163: The Plant-Based Trifecta

Many years ago, I was on vacation and stayed with a friend for part of my trip. As I was leaving, she said, “I’ve never met somebody with the willpower as you. You have such strong willpower to eat the way that you do.”

I remember feeling confused since I wasn’t using willpower at all.

I don’t eat a whole-food plant-based diet because I have perfect self-control.

I eat this way because I genuinely love it. I crave it. I can’t imagine eating any other way.

That’s when it clicked.

When people struggle to eat a whole-food plant-based diet consistently, it’s often because they’re relying on willpower.

But when you truly love the food you’re eating, you don’t have to force yourself to choose it.

You just eat this way, it’s a part of your life.

Over the past decade of helping thousands of people transition to a whole-food plant-based lifestyle, I’ve noticed a pattern.

The people who no longer feel like they’re “trying” to eat this way consistently get three things right with their meals.

I call it the plant-based trifecta, and I’ll tell you all about it in this episode.

• I’ll share the exact trifecta that will transform the way you eat plants
• Why healthy eating has way less to do with willpower than you’ve been led to believe
• How to eat enough food to feel physically full
• Why nutrients matter just as much as calories when it comes to feeling satisfied
• How flavor, texture, color, and variety make healthy food crave-worthy
• Easy ways to tweak your meals when something feels like it’s missing
• How to build meals you genuinely look forward to eating

Helpful links:

• Start a free trial to Meal Plan Club
• Drop It Club: Plant-Powered Weight Loss

Transcript, auto-generated, may have errors

Hey there, this is Molly, and thank you for listening to this episode of the Clean Food Dirty Girl Podcast. It’s just me and you today. So get cozy, let’s hang out, and let’s talk about plants and how to eat more of them.

When I really think about eating a whole food plant-based diet, I always think back many years ago to a friend. I was staying with her for part of a vacation, and she was really impressed by how well I ate. At the end of the visit, as we were saying goodbye, she said, “You know, I’ve just never met somebody with such willpower as you. You have such strong willpower to eat the way that you do.”

I’ve talked about this before on the podcast and in love letters, but I always think back to that because as she was saying this, there was a big disconnect for me. I realized that I did not think about it as willpower at all. She thinks I’m trying really hard to do this, and I’m not. This is just what I want to do. I do this because I truly prefer it to what everybody else is eating. That was an “aha” moment for me. I realized that a lot of people think that to eat really healthy or to eat a whole food plant-based diet, you need willpower. You think you need to will yourself to eat this way, white-knuckle cravings, or try really hard. That has never been the case for me.

I know other people who have done this for a long time, and it’s the same thing for them. They’re like, “No, I’m not trying. I just do this because I prefer it, because I want to, because I look forward to eating this way, because I think this way of eating is delicious, because I feel so good, and because I can’t imagine eating any other way.”

That was a really good framework for me as a reminder that when I talk to people about this, I really need to get the message across that this isn’t about willpower. What this is all about is understanding and learning how to crave the food that really loves you back, to love the food that really loves you back, and to truly prefer eating the food that really loves you back. Once that’s the case, then there’s no more trying; you just do it. But there is a bit of a learning curve, and that might not happen right away for everyone. A lot of that depends on the food that you’re eating.

I’ve thought about this a lot, and I came up with sort of a trifecta that plant-based eating needs to have to satisfy people in a way that really makes them prefer eating this way. When I started breaking it down, I realized this is actually really helpful. I did a webinar a few months ago—it was kind of a last-minute thing and we didn’t have a replay. There was a lot of really good feedback and people wanted a replay, so I wanted to take the main idea of that webinar and share it with you in a podcast. Even if you’ve eaten plant-based for a long time or if you’re new to this, this is going to be helpful for you to look at it in this way.

I think once you hear how I break this down, you’re going to be able to look at the way that you’re eating. If you want to eat more plants and you’re just not, if you’re wanting to be more consistent and you find yourself feeling like you “should” do this or you’re using a lot of willpower, looking at this trifecta will help you identify which area you can put some attention to. This will change your experience from somebody “trying” to do this to somebody who is doing this because they love it and they get excited about it.

So, let’s dive in. There are three areas. I like to think about this like a three-legged stool. If you have only two legs, the stool is going to be wonky and you’re going to fall on your ass. If you have only one, the stool will fall over as well. But if you have three, it balances perfectly. You can sit down and be solid. Each of these three parts works really well together, and I believe you need all three in order to make this way of eating part of your life and your routine.

Leg 1: Eating Enough (Fullness)

The first one is making sure that you’re eating enough food and that your portions are big enough. I see this all the time in our “Drop It” group—this is our plant-powered weight loss club. So many people come through there, and the first thing they learn is, “Wow, I’m not eating enough. My portions are just too small.”

Making sure you’re eating enough food is the physical part. Our stomachs have receptors on the lining. When you eat enough food for those receptors to feel—when your stomach expands—your receptors will be activated and you’re going to feel full. Now, when you feel physically full to the point of discomfort, it’s a sign that you’ve eaten too much. You don’t ever want to feel full to that point. It’s a balancing act: making sure you’re getting enough food, but not so much that it doesn’t feel good.

This takes getting curious and mindful. Pay attention to how your body feels after you’ve eaten. If you ate this much and felt really full, tomorrow try an eighth or a quarter less and see how you feel. You don’t want to be hungry after you eat. You want to find that sweet spot of “enough” food.

Leg 2: Satiety (The Biological Part)

The second leg is aiming for being satiated. When you experience satiety, it is a biological thing. Eating enough and feeling full is physical; feeling satiated is biological. This is when your body has received the nutrients and calories it needs to start shutting off those hunger signals.

Leg 3: Satisfaction (The Emotional Part)

The third leg is being satisfied. This is the emotional component. Satiety is biological, but satisfaction is when your brain signals that the experience of eating something was rewarding. This has to do with flavors, textures, and aromas. Everything is hitting the pleasure centers of your brain, and your brain sends a signal that it was a rewarding experience.

Having all three—Fullness (physical), Satiety (biological), and Satisfaction (emotional)—sets you up.

Fullness is about volume. You need fiber and bulk so you aren’t physically hungry an hour after you eat. If you’re eating really small portions of healthy food, it’s not going to be enjoyable. You need to eat a lot of plants to feel like you’ve had enough. Keep in mind, a whole food plant-based diet is not calorie-dense; it is nutrient-dense. This is all about volume.

If you’re switched from a calorie-dense meal—like chicken with white rice and cheesy broccoli—to tofu and greens, beans, and veggies, a small portion is not going to be enough. It won’t have the calories to fill you up. Whole food plant-based foods have bulk from fiber and water, so you need more volume to get the calories you need. If you’re used to weighing things and limiting portions, you have to compensate for shifting to this way of eating by eating more food.

Satiety is about nutrients. You need macronutrients—carbohydrates, fats, and proteins—but you also need micronutrients: vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. Fiber is lumped in there as well. You need both to signal to your body to stop sending hunger signals.

If you eat something nutrient-void, like white rice or french fries with ketchup, you might get the calories, but your body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs. You may feel full, but you’re not going to feel satiated. The body will still be searching because it didn’t get what it needs. Satiety is about nutrient density.

Satisfaction is about flavor. This is where Clean Food Dirty Girl really shines. Many of you are members and know about the “mouthgasm.” Our food is satisfying because we know flavor. Flavor is not just taste. Taste is like a violin, and flavor is the whole orchestra. It involves sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami, but also texture—creamy, crunchy, chewy, crispy.

Part of flavor is visual appeal. Taste is limited to the mouth, but flavor uses all the senses. It determines how pleasurable a meal was. It’s also the complexity of layers: the crunch from a seed, creaminess from a cashew sauce, heat from a chili, or a cooling finish from cilantro. The more layered, the more rewarded your brain is. Flavor also includes temperature and mouthfeel, your mood, and your surroundings. One of the most important aspects is those layered textures.

Why You Need All Three

You need the fullness, the satiety, and the satisfaction. Here is why:

• You can have something healthy and delicious, but if the portions are too small, you’re still going to be hungry.
• Something can be delicious and the portions can be big enough, but if it is low in nutrients, you’ll feel full but you’ll still be searching or craving something.
• Something can be healthy and enough food, but if it’s bland, you’ll be physically satisfied but mentally looking for something better.

The goal is to have all three. When those work together, this becomes really enjoyable. You start to crave big salads, roasted squash tacos with pinto beans, and cilantro cashew cream sauce. This way of eating naturally checks all three of those boxes, especially when following our meal plans because we focus so much on the flavor department.

How to Apply This

Ask yourself: when you eat, which one is typically missing? For the next few meals, keep this in mind. Did I get enough food? Am I satiated?

Knowing if you are satiated requires paying attention to how at peace you are after a meal. When I’ve eaten a nutrient-dense meal, I feel satisfied on a cellular level. It’s a quiet satisfaction; your body saying, “I got what I needed.” Try to have as few distractions as possible. Instead of looking at your phone or watching a show, finish your meal, pause, and close your eyes.

If you feel like your heart is racing, you’re jittery, or you feel distracted and empty, that’s the opposite of satiety. Generally, when we have enough calories and nutrients, we feel calm.

If you eat something and feel it’s boring or bland, then the satisfaction piece is missing. Once you notice which one is typically missing, you have a roadmap. When you incorporate all three consistently, it’s not about willpower; you truly prefer this way of eating.

Action Steps

• If fullness is missing: If you’re consistently over-full, put an eighth or a quarter less on your plate. If you’re still hungry after you eat, add more.
• If satiety is missing: Focus on upping nutrient density. Add more colors. The “rainbow” of greens, oranges, and purples is packed with phytonutrients.
• If satisfaction is missing: Add textures. I like a minimum of three textures in whatever I’m eating. If you have a blended soup, add chopped herbs and roasted pumpkin seeds. If you have a creamy soup, have something crunchy on the side like endive or cucumbers.

Try these out and see if you can get all three components working together. I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment on Spotify or Apple and let us know what you think. If you haven’t left a review for the podcast yet, please do—it helps other people find us.

I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day. Go eat some plants. I’ll talk to you next time. Bye!