Richard D. Edwards
Author · Wellness Advocate · Save Soil Volunteer
The Vegan Years
Richard D. Edwards spent four years as a vegan. For a long time, it worked. He lost weight, felt well, and thrived on natural whole foods: plantain, fruits, lentils, home-cooked meals built from ingredients he recognised and understood.
But in the final two years, he began experimenting with commercial vegan products: soy-heavy processed items, plant-based meat alternatives marketed as healthy upgrades. The results were the opposite of what he expected. Beyond Meat burgers caused food poisoning-like reactions on multiple occasions. His energy and wellbeing began to deteriorate.
That's when he started reading labels. What he found reshaped everything. The "health" branding on many products masked ingredients with documented harmful effects: additives, industrial seed oils, processed proteins bearing no resemblance to the whole foods they claimed to replace. That gap between marketing language and nutritional reality was stark.
Back to Conscious Eating
Richard's response wasn't to abandon the values that had guided his earlier years. It was to apply them more carefully. He returned to eating meat, but did so consciously, sourcing from organic farms that didn't use synthetic fertilisers. He stopped buying health claims and started reading ingredient lists.
That shift became the foundation of the book: moving from following rules to understanding principles. Not a new set of restrictions, but a deeper framework for recognising what the body actually needs and where food actually comes from.
Save Soil & the Soil Health Crisis
For nearly three years, Richard volunteered with the Isha Foundation's Conscious Planet initiative, working on the global Save Soil movement, a campaign to educate citizens and governments about the accelerating decline of soil health worldwide. Based in Costa Rica, he organised monthly events and helped coordinate activities across Caribbean countries.
The work deepened something he had already begun to understand through his own experience: healthy soil is the foundation of nutrient-dense food. As soil degrades through industrial farming practices and chemical use, the nutritional value of the food grown in it diminishes with it. The path from soil to cell is longer and more fragile than most people realise. And it matters.
Tennis, Performance, and Daily Practice
Richard plays tennis 7–8 hours per week and competes in tournaments. The six principles are not theory for him. They are his personal practice for maintaining energy, supporting recovery, and keeping his body performing consistently across long training weeks and competitive matches.
Living at that intensity sharpened his understanding of how food actually functions in the body. He learned, through experience as much as research, what it feels like when the body is properly nourished and what it feels like when it isn't. That difference is what the book is designed to help readers find for themselves.
Helping Others
Before writing a word, Richard had already walked five friends and family members through the six principles in person. The results were striking. Some lost 50 pounds or more. All reported feeling noticeably better. Not from following a strict plan, but from understanding how food works and applying that understanding to their lives.
What he consistently observed: once people stopped associating healthy eating with boredom, restriction, or willpower, and instead felt the difference in their own body, the choices came naturally. His romantic partner, after watching those results for themselves, adopted the principles and lost more than 35 pounds.
None of it required a diet. It required understanding.
Everything He Wished Had Been Written
The six principles didn't arrive all at once. They were discovered and refined over years: through personal experimentation, research, real mistakes, and the honest observation of what actually made a difference. No single book, programme, or expert had ever put them together in one place, in a form that was practical, evidence-grounded, and free from ideological rigidity.
The Way I Learned to Eat Well is the book Richard wished had existed when he started. It's written for people just starting out and for people already deep into their own inquiry, looking for substance over the latest dietary trend.
"The six principles aren't rules. They're a framework. One I wish I'd had when I started."
About Richard D. Edwards
Who is Richard D. Edwards?
Richard D. Edwards is a nutrition author, wellness advocate, and Save Soil volunteer based in Costa Rica. He is the author of The Way I Learned to Eat Well, a book presenting six foundational principles for eating well, not as a diet, but as a lasting framework for understanding how the body responds to food.
Where is Richard D. Edwards from?
Richard D. Edwards is based in Costa Rica, where he lives an active lifestyle, competes in tennis, and continues his work connected to health, wellness, and the Save Soil movement.
What inspired him to write about nutrition?
Richard's path to writing this book was built from years of personal experience. After four years as a vegan, a troubling encounter with commercial plant-based products and their ingredients led him to re-examine everything he thought he knew about healthy eating. That process, reading labels, researching food sourcing, understanding the path nutrients take from soil to cell, gradually built the six principles at the heart of the book. Those principles were then tested by walking five friends and family members through them personally, with striking results. The book is a collection of everything Richard wishes had existed in one place when he started.
What is his background in health and wellness?
Richard is self-taught through lived experience, deep personal research, and years of listening to his body. His background spans four years as a vegan, nearly three years volunteering with the Isha Foundation's Save Soil movement, and an active lifestyle built around competitive tennis. He has applied the six principles personally for years and has guided five friends and family members through the same framework, with results including significant weight loss and lasting lifestyle change.
What is the Save Soil movement?
Save Soil is a global initiative by the Isha Foundation's Conscious Planet project, focused on educating citizens and governments about the accelerating decline of soil health worldwide. Healthy soil is essential to nutrient-dense food. As soil degrades through industrial farming and chemical use, the nutritional value of food diminishes with it. Richard D. Edwards volunteered with the movement for nearly three years, organising monthly events and coordinating activities across Caribbean countries. More information is available at consciousplanet.org/en/save-soil.
What is The Way I Learned to Eat Well about?
The Way I Learned to Eat Well is a nutrition book presenting six foundational principles: Balance, Whole Foods, Quality & Sourcing, Optimize Absorption, Hydration & Timing, and Fasting. It is not a diet plan or a list of foods to eat or avoid. It is a framework that gives readers the understanding to make confident, nourishing decisions in any situation, without relying on rules, willpower, or constant tracking.
How can I get the book?
The Way I Learned to Eat Well by Richard D. Edwards is available on Amazon in both digital and physical formats. You can learn more about the book here or go directly to Amazon to get your copy.
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Ready to Read It?
The Way I Learned to Eat Well is available now on Amazon. Six principles. A framework that lasts. Nothing you don't need.