Many of you have reached out asking how to get started on a Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle. So I am putting this information here for you to use. It should help you get started. Please share this post with anyone who is interested in adopting this lifestyle. Bookmark the page so you can come back and use the links.
I adopted a whole food plant based lifestyle in 2013. It ended nearly 4 decades of yo-yo dieting for me! I went from a size 16 to a size 4. Improved my LDL cholesterol so I didn’t have to go on statin drugs. The osteoarthritis in my knees went away. The health benefits are incredible! You can read more about my plant based journey here.
YouTube Videos
Here are some of our YouTube Videos that I think would be good to watch first – after you watch these, look at the titles of our videos on our channel and choose the ones that sound interesting to you. You might want to bookmark this post so you can refer to the links in the future.
How To Get Started Video – https://youtu.be/8QphNzs_Yfc
Calorie Density Video – https://youtu.be/-DYtIh77jR4
Ingredient Substitutions Video – https://youtu.be/Jne1qd96obk
Benefits of a Plant Based Diet Video – https://youtu.be/bWRUAhNshII
Why no Salt Oil or Sugar Video – https://youtu.be/7pudSO8ZsZ8
How To Sauté without Oil Video – https://youtu.be/brmnA_4WFdY
Ten Tips for Weight Loss Video – https://youtu.be/FSU2QFrgEEE
Why You Aren’t Losing Weight on A Whole Food Plant Based Diet – https://youtu.be/clIxMnGKGSg
Batch Cooking Video – https://youtu.be/ssbiWhCHUyA
Vegan Thanksgiving & Holiday Meals https://youtu.be/U8p1aLVmp2s
Here are some of my Blog Posts that will be helpful on your journey.
Quick & Easy Meals For Weight Loss & Optimal Health Blog Post.
Plant Based Tips for Healthy Weight Loss
Self Kindness As It Relates To Our Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle
Favorite Vegan Holiday Recipe Round Up
How To Survive The Hoilday Binge Season
Nutmeg Notebook Social Media
I post about 7 times a week on my Nutmeg Notebook Facebook & Instagram & GoodSelf App. I often show what I eat – with descriptions and links to recipes if there is one. It can be helpful to see what someone eats but just remember, you don’t have to eat exactly like I do. My food posts are just to give you some ideas of what whole food plant based meals might look like. Eat the plant foods that you enjoy the most.
Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/NutmegNotebook
Nutmeg Notebook YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@nutmegnotebook
Goodself Free Health & Wellness App https://goodself.com/
Nutmeg Notebook Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nutmegnotebook/?hl=en
Amazon Affiliate Page – Favorite Kitchen Tools www.amazon.com/shop/nutmegnotebook
Be sure to subscribe to the blog – it’s free.
We send out an email once week to everyone who is subscribed to our blog, to remind people about our weekly Live YouTube show. We are live onWednesdays at 3:00 PM Pacific. We also include other notable events in the whole food plant based community in our email.
Use discount code NUTMEG when ordering JOI plant based milk bases.
If its overwhelming to to dive in with 3 whole food plant based meals a day, ease into it over a few weeks.
21 Day Kickstart Program
The PCRM group Physicians Committe For Responsible Medicine has a free 21 Day Kickstart Program to help you get started on a whole food plant based lifestyle. Download the free app and explore their other resources for everything you’ll need to get started on a path to excellent health. This program will help you in meal planning.
What is the healthiest diet?
Find out what the latest science is saying about your favorite foods to help you make the healthiest choices for you and your family. Watch free videos on more than 2,000 health and nutrition topics by Dr. Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM Founder, NutritionFacts.org
One on One Coaching
Some of you might want to get one on one coaching to help you sort through all of the information. A whole food plant based coach can help you create a plan that is right for you. You will have someone to answer your questions and benefit from their on going support.
I can recommend my friend Laura who does plant based lifestyle coaching.
Laura Armitage from Talking To Laura, is a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle coach and educator. Laura completed the T. Colin Campbell Certificate Program in Plant-Based Nutrition at eCornell (December 2009), and also both the Certified Lifestyle Coach and Educator Program at Main Street Vegan Academy (November 2017), and the Master Coach Program at Main Street Vegan Academy (August 2018). You can book a complimentary initial session with Laura. Use referral code Nutmeg Notebook and get a 1 hour complimentary session with Laura.
Other websites that are helpful.
If you have a lot of questions The McDougall message board or one of their Facebook groups might be helpful as tons of people are on those and there is always someone ready to answer a question. Here is a link to their website. https://www.drmcdougall.com/
The way I eat, would be similar to Dr McDougall’s Maximum Weight Loss program. Once you are on the website scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Forums. It is organized by categories and should be self-explanatory and helpful.
Our friends Dillon & Reebs from Well Your World have a monthly Live Cooking Show Subscription for $15, you get two live cooking shows per month with them. They Also have 3 amazing cookbooks I highly recommend them. www.wellyourworld.com/nutmeg The Well Your World recipes and products are SOS Free which stands for Salt Oil & Sugar free and whole food plant based of course. Their recipes are all simple and straight forward and delicious! They also have a Facebook group you can join for free. https://www.facebook.com/wellyourworld/ There will be lots of people there who can answer questions as well.
Well Your World sells SOS free products that are helpful with this lifestyle. We do have a Well Your World affiliate link www.wellyourworld.com/nutmeg if you would like to browse and see what they have.
I recommend the following books, Chef AJ’s Secrets To Ultimate Weight Loss this is the plan I followed that got me to my goal weight.
Dr John McDougall’s Maximum Weight Loss Program is very similar to how I eat.
Dr Doug Lisle The Pleasure Trap this book finally explained to me why I can’t moderate certain foods. It was life changing information.
You can view these books and others we like on our Amazon Affiliate Page https://www.amazon.com/shop/nutmegnotebook
This should be enough homework to keep you busy for days! Remember that this is a journey, and it takes time to absorb all the information and learn a new way of eating. The food is delicious and so satisfying and the health benefits are amazing.
Wishing you all the best as you embark on a new chapter in your life.
Get Healthy 
Stay Healthy One Meal At A Time
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Nutmeg Notebook Online Courses
Batch Cooking with Tami Kramer Course Link
We invite you to purchase this course to learn all about the “What, When, Why, and How” of batch cooking, to support your quest to live a healthy, whole food, plant based life style. The course contains a 100 page eBook & course guide that includes over 50 of Tami’s recipes. There are 10 lesson modules containing 32 videos, totaling over 15 hours of comprehensive instruction. Tami will cover batch cooking concepts, techniques, and stratagies, as well as specific recipe demonstrations.
Beautiful Chopped Salad Course Link
Tami Kramer’s Beautiful Chopped Salad Course includes a complete full color 40+ page recipe PDF eBook and 12 instructional videos. In the course Tami will teach you how to batch prep salads, what to shop for, and tips to ensure that your stored salads will last for a week. She will share different methods for chopping salads, and all the details about how she tops these beauties.
We are also Holland Bowl Mill Affiliates. The 15 inch Holland Bowl Mill Cherry fruit bowl has a permanent home on our kitchen island. It’s beautiful and useful. The heart shaped bowl makes me happy – I love everything heart shaped! We use our 15 inch Beechwood & cherry bowl (his and her’s) to chop our salads everyday. Eating a salad for one meal every day helped me lose weight and become a size 4. I still eat a salad for one meal a day but now it’s a Big Beautiful Chopped salad and it helps me stay a size 4! See the Chopped Salad Blog Post to find out how you can incorporate a chopped salad into your daily food plan and how you can get a free mezzaluna knife with your Holland Bowl salad bowl order when you use our Holland Bowl affiliate link as well as free engraving and free shipping.
I’m making the chopped salads now after watching you. Thanks. I saw one time that you said that you weren’t using lettuce anymore so that you can also stir fry the “salads” if you want. Can y show me where you talk about that please. Thanks.
Hi Susie,
Here is what I put in the batch prepped salads.
Baby spinach
Baby Kale or shredded regular kale
Arugula
Red Cabbage
Broccoli slaw
Shredded carrots – really any carrots since you are going to chop it
Red onion
Cherry tomatoes
This is the base of my batch prepped salads. Here is a link to our Beautiful Chopped Salad Course – we decided to give everyone a 25% discount with code Nutmeg25 – it includes 2 1/2 hours of video instruction and recipe demonstrations. Also an eBook of recipes, including oil free salad dressings, gluten free croutons, salsa, cheese sauce, and other salad friendly recipes for toppings. Also a full color photo and descriptions of chopped salads to give you inspriation for making a variety of delicious salads so you never get bored with them. http://nutmegnotebook.com/course/
Happy Prepping!
I’ve been WFPB for 12 years and when people ask me for information about how to do it, I always have to scramble to gather my website, videos and book recommendations together for them. This is a fantastic one-stop resource people can go to for figuring out this life style!! Thank you!
Hi Laurie,
I am so glad it will be helpful! I have written this so many times to send to people that I finally decided to make it a blog post to give people a link to. I hope it’s a good resource for people starting out. It’s wonderful that people ask you about how to get started and that you help them.
Live Well,
Tami
Hi
Hi Tami, my name is Sarah Rainer. I just purchased your chopped salad course and I am really enjoying it. As i’m not very good on the computer, I’m having a problem printing the recipes. I’m confused on how to download it. could you please help me with that?. I would need step by step instructions. Thank you
Hi Tami, This is Barbara Worrall. I was so happy to get a big hug from you at the conference. I have been following you all this time. You and Tom are doing a amazing job. I am doing fine. A little more ups and downs as I enter my mid. 80s. Still the medical profession is amazed that I am so healthy and take no medicine. One Dr. said ” you make me want to stop eating meat”. I am a retired OT and I have a lot of good information about Alzheimer’s. If you would like to have it. Email me and tell me where you want me to send it. I am so sorry you and your family are on this journey with. Alzheimer’s. You and Tom bring so much Joy along with you information. Thank You
Hi Barbara,
I was so happy to see you and get to hug you at the conference. It had been far too long since we had last seen you. I love that you are inspiring doctors with your excellent health.
Yes of course if you have information on Alzheimer’s you can send it to me. My email is tami@nutmegnotebook.com
Alzheimer’s affects the whole family but most especially my mother who is with him full time. I hope I am up to the caregiver task and can give him the same amount of patience and grace that she does. I do hope we get to see you at another event in the near future. I love chatting with you Barbara – you are so full of life and love. Thank you for your kindness. With gratitude, Tami