49ers meet with Ohio State's Joey Bosa at Pro Day

So what does a plant-based diet look like in practice? I touched on that a bit in by reviewing an example grocery list and what I made with all the food…but I think in general we present a lot information in support of a plant-based diet and a lot of recipes but not much of a practical guide. So here’s the beginning of a three-part blueprint!

I hope it will address the 3 biggest perceived obstacles to improving your diet:

It’s expensive It’s hard to get enough protein It’s hard (to grocery shop, to eat out, to prepare food)

Part I will cover the why (FAQ), Part II the what (daily meal options), and Part III the how (a weekly menu, eating out, shopping tips).

First things first, the FAQ!

It’s expensive: A vegan diet that relies on packaged fake this and faux that can be expensive; a whole food diet based on vegetables, fruits, dried beans, and whole grains, though, is the cheapest available. Between us, Derek and I eat enough for four non-bodybuilding adults and our grocery bill is now around $175/week or $15 a day per person (we eat out a few times). Again, see for details. It’s hard to get enough protein: From the highly recommended book Eat to Live: Which has more protein – oatmeal, ham, or a tomato? The answer is that they all have about the same amount of protein per calorie. The difference is, the tomato and the oatmeal are packaged with fiber and other disease-fighting nutrients, and the ham is packaged with cholesterol and saturated fat…I see about twenty to thirty new patients per week, and I always ask them, “Which has more protein – one hundred calories of steak or one hundred calories of broccoli?” When I tell them it’s broccoli the most frequent response