Calorie Density

A striking difference between this book and Matt’s first one, No Meat Athlete, is that every recipe in this one is oil-free or includes an easy oil-free option. So what’s the deal with oil?

Even a cursory glance at the books and documentaries in the plant-based nutrition world turns up doctor after doctor (Neil Barnard, T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn, John McDougall, Fuhrman, and Greger, to name a few) discussing the benefits of a “whole food, plant-based diet.” Oil is such a part of our culture’s cooking that it’s easy to assume that oil (especially the much-lauded extra virgin olive oil) is healthy and whole. But a closer look reveals that when vegan doctors talk about whole foods, oil is not one of them.