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Hi! I’m Kayla, the recipe and content creator here at Plant-Powered Cooking! 👩🍳
The basics about me: I love to eat, love to cook, and love to learn. I’m a part-time vegan food blogger with a full-time office job. I created this website because I’m passionate about good food and its impact on health. Through this site, I hope to make a healthy, plant-based diet more accessible for more people.
After years of self-teaching myself through books and podcasts, I’m currently pursuing my Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. I couldn’t be more excited to share what I’ve learned with all of you.
My hope is that the information and recipes I provide help you and your family become happier and healthier through the power of plants! 🌿🥗
About this Site
My recipes are all vegan, plant-based, and as minimally processed as possible. I focus on the recipes that my family and I want to make over and over again. Those recipes are usually delicious, quick, and based on inexpensive pantry-friendly staples.
The recipes I share are also designed for better health. In an effort to help you learn more and take your health into your own hands, I also provide links to various scientific studies and nutrition resources alongside each recipe. There is SO much information out there, and I want to help you find the most important pieces.
In addition to recipes, I also offer some plant-based diet resources. These guides are based on what I’ve learned in my years as a plant-based vegan. Usually, they’re things I wish I knew when I was getting started and they’re presented in a much friendlier way than other how-to guides I’ve found!
I’m a big fan of small steps and doing what works for you right now. If you’re making small changes to go more plant-based, then that’s great. 🎉 Please have a look at this How to Start a Plant-Based Diet Guide for additional information and encouragement.
About Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diets
A whole-food, plant-based diet is simple, really. In a nutshell, it’s a diet that’s centered around fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, and nuts.
A whole-food, plant-based diet (WFPB for short) is a diet powered by super healthy plant foods. It’s a diet that’s naturally low in fat that seeks to eliminate animal products, processed foods, and oils. Here’s an idea of what you can eat!
A helpful trick for evaluating whole foods might be to stop and ask yourself whether your great grandparents might have eaten that particular food. If you answer with a resounding “yes”, then it’s probably a natural, whole food!
A whole-food, plant-based diet does not necessarily mean a vegetarian or vegan diet. Instead, it means a diet that’s centered around plants and whole foods. In practice, many of those who eat WFPB are vegetarian and/or vegan. I personally eat a vegan WFPB diet, so that’s what this site is about!
Why Do I Eat a WFPB Vegan Diet?
The recipes you’ll find on this site are all dairy-free, meat-free, vegetarian, and vegan. Most recipes will not contain processed foods, refined sugar, or oil of any kind. I eat this way (and urge you to do the same) because of the overwhelming evidence that meat, dairy, and oil have deleterious effects on personal health and cause harm to animals and the environment.
There are so many resources to explore if you’re interested in these topics. Documentaries such as Forks over Knives and The Game Changers are popular choices. Podcasts such as The Exam Room and Nutrition Facts with Dr. Greger are other great options. There are truly so many choices out there. (I’m happy to provide additional recommendations for anyone interested!)
For me, though, it was a book that got me started on this journey.
How Not to Die, by Dr. Michael Greger, frankly, changed my life. In the aftermath of a very scary diagnosis and all that meant for me and my family, it was both solace and road map. Most importantly, it was a resource that helped me to feel empowered instead of helpless. It allowed me to look and move forward, rather than sink into fear and despair.
I will never forget what that meant to me or how much strength that gave me.
A Deeper Look at How Not To Die
How Not to Die walks you through 15 of America’s leading killers (think heart disease and cancer) and the associated risk factors for each chronic disease. In a very methodical way, Dr. Greger makes the case for a whole-food, plant-based diet by looking at the data, and drilling down into the risk factors that we can control. The book explores what’s wrong with the American diet and lifestyle, and explains how a WFPB diet can help us prevent the leading causes of chronic disease in this country.
In addition, in How Not to Die, Dr. Greger provides a Daily Dozen checklist. This checklist is comprised of the 12 foods we should all try to eat every day for optimal health, based on scientific research. I loved the inclusion of the checklist because it’s something tangible you can implement in your life right now to start improving your health. There’s also a free app that accompanies the book, called “Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen”. Check the app out in your phone’s App Store now, but be sure to check out the full book when you have some time!
Why I Created Plant-Powered Cooking
I don’t want anyone to decide that a WFPB diet isn’t for them because it’s too hard, too expensive, or too restrictive. Eating this way really doesn’t have to be any of those things!
I created this site because it was difficult for me to find recipes that were exactly what I wanted. Since I don’t cook with oil or refined sugar, and avoid non-stick cookware, I almost always had to adapt recipes on the fly. And yes, sometimes I had mixed results!
The recipes on this site are relatively easy because that’s the way I cook most days of the week. In addition, I will typically write recipes that call for “3 medium carrots” rather than “1 and 1/2 cups of carrots” because, again, that’s the way I cook most days of the week. (There are times when it really needs to be exact and I’ll give you the cup measurement, though. 😉)
Cooking WFPB food doesn’t have to be hard, and I want more people to recognize that and give it a try for themselves!
More About Me
My plant-based journey began in earnest at the end of 2017 and it has been a whirlwind of new discoveries since then. Prior to going plant-based vegan, I previously spent about 5 years as a vegetarian as well.
When I’m not in the kitchen cooking (or cleaning up the mess I’ve created!), you can find me:
- Reading voraciously (everything from must-read bestsellers to nutrition and longevity studies, with novels and autobiographies sprinkled in between)
- Listening to nutrition, blogging, and self-development podcasts
- Taking a variety of online courses, including those about health, the U.S. food system, and food security
- Practicing yoga 🧘♀️
- Brushing up on my foreign language skills by watching foreign TV shows
- Learning about website development, food photography, and so much more to bring you this website!
Thank You
Thank you so much for reading! Whether you already eat WFPB, are interested in trying it out, or simply found this site by accident ☺, I’m very glad you’re here!
The recipes on this site are designed to be delicious, easy, and beginner-friendly. Please have a look around the site and try something new today!
If you have any questions or comments about Plant-Powered Cooking or a whole-food, plant-based diet, please leave a comment below or reach out to me at Contact@PlantPoweredCooking.com.
Please also subscribe to the Plant-Powered Cooking newsletter to receive nutrition tips, new recipes, and timely updates right in your inbox. I hope to see you back here again soon!
Warmly,
Kayla
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