Plant-based Diet Food List

Download our free plant-based diet food list to kickstart your plant-based diet journey!

By Matt Olivares on Aug 2, 2025.

Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.

Use Template

What Are Plant-Based Diet Food Lists?

Plant-based diet food lists are specifically made for people looking to adopt a plant-based diet plan. These lists are constructed by a person about to start a plant-based diet or by dietitians creating customized plans for their clients adopting plant-based diets.

These lists suggest what vegetables, fruits, and other food to consume to get the essential nutrients, minerals, and vitamins a person needs even without animal products. They also consider any health goals a patient might have, like how much weight they want to lose and maintain.

A general plant-based diet food list contains the following:

Vegetables (e.g., spinach, lettuce, carrots, sweet potatoes, cabbages, broccoli)
Fruits (e.g., apples, bananas, mangos, oranges, grapes, avocados)
Legumes (e.g., beans, lentils, peas)
Whole grains (e.g., quinoa, whole wheat, brown rice)
Meat substitutes (e.g., tofu, tempeh, edamame)
Plant-based dairy substitutes (e.g., soy milk, yogurt, almond milk)
Plant oil, coconut oil
Herbs and spices
Natural sweeteners like maple syrup

Plant-based Diet Food List Template

Use Template

Download

Download PDF Template

How does our plant-based diet food list work?

We created a plant-based diet food list template to help people organize their lists. It can be used by people confident enough to create plant-based diet plans for themselves and dietitians.

The template we created has a lot of blank sections for customizability. All a person needs to do is to fill out the following sections when they download a copy of the PDF template:

Vegetables
Fruits
Legumes
Whole Grains
Nuts
Seeds
Meat Substitutes
Plant-based Dairy Substitutes
Herbs and Spices
Plant Oils and Sweeteners

There is also a recommendation part where dietitians can make specific recommendations and indicate what should be avoided. Or if the person using it is not a dietitian, they can write down any recommendations given by their dietitians, nutritionists, family, or friends.

Lastly, there’s a notes box. The person using the list can write what they want concerning the list and their plans. An example would be: “I will strictly follow this list every week for five months.”

When Would You Use This List?

Any time is a good time to use this plant-based diet food list template, especially if you want to make different lists every week, want to transition to a plant-based diet over time, or if you need to make adjustments to your client’s weekly meal plans.

Here are other times when you’d like to use this list:

When you or a client must adjust their diet because of an underlying condition.

Some people adopt plant-based diet plans not because they want to but due to an underlying health condition like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, etc. By following plant-based diet plans, they can lower the risk of these problems from ruining their health further and allow them to live healthily.

When You or a Client Has Health Goals to Attain

Some people don’t have any significant health issues but are at risk of having them. One way for them to lower that risk and live a healthy lifestyle is to start following a plant-based diet. They can also adopt it to lose and maintain a healthy weight, so if they’ve been meaning to shed their fat, they can do so by following a plant-based diet and exercising regularly.

When You or a Client Have Ethical and Environmental Values to Uphold

If you or your client is against the consumption of animals and would like to live a life devoid of meat, then adopting a plant-based diet is great! Eating vegetables and fruits has a lower environmental impact, less GHG emissions, and uses fewer resources than meat diets.

What Are the Benefits of Having a Plant-Based Diet?

Non-stressful Weight Loss Over Time

One of the best things about plant-based diet plans is that they promote weight loss because fruits, vegetables, animal product alternatives, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and seeds have fewer calories than meat and other food. If you don’t exercise all the time, adopting this diet plan will still yield significant weight loss results over time, even if you don’t exercise that much!

Lowers the Risk of Cancer and Other Problems

Plant-based diets provide people with essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that keep cells healthy.

These diets often result in weight loss. Maintaining a healthy weight will lessen the risk of having cancer.

These diets can also help balance blood pressure to prevent hypertension. They can also help prevent inflammations and lessen the damage they can cause.

Healthier Digestion

Plant-based food will always be rich in fiber. Food with sufficient fiber content helps maintain hunger and blood sugar levels. It also helps gut flora, which will lead to a healthy digestive system and prevent constipation.

A Healthier Heart

A person following a plant-based diet will avoid taking in high amounts of cholesterol and saturated fat. This significantly lessens the risk of a person having cardiovascular disease.

Commonly asked questions

Yes. It’s possible to build muscle while on a completely plant-based diet. Meat substitutes like tofu and tempeh have protein. Lentils, quinoa, almonds, and potatoes also provide protein. Add those to your diet plan and exercise regularly to build muscle.

‍

Start by slowly introducing plants and fruits to your diet. You don’t have to make your diet predominantly plant-based suddenly. Add a little, then increase the amount and kinds of fruits and vegetables to your meal plans until you are used to consuming more fruit and vegetables than animal products.

‍

To count all these per meal serving, you must study and learn how to read nutritional values. If you don’t have the time to learn all that, it’s best to consult a dietitian or nutritionist. They are knowledgeable about food intake, so you can work with them to create a customized plant-based diet plan that gives you the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and minerals your body needs.

‍