Whole Food Plant Based Resources for the Initiated

These resources are aimed at those who already know about the benefits of whole food plant-based nutrition, but want to go deeper or are looking for reference material:

Databases & Numbers Related to Food

1. BeFoodSmart – Rates food additive in terms of safety with a simple A-B-C-D rating system plus references.
2. Beyond Pesticides – database of research articles on pesticides and their relation to disease.
3. Goodguide – database about chemicals & cancer
4. What’s on my food – detailed data on the number of pesticides on different foods (see also EWG)
5. Food Inflammatory Scores – I’m not aware that this is validated, but still interesting
6. Glycemic Index & Load – database 1,   database 2
7. Diet Grail list of food databases (eg sugars, K2, protein, iron, minerals)
8. Self Nutrition Data – Database of nutrient inf on 1000’s of foods, caloric ratio, detailed analysis.
9. USDA Resources:
   1. Interactive Calculator for RDAs
   2. Tables for RDAs  – broken down by gender & age.
   3. Food Composition Database – 1000’s of unprocessed and processed foods.

Good Information Sources About Food & Disease Prevention

1. Nutritionfacts.org (Dr Greger – over 1800 referenced videos on diet & health)
2. World’s Healthiest Foods – nice referenced summaries of health benefits of different foods.
3. Food Facts (Dr Mercola) – by an osteopath (not vegetarian), some advice is controversial
4. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – excellent group which also does research:
   1. NutritionMD – many resources including CME & nutritional aspects of many diseases
   2. Publications & Fact Sheets – numerous topics, usually referenced (more here).
5. T Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies – offers a certificate in plant-based nutrition.
6. Green Med Info – huge database of scientific abstracts on food and natural health topics
7. Plant Based Research – Searcheable database of recent papers about plant-based nutrition
8. Plantrician Project Resources – multiple resources to assist people transitioning to a plant-based diet
9. National Resources Defense Fund – multiple resources on toxins, pesticides, etc
10. University of Maryland – Alternative Medicine Guide – updated lists of medical conditions, herbs, supplements
11.  WebMD Vitamin & Supplement Center – referenced articles on supplements & conditions.
12. Today’s Dietician – referenced articles & nice CME (eg flax seeds).

Physicians with programs based on these principles:

1. Dr Caldwell Esselstyn’s Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Program
2. Dr John McDougall’s Health and Medical Center
3. Dr Ornish Lifestyle Medicine