Many of my relatives lived long lives. But the Greenprint isn’t just about living a longer life – it’s about living a better life. A fuller life. A life where you can continue to enjoy yourself into your sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties and beyond. Your best life. The life that my Mima deserved. The life we all deserve. The life our planet deserves.
But where do we start? What do we have to do to make a difference? How do we transform our lives and the planet with our personal greenprint?
INTRODUCING THE GREENPRINT
At its heart, the Greenprint is a programme for a health transformation. It is also a blueprint for plant-based eating. And yes, it is vegan, but with a difference. A vegan diet is not necessarily plant-based. You can be a vegan and live on potato chips, pretzels and vegan hot dogs served on gluten-free bread. But these processed foods can make you just as sick and unhealthy as a meat-inclusive diet, and they are not part of a plant-based diet. When I say ‘plant-based’, I mean plants, not foods made in a plant. I’m talking about a diet that consists of 100 per cent delicious foods that come from the earth. I’m talking about a diet that your body loves.
Ultimate success at plant-based living comes from a couple of factors that impact each other. If you want to flourish, if you want to enjoy your happiest life, there are two key components of the Greenprint: twenty-two laws of plant-based living, and the application of those laws in your life.
THE TWENTY-TWO GREENPRINT LAWS
Whether we think so or not, it is part of human nature to search out a set of rules by which to live. And if you have never eaten 100 per cent plant-based before, you will want to learn the most effective and most powerful rules to live by. In the case of the Greenprint, there are twenty-two. You can choose to ignore these laws, and possibly flirt with weight gain and health disasters, or you can learn them, adopt them and mould your food choices and habits around them, and live an amazingly healthy life.
I developed these laws through clinically proven science and data, by living a completely plant-based lifestyle myself, and by helping others transition to plant-based eating. If I have learned anything over the past twenty-plus years, it is that what works in a clinical setting doesn’t always work in the real world, which is why these laws are as practical as they are scientific.
A lot of people think they’re doing ‘okay’ with their nutrition choices. Others are flailing and failing. Still others are confused about what to eat or what diet to follow, because there are too many ‘flavour of the month’ diets thrown at them. These diets are hyped, but there’s little credibility behind the hype. Some people may want that secret potion, that magical weight-loss elixir, but it honestly doesn’t exist. If you believe it does, you’ll spend your life in a rabbit hole of diets, filled with empty promises that will most likely leave you weak, overweight and sick.
The truth is, diets don’t work simply because they are unrealistic and do not offer people the opportunity to develop a lifetime of healthful eating habits – ‘lifetime’ being the operative word here. Diets are a quick fix for a long-term problem, which is often poor eating habits. A diet might work for a month or two, but most people drop the diet within a relatively short period.
Because of this mess, there’s no clear standard, no boundaries, no real finish line on what to eat and what to avoid. People have forgotten how to make sound nutrition choices. This is why we need these twenty-two laws. In terms of nutrition, we live in a confusing world – how you emerge from that confusion will be determined by whether you implement the twenty-two distinct laws that I reveal to you in this book.
Learning the Greenprint laws gives you the essential knowledge you need to maintain your and your family’s health. The laws crystallise your thinking and serve as a road map to success. In part 1 of this book, I lay out the twenty-two Greenprint laws. They are a prelude to action – a real master plan for a health-altering, energy-boosting, body-strengthening and planet-saving lifestyle. Whether you are already eating a lot of plants or are more the ‘steak 24/7’ type, implementing the Greenprint laws will be life-changing. Knowing and understanding them is the first step in my Greenprint programme. If you choose to apply them, they can take you wherever you want to go.
“THE GREENPRINT ISN’T JUST ABOUT LIVING A LONGER LIFE – IT’S ABOUT LIVING A BETTER LIFE.
THE GREENPRINT DIET
In part 2, I’ll show you how to put these laws into action, with a nutrition programme that will help you start your journey in an achievable way that will yield powerful results: sustainable weight loss, more energy and protection against life-shortening diseases.
The programme is structured in three transitional tiers that allow you to progress at your own pace, experiment and learn. I ask you to approach plant-based eating one meal at a time – just like I did in the beginning – until you eventually go 100 per cent plant-based. I won’t overwhelm you on the first day. I won’t ask you for instant change. I won’t tell you to throw out the way you eat overnight and go all or nothing with me – unless you want to! You have that option. Over the years, I have worked with thousands of people to successfully change their diets and their health, but what I realised on my own journey is that no single plan will work for everyone. An all-or-nothing proposition can be a recipe for failure, depending on your personality. That’s where the Greenprint is different.
The Greenprint programme shows you how to make small changes – the twenty-two most effective ones – to make a difference in your body, your health and the planet. The programme meets you where you are on your journey, and helps you improve your personal greenprint for the better, whittle your waistline, achieve superior health and drain your carbon stream.
In Tier 1, you’ll eat one plant-based meal a day for eleven days. In Tier 2, you’ll enjoy two plant-based meals each day for eleven days. And in Tier 3 – voilà! – you’ll be ready to fully transition to 100 per cent plant-based eating. Tier 3 includes a forty-four-day plan with specific, easy and delicious meal suggestions, recipes and tips for stocking your pantry.
This stepwise approach makes it easy to experiment with delicious meals, allowing you to incorporate the foods you love. By initially focusing on just one or two meals at a time, you’ll gain the confidence to fully embrace plant-based eating for a lifetime. With the Greenprint, you’ll take the time to get it right.
THE HOLY NAME STUDY AND THE GREENPRINT
To put the Greenprint to the test, my team and I worked with Holy Name Medical Center, ranked one of the top hospitals in New Jersey by US News & World Report, to study the benefits of plant-based eating on the body.
The study was born from a conversation between Holy Name Medical Center’s Director of Cardiac Catheterization Dr. Angel Mulkay and President and CEO Michael Maron. Mr Maron wanted to compare a vegan versus vegetarian lifestyle and the impact it could have on overall well-being and clinical markers. From there a study was developed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
This trailblazing clinical trial measured the effects of three different diets over twenty-two days. More than 200 participants were recruited and randomised into one of three cohorts: 1. Western diet (animal-based); 2. vegetarian diet (dairy and plant-based); and 3. plant-based diet (no dairy or animal products). Each participant signed a consent form and kept a food diary.
In addition, the plant-based group received, at their homes, prepackaged vegan meals from my company for twenty-two days. The vegetarian group received meals prepared in-house for them by their food and nutrition department. The Western diet group simply followed a typical Western-type diet that included animal foods.
All participants had the following tests prior to and after the twenty-two-day test period:
This is a very high-tech scanning system that extracts waist, hip, bust and hundreds of other body measurements and calculates them with less than 1 per cent error. You simply stand on a turntable and hold still for 30 seconds while the platform spins. With its sharp high-resolution infrared images, this technology captures millions of data points in a matter of seconds in a fast, noninvasive process.
• Complete blood count (CBC)
• Lipid profile (including total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides)
• B12 (for the vegan cohort)
• HgA1C (a blood sugar measurement that determines risk of diabetes)
After twenty-two days, the blood work results were astonishing when vegans versus vegetarians were compared:
The participants in the vegan cohort reported:
Two participants who suffered from migraines reported not having headaches while on the diet, and they no longer needed to take their preventive medication. Others reported decreased use or elimination of cholesterol and blood pressure medication.
The same can happen to you! Throughout this book, you’ll meet several people who benefited from 100 per cent plant-based eating. They did it easily, with amazing results, and they’ll inspire you to do the same. In fact, after doing the Greenprint programme, expect to:
And that’s just scratching the surface!
While applying the twenty-two laws, you will significantly expand your greenprint. In fact, what makes this programme unique is that you can use it not only as a guide to plant-based eating for optimal health and weight loss, but also as a road map to actively curbing carbon, reducing greenhouse gases, saving animals and reducing global warming with your food choices. And you’ll have the tools to figure out your personal greenprint.
The first step on the journey to successful plant-based living is a shift in your mind-set: Decide what’s important to you, and what you want to accomplish. Do you want better health? A lower number on the scale? Sounder sleep? The knowledge that you’ve made a positive impact on the planet? Or maybe it’s some combination of these. Whatever your reason, the kind of person you are begins and ends in your own mind. This isn’t a new idea – it’s been around since ancient times. You become what you think about most, so if you want to be healthier or lose weight or reduce your carbon footprint, you have to change the way you think.
Focus not on what you have to give up, but instead on all the good things you will gain – which can be summed up in one word: life. A happy one. A healthy one. One in which joy is spilling over.
The choice is yours.
—MARCO BORGES
PART ONE
THE GREENPRINT LAWS
THE TWENTY-TWO GREENPRINT LAWS break down what it takes to become successful in your transition to plant-based living. They give you standards to aspire to, while providing practical suggestions for developing a lifetime of healthier eating habits. I start with laws that address food choices that can create the state of health you want for yourself. Keep reading from there, and you’ll discover more about how these laws can also help you become part of the solution to our global warming crisis.
THE LAWS ARE VITAL because they contain details that even the most health-conscious eaters have been missing – details that can save your health and are designed for long-term sustainable weight loss.
Every single law reveals critical steps to create lasting health success. My suggestion is to read the laws sequentially as they are presented, then reflect on each one. What resonates with you? What inspires you? What moves you to action?
The laws are also geared towards helping you form better habits. When I was growing up, I was curious about the behaviours that led to success in all realms of life. One question nagged at me: why can some people completely turn their lives around while others struggle with the same problems again and again?
As I continued to observe people’s behaviours, the answer became obvious: Making positive choices led to positive results. I saw the force of positive habits more and more through my work in the fitness industry. Most high achievers take care of themselves with exercise and good eating habits. Without good health, they can’t achieve.
When it comes to habits, too often we put on emotional blinders. We refuse to look at ourselves objectively because we might not like what we see. But in order to change what you do, you must observe your habits objectively, without emotion. Why do you do the things you do? Why do you feel the way you feel? Why do you think what you think? The laws will help you become more self-aware so that you can figure out who you want to be, how you want to feel and where you want to go with your health.
If you spend your energy worrying that shifting to a plant-based lifestyle will be hard, you’ll stay stuck in your old ways. Our food is changing, and not for the better, and your health depends on your ability to adapt. The more you take this new lifestyle one step at a time, the more confident you’ll become in your ability to adapt and create positive habits in your life.
The truth is that no matter who you are, how much money you have, whether you have five children or none, whether you are a man or a woman, whether you are young or old, you have habits – those little things you do every day, all the time, whether you are thinking about doing them or not. They are the actions that got you where you are and will keep you there in the future.
The laws are meant to help you forge positive habits – and make daily positive choices that will really affect you in the long run. So please, take the laws to heart. Follow the guidelines they propose to create the health you want. They can really make a difference if you follow them consistently.
In the end, following the laws will ensure that your future is better than your past.
LAW 1
EAT MORE PLANTS
AND LESS OF EVERYTHING ELSE
People need to eat whole-food plant foods, primarily . . . whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. That diet supports our lives. We ought to live to be ninety or one hundred without getting any diseases.
—JOHN MACKEY, cofounder of Whole Foods Market and American business leader
YOU’VE HEARD IT YOUR ENTIRE LIFE: ‘Eat your vegetables’. Whoever said it may not have known exactly why, but that didn’t make them wrong. You know why? Plants are life! That’s why this is Law #1. Allow me to remind you: eat more vegetables, and eat more vegetables while you’re at it.
Add fruits, beans, legumes, seeds, nuts and whole grains, and the wide-ranging plant world, can easily make up your entire diet. Plants offer us such an amazing array of foods that there’s bound to be something even the biggest vegetable sceptic can love.
A plant-based diet can revitalise your body and your health in ways you may not think are possible. The results of the Holy Name study prove this: your LDL cholesterol can drop, perhaps by as much as 19 per cent, as it did in the study. You’ll lose inches from all over your body. Remember, the plant-based eaters in the study lost on average 3.5 kilos in just twenty-two days. They also reduced their blood pressure and improved their digestion, among other amazing improvements.
One of those plant-based eaters was Bridget, director of medical records at Holy Name Medical Center. She was happy that she had been randomly selected to be in the plant-based group of our study. She was not a vegan, though she’s an avowed animal lover and concerned about the ethics of animal agriculture – so much so that she and her husband take in all sorts of animals, from rabbits to goats to sheep and any animal that has been abandoned. ‘Our goal is to give animals a good life,’ she explained, and Bridget and her husband accomplish this mission on their farm.
Bridget’s results from participating in the twenty-two-day study were surprising. Patchy skin problems cleared up. Her hair began to shine. She dropped 3 kilos. She felt better and had more zip. ‘I never, ever felt hungry. I was always satisfied,’ she said. ‘Anything that pushes that shift to eat less animal products rather than more is good.’
The proof is in the change in her vital measurements, which astonished Bridget. Prior to the study, her vitals were:
Triglycerides: 125
Cholesterol: 230
LDL: 136
Weight: 156
Body Mass Index (BMI): 30.4
After twenty-two days, take a look at what happened to Bridget:
Triglycerides: 104
Cholesterol: 219
LDL: 122
Weight: 149
BMI: 29.1
‘I’ve thought more about the food I eat than I ever have before, and I care about what I’m putting in my body,’ Bridget concluded.
To me, ‘Eat more plants’ is a pretty simple law to follow. My family and I enjoy a 100 per cent plant-based diet, which studies have found to be the only diet in the world that can prevent, arrest and, in many cases, reverse heart disease. We also know that it’s a cruelty-free way to live that is as good for the planet as it is for us. I have one simple guideline: I don’t eat anything produced from or by something that has a face. This means no chicken, turkey, cows, pigs, sheep or fish of any kind. This also means I don’t eat dairy foods, including milk, cheese or butter, and I don’t eat eggs. I don’t use mayonnaise or honey, either.
One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is, ‘What do you eat?’ The answer is that I eat anything, as long as it doesn’t originate from an animal. I eat vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, grains, seeds and nuts, and no, I never feel sluggish or weak, and I always get enough protein.
Of course, that’s the big question you get when you stop eating meat: ‘How do you get enough protein?’ Honestly, we are all eating more protein than we could ever need. We are not protein-deficient, and don’t let anyone or any source tell you otherwise. There are plenty of studies that prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt. In fact, studies have shown that the more animal protein we eat, the sicker we will get.