VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good

by Mark Bittman

UNLIMITED FOODS Fruit, most vegetables, most condiments, and all herbs and spices form the foundation of your diet. Eat freely and luxuriously from this category. VEGETABLES Vegetables are without question the healthiest and most expansive family of foods. All offer vital nutrients and the best nutrient-to-calorie ratio, most provide lots of fiber, and they come in a variety of colors, textures, and flavors to keep you interested and satisfied from one meal to the next. If you haven’t explored all of the types on this list—which is by no means exhaustive—now is your chance. And it doesn’t matter whether they’re raw or cooked: Just Eat Them. Here’s a hardly exhaustive but representative rundown (a few exceptions are among the Flexible Foods listed below): • Cabbage-like vegetables and greens: All lettuces and salad greens, spinach, watercress, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli raab, bok choy (and other Asian greens), kale, collards, chard, escarole, dandelion, chicory, endive • Nightshades (the fruits of the vegetable world): Eggplant, bell peppers, chiles, tomatoes, tomatillos • Stalk or stem vegetables: Celery, fennel, asparagus, mushrooms, artichokes, cardoons, kohlrabi, cactus • Edible-pod legumes: Green and wax beans, snow peas, snap peas • Root vegetables and tubers: Carrots, radishes, beets, celery root, turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, sweet potatoes, yams, jícama • Summer squashes: Zucchini, yellow, pattypan • Winter squashes: Pumpkin, butternu...