Free · Independent programs · One simple path
Feel Better, Eat Better
🧠 The Lift Project for your mood and mental wellbeing
🥗 Full Plate Living for adding more fiber-rich food to meals you already eat
🤝 And the option to do it together, in a group or at your clinic
Plain disclosure, up front: Both programs belong to other organizations. Kitchen Monk has no affiliation, sponsorship, affiliate links, or payment from either one. Putting them together on one path is Kitchen Monk’s own suggestion, not an official joint program. Offers and access can change, so please check each program’s own site for current details.
Why pair them?
How we eat and how we feel are connected, and both are easier to change with other people. One program helps with the plate. The other helps with the mind. Together they fit the Kitchen Monk path: Learn → Practice → Belong → Sustain → Flourish.
🥗 Full Plate Living
AVAILABLE NOW · FREE
What it is: a free healthy-eating program that teaches you to add whole, fiber-rich foods to the meals you already eat. No food is banned, which makes it a good fit for small steps.
Who runs it: Ardmore Institute of Health, a nonprofit.
What’s inside: a self-paced Core Program, workshops, hundreds of recipes, a private online community, and follow-up courses on diabetes and weight.
Cost: free.
Good to know: it’s nutrition education, not personal medical nutrition care. Ardmore reports the program is certified by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
🧠 The Lift Project
AVAILABLE NOW · ACCESS VARIES
What it is: a mental wellbeing program that brings together lifestyle medicine, positive psychology, and brain science in short, practical lessons with weekly challenges.
Who runs it: The Lift Project, developed by Dr. Darren Morton of Avondale University in Australia.
How people join: online on your own, through a group led by an endorsed provider, or through an employer, school, or community that sponsors it. Ardmore announced in 2025 that Full Plate Living members could get free access. Check whether that offer is still open.
Good to know: it’s a wellbeing program, not therapy or treatment for depression or anxiety.
✅ Start free in 5 steps
Tap each button in order. Each one opens the program’s own site in a new tab.
If the free Lift access through Full Plate has ended, you can still start with Full Plate alone, ask your employer, school, or community whether they sponsor The Lift Project, or contact The Lift Project directly.
📅 The Kitchen Monk 10-week path
A gentle way to pace both programs: one mind lesson, one plate lesson, and one small step each week. Fall behind? Just pick up where you are. There’s no failing this.
| Week | 🧠 Mind (Lift) | 🥗 Plate (Full Plate) | 🌲 Kitchen Monk small step |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lesson 1 | Core Module 1 | Add one plant food to a meal you already eat |
| 2 | Lesson 2 | Core Module 2 | Take a five-minute walk after one meal |
| 3 | Lesson 3 | Core Module 3 | Stock one “better convenience” food: canned beans or frozen vegetables |
| 4 | Lesson 4 | Core Module 4 | Step outside for a few minutes each day |
| 5 | Lesson 5 | Core Module 5 | Call or text one person |
| 6 | Lesson 6 | Core Module 6 | Go to bed 15 minutes earlier |
| 7 | Lesson 7 | Core Module 7 | Cook one recipe from the Full Plate library |
| 8 | Lesson 8 | A workshop or a follow-up course | Share a meal with someone |
| 9 | Lesson 9 | Pick three favorite recipes to repeat | Notice what’s getting in the way, and make one thing easier |
| 10 | Lesson 10 | Plan your “ordinary week” plate | Choose the one habit you want to keep |
👫 Do it together
People often know what to do. It’s doing it alone that’s hard. Both programs can be shared with a group: friends, a church or community center, a workplace, or a clinic.
🥗 Host a Full Plate group
Ardmore offers a free, scripted 8-session Group Program with slides, in English and Spanish, and a free, optional facilitator training. You don’t need to be a health professional to lead it.
🧠 Bring Lift to a group
The Lift Project is often run in small groups by endorsed providers, and by employers, schools, and councils for their communities. Ask whether your workplace or community already offers it, or contact The Lift Project about a group.
🌲 Find people near you
IN DEVELOPMENT Kitchen Monk-hosted “Feel Better, Eat Better” circles are something we’d love to offer. None are running yet.
🩺 For clinicians: free shared medical appointment curriculum
A shared medical appointment (SMA) is a clinic visit held in a group: each patient still gets individual attention, plus more time for education and peer support. Ardmore Institute of Health offers a free Full Plate Living SMA program in 1-, 4-, and 8-session versions, with scripts and slides in English and Spanish. Ardmore states it can be delivered in person or virtually and billed. Pairing it with The Lift Project adds mental wellbeing to the plate.
Coverage, coding, and who may bill vary by payer, state, and scope of practice. Confirm with your organization’s compliance and billing teams. CME approval periods also change; check current credit status on Ardmore’s site.
⚠️ Safety first
Taking medicine for diabetes or blood pressure? Eating more fiber-rich whole foods can change blood sugar and blood pressure, sometimes quickly. Tell your clinician before you start, and never stop or change a medication on your own.
Struggling with your mood? A wellbeing program can help, but it isn’t a replacement for mental-health care. If you’re in crisis in the U.S., call or text 988. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911.
📚 For the curious: some of the evidence
Morton DP, Renfrew M, Matthews S. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s offering of a mental health and wellbeing program (The Lift Project) to its members: caring for the carers. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2024. Read ↗
Lacagnina S, et al. Lifestyle medicine shared medical appointments. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2021. Read ↗
Full Plate Living’s own research list. Bibliography ↗
Individual results vary. Program evaluations often rely on participant surveys, and not every study has a control group.
Independent resources. Full Plate Living is a free service of Ardmore Institute of Health. The Lift Project was developed by Dr. Darren Morton. Neither organization sponsors, endorses, reviewed, or is affiliated with Kitchen Monk™ or this page, and Kitchen Monk receives no payment, commissions, or free access from either. The 10-week pairing is Kitchen Monk’s own suggestion. Program names belong to their owners; details were checked against their public websites in September 2026 and may change. Educational information only, not medical care. Drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by Kitchen Monk; report a correction. Trust & Transparency
