She Lost 125 Lbs. on a Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet—And Her Menopause Symptoms Vanished
The best part? She eats as much as she wants and no longer craves processed foods
Like so many of us raised on SpaghettiOs and McDonald’s, Kori Clark constantly craved processed food as an adult. “My hunger level was always high and I struggled with my weight,” says the California mom, 55. “I’d throw myself into diets, but I could only hold on for so long.” Menopause made matters worse. Kori regained the 100 pounds she lost on WeightWatchers, her health spiraling. “I felt 20 years older than my actual age. I was desperate to turn things around.” That’s when she discovered a whole-food, plant-based diet.
She was back on WeightWatchers (also known as WW) when a Netflix documentary convinced her to try a plant-based diet for weight loss. Today, Kori is 125 pounds lighter and thriving. “My gynecologist says I’m her only patient to have weight-loss success during menopause. She asked if I’d talk to all of her patients!” Here, Kori shares her secrets.
Discovering a whole-food, plant-based diet for weight loss
Kori flipped on the documentary What the Health because it promised to shed light on how her diet was causing her high blood pressure, arthritis, prediabetes, heart arrhythmia, sleep apnea and more. If she’d known the film was about plant-based eating, she might have skipped it.
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“At that point, I doubted I could feel full without animal-based protein,” she recalls. But she was drawn in. People on screen ate all they wanted and lost weight. And the food was healing their bodies. “When it was over, I told my husband I was going plant-based. He rolled his eyes,” she says. “Honestly, I wasn’t convinced I could do it either. But nothing else had stuck, so it was worth a shot.”
Tweaking WeightWatchers to make it plant-based
To get started, Kori just made plant-based picks on her WeightWatchers plan. She relied heavily on “zero point” plant foods allowed in unlimited amounts, including beans, oats, popcorn and most fresh fruits and vegetables. If she wanted avocado, whole-grain wraps or any food that wasn’t a freebie, she measured and tracked it. “It helped me feel confident I would keep losing weight as I figured things out,” says Kori.
And she figured a lot out. For example, chickpeas and air-fried tofu were tasty and hearty substitutes for meat in her usual dishes. She discovered she still loves pizza without cheese. She also noticed she could eat large bowls of popcorn daily and still make great progress. “The scale was dramatic. I was dropping 10 pounds a month,” says Kori. Plus, she suddenly found it was far easier to make healthy choices.
Why a whole-food, plant-based diet offers more freedom
Experts from What the Health are fans of a style of plant-based eating that limits or eliminates any plant food with lots of calories but few nutrients—including white flour, refined sweeteners and oil. Research shows this naturally keeps calories in an ideal range, so we get healthy and lean with no need to track or measure.
A 2020 study led by What the Health’s Neal Barnard, MD found that people eating this way lost a whopping 7.2 times more weight than those eating Mediterranean-style fare. In fact, the average Mediterranean dieter didn’t lose any weight at all while the average plant-based eater lost 13.2 pounds.
“I choose the best foods to fuel my body—I can eat as much as I want, as often as I want.” —Kori Clark
Skipping animal products and low-nutrient plants rules out most processed foods that are often devoid of significant vitamins and minerals and have been formulated to make us overindulge. “I was addicted to foods high in fat and salt. Cheese too,” says Kori. “Small portions didn’t satisfy my cravings—they fueled my cravings and made them almost unbearable. That’s why moderation never worked for me.”
When she stopped eating her triggers altogether, the difference was huge. “I’d never heard a voice inside me say, ‘You can stop, all good here!’ Now I hear it. I can eat chili or lasagna and stop once I’m satisfied. I feel so much freedom.”
Kori eventually left WeightWatchers and was still able to maintain her healthy eating patterns. “Now I don’t weigh, measure or track anything I eat,” she says. “I choose the best foods to fuel my body, and I can eat as much as I want, as often as I want.”
Why eating a plant-based diet is a miracle menopause hack
As Kori’s cravings vanished, hormonal symptoms like brain fog and fatigue vanished, too. “My night sweats had been so bad, I was prescribed medication for them,” she says. The meds didn’t do much. “But once I went plant-based, my menopausal symptoms were gone.”
It was no coincidence. In a 2023 study, women with severe menopause side effects who were put on a diet like Kori’s experienced 96 percent relief from hot flashes and lost 6.4 pounds—without limiting portions. Experts say it’s all about inflammation. Estrogen has an anti-inflammatory effect, so as levels of the hormone drop with age, inflammation surges. It’s a main culprit in countless health issues that Kori and millions of us experience.
How does going plant-based help? Meat and dairy products are high in inflammatory compounds called advanced glycation end-products; animal foods also “feed” inflammatory gut bacteria. But a plant-based diet, especially one that includes soy milk and tofu, “is rich in fiber and compounds called isoflavones, both of which increase gut bacteria that fight inflammation,” according to study head Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD. They also stabilize remaining estrogen, which eases hot flashes.
Another benefit: Lowering inflammation just feels good, as Kori experienced firsthand. “I could move better right away because inflammation was leaving my body,” she says. “I felt amazing! The sky was bluer, the birds were singing more, everything was just so much better.”
Kori lost 125 pounds on a whole-food, plant-based diet
Kori’s health has done a 180. She shed 100 pounds in 10 months, and 125 pounds in all. She no longer has heart issues, prediabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or sleep apnea. And while she’s always been active, exercise benefits her more now, she says. “I used to try to keep calories as low as possible. That made the scale go down, but it caused me to lose muscle,” she shares. Now that she eats all the plant-based proteins her body asks for, “I can’t believe how strong I am. I can hike up mountains like they’re nothing!
Kori says WeightWatchers helped, too, teaching her that having a support system when you’re on a health journey is a great way to keep motivation soaring. “I have it now through the Official Plantstrong Community group on Facebook,” she says. “It’s full of wonderful people who eat the same way I do. We share tips, scientific studies, recipes and successes. We have never met, but we are a family.” Kori jokes that they even helped her through a rough breakup with cheese. “Plant-based eating isn’t always easy, but it’s so worth it! My life is forever changed.”
A guide to whole-food, plant-based eating for weight loss
To follow Kori’s lead, build all meals around unlimited produce, beans, peas, spices, whole grains and low-cal condiments like vinegar and salsa. To maximize weight loss, you can opt to track and/or limit plant foods that are calorie-dense or somewhat processed, like whole-grain baked goods, plant-based meat, avocado, nuts and seeds and olive oil.
We’ve got ideas to inspire you below. You can also find more free resources at ForksOverKnives.com.
Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter and fruit
Top whole-grain toast with nut butter, an optional all-fruit jam and sliced fresh fruit.
Lunch: Easy pasta toss
Mix cooked whole-grain pasta, veggies and an oil-free dressing (like Primal Kitchen brand).
Dinner: Spicy bean wraps
Heat up rinsed/drained beans with salsa. Add to warm whole-grain tortillas with veggies.
Bonus: DIY muesli
Ingredients:
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup puffed amaranth
- 1⁄4 cup wheat bran
- 1⁄4 cup sunflower seeds or raw nuts
- 1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1⁄2 cup raisins or any dried fruit
Instructions:
- Mix everything but raisins with a pinch of salt.
- Spread on a tray and bake at 350ºF until nuts are aromatic, about 12 minutes. Let cool.
- Add raisins. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy with nut milk and fresh fruit. Serves 6
Additional reporting by Beth Weissman
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