The Plantpower Way: Whole Food Plant-Based Recipes and Guidance for The Whole Family: A Cookbook

by Rich Roll

Finally, this tiny seed is highly utilitarian. Add a tablespoon to your morning blend; sprinkle them on your breakfast cereal; create puddings; and add them to your salads or rice and vegetable dishes for an extra superfood kick.

Pick up a bag of shelled hemp seeds at your local health market or online, and don’t miss an opportunity to add a tablespoon or two to your morning smoothies, salads, cereals, and vegetable dishes.

Available in both powder and liquid form, spirulina is a daily addition to my morning green smoothie.

I mix Cordyceps in powder form in my preworkout smoothies and juices and often in my postworkout blends as well.

I prefer to drink turmeric in a tea—½ teaspoonful dissolved in hot water does the trick.

Simply grind the green beans and prepare in a French press like normal coffee.

Suma is a ginseng-like adaptogen extracted from a root native to Brazil that is linked to improved immune system functionality and hormonal regulation. Combine with (American) ginseng, ashwagandha (Indian ginseng), and Eleutherococcus (Siberian ginseng) to create a potent combination that promotes longevity and stress management—normalizing and balancing emotional and physical energy levels. Take in capsules (easily sourced online) or brew into a tea.

Available in supplement form, I like Navitas Naturals Organic Camu Powder. Add a teaspoon to a cup of juice or a smoothie (the taste is tart, a bit like orange juice itself).

Available in capsule and powder form, brew it into a tea or add it to juice or your morning smoothie.

Very affordable versions of Pu-erh are widely available—I recommend checking out Living Tea (livingtea.net).

Cilantro—helps in detoxifying heavy metals from the body, so it’s a must ingredient in our juices and blends.

Fresh turmeric root—this is a natural anti-inflammatory antibiotic we use almost every day in our blends and juices.

Most meals can benefit from a squeeze at the final moment before serving. Use lemon in salad dressings and daily blends.

Try ripe juicy pears with a side of raw dates and walnuts. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top

add frozen berries daily to your Plantpowered blends.

Goji berries—lower cholesterol and improve skin health. Some say eating these berries improves sexual functionality.

Bold in taste, mushrooms are richly satisfying in gravies and risotto. Sauté them and serve over fresh crisp greens for a salad variation.

Banana—great sources of potassium for the pesky muscle cramp, we use these in daily blends, puddings, and pie fillings.

Kiwi—loaded with vitamin C. Remove the skins and juice them for a great kids’ juice. Juicing them removes the coarse texture of the seeds that can feel scratchy on the throat.

Asafoetida powder—also known as “hing,” this Indian spice is derived from fennel and reminiscent of leeks. It’s a digestive aid that reduces the gas in beans.

Raw organic seaweed—a great addition to a green vegetable smoothie blend.

Maca—Mayan superfood and endurance booster. Rich loves this in his morning smoothies.

Apple cider vinegar—balancing with an alkalizing effect on the body. Try a tablespoon in filtered water daily in the morning.

Because in creativity, there are no mistakes—only new ways of creating.

The foundation of your blend should always be dark leafy greens like kale and spinach.

Preworkout, keep it relatively light. A simple green juice is great or a light blend of kale, spirulina, pineapple, and hemp seeds will hit the spot and get you out the door for that early-morning training session.

Post-workout, it’s important to get a recovery blend high in protein, electrolytes, and glycogen into your system within thirty minutes of your training session.

When motivation wanes, a fortified green juice could be just the inspiration you need to hop on your bike or hit the gym. If you can get a fresh juice in mid-ride, you’ll be smiling.

Try to keep your juices predominantly vegetable-based, limiting fruit, raw beets, and carrots.

Get used to drinking one robust glass of “salad” for breakfast. Pour the remaining contents of your blender into a thermos. Take it with you to sip throughout the day to stave off cravings and keep your energy levels high.

Beet Parsley Apple Blood fortifying, vitamin K, energizing. A great preworkout boost.

Turmeric Orange Ginger Super anti-inflammatory, mood lifting, and activating. A wellness powerhouse and perfect post-workout.

The United States is the most prosperous nation in the world, and yet our citizenship has been comprehensively reduced to consumerism. A culture in which our primary directive is the quest to accumulate this stuff, or at least more than our friends and neighbors. Buy and ye shall be happy. But what have we truly purchased? In the words of my favorite poet, Henry David Thoreau, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” our lives prostrate at the altar of the false gods of our instant-gratification society.

To be fair, fear retained a strong foothold of precious real estate in my consciousness. It still does. But I found the wherewithal to nonetheless propel forward in the face of it.

Because pursuing life premised on faith and passion isn’t about thinking—it’s what thinking was designed to prevent. It’s not logical in any way, shape, or form. It threatens every dark corner of identity, status quo, and our hardwired drive for social acceptance and approval. A terrifying reveal of “identity” as pure fiction—mere stories we tell ourselves about who we are and why we do what we do to comfort us against the paralyzing unknowable—that forces us and others to confront the truth about choices made.

To echo Thoreau, we need not lead lives of quiet desperation.

This is your call to action. Set aside your preconceived notions. Let go of habits that don’t serve you. Challenge your self and your assumptions. Invest in adventure. Do whatever it takes to find and unlock that thing that makes your heart beat hardest. Then take the leap. And embrace the struggle that follows. In fact, welcome it with every fiber of your being. Throw yourself into the muck, put yourself on the line, and stare it right in the face. But most of all? Dream big. Whatever the result, seize the opportunity to learn something about yourself. Apply it. Grow. Then watch as a better, more authentic self begins to surface.

I’m here to say it’s worth the journey. And at the end of the day, there is nothing but the journey. Because destination is pure illusion.

Our minds are mischievously clever. Time and again, they pull us back to the past and yank us forward into the future. Our perception of the world—and the story we tell ourselves about who we are—is completely colored by half-baked memories and imagined projections. But in truth this is all illusion, fabricated by the errant meanderings of our wayward-thinking minds. The only objective truth is the present moment—the now.

know that you are loved simply for your presence, the way you are right now, in this moment.

What is cooking if not an art form? From the mandala of fresh whole foods and spices carefully selected for each dish to the mindful manner in which it is prepared, presented, and enjoyed, every meal is a unique manifestation of your authentic voice.

Be free and unencumbered in your cooking style. Break the rules like a rock star! My point is that there is no right or wrong—only infinite possibilities to embrace and explore. If you attempt something that doesn’t quite work, it’s still a valuable experience—congratulations for trying! Don’t sweat the details. Choose to fail and learn something new.

Unlike a painting or a sculpture, food is an impermanent, fleeting art form. A momentary artistic offering, the enjoyment of which necessitates its destruction.

Think you’re not an artist? Of course you are! Everyone has something special to offer. Go for it! Creative expression is what makes a meal, in a word,

beautiful. Go ahead and find your creative voice in food and feel the power it has to transform your dining experience.

And to all those out there who feel stuck, lost, in a rut, or just unable to transcend habits or behaviors that no longer serve you, understand that we are with you. You are all an integral and vital part of this movement. Keep rising. We are with you in each breath and in every moment. This book is for you.