"The Best Ever Vegetarian"

“The Best Ever Vegetarian,” is an older cookbook I found that offers an abundant amount of easy and tasty vegetarian recipes. The book is divided up into soups and appetizers, snacks and light meals, main meals, side dishes and desserts. The cookbook offers many salad-type recipes in all sections, except in desserts. The recipe for citrus meringue crush and chocolate honey ice cream sound delicious! For each recipe there is a big photograph of the dish on the opposite page and smaller photos of how to prepare the dish. I like that each recipe is written out in fairly short steps no matter how many ingredients, how long prep or cook time may be. Also, the nutritional information, “cook tips” and variations are included in every recipe. The introduction to the book is brief and not philosophical in any way, they're not trying to convince readers that eating meat is bad, but rather blatantly state vegetables are essential to good health, vegetables are available and delicious too. Something the cookbook offers that I do not see too often are the basic recipes someone cooking a vegetarian meal might need to make from scratch. A few of these basic recipes include rich unsweetened pastry dough, pizza doughs, mayonnaise and vegetable stock, although, non of these are vegan. This cookbook should be a staple in any vegetarian kitchen. 

"Main Street Vegan"

Victoria Moran has published her 11th self-help book this past week, “Main Street Vegan.” Her new book is subtitled, “Everything You Need to Know to Eat Healthfully and Live Compassionately in the Real World.” She’s an author, holistic health practitioner and vegan lifestyle coach, which is not exactly a nutritionist but someone who tells you which nondairy or vegan products taste best, information and advice a friend might give. At the end of every chapter in “Main Street Vegan,” ends with a recipe, like “raw lasagna.” Hmmm. Moran offers a complete guide to becoming a vegan with an emphasis on practical “baby steps,” she provides practical advice and inspiration for all types of people. I like the balance of recipes, philosophy, scientific information and the practical advice given for a new vegan’s transition. The book addresses common questions and concerns; getting enough protein, keeping costs down, dietary supplements, restaurants, BBQ’s, raising children, etc. The book is cut up into short chapters that are easy to read. The writing feels very honest. I just picked up the book so I’m not quite finished, but so far so good! 

Vegan is Love?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LNU2pezAcSs

I recently read about a new vegan children’s book that came out this week. The book is  Vegan is Love, by Ruby Roth. The book is intended for children between the ages 4 and 10, and educates them on how horrible it is to eat animals. Roth argues that kids should be raised vegan because it’s the right thing to do for the Earth. I am not a doctor or a scientist but I personally believe children should not be brought up vegan from birth because of the possible health implications. It might be easier for children to become malnourished since so many are picky eaters. Also, it’s a decision someone should make on their own terms. But then again it can be argued that being fed meat should be a personal decision. The book offers cute illustrations of animals as friends but also includes some questionable drawings of bleeding, slaughtered animals in overcrowded cages, hanging bloody pieces of meat, circus animals being abused, and describes their deaths as violent and sad. Not only does the book express the downside of eating meat, but it encourages parents and their children to stay away from attractions like zoos, aquariums, and circuses. I like the idea of giving children the appropriate literature to understand what it is to be a vegan, but children are very impressionable and the illustrations may frighten some into becoming vegan rather than making a well thought-out decision. Although, Roth makes a good point in that if telling children about where their food comes from or how animals are treated is too scary, then we shouldn’t being eating meat in the first place, “If it’s too scary to talk about, the reality of where those pieces of meat come from, then it’s certainly too scary to eat,” she said on the Today show earlier this week. Do you think this is a good book to teach children about veganism? 

http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/47114673#47114673

Engine 2

I recently read, "The Engine 2 Diet" by Rip Esselstyn. This book/diet is endorsed by the same people who made the Forks Over Knives documentary. The author is a firefighter from Texas whose main mission is to teach people that the food we eat will have a direct correlation to your ideal weight and health. I was interested in this book solely because he is a vegan firefighter, which may be a weird but I have a reason! It piqued my interest because my father happens to be a vegetarian, turning vegan, firefighter. He has been with the FDNY for 30 years this past winter and says he has never met another vegetarian while on the job. The firehouse sounds like an environment where the machismo mentality reigns, thus every meal is meat-based. Even though this diet plan is practically the same as “Forks Over Knives” it was probably published because there really aren’t any books out there that try to make vegetarianism “manly.” Even though this book does not state that it is for men only, it’s obvious that it’s there target audience. 

The book was predictable for me since I had already read "Forks Over Knives." The book is a low-fat, plant-based 28-day diet plan that is all about eating real foods. If you want all the science that backs up the plant-based diet I would recommend reading "Forks Over Knives," but if you're more concerned about the actual diet plan, how to go about it,  access to over a hundred recipes and some exercises then read "The Engine 2 Diet." It is more straightforward for those who want to lose weight and get healthy fast. The diet consists of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds for low-fat protein. Fish and chicken is suggested during a transition period. It also includes soy, seitan, soy yogurt, veggie burgers and everything is low in fat, refined sugar free and low in salt. The recipes are basic but hearty, nothing revolutionary. Many of the recipes are available on their website if you don’t feel like buying the book. 


The Engine 2 diet plan combined with exercise is a sure way to lose weight. I would recommend this book as a basic vegetarian cookbook and diet plan, and will definitely pass it on to my dad (maybe he won’t feel weird being the only vegan in the FDNY anymore). I've been thinking that my vegetarian lifestyle went awry in the past because I didn’t have any structure, so I’m considering trying out this diet plan step by step and recording my results. 28 days is nothing!......

Vegan Carrot Cake and Frosting

I wanted to share the recipe I used to make a vegan carrot cake just last weekend that was a hit with both vegetarians and meat eaters...

Cake Ingredients:

3 Cups shredded carrots

1 1/4 Cup of sugar

2 Cups flour

1/2 Teaspoon of salt

2 Teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon of baking soda

2 Teaspoons of cinnamon

1/2 Cup of orange juice

3/4 Cup of canola oil

1 Cup of raisins

1 Cup of Chopped walnuts

Vegan Frosting:

1/4 Cup Tofutti cream cheese or other kind of soy cream cheese

1/4 Cup vegan margarine

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix all the dry ingredients together with a ladle or spoon.
• Then mix in the carrots and the oil to the dry ingredients.
• Add the orange juice and mix it all together.
• Fold in the nuts and raisins
• Grease pan with cooking spray or oil.
• Put the batter into cake pan.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until knife/toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
• Let cool completely
• Beat cream cheese and margarine together.
• Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla together with hand mixer.
• When cake is completely cool, slather on frosting over the top of the cake as desired.
• Add designs for fun.

Enjoy!

"Forks Over Knives" Update

I’ve had mixed feeling since I’ve finished reading and watching, “Forks Over Knives.” The book gave me motivation to turn to a strict plant based diet, the documentary definitely helped too. The personal stories are what really interested me, it’s inspiring to hear about sick people who got healthy and reversed their diseases by following the “Forks Over Knives” diet plan. For those of you who didn’t know, forks over knives refers to diet being fork and medicine as knife, food over medicine which I’m totally into! However (dun dun dun)... after I did some research and came across many health blogs and science forums on vegetarianism/raw food diets I became very skeptical of the information supplied by “Forks Over Knives.” I have always read up on how wonderful a vegetarian diet can be for ones health, from a healthy way to lose weight, prevent diabetes/cancer/impotence, can increase energy levels, and even reverse degenerative diseases (case in point), but scientific research I found says otherwise. I should take into account that either “Forks Over Knives” could or could not be completely biased, may or may not have their own agenda but so could the findings that do not support vegetarian/vegan lifestyles. It’s been hard to separate fact from fiction. I’ve become even more concerned in the last couple weeks because of a health scare I had. My physician asked me if I was a vegetarian and when I said yes, he advised me to stop! I’ve been very good about substitutions and trying to get the right nutrition but for my own personal well-being this might not be the best choice (or so my doctor believes). I will take his advice into consideration but this doesn’t mean I’m going to stop without further investigation.

To start simply, the book offers some recipes and ways to transition to the plant based diet. I personally was not impressed with the recipes given mainly because I have made most of them before or variations of them on my own. For the most part many were Southwestern/Tex-Mex/Mexican style recipes. 

For example:

-Super bean burrito- onion, bell peppers, carrots, kale, refried beans, black beans, corn, cilantro, lime, quinoa, whole wheat soft tortilla shells.

-Fresh tostada salad- romaine, roasted corn, black beans, cumin, chili powder, plum tomatoes, cilantro, cabbage, avocados, feta or if desired.

Mexicali burritos- shredded lettuce, tomato, salsa, avocado, whole wheat soft tortilla shells. 

-Mexican style bean and rice casserole, orange black bean taquitos, southwestern twice baked potatoes, vegetable white bean hash.

 Sometimes it can be hard for someone who is transitioning to vegetarianism because it can seem like there isn’t a lot of variation, and always a lot of beans (for protein of course). It is so important to get a variety of foods in your diet on a daily basis, vegetarian or not, you need to get sufficient quantities of nutrients, such as; calcium, iodine, iron, omega-3 fatty acids, protein, vitamin B-12, vitamin D, and zinc. 

A health blog I came across called, “Raw Food SOS: Troubleshooting on the Raw Food Diet,” provided a lot of insightful and scientific information that argued against “Forks Over Knives.” From a very long post I highlighted some points this blogger made, mostly criticizing the "scientific" findings: 

"After outlining cholesterol’s important biological functions, the movie states:

‘—But when we consume dietary cholesterol, which is only found in animal foods like meat, eggs, and dairy products, it tends to stay in the bloodstream. This so-called plaque is what collects on the inside of our blood vessels and is the major cause of coronary artery disease.’   ...For starters, cholesterol from animal foods does not have some magical ability to set up permanent camp in your bloodstream and turn into plaque, just by sheer virtue of its animal-foodness. This was a common line of thought decades ago, but as research progressed, we figured out that the body is actually pretty awesome at regulating cholesterol production in response to what we ingest from food. As this paper from 2009 explains, the supposed link between dietary and serum cholesterol stems from studies that had fundamental design flaws, failed to separate the effects of cholesterol different types of fat intake, or were performed on animals that are obligate herbivores (hey there, rabbits!). The doctors in “Forks Over Knives,” it seems, are among the few stragglers who still believe dietary cholesterol is harmful."

"Most people (about 70% of the population) are “hypo-responders” when it comes to cholesterol intake—meaning the cholesterol they eat from food has a negligible effect on the total cholesterol in their blood. A smaller slice of the population (“hyper-responders”) see a greater rise in blood cholesterol after eating high-cholesterol foods, but the change is because both LDL and HDL increase proportionally, preserving the cholesterol ratio and leaving heart disease risk the same as what it was before. (As more evidence, a similar study (PDF) found no change in LDL/HDL ratio in either they hypo-responders or hyper-responders, even when feeding folks an extra 640 mg of cholesterol per day.)."

"...but here is the most interesting, diets high in animal protein (ketogenic diets) but LOW in carbohydrates also greatly reduce or eliminate the need for diabetes meds, cholesterol and High blood pressure, etc but yet those two diets are diametrically opposed and the numbers for successful treatment ranges into the thousands–how can that be? If both are right then something that is not being examined is the key."

This blog provided so much information against "Forks Over Knives" that it was overwhelming. After reading the book and then reading various blogs supporting or attacking the book I am even more confused, hah! As of right now I'm still on the search, trying to find the healthiest and best lifestyle choices via food for myself. I'm not trying to tell anyone who might be reading this what they should do or what I think is best for them, but provide any information I find important and relevant that can be used to make your own decisions as well. 

The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian's Hunt for Sustenance

"From the Vermont woods comes an unlikely and provocative journey from vegan to hunter. Tracing the evolution of his dietary philosophy—from a fateful encounter with a brook trout to a rekindled relationship with the only hunter in his family—Cerulli’s tale blends personal narrative with historical perspective. The book sets contemporary debates in context by looking back over our changing natural and cultural landscapes. At once compassionate and probing, The Mindful Carnivore invites us to reconsider what it means to eat."

Tovar Cerulli's perspective on animals:

"Animals have always played a vital role in our imaginations. Since the dawn of the spoken word, we have been telling stories about them. Stories about sacred, powerful, and mysterious beings. Stories about companions and competitors. Stories about predators and prey.

Today, most North Americans have little interaction with animals, except pets. We are only distantly aware of the creatures incarcerated in modern factory farms. We catch only fleeting glimpses of most wildlife. The creatures we do see—the songbirds, squirrels, deer, and others who live around us or venture into our neighborhoods and backyards—may be pleasures to behold or plagues upon our gardens, but they are not central to our daily lives.

Yet we have not forgotten. Animals still evoke strong feelings in us. They remain alive in our imaginations. We still tell stories about them.

For some of us, the mindful consideration of animals leads to vegetarianism. For some, it leads to advocating for animal welfare or wildlife habitat. For some, it leads to raising our own meat animals, or taking care to get meat from farmers and ranchers whose practices we believe in. For some, it leads to hunting.

For some, it leads to all these things and more."