From the best-selling authors of The Change comes a new cookbook based on Dr. Stoll’s Immersion program for weight loss and better health. Imagine dishes that can reduce your cholesterol, lower your blood pressure, boost your immune system, and decrease your odds of getting cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and a host of other all-too-common health problems. Now imagine that the dishes are also delicious and easy to make. Here, in this new book, are over 175 recipes that can truly change your life for the better.
The book begins by explaining why a diet that emphasizes whole plant-based foods is central to a healthy lifestyle. You then learn how to go about stocking your pantry and equipping your kitchen for success. Following this, the authors guide you in using a handful of simple cooking techniques that will enable you to prepare the dishes presented in the book. Along the way, they provide valuable tips that will smooth your transition from your current way of eating to a diet that will please your palate as it improves your well-being.

The next eleven chapters of The Change Cookbookpresents over 175 kitchen-tested recipes. Included are satisfying breakfast choices, nutrient-packed juices and smoothies, creamy dips and spreads, taste-tempting sauces and condiments, sensational salads, delectable sandwiches and burgers, fabulous main dishes, hearty one-bowl meals, steaming soups and stews, and creative side dishes. Finally, the authors provide a collection of fantastic desserts, including cookies, pies, fruit crisps and squares, puddings, and much more. Each recipe offers easy-to-follow directions that ensure success, and each dish is as nourishing as it is scrumptious. is divided into two parts. Part One begins with the journey taken by each author to develop such a cookbook.

Everyone has the power to restore and maintain good health through a whole food plant-based diet. The Change Cookbook guides the reader in doing so, one satisfying meal at a time.

Milan Ross was born and raised in Saint Louis, Missouri, and graduated from Central Visual and Performing Arts High School with a passion for the arts. After pursuing a career in the music industry and getting married, his family was faced with a health crisis, which required him to find a job that provided health insurance to cover mounting medical bills. In 2012, Milan walked away from his career in music and took a position with Whole Foods Market. This fateful decision changed not only Milan’s life but also the life of each member of his family.

As an overweight individual, Milan was intrigued by the health retreat offered by Whole Foods to its employees in need. He soon applied and was accepted. After attending Dr. Stoll's Immersion program in 2013, Milan lost over two hundred and twenty-five pounds. The story of his dramatic transformation broke nationally on the cover of Vegan Lifestyle Magazine. It has since been featured in several national magazines and highlighted in the feature-length documentary film Eating You Alive. In addition, Milan has developed his own organic health food line, Full Flavor Vegan (www.fullflavorvegan.com).

Today, through his many speaking engagements across the United States, Milan has made it his life's mission to help people attain optimal health and change their lives. Milan lives with his wife and son in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, where they are actively involved in serving their church and community.

Scott Stoll, MD, received his medical degree from the University of Colorado. He is board certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and specializes in regenerative medicine, utilizing natural treatments, diet, and lifestyle to aid the body in healing chronic disease and injuries.

Prior to receiving his MD, he was a member of the 1994 US Olympic Bobsled team, and he currently serves as a physician for USA Bobsled & Skeleton. He is also cofounder of the Plantrician Project and the International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference; has served as a member of the Whole Foods scientific and medical advisory board; is athletic team physician for Lehigh University; and is department chairman of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Coordinated Health.

Beyond conducting his popular "Dr. Stoll's Immersion" program several times a year, Dr. Stoll is the author of Alive! A Physician’s Biblical & Scientific Guide to Nutrition as well as numerous scientific articles, and also contributed chapters to the book Rethink Food. Dr. Stoll can be heard on his daily radio program, Health Minutes, in the Lehigh Valley, on Channel 60 TV's "health minutes," and in lectures nationally and internationally. He has also appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, The Marilu Henner Show, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and Daystar Television. Dr. Stoll and his wife, Kristen, live in Pennsylvania with their four sons and two daughters, where they, too, are actively involved in their church and community organizations.

Acknowledgments, vii

Introduction, 1
1. The Basics, 3
2. Breakfast, 27
3. Juices and Smoothies, 53
4. Dips, Spreads, and Appetizers, 61
5. Sauces, Condiments, and Toppings, 77
6. Salads and Dressings, 89
7. Sandwiches, Wraps, and Burgers, 107
8. Main Dishes, 121
9. Hearty Bowls, 135
10. Soups and Stews, 149
11. Side Dishes, 159
12. Desserts, 173

Metric Conversion Tables, 188
Index, 189
About the Authors, 202

Introduction

MILAN ROSS
Change is not always easy. Sometimes it occurs because of outside influences, and sometimes it comes from within. When I began my own journey of change, I tipped the scales at about 450 pounds. I was fortunate enough to work for a company—Whole Foods Market—that offered a free wellness program to those employees lucky enough to be selected. The program consisted of a week-long stay at a beautiful beach resort. Each morning, participants attended either a lecture or a workshop. The afternoons were free. The doctor in charge of the “Immersion” program, as it was called, was Dr. Scott Stoll. His mission was simple. He would provide those attending the retreat with a working knowledge of why most people get sick and then explain how the disease process could be stopped and even reversed through diet. For one week, all the participants were put on a plant-based meal plan prepared by a top chef.

During the time I was privileged to spend with Scott and his staff, each day was a revelation
as I learned about my health—and about myself. I ate meals I would have never have eaten on my own. As the name of the program implies, that week, I was completely immersed in a healthy lifestyle and a flood of truly eyeopening information. This forced me to reevaluate the way I had lived my life up to that point. The more I learned, the more I realized that I had it within myself to control what I consumed. The prediabetes, the high blood pressure, and the aches and pains that came with carrying all that extra weight could disappear if I committed myself to making them disappear. I thought about my wife and young son, and how my size had prevented me from doing so many things with them. By the end of the week, I not only believed that change was possible, but I had also lost an amazing thirty-five pounds.

When I returned home, I had the inspiration and working knowledge needed to alter what I had been eating for decades. Over the next two years, I dropped more than two hundred and twenty-five pounds. And while my week’s experience at Dr. Stoll’s Immersion was published along with the good doctor’s own story in our book The Change: Transforming Your Yourself and Your Body Into the Person You Want to Be, I have since discovered a talent for creating amazing dishes that satisfy not only me but also my family and friends. I have found that the principles behind Immersion can easily be applied to the creation of healthful, delicious, satisfying meals. If you’ve read our book The Change, here is a resource that you can use to move forward with your own personal change. If you have not, here is a book of recipes that are sure to delight you, your family, and your guests, and maybe, just maybe, will also set you on the path to better health.

DR. SCOTT STOLL

As a practicing physician, I have been trained to identify health issues and provide my patients with potential solutions. Early in my career, most of the remedies I offered took the form of pills, procedures, or therapies. As my practice grew, I noticed that many of my patients expected to leave my office with a prescription in hand. Whether it was a seasonal cold, back pain, high blood pressure, or a bad headache, they wanted medications to alleviate
their symptoms. As time went on, I would see the same patients again and again regarding the same issues. Yes, I could give them further prescriptions for their symptoms, but these prescriptions could not eliminate the underlying causes of their health problems. What was it that I was missing?

As I began to learn more about the foods we eat, the connection between health and diet became crystal clear. I was lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of medical researchers and pioneering physicians who had scientifically shown that poor eating habits have led to an amazing 80 percent of the devastating illnesses that plague our society. But how could I tell my patients that most of their medications would be unnecessary if only they changed the food on their plates? Although I had long talks with many of the people who came to me for
help, I learned that old eating habits can be hard to break. And then I was given an opportunity to do something truly extraordinary: I would conduct a week-long immersion program designed to lead participants on a journey to better health. Once they had received both the information and the motivation they needed, and had also experienced the positive effects of a different way of eating, they could make a lasting, sustainable lifestyle change.

Each day, the participants would learn why certain foods were bad for them and other foods were good, and how those foods directly impacted their health. They would also come to grips with the fact that many of the bad foods that people in our society consume every day—refined sugar, for instance—are as addictive as tobacco or even heroin. They would eat only healthy plant-based meals during the weeklong Immersion, and to their surprise, they would experience actual withdrawal symptoms, which would disappear in two to three days as their bodies detoxified and healed. But they would also begin to experience greater health, including lower blood pressure and better-controlled blood sugar. The lesson was profound and yet simple: As long as you realize that you have the power to make a choice every day and you know what the best choices are, you can regain your health and change the trajectory of your life.

Among the attendees of the program was Milan Ross. He took all the information we presented to heart. When he returned home, he practiced the dietary principles he had learned, lost a tremendous amount of weight, and overcame his chronic medical conditions. Since then, Milan and I have become good friends as well as coauthors. As you will see, this cookbook is an extension of the program Milan attended, as well as a great collection of tasty kitchen-tested recipes. You will also find a number of interesting facts about foods that will make you stop and think about your health. Remember that your kitchen is the most important room in your home, and the delicious food that you prepare should not only please your palate, but also place you and your loved ones on the road to greater health and a far more satisfying life.