnews
4. Dymetra Pernell @plantbasedprincess
5. Vegan Hip Hop Movement @veganhiphopmovement
6. Vegan @vegan
7. Vegan Bowls @veganbowls
8. Vegan Street @veganstreet
9. Vegan Community @vegancommunity
10. Plant-Based News @plantbasednews
11. Nutritionfacts.org @nutrition_facts_org
12. Dr. Judy Brangman @theplantbasedmd
13. Food Empowerment Project @foodempowermentproject
14. PBN Food @pbnfood
15. Forks Over Knives @forksoverknives
16. Best of Vegan @bestofvegan
17. Dr. Brenda Bradley @docbrad67
18. Plant Based Juniors @plantbasedjuniors
19. Black Vegans Rock @black_vegans_rock
20. John Lewis @badassvegan
21. Soul Eubanks @soul_eubanks