The Power Of Plant-Based Cooking: What This Doctor Wants You To Know

If you're looking to improve your health, adding plants to your plate is one of the simplest and most delicious places to start. Research has shown that a plant-based diet is a cost-effective, low-risk way to stabilize blood pressure and cholesterol levels, prevent heart disease, and manage weight1. When you cook those plant-based mains or sides at home, you'll plus up those physical health benefits while giving yourself the gifts of fulfillment, creativity, connection, and joy. 

We spoke with Scott Stoll, M.D., health and wellness adviser at Swich and parent company, Rouxbe, and co-founder of The Plantrician Project, to find out exactly how cooking plant-based can improve our lives. Plus, we got his advice on how to set ourselves up for success—from developing skills with a cooking community like Swich to stocking our pantry full of staples that will serve as inspiration and nourishment. 

Make no mistake, the westernized dietary pattern (comprising more than 60% processed food and 25% industrialized animal products) is one of the greatest contributors to what Stoll describes as "a pandemic of diseases called noncommunicable diseases or diseases related to our diet and lifestyle choices." 

He continues, "The CDC estimates that between 75 and 80% of the cost of health care ($3.7 trillion) is directly related to lifestyle diseases; the behavioral choices that people make every day, including the food on their fingers, forks, and plates; hours of sleep; activity levels; habits like smoking; and stress management." 

Simply put, cooking at home can aid in preventing these lifestyle diseases. According to research2, people who cook and eat at home more frequently were more likely to adhere to healthy dietary patterns, eat more fruits and vegetables, have higher blood levels of vitamin C, and consume fewer calories (the average restaurant meal contains about 500 more calories than a home-cooked meal!). 

Plus, you'll consume significantly less sodium, sugar, and calories and can avoid preservatives and other harmful chemicals like phthalates (a chemical derived from plastics) and MSG. In fact, research has shown3 that people who dined out had urinary levels of phthalates that were 35% higher than those who dined at home. 

Life is busy. Between work, family, friends, and fitness, it's understandable that even the most health-conscious people can feel like cooking at home is too hard or time-consuming. But the truth is, once you have a few skills and some pantry staples, a delicious home-cooked plant-based meal is more convenient than that takeout—especially when you consider the longer-term effects. 

Stoll puts it best: "Our industrialized food culture has shaped our ideas and perpetuated misconceptions around food preparation and the very idea of healthy food. Along the pathway of industrialization and 'time-saving' strategies, mealtime came to be viewed as a competitor of more 'valuable' uses of time. These unfounded beliefs evolved through repetition, convenient products like frozen microwaveable dinners and groupthink, to ultimately disconnect people from the richness of the homemade meal that can be shared with family and friends."

"Culturally, we believe we are too busy to prepare food at home, and yet the average adult today spends at least 3.5 hours on social media and their phone." If that doesn't put things in perspective for you, think a little longer term. As Stoll explains, "The perceived reward of less work, less hassle appears to be true because of the time savings and workload when you are tired. But it's a false reward cycle because the food away from home can contribute to poor health, mood alterations, increased susceptibility to chronic disease, inflammation, and increased pain and weight gain."

Stocking a pantry and fridge full of plant-based staples is about more than just having what you need on hand. When you open up your fridge and see the colors of the rainbow or you cook up a batch of beans while you get through meetings at home, inspiration is at an all-time high, and creating an evening meal is both joyful and simple.

When cooking at home, Stoll says, "I like to think of a core of basic ingredients that can be adjusted to your flavor preferences. The core of a quick basic meal, and still something we use in our home multiple times every week, would be beans/lentils, a whole grain like quinoa or millet, greens and veggies that can be flavored with any number of herbs and spices to create either Thai, Mexican, Italian, Middle Eastern, Americana, Cuban, etc. These can be prepared in advance through batch cooking and combined quickly to make a bowl, soup, stew, casserole or bowl." 

Saving money, improving your health, and having a creative outlet are all just some of the many benefits of cooking at home. But the most important benefits are a little deeper.

"The process of handling and preparing our food connects us in a more meaningful way to the wonder of food and the linkages that brought that food to our plates. It can inspire gratitude for the ecosystem of food production and move us from a consumer mindset to one of participant and steward. In our home, we often take time to gratefully consider the people and processes that grew, harvested, transported, distributed, and prepared our food," Stoll shares.