Based on groundbreaking research of Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., M.D., at the Cleveland Clinic, and T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., at Cornell, the low-fat WFPB lifestyle began as a therapeutic diet to help people with heart disease turn their health around. Low-fat plant-based diets have also been shown to reverse Type 2 diabetes and help with obesity and other chronic conditions. For people who aren’t facing major health challenges, it’s a way to stop lifestyle-driven diseases before they start.

The guiding principle of the WFPB diet is a focus on whole (or minimally processed) plant-based foods, which are dense with nutrients and fiber yet low in saturated fat and calories. It’s a nutritional one-two punch that nourishes the body while helping people lose the excess weight that often leads to chronic disease. When you go the next step and replace added oil with whole-food sources of fat (think avocados, nuts, and seeds), you can further drive up nutrients and drive down calories, effectively supercharging the diet.

But not all experts in the WFPB space agree that going oil-free is a necessary step for reaping benefits of a WFPB lifestyle. And in 2025 FOK slightly relaxed its stance on added oils for people with no health issues. (You can read our current position on added oils here.) In order for our audience to make the most informed decision for their own health, we asked a dozen leading plant-based physicians and nutritionists how they currently think about added oils in the diet and what they tell their patients. Enter The Great Oil Debate.

Should We Avoid Culinary Oils for Optimal Health? A Conversation with Rip Esselstyn and Garth Davis, M.D.

To kick things off, we hosted a live debate featuring two leading voices in the plant-based world: Garth Davis, M.D., board-certified bariatric surgeon, obesity medicine specialist, and author of Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession With Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It, and Rip Esselstyn, founder of PLANTSTRONG Foods; author of several books, including The Engine 2 Diet series; and son of WFPB pioneer Caldwell B. Esselstyn, M.D.

Are Plant-Based Oils Healthy? More WFPB Experts Weigh In

In the lead-up to the live debate, Forks Over Knives reached out to several leading WFPB physicians and nutritionists to ask the big question: How do you counsel your patients/audience on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils? Some of them also opted to answer a bonus question: Do you personally avoid all added oils, even in small amounts? Why or why not? Read on for their answers.

Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., M.D.

A pioneer of the whole-food, plant-based movement, Dr. Esselstyn was featured prominently in the Forks Over Knives film. He is the director of Esselstyn Heart Disease Program at The Cleveland Clinic and author of the New York Times best-seller Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Dr. Esselstyn: “The patients I counsel are almost uniformly sick with heart disease. And heart disease really has its onset when we progressively injure the delicate innermost lining of the artery, the endothelium. Why is that important? Because the endothelium is responsible for making this magic molecule of gas called nitric oxide.

“What are the functions of nitric oxide? Number one, it keeps all the cellular elements within our bloodstream flowing smoothly. It keeps things from getting sticky. Number two, it’s the strongest blood vessel dilator in the body. When you climb stairs, your arteries to your heart and legs, they expand, they dilate. That’s nitric oxide. Number three, nitric oxide protects the arterial walls from becoming thick and stiff or inflamed and protects us from getting hypertension. Number four is key: A normal amount of nitric oxide protects us from developing blockages and plaques. Literally everybody on Earth who has cardiovascular disease has it because over the previous decades they’ve sufficiently injured and compromised their endothelial system.

“The good news is that this is not a malignancy; it’s a foodborne illness. What are the foods that injure the endothelium? It’s any drop of oil: olive oil, corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil, palm oil. Oil on a cracker, oil on a chip, oil on a piece of bread, oil in a salad dressing. Once patients understand that never again are they to pass through their lips a single morsel that would further injure a damaged endothelium, then the endothelium will recover and make enough nitric oxide to halt disease progression. And we often see significant disease reversal.”

Do you personally avoid added oils?

Dr. Esselstyn: “We don’t eat any oil, whether it’s at home or out or at restaurants.”

T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.

Another expert prominently featured in the Forks Over Knives film, Dr. Campbell co-authored the groundbreaking book The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long Term Health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and founder of the nonprofit T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.

Dr. Campbell’s position on added oils is clearly stated on the Center for Nutrition Studies website: “Even the finest olive oils are 100% fat, meaning calorically dense and nutrient-poor. Oil injures the endothelium, the innermost lining of the artery, and that injury is the gateway to vascular disease. Especially for those with known heart disease, adding even a little oil can negatively impact heart health.”

Neal Barnard, M.D., FACC

The president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Dr. Barnard is a New York Times bestselling author of 20-plus books and more than 100 scientific publications.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Dr. Barnard: “Plant oils are generally much healthier than animal fats, because they are lower in saturated (‘bad’) fat, which is linked to high cholesterol levels and Alzheimer’s disease. The exceptions are coconut and palm oil, which are loaded with saturated fat—not unlike animal fats.

“But even ‘healthier’ oils and fats have the same high calorie content, and they all contribute to insulin resistance and hormonal problems, so minimizing them is a good idea. Here’s our approach: We help patients to learn oil-free methods in food preparation: Use a nonstick pan, sauté in water or vegetable broth, choose nonfat salad toppings, and read labels so you can buy lower-fat products. Soon, people come to prefer the lighter tastes.”

Dean Ornish, M.D.

Dr. Ornish is president and founder of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, and clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He is the author of seven bestselling books, including Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease. His Ornish Lifestyle Medicine program is a nine-week, Medicare-covered program for reversing heart disease using a very low-fat (10% of total calories) plant-based diet.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Dr. Ornish: “My lifestyle medicine program is based on science, which evolves over time as we learn more. It’s remarkable how little my recommendations have changed since I developed and studied this lifestyle medicine program for reversing heart disease almost 50 years ago.

“In 1981, for example, I began recommending that people add three grams per day of algae-based omega-3 fatty acids to their diet based on new research at the time documenting their many health benefits which were initially documented by my mentor, Dr. Alexander Leaf, who was Chief of Medicine at Harvard Medical School at the time. I remember talking at the time with a group of dietitians who said, ‘You can’t add oil to the Ornish diet!’

“In that spirit, I used to preclude seeds and nuts because they are high in oils and fat. Several years ago, I became impressed with a variety of studies showing that regular consumption of nuts and seeds is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions. Consuming approximately 15 grams of nuts and seeds daily can decrease the risk of coronary heart disease by around 20%. This is about 3–4 small handfuls a week of unsalted nuts and seeds that are not roasted in oil. Especially beneficial are walnuts, almonds, flaxseeds, pistachios, and cashews.

“While these benefits may come from nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, and magnesium, there is a germinative quality of seeds and nuts—life ready to burst forth—that we may have a hard time measuring but may play an important role. Seeds and nuts provide a broader spectrum of nutrients than added oils, which are highly processed, dense in calories, and often inflammatory.”

Garth Davis, M.D.

A board-certified bariatric surgeon and obesity medicine specialist in Houston, Texas, Dr. Davis serves as medical director of Houston Methodist Comprehensive Weight Management Center. He is the author of Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession With Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Dr. Davis: “I discuss the fact that oils are not intrinsically bad, but they are calorie dense. I recommend being conscious of the fact that they are calorie dense and so should be used cautiously.”

Do you personally avoid all added oils?

Dr. Davis: “I don’t avoid oils at all. I love olive oil. I don’t overdo oils, but I certainly don’t avoid them.”

Monica Aggarwal, M.D., FACC

Dr. Aggarwal is an adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Florida’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine where she conducts research on the impact of nutrition in chronic illness. She is the co-author of Body on Fire: How Inflammation Triggers Chronic Illness and the Tools We Have to Fight It. Notably, Aggarwal co-authored the 2024 Recipe for Heart Health Trial, which studied the impacts of olive oil and whole-food plant-based diets in 40 adults at risk for cardiovascular disease.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Dr. Aggarwal: “I tell my patients there’s no negative in having a little bit of oil, especially if you’re on the leaner side. But don’t be under the misconception that oil is good for your health. I tell people to focus on eating more fruits and vegetables, more beans and [whole plant foods] because we know for sure that when you eat those foods, the fiber, the low saturated fat, you’re going to do better.

“I think there’s more data needed in the olive oil debate. But at this point, my feeling is we don’t need olive oil or other oils for our health, but certainly there’s no significant harm in eating a little bit of oil in your diet.”

Do you personally avoid all added oils?

Dr. Aggarwal: “I eat a little bit of oil in my personal diet. … I eat very clean and I have a very good LDL and I have a normal body mass, so keep that in mind; that’s important. When I go out for a meal … I don’t restrict the oil. When I cook at home, which I primarily do, sometimes I will use maybe less than a tablespoon of oil to cook 2 pounds of lentils. So very, very little oil in general. But I’m not afraid of a little bit of oil in my diet or my family’s diet.”

Michael Greger, M.D., FACLM

Dr. Greger is a physician specializing in clinical nutrition, a founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and founder of the nonprofit NutritionFacts.org. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers How Not to Die, The How Not to Die Cookbook, How Not to Diet, and How Not to Age.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Dr. Greger: “The healthiest sources of fat are whole plant foods like nuts, seeds, and avocados. If people are going to use oil, I would recommend extra-virgin olive oil, which is better than refined vegetable oils, and refined oils are better than tropical oils and animal fats.”

Brenda Davis, RD

Brenda Davis is a registered dietitian, speaker, and consultant specializing in plant-based nutrition. She has authored/co-authored 12 books, including Plant-Powered Protein and Nourish: The Definitive Plant-based Nutrition Guide for Families.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Brenda Davis: “It depends on the individual. For those who are struggling with overweight or obesity, or chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, it makes sense to minimize or avoid oils as they are calorie-dense but nutrient-poor compared to whole foods like nuts, seeds, and avocados. To optimize the diet for effective treatment, it is best to prioritize whole plant foods over oils. On the other hand, oils can have a place in a healthy diet, as evidenced by many populations who include oils in their traditional diets, including all of the Blue Zones.

“For active individuals or those with high caloric requirements, good-quality oils can help meet energy needs without increasing the bulkiness of the diet. Also, oils have value from a culinary and cultural perspective, enhancing the flavor, texture, and enjoyment of foods.

“Of course, the health effects of oils depend on what they replace in the diet. If oils replace animal fats (e.g., butter, lard), they are beneficial. Switching from saturated fats to unsaturated vegetable oils reduces cardiovascular risk and overall mortality. However, if oils replace healthier whole plant foods, less favorable outcomes would be expected. Whole plant fats contain protective factors such as fiber, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that extracted oils lack. Oils are energy-dense and lack fiber, making them more prone to passive overconsumption of calories.

“The bottom line is that vegetable oils can be part of a healthful diet when used appropriately, but fats from whole foods remain the superior choice for long-term health.”

Do you personally avoid all added oils?

Brenda Davis: “I minimize my use of oils but do not completely avoid them. For example, I like to include a little sesame oil for flavor in a peanut sauce. I sometimes add a little oil to homemade cheeses for special occasions. I do not worry about oil avoidance when eating out (although I rarely eat out).

“The reason I am not rigid about oil avoidance is that I view oil in much the same way that I view sugar. These foods are not poisons, but they are generally best minimized. We want most of our macronutrients to be intrinsic to fiber-rich plant foods. Of course, the health impacts of oils and sugars depend on their source and quality. Organic blackstrap molasses has more value than white sugar, just as fresh-pressed flaxseed oil has more value than highly refined soybean oil.

“Unlike refined sugars, which have little redeeming value, high-quality oils typically supply essential fatty acids, vitamin E, and vitamin K, along with beneficial phytonutrients such as polyphenols in extra virgin olive oil. They also boost the absorption of valuable fat-soluble nutrients.

“My goals extend beyond human health to ethical and ecological issues. I want to see a mainstream shift toward healthy plant-based diets. I believe we will have greater success in achieving these goals if the diet is inclusive, honors cultural traditions, and allows some flexibility. We need to empower people to make healthy, plant-forward choices without creating barriers that may discourage consumers from embracing this compassionate, sustainable, healthful way of life.”

David Katz, M.D., MPH

Dr. Katz is a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine, with particular expertise in nutrition. He is the president and founder of True Health Initiative, founder and CEO of Diet ID, Inc., and a past president of The American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Dr. Katz: “Optimal diet is as optimal diet does. Per Gertrude Stein: a difference, to be a difference, must make a difference. In other words, it is outcomes—for our own health, the well-being of our fellow creatures, the sustainable health of the planet—that matter most, and in turn define the healthfulness of diet. Through these several lenses, optimal diet is a theme, not one dogmatic prescription. Bountiful evidence associates optimal outcomes with whole-food, plant-predominant (or plant-exclusive) diets with or without the inclusion of select, extracted oils—most notably, extra-virgin olive oil. My counseling accordingly makes this a choice.”

Do you personally avoid added oils?

Dr. Katz: “No. My wife was raised in southern France, and there is a strong Mediterranean influence on her cooking and our eating. High-quality EVOO is a staple in the Katz kitchen, as are several other oils (most notably, organic expeller-pressed canola) because of their uses in cuisine, their enhancement of culinary pleasure, and their compatibility with optimal health outcomes, as noted above. To be clear, we have no randomized controlled trials directly comparing optimized plant-based diets of standardized overall quality, differing only by the inclusion or exclusion of select, extracted oils. I would be very interested in such a study! Until or unless it is conducted, the evidence we have suggests parity.”

Alona Pulde, M.D., and Matthew Lederman, M.D.

Drs. Pulde and Lederman are practicing physicians specializing in nutrition and lifestyle medicine and the co-founders of WeHeal. They created the medical program used in the Forks Over Knives film and in the Whole Foods Market Medical & Wellness Centers, and co-authored the New York Times bestselling The Forks Over Knives Plan and The Whole Foods Diet.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Drs. Pulde and Lederman: “Our goal is to provide evidence-based guidance to help patients make informed choices about their health. When discussing oil, we share the following key points:

• Oil is not a health food: Oils are calorie-dense and nutrient-poor, easily leading to overconsumption and weight gain.
• Stripped of essential nutrients: Oil is pure fat, lacking fiber, protein, vitamins, and other nutrients, making it harder for the body to regulate calorie intake. Since excess fat in our diets is often already a problem, adding more fat is not the solution.
• Negative health effects: Oils raise cholesterol, impair blood vessel function, and increase the risk of heart disease, immune suppression, and possibly cancer.
• Non-essential fats: Oils, including olive oil, are high in non-essential monounsaturated fats (meaning we can make them on our own and don’t need to get them from our food). Essential fats (omega-3 and omega-6) are best obtained from whole plant-based foods. While foods like walnuts and flaxseeds are richer sources of these fats, all whole plant foods naturally contain small amounts of essential fats that, over the course of a day, meet your needs.
• Misleading marketing: The Mediterranean diet’s health benefits are due to its emphasis on whole plant-based foods, not olive oil.

“For these reasons, we advise minimizing or eliminating oil from the diet.”

Do you personally avoid added oils?

Drs. Pulde and Lederman: “We believe there is nothing beneficial that oil provides to a diet. We may consume oil on occasion, such as when dining out, traveling, or at social events where options are limited. However, whenever possible and always at home, we choose to avoid all oils, even in small amounts.”

Joel Kahn, M.D., FACC

Dr. Kahn is an integrative cardiologist; the founder of the Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity in Bingham Farms, Michigan; and the author of several books, including The Plant-Based Solution: America’s Healthy Heart Doc’s Plan to Power Your Health.

How do you counsel patients on consuming olive oil and vegetable oils?

Dr. Kahn: “I am ‘oil flexible’ with my cardiac patients. If they have advanced heart disease, weight issues, diabetes issues, or prefer to follow a no-SOS [no added salt, oil, or sugar] diet, I am completely supportive. I followed the same diet for decades and my wife still cooks that way at home. If they are not in the groups I mentioned, I recommend certain brands of organic, ice-pressed extra-virgin olive oil at a dose of about 1 to 2 tablespoons a day or less. I am unable to ignore the impressive data from the CORDIOPREV randomized trial that followed 1,002 heart patients in Spain for seven years and found impressive advantages to the higher olive oil group. I do not find the current craze labelling all seed oils as toxic to be authentic with the science but I do not use or advise them unless patients have a strong personal preference.”

Do you personally avoid added oils?

Dr. Kahn: “I am back and forth on oils in my own diet. I did decades oil-free. I owned restaurants that offered oil-free menus, unique in the food industry overall. In the last five years I have added back high-quality EVOO, but 1 tablespoon at most a day. Recently I have returned to a no-oil diet at home but it may swing back again. I do not think eating should cause profound anxiety, and I see many patients extremely tense about this topic to a point where it causes them harm and loss of joy while dining.”

The post Should We Avoid Oils for Optimal Health? Here’s Where Top WFPB Experts Stand on the Great Oil Debate appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

But not all WFPB experts agree that it’s necessary to avoid oil to reap the benefits of the diet. We also recognize that a strict no-oil stance can deter newcomers from adopting or even trying a healthy plant-based lifestyle. Our mission is to help people embrace a diet rich in whole plant-based foods—whether or not that includes small amounts of oil.

What Are Forks Flex Recipes?

To keep in step with that mission, we are introducing Forks Flex Recipes into our recipe collection. Like all FOK recipes, every Forks Flex Recipe is built around whole or minimally processed plant-based ingredients. The difference is that a Forks Flex Recipe will include a modest amount of optional oil, usually extra-virgin olive oil. The choice is yours: Exercise the oil option, or leave it out. The oil-free version will be lighter, but both versions will be vegan and cholesterol-free, with nutritionally conservative levels of fat and sodium.

What Is Forks Over Knives’ Current Guidance on Added Oils in the Diet?

The guiding principle of the WFPB diet is a focus on whole (or minimally processed) plant-based foods. Oil is not a health food and not essential to a healthy diet. For people with heart disease or major risk factors such as hypertension, high LDL cholesterol, diabetes, or obesity, avoiding or minimizing added oil is beneficial. For others, research suggests a small amount of extra-virgin olive oil or other vegetable oil is unlikely to be harmful. That being said, oils remain the world’s most calorie-dense foods, so replacing them with whole foods is always a win.

The post Introducing Forks Flex Recipes: Why Some Forks Over Knives Recipes Now Include Optional Oil appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

For specific brands that we recommend for convenience foods such as vegetable broths, crackers, breads, and more, check out our Whole-Food Vegan Grocery List.

First Things First: What to Toss

We recommend getting rid of all animal products and highly processed junk foods. Be ruthless. With those unhealthy foods no longer at your fingertips, you can’t mindlessly reach for them. This will also create space for more nourishing whole plant foods you’ll be bringing into your daily life.

• White bread, white pasta, white rice
• Cooking oils, oily salad dressings and sauces, margarine
• Dairy products (cheese, milk, yogurt, butter)
• Eggs
• Highly refined sweeteners (pure cane sugar is OK to keep for sparing use in sauces and desserts)
• Meat, poultry, and seafood

The Well-Stocked WFPB Kitchen: Your Plant-Based Pantry List

Once you’ve cleared away the animal products and highly processed foods, take a look at what’s left. You may only need to fill some gaps to have a well-stocked WFPB kitchen. Using the lists below as a guide, take stock of your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator, and make a list of what’s missing. You don’t need to buy everything on your first shopping trip. Use your judgment, choose what you’ll enjoy, and get started.

Pantry

(Tip: When shopping for canned foods, choose low-sodium or no-salt-added options.)

• Aluminum-free, low-sodium baking powder (baking powder can be surprisingly high in sodium)
• Applesauce (unsweetened)
• Arrowroot powder or cornstarch (for thickening sauces)
• Assorted canned and/or dried beans: black beans, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), kidney beans, white beans, lentils
• Canned tomato products: whole, diced, and crushed (including seasoned and fire-roasted varieties); tomato sauce; tomato paste
• Flaxseed meal (mixed with water, it makes a brilliant egg replacer)
• Flours: whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, oat flour, all-purpose flour (AP flour may be used sparingly in recipes)
• Hot sauce, such as Tabasco
• Jarred roasted red peppers
• Low- or no-sodium vegetable broth
• Natural sweeteners: pure maple syrup, brown rice syrup, fresh dates, pure cane sugar (use sparingly)
• Nuts and seeds: almonds, raw cashews, walnuts, peanuts, pepitas*
• Oil-free pasta sauces
• Popcorn kernels for air-popping
• Soy sauce and/or tamari
• Unsweetened whole grain cereals: shredded wheat, rice puffs, corn puffs, muesli
• Assorted vinegars: apple cider, rice, balsamic, red and white wine varieties
• Assorted whole grains: brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut or rolled oats, wheat berries, millet
• Whole grain crackers: rye crispbreads, whole wheat crackers, brown rice snaps
• Assorted whole grain pastas and noodles: whole wheat spaghetti and couscous, Thai-style brown rice noodles, lentil pasta

Fresh Pantry

• Garlic
• Fresh ginger
• Lemons and limes
• Onions and/or shallots
• Potatoes, sweet potatoes
• Tomatoes

Freezer

Frozen Veggies

• Frozen artichoke hearts
• Frozen carrots
• Frozen corn
• Frozen peas
• Frozen spinach
• Frozen stir-fry blends

Frozen Fruits

• Frozen blueberries
• Frozen cranberries
• Frozen mixed berries
• Frozen mango
• Frozen peaches
• Frozen pineapple
• Frozen strawberries

Frozen Cooked Grains

• Plain brown rice
• Quinoa

Refrigerator

• Condiments: mustard, ketchup, oil-free barbecue sauce, pure fruit preserves
• Dips and sauces: oil-free hummus, fresh salsa
• Assorted fresh fruit (some presliced for instant access)
• Assorted fresh vegetables (some presliced for instant access)
• Miso paste (for adding umami flavor without meat)
• Natural-style nut and seed butters: peanut butter, almond butter, tahini
• Unsweetened, unflavored plant milk, such as almond, soy, cashew, or oat (The fewer the ingredients, the better. For brands we like, see Your Whole-Food Vegan Grocery List: Oil-Free Breads, Sauces, and Other Go-To Products.)
• Tofu: extra-firm and silken (Tip: Silken tofu, which is great for creamy desserts and sauces, is often sold in aseptic packaging in the vegetarian or natural foods aisle, near the shelf-stable plant milks.)
• Whole grain bread and tortillas, corn tortillas

Spice Rack

• Basil
• Bay leaves
• Black peppercorns
• Cayenne pepper and/or chipotle chili powder
• Mild chili powder
• Cilantro
• Crushed red pepper
• Curry powder
• Dill
• Garlic powder (not garlic salt)
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground cumin
• Ground ginger
• Italian seasoning
• Marjoram
• Nutritional yeast
• Whole nutmeg
• Onion powder
• Oregano
• Paprika and/or smoked paprika
• Parsley
• Sage
• Sea salt
• Turmeric

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path. To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer.

The post How to Give Your Kitchen a Whole-Food, Plant-Based Makeover appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Editor’s Note: FOK may collect a small share of sales from some of the links on this page, though it doesn’t influence our product picks.

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If you want perfectly cooked rice every time, a countertop rice cooker is a smart investment, and Zojirushi makes some of the best. The Neuro Fuzzy’s built-in software monitors water and rice levels and adjusts cook times for perfect results—even if your measurements are less than perfect. A nonstick inner pan makes for easy serving and cleanup, and the extended keep-warm function ensures you have ready-to-eat rice whenever you need it.

Cuisinart Push Chopper | $25 $23 at Amazon

This stainless steel chopper makes quick work of all those little chopping jobs, creating perfectly minced garlic, diced onions and shallots, and chopped nuts and herbs in a matter of seconds. The enclosed base means you don’t need to break out the cutting board, and the dishwasher-safe parts are easy to clean. 

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The new study, published in January in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, examined olive oil consumption and mortality using data collected from more than 90,000 health care workers over 28 years: 60,582 women in the Nurses’ Health Study and 31,801 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

Participants completed health assessment questionnaires every two years. Every four years they answered detailed food-frequency questionnaires that asked how often, on average, they had consumed specific foods in the preceding year, including types and brands of fats and oils used for cooking and added at the table. Over the 28-years follow-up period, 36,856 participants died. 

After adjusting for known risk factors and other dietary factors, researchers found that participants who consumed more than a half tablespoon a day of olive oil were 19 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease and all other causes. They were 29 percent less likely to die of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, 17 percent less likely to die of cancer, and 18 percent less likely to die of  respiratory disease compared with those who never or rarely consumed olive oil. 

“Our findings confirm current dietary recommendations to replace animal fats with plant oils for the prevention of chronic diseases and premature death,” said the study’s lead author, Marta Guasch-Ferré, a senior research scientist in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School of Public Health. 

So Is Oil Healthy Now?

An important takeaway for WFPB eaters is that the Harvard study analyzed death rates based on different types of added fat in the diet. They did not examine the benefits of a diet with little or no added oil. Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, addressed the question in the January 20 episode of The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee podcast.  

“Olive oil is better than chicken fat, beef fat, cheese fat, dairy fat. It’s better than all these,” Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, told The Exam Room host Chuck Carroll. “Chicken fat is 30 percent saturated fat. Beef is 50 percent saturated fat. But for olive oil it’s all the way down to 14 [percent]. That’s good.” 

Then Barnard offered a big caveat: “But what if instead I get a nonstick pan and I don’t use any fat at all? That’s best of all because every gram of fat, no matter where it’s from, has 9 calories, and our research has shown that when people get away from these fats in general they do best of all. So olive oil: better than animal fats, absolutely. Slam dunk. But learning to really minimize even the oils, even the olive oil, is probably the best road,” he said.

“The researchers have tried to make the case that there’s something magical in olive oil. And there are various plant constituents, just as there are in broccoli and sweet potatoes. However the big issue seems to be you’re not eating the animal fat anymore,” Barnard added.

Indeed, while the new study found that replacing butter, mayonnaise, or dairy fat with olive oil was associated with a lower risk of total and cause-specific mortality, they found no significant risk reduction when substituting olive oil for other vegetable oils.

The study authors also noted that participants with higher olive oil intake tended to be more active than other participants and less likely to smoke. They also consumed more fruits and vegetables than those who ate less or no olive oil. 

The WFPB Case Against Oil

“There’s no question that when you get rid of all those other fats, olive oil—which is monounsaturated—is less harmful. However the point is this: It’s not to get an 18, 19 percent risk reduction when what you’re really striving for with cardiovascular disease is to eliminate it,”  said lifestyle medicine pioneer Caldwell Esselstyn, MD, author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. 

“When has Harvard ever done a study with oil where you take patients who are seriously ill with heart disease and you arrest and reverse it? That’s what we were able to achieve, along with [Dr. Dean] Ornish and others who follow this kind of approach,” Esselstyn said.

In a 2014 study published in the Journal of Family Practice, Esselstyn and colleagues tested a whole-food, plant-based diet on 198 patient volunteers with established cardiovascular disease. Of the 177 patients (89 percent) who responded to intensive counseling and stuck with the diet for a mean of 3.7 years, only one patient had a major cardiovascular event: a stroke. Meanwhile, 13 of the 21 patients who didn’t stick with the diet experienced adverse cardiac events.

In 2019, Esselstyn wrote an editorial for the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention outlining a range of studies that show oil consumption promotes vascular injury, including research published in 2000 that examined the post-meal impact of olive oil on the endothelium, a membrane that lines the heart and blood vessels and helps control vascular relaxation and contraction. The study found that meals prepared with olive oil reduced flow-mediated dilation, a measure of arterial blood flow, by 31 percent. 

Another concern with added oil is its sheer calorie density and potential to promote overeating and weight gain. 

At 4,000 calories per pound, “oil follows essentially the same model as processed sugar, which is also pressed from plants,” explain Alona Pulde, MD, and Matthew Lederman, MD, in The Forks Over Knives Plan. “Think about what oil is: fat—and nothing but fat. … Oil of any kind has more calories per gram than any other food we know. And without any fiber or water in it, oil lacks the bulk to convey to your senses how many calories you have eaten; this virtually guarantees you will consume more calories at the meal than you need.”

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

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The Exam Room

In this podcast from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, host Chuck Carroll, aka The Weight Loss Champion (he lost 265 pounds), examines nutrition science and the latest medical news with PCRM President Neal Barnard, MD, and chats with people who have transformed their lives with a plant-based diet. Learn more here. 

Plant Yourself

Howard Jacobson, a health coach, speaker, and writer (he coauthored Proteinaholic with Dr. Garth Davis and Whole with Dr. T. Colin Campbell), proves his considerable interview skills with a range of fascinating guests who are helping to heal the world the plant-based way. Learn more here.

Beat Your Genes

This podcast for “finding happiness in the modern world” captures a weekly live call-in show with host Nate G. and evolutionary psychologist Dr. Doug Lisle, director of research at TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California, and the psychologist for the McDougall wellness program. The whole-food, plant-based lifestyle frequently factors into callers’ questions and Lisle’s thoughtful advice. Learn more here.

Nutrition Rounds

Cardiologist Danielle Belardo, MD, is on a mission to educate the world about the power of a plant-based diet to prevent and reverse heart disease, and she’s had a busy few months: In February she launched the Heart Health Challenge, a seven-day event in which thousands of participants tried a whole-food plant-based diet. And in December, she kicked off a brand-new weekly podcast. Nutrition Rounds. Dr. Belardo interviews world-renowned health experts about topics such as disease prevention, plant-based nutrition, and challenges that plant-based doctors face in the medical community. Learn more here.

The Rich Roll Podcast

On his popular podcast, world-renowned ultra-endurance athlete and whole-food plant-based success story Rich Roll interviews compelling figures from all walks of life. In the four years since he started his podcast, he’s often featured plant-based movers and shakers, including vegan bodybuilder Nimai Delgado and Dr. Dean and Anne Ornish. Learn more here.

The Ian Cramer Podcast

Ian Cramer, a plant-powered competitive cyclist who completed a cross-country race in 2015, is passionate about learning and sharing all he can about plant-based nutrition. In his weekly podcast, Cramer interviews medical doctors such as John McDougall and Steve Lawenda as well as plant-based nutrition experts such as Chef AJ. Learn more here.

Brain Health and Beyond

Drs. Dean and Ayesha Sherzai are award-winning neurologists and researchers and directors of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center.  Join the plant-based power couple twice a month for a fascinating deep-dive into the science of the human mind and tools for taking control of your own brain health. Learn more here.

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

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Choose from 100+ vegan Thanksgiving recipes to create your perfect holiday meal with our Thanksgiving menu builder.

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A stent is a tiny mesh tube that doctors insert into narrowed or weakened arteries to prop them open. The procedure saves lives for people in the midst of a heart attack, but it’s also prescribed for stable heart patients with angina—the chest pain and tightness caused by limited blood flow to the heart. Even pain-free patients with arterial blockages sometimes get stents, and cost of the procedure starts at about $11,000 for people without insurance.

Patients often report relief from the procedure, but the new study, published last week in The Lancet, found no significant difference in pain relief among patients treated with stents compared to those treated with a placebo procedure.

In the randomized, controlled experiment involving 200 patients in the United Kingdom with severe narrowing of one artery, about half were treated with stents, and the other half underwent a placebo procedure. All were given drugs to reduce the risk of a heart attack and prevent blood clots. Neither the patients nor the researchers observing them during the six-week study knew who received stents and who did not.

After six weeks, all the patients reported relief in angina symptoms, and all showed an improvement on treadmill tests—regardless of whether or not they had received a stent.

“All cardiology guidelines should be revised,” wrote David L. Brown, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine and Rita F. Redberg of the University of California, San Francisco, in an editorial in the same issue of The Lancet.

“Several randomized trials have clearly shown that stents and angioplasties don’t prolong life or prevent heart attacks in stable patients. Now, we know that they don’t reduce angina either,” wrote Dean Ornish, MD, clinical professor of medicine at the University of California of San Francisco, commenting on a New York Times report of the study.

“In contrast, comprehensive lifestyle changes cause a 91 percent reduction in angina in only a few weeks, reverse the progression of coronary artery blockages, and cause a 400 percent improvement in blood flow at a fraction of the costs, and the only side-effects are good ones,” added Ornish, who is also founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California.

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