Research
Adherence
Using social and environmental motivators (climate, animal welfare, labor justice) instead of explicit health goals ('stealth nutrition') effectively drives students toward healthier, plant-based diets.
If you struggle to eat healthier for health reasons, try linking food choices to values you already hold, such as environmental sustainability or animal welfare. This 'stealth' approach can make healthy, plant-based choices feel like a personal value expression rather than a medical prescription.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
virtually all the changes students reported resulted in their choosing more vegetables, whole grains, and fiber-rich foods and a more plant-based diet in general.
Why this rating
Quasi-experimental study with undergraduate students; limited generalizability to broader population.
Source
Food Revolution
Christopher D. Gardner et al. · American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine · 2017
DOI 10.1177/1559827617696289
narrative_review · n=609Cited 14×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Healthy Low-Fat (HLF) and Healthy Low-Carbohydrate (HLC) diets produce equivalent average weight loss (~13 lbs) over 12 months when both emphasize high dietary quality (vegetables, no added sugar/refined flour) and allow self-titration of macronutrients.Good
- Adequate protein intake is easily obtainable on vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based diets without meat consumption, refuting the need for excessive animal protein.Good
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
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