Primarily, these are the easy-to-grow, easy-to-access, and easy-to-prepare, everyday ingredients we are all familiar with: leafy greens, vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts, and whole grains.

Adopting a healthy, more plant-based diet doesn’t require unique, expensive ingredients that are impossible to find except in upscale grocery stores (hello, Whole Foods). It doesn’t require expert cooking skills, nor do we need high-priced supplements and protein powders, which some people would literally need a second job to afford on a regular basis.

If you are at all skeptical or unsure about the benefits of a plant-based diet, know that recent research supports what our ancestors knew intuitively. Plant-based diets are cost-effective because they are healthier, and they have a positive impact on many of the symptoms and chronic conditions that affect people in the twenty-first century.

Plant Protein: Beans, Grains, Seeds, Nuts, Tofu, Seitan, Vegetables

Animal Protein: Meat, Seafood, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Milk, Cheese, Eggs

If a plant-based diet is so good for us, it begs the question: Are humans really meant to be omnivores, creatures who consume both plants and animals for sustenance? That we are is self-evident. But the most accurate answer to whether we should be is: it’s complicated.

To varying degrees, human physiology indicates that we evolved primarily as plant eaters. First, we have wonderful flexible hands, naturally short nails, and opposable thumbs. Our dexterous hands allow us to grab large round foods like mangoes and apples, peel a banana, and use tools.

Our gorgeous, pearly white teeth feature flat molars that allow us to grind and chop plants for easy digestion. Then, the acids and enzymes in our stomach work well at breaking down sugars and other complex carbohydrates and plant protein.

Of course, our enzymes can break down animal proteins as well, but those enzymes are not as effective on animal flesh, and our gastric juices often benefit by getting help, such as from other highly acidic ingredients and spices.

Our liver is better equipped to process plants, with a high intolerance for uric acid (a by-product of the digestion of animal flesh). Then, there are our intestines: a fantastic set of organs roughly thirty feet long. This design allows our body to absorb minerals and nutrients, break down debris, and eliminate waste in roughly twelve to 18 hours, keeping us looking and feeling fabulous.

The USDA recommends an intake of 0.36 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. Under this parameter, a 150-pound woman needs 54 grams of protein per day—the amount in a burger patty plus a small chicken breast.

Some experts believe the USDA recommendation is actually too high. So, while experts in the field are telling us to eat less food in general, the average US adult consumes as much as 110 grams of protein a day, twice the recommended amount.

Meanwhile, nearly every plant has some protein (complete or incomplete). Here are some of the easiest, tastiest, most popular sources of protein in the plant world:

The human body is well-designed for eating plants. Not only that, but we thrive on a plant-based diet. All primates are primarily herbivores (most eat insects on occasion), even though our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, are also omnivores. Yet while some primates do eat an occasional animal, they still get most of their nutrients, including protein, from plants.

Animal flesh and its derivatives (milk, eggs, and other by-products like cheese) also have an added disadvantage for us. They promote an acidic environment in the human body, which doesn’t happen in the case of natural carnivores like lions, wolves, and domestic cats.

Our digestive tract is simply not designed to process animal flesh as effectively, and the length of the intestines can cause the flesh to linger longer than it should, leading to the retention of toxins, protein by-products like ammonia or uric acid (which when retained in large amounts can become toxic), and a highly acidic internal environment.

This acidic environment can then lead to an inflammatory response in our digestive tract and even in other organs. The walls in our large intestine will reabsorb and circulate all those toxins and by-products, leading to a never-ending loop of inflammation.

This response manifests in an array of preventable conditions like clogged arteries, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, weight gain, and early signs of aging, to name a few. These pesky conditions are the root of many of the life-threatening diseases plaguing human communities today.

Exactly when ancestral humans started eating animals is unknown. But starting about 2.6 million years ago, evidence exists that early human species used sharp weapons to slice animal flesh and blunt objects like rocks to break the bones and extract the marrow. Scientists believe that this meat eating caused a significant evolutionary change that led to larger brains and the eventual evolution of the modern human species.

That doesn’t mean early humans stopped eating fruits, nuts, and seeds and started eating meat exclusively. Rather, throughout our long history as hunter-gatherers, it is believed that early humans consumed plants and animals at a ratio of two to one.

That is, their diet was two-thirds plants, including roots, and one-third animal flesh. This ratio persisted even after humans learned to use fire and developed even more sophisticated tools to hunt and cook. Humans continued to consume a wide variety of foods, and most of what was consumed was from the plant world.

Of course, things changed starting around 13,000 to 10,000 ago, as humans domesticated plants and animals and developed agriculture, which allowed for people to settle in cities and led to modern civilization.

The incredible variety of the human diet narrowed as people came to eat mainly domestic crops and livestock. People also became experts in preserving and storing both meats and plants, which reduced the need to hunt or gather wild animals and plants.

Excerpted from the book from Reclaiming Wellness: Ancient Wisdom for Your Healthy, Happy, and Beautiful Life. Copyright ©2022 by Jovanka Ciares. Printed with permission from New World Library.

Jovanka Ciares is the author of “Reclaiming Wellness: Ancient Wisdom for Your Healthy, Happy, and Beautiful Life,” and several other titles. A certified wellness expert, integrative herbalist, nutrition educator, and coach, she offers lectures and workshops in Spanish and English.

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